My Girlfriend is a Zombie

Chapter 596 – The Silhouette in the Slime

Although a “minor mishap” occurred shortly after their descent, things quickly got back on track.

Mu Chen and the others were merely temporarily left behind by Ling Mo’s little tricks, primarily executed through the female zombie puppet and Ling Mo’s mental tentacles.

For instance, the silhouette effect was actually the work of the female zombie puppet, while the inexplicable trembling of the poster or other minor disturbances were orchestrated by Ling Mo using his tentacles.

However, it never occurred to Mu Chen and his companions that Ling Mo would resort to such tricks, which is why they were so easily misled by these simple tactics.

Now, only the female zombie puppet remained there, not actively controlled by Ling Mo, suggesting it wouldn’t be a significant delay.

Once they regrouped, they would quickly begin searching everywhere for Ling Mo and his missing party.

The mall, while seemingly large, was actually quite small, especially the underground level, which appeared particularly eerie. If they could overlook such a place, it would be quite unreasonable.

Therefore, after giving a serious lesson to the three female zombies, Ling Mo, flashlight in hand, began to feel his way deeper inside.

Judging from the decorations and the brands on the counters illuminated by the flashlight, this level was evidently an unfinished computer city.

It was clear that it hadn’t opened for business yet, but the environment here was far more complicated than the floors above.

A mess of cargo containers was haphazardly stacked, leaving only a few narrow, crisscrossing pathways.

If it weren’t for these conditions, Ling Mo wouldn’t have fallen so easily just a moment ago…

“This way…”

Ling Mo surveyed his surroundings, then directed his flashlight towards one direction.

His voice involuntarily lowered quite a bit, as though he was afraid to disturb something.

Although he had often come to such places when searching with zombie puppets, the experience was different in person.

Walking in such a dark, open, and silent area, even Ling Mo felt a bit intimidated.

He suddenly envied Shana and the others… Being fearless zombies was indeed convenient in times like these…

But it was different for humans. Even with the strongest will, sometimes one could not control the subconscious’s wild thoughts and the body’s natural reactions…

Like now, Ling Mo couldn’t help but feel on edge…

“Oh… there are so many scents here,” Li Ya Lin suddenly sniffed and said.

“Hm?” Ling Mo responded, confused, while carefully stepping over a chair that had fallen to the ground.

Judging by the old bloodstains scattered on the floor, this place had also seen chaos when the Disaster Outbreak first erupted.

Luckily, since it hadn’t officially opened for business, there probably weren’t many people inside; otherwise, Ling Mo and his team would now be navigating through a strong stench of decay.

In any case, Ling Mo didn’t smell anything, so naturally, he didn’t understand what the senior sister meant.

“Senior sister means that there should be a lot of zombies around here,” Shana quickly added.

Ling Mo’s steps immediately halted, and the flashlight beam swept rapidly around the area: “Where?!”

“Because we haven’t seen anything, that’s exactly why it feels strange…” Shana said calmly.

As leader level zombies, these three girls were actually quite composed.

It was kind of like three national martial arts champions visiting a kindergarten kung fu hobby class to show off their skills—easy and enjoyable, no pressure whatsoever…

However, Ling Mo felt a sudden surge of nervousness and advised, “Be careful.”

“Mhm…” The one who always listened best at times like this was Ye Lian, who was not particularly talkative.

And as soon as she spoke, the other two immediately calmed down.

The relationship among these female zombies sometimes puzzled Ling Mo.

In terms of evolution, Ye Lian was currently the weakest among them. However, whether it was the senior sister, Shana, or even Yu Shiran, who was always causing trouble, they all seemed to “respect” Ye Lian profoundly.

And this kind of “respect” among zombies was, in theory, supposed to be based on strength.

Even if the senior sister and Shana might be influenced by their status as Ling Mo’s Zombie Puppets, what about Yu Shiran?

That zombie loli was not one of Ling Mo’s Zombie Puppets, so she should not be under any such influence…

So sometimes, Ling Mo was quite curious about Ye Lian’s situation. He really wanted to know what was up with this zombie girl who had been with him the longest but was evolving the slowest…

Upon witnessing this scene, his curiosity surged anew.

“Maybe I can find some related research methods in Niepan…” Ling Mo suddenly felt hopeful.

But with hope came the thought of Yu Shiran and the others running around everywhere, which once again made him grit his teeth in frustration…

“I have to crawl through places like this, the ransom for Ban Yue must be doubled!”

Moving about several dozen meters deeper, suddenly a large hole appeared in front of them.

Ling Mo carefully approached and found that it was an unfinished elevator shaft. It was clearly not a viable way down, so after looking around for a while, he finally found a stairwell.

The moment he pushed open the iron door of the stairwell, a hot and humid air hit him in the face.

“Cough cough.” Ling Mo coughed violently, not because there was a strong smell, but because the hot air felt somewhat suffocating.

“Ah, that’s the smell.” Li Ya Lin exclaimed excitedly.

The olfactory capability of zombies was indeed formidable. Without opening the door, Ling Mo wouldn’t have noticed anything, but Li Ya Lin had already picked up the scent from such a distance.

Even up to this point, Ling Mo didn’t smell anything; he only felt that it was very hot below, unsure of what kinds of scents were filling the hot air through Li Ya Lin’s uniquely mutated olfactory system.

“There’s definitely something down there!” Shana suddenly became interested as well.

Ye Lian didn’t speak, but her eyes also lit up for a moment.

“It seems we’ve found the right place.” Holding a flashlight in one hand and covering his mouth and nose with the other, Ling Mo cautiously peered inside before entering the stairwell.

The three female zombies followed closely behind, all sniffing the air lightly.

The staircase led downward, and at first, Ling Mo didn’t notice the sticky substance, but after descending one level, the floors began to be coated with a layer of sticky white substance.

Stepping on it was somewhat slippery, and when lifting a foot, the stickiness could be felt, making a “slap slap” sound with any larger movement.

If not for the strong anti-slip military boots he was wearing, Ling Mo figured he would have a hard time moving freely in this place.

Thinking about Yu Shiran and Xiao Bai running around quickly in such an environment, Ling Mo couldn’t help but let out a long sigh: “Damn, this is like racial discrimination…”

But that wasn’t the only issue. In this place, Ling Mo discovered another problem that was particularly awkward.

His mental power was greatly restricted!

The layer of sticky substance seemed to be blocking the extension of his mental tentacles. No matter how he tried to break through, it felt extremely difficult.

It was like going back to the time when his special abilities had just awakened, where everything he did with his mental power felt unfamiliar, like punching into cotton – no solid resistance.

And after getting used to using mental power, even to the point where it had become a part of his instincts, to experience this feeling again was both strange and uncomfortable.

“What on earth is this place?”

Even though he would soon find Yu Shiran and the others, Ling Mo didn’t feel relieved.

On the contrary, he felt that this place was very ominous.

The palpitations he had felt earlier through Black Silk became even more pronounced when he experienced it firsthand.

What kind of creature could produce so much sticky substance? And also be able to block his mental energy?

Although he was intrigued by the sticky substance, Ling Mo naturally felt uncomfortable with his vital abilities being restricted.

“I don’t know…”

Shana had now moved to the front, and she suddenly stopped at a corner of the staircase, asking somewhat eerily, “Ling Mo, didn’t we just say that there should be a lot of zombies here?”

“Yes…” Ling Mo tried to use his flashlight, but the sticky substance seemed to also absorb light. The normally penetrating beam of light became hazy as it struck the substance.

“No wonder we couldn’t see them; they’re all here.”

Shana slowly moved aside, and under the dim light, a vague shadow appeared in Ling Mo’s field of vision.

Although completely covered by the sticky substance, it wasn’t hard to tell from the silhouette alone that it was a humanoid shape…