My Girlfriend is a Zombie

Chapter 697 – Talent is Not the Focus

Knock, knock, knock—

Ling Mo walked slowly to the wall and raised his hand to knock on it.

He used considerable force, but his knuckles only felt a slight pain.

The collective enhancement of the female zombies had indeed brought him considerable benefits.

Although he had walked right into this trap, Ling Mo remained calm.

His main worry was Yu Shiran…

As he made a sound, the wall also lightly trembled.

Staying within someone else’s trap meant he didn’t need to be gentle. Perhaps his opponent was watching him right now…

“Solid…”

Ling Mo rubbed his fingers and was sure that the touch was real.

On the other side, the Little Zombie Puppet stopped when he knocked on the wall and pressed its ear against it.

“Yes, the puppet can sense the vibrations, which means we are indeed in the same place… But if they wanted to isolate me, why didn’t they cut off my connection with the puppet?”

Ling Mo thought for a moment and then shook his head.

With too few clues, it was pointless to waste time figuring it out right now.

However, he kept each question firmly in his memory, in case it might come in handy later.

As for why the other side would do this… there were countless reasons.

The most straightforward reason might be to snatch supplies…

Although Ling Mo and his group kept their most important items with Xiao Bai, anything else — such as the Thor Ye Lian held — would be enough to make many survivors drool.

They wouldn’t care if they could use it or not; they’d take it first. After all, most people could only make do with cold weapons…

Hot weapons were not impossible to find, but finding those with silencers was extremely difficult…

Moreover, finding anything in the city came with enormous risks, and not everyone was willing to take such deadly chances.

Also, a troop where everyone had a backpack was not something typical survivors could afford.

Backpacks were easy to find, but filling them with useful items was the challenge.

Although most city buildings seemed to remain intact, human survival resources had become pitifully scarce after just a few months.

Damaged packaging, expired food, grains contaminated by various filth, and Cockroaches and Rats that now specifically thrived in the food sections of supermarkets and malls…

In the past, when these pests weren’t yet carriers of the virus, humans could still consider the food they had damaged as edible. But now, with their reddish eyes staring back at you, who would dare eat…

Ling Mo hadn’t figured out how these little monsters had managed to survive, but their presence made resources even scarcer.

Only large Camps had the capability to produce food.

However, even those large Camps likely didn’t have enough food to go around…

Living was truly hard…

“If it’s really robbery, then you picked the wrong target.”

Ling Mo pressed his hand firmly against the wall, and a psychic tentacle quietly extended out, slowly penetrating the wall.

Despite being an invisible tentacle, it still consumed a lot of energy when penetrating obstacles.

Though Ling Mo didn’t care about this energy expenditure at the moment, he had no more virus potions to recover with, so he had to be cautious. Just one tentacle to probe should suffice.

As the tentacle emerged on the other side of the wall, a flash of surprise crossed Ling Mo’s eyes.

His opponent probably wouldn’t guess he had this ability…

But then, Ling Mo’s expression abruptly changed.

“What’s going on?”

Under his mental control, the tentacle continuously moved and extended on the other side of the wall.

But… he hadn’t found another obstacle!

“Wait… maybe it’s an open street outside…”

Ling Mo quickly directed the tentacle downward, plunging it in.

Suddenly, Ling Mo’s expression changed to one of sheer disbelief.

This can’t be!

Unless he was on a high-rise building, that plunge should have hit the ground!

Yet he was certain that he had entered through a stairwell, and it had only taken him two to three minutes of searching; the nearest high-rise was still across the street, so how could he have ended up there?

Whether it was a hallucination or something else, it was all based on the opponent’s psychic power.

No matter how strong their psychic power, it was impossible for them to make him climb a high-rise without his notice…

Just like Ling Mo, who nearly trained his psychic power twenty-four hours a day and had the ability to Devour.

But he didn’t constantly seek Zombies to Devour because having just psychic power wasn’t enough; he also needed enough willpower.

In other words, it’s not just about using a hose to fill a pond with water. The pond itself must be sturdy enough and also expandable.

And the difficulty of this task was incredibly high…

The main reason why Ling Mo’s psychic strength was greater than that of the general Survivor was because he continuously controlled Zombie Puppets, constantly undergoing training. Not everyone could do such a thing.

Simply put, Ling Mo was perpetually in a life-or-death crisis.

If he became too lax, the psychic link could break.

Especially with Xiao Bai and Yu Shiran—one was a purely wild mutation beast, full of ferocity.

The other had an unstable mental state, making maintaining the link even more exhausting than with Ye Lian and was always thinking of escaping…

In this situation, Ling Mo’s willpower naturally became increasingly firm…

However, the current circumstance was too unexpected, and Ling Mo couldn’t help but furrow his brows.

His Puppet Control ability was actually not one that relies on the main body being powerful.

But through sheer effort, he turned what could have been a “weak-as-the-main-body-type” superhuman—one who might just hide in a corner and rely on Zombie Puppets to battle and scavenge for supplies—into what he was now.

It’s worth noting that, based solely on talent, Ling Mo’s ability would only be considered average.

Even if others awakened this ability, they wouldn’t bother upgrading the Zombie Puppets and certainly wouldn’t protect them. That would be putting the cart before the horse…

If a Zombie Puppet died, they could just get another one…

Compared to those mental ability superhumans who could create hallucinations and even influence minds, Ling Mo’s ability was a step behind.

“So what? Without the Puppet Control ability, I wouldn’t be able to stay together with Ye Lian and the others… This ability is the most suitable for me. Whether it’s a hallucination or something else, since we’re still in that previous space, no matter how things change, the range remains fixed.”

Thinking this, Ling Mo took a deep breath and calmed himself.

Ling Mo began to recall the specific layout of the Staff Passage…

Because of his psychic probe ability, he knew there were no Zombies in this passage. So Ling Mo had led everyone through the main passage without making a thorough search.

Thinking back now, he realized there was probably a side path that led to the Monitoring Room. He had merely flashed his Flashlight in that direction.

There were also Restrooms and some storage rooms.

The doors to those rooms were all open, and there seemed to be nothing worth searching for inside.

The entire main passage essentially had a “Z” shape, with just two or three turns, one end connected to the stairs and the other to the exit.

“If they had to choose, they wouldn’t pick a complex environment…”

Ling Mo had completely calmed down by this point. He had encountered many different superhuman abilities and knew that even those with mental abilities might not operate the same way he had seen before. Such anomalies were not worth panicking over.

When dealing with superhumans, it’s all about who exposes their cards the fastest—the sooner you’re figured out, the sooner you die.

The Little Zombie Puppet continued walking along the wall, leaving a trail of blood.

Since they were still in that previous space, the scent of blood should be a strong tracker…

“It’s unlikely that Ye Lian and the others would catch the scent, but Yu Shiran should be able to… If Mu Chen is also trapped here, he would probably find a way to bandage his wounds, obstructing Yu Shiran from tracking him.”

As Ling Mo thought this, he continued moving without stopping.

He was walking with his eyes closed, retracing the route from his memory.

Visuals could be distorted and his mind could be influenced, but this method was worth trying…

“Why haven’t they come back yet?” Xu Shuhan asked, looking into the Mall.

She glanced back at Ye Lian and the others, who were huddled together, talking.

“Wonder if Zombies know how to care for others…” Xu Shuhan couldn’t help but think.

At this moment, Xia Na raised her head, closed her eyes to sense for a moment, then opened them and said, “No worries, he’s still over there; probably still searching.”