Chapter 921: Chapter 684: One Advantage of Zombies is Their Resistance to Damage

In the dim and silent hallway, two figures sat facing each other.

Ling Mo had initially planned to take Xu Shuhan into a room, but seeing her on the verge of a breakdown, and considering his own miserable state, he quickly decided against it.

Besides his physical exhaustion, Ling Mo was also enduring the side effects from the female zombies’ enhancements.

Not only did he feel intense dizziness, but his muscles occasionally twitched as if injected with steroids, causing his brain to make a “gurgling” sound.

“Are you drunk?” Xu Shuhan curled up in the corner, looking at Ling Mo who was sitting on the steps, and asked.

Ling Mo, with his head resting against the wall and his eyes staring blankly at her, indeed looked like he was in a drunken stupor.

“How could I be?” Ling Mo shook his hand and said, “Don’t you feel some sympathy for me?”

“Tch…” Xu Shuhan snorted coldly.

Leaving her in the hotel for so long and then making her bump into a wall the moment they met—what kind of “shared suffering” was that?! They called it a deal, but it was the first time she’d seen such an arrogant “partner”!

“Um… I guess Mu Chen hasn’t told you yet…” After a brief silence, Xu Shuhan hesitated and then muttered softly, “Thank you.”

“Huh?” Ling Mo, still dazed, lifted his head, but his glassy eyes didn’t look any more awake.

“Never mind!” Xu Shuhan snapped.

“Isn’t there a reward for this…” Ling Mo leaned back again, squinting as he spoke.

Xu Shuhan was taken aback at first, then started looking around for any weapon she could throw at him: “You…!” Finding nothing, she could only glare at Ling Mo in frustration, “How can you be such an idiot!”

“Do you really think the reward I gave you is worth my life? Or do you seriously believe that idiot Mu Chen working for a few days is enough?”

Xu Shuhan asked angrily.

“That’s just the interest…” Ling Mo corrected.

“You’re just giving him shelter! At most, it’s a mutual benefit; it can’t even be called interest!” Xu Shuhan interrupted Ling Mo, then pressed further, “What about me? How much do you think I need to pay for you to save my life?”

Ling Mo replied awkwardly, “You see, currency is useless now… otherwise, fifty cents would be nice…”

“Idiot!” Xu Shuhan couldn’t hold back any longer. She grabbed something off herself and threw it at him.

Ling Mo’s dizziness was due to his physical condition, but his Psychic Power was still intact.

Just before the object could hit his face, a tentacle intercepted it, and Ling Mo caught it in his hand.

“Isn’t this the pendant from your necklace?” Ling Mo squinted as he examined it.

The pendant was made of some synthetic crystal, and its smoothness indicated it had been worn for a long time.

Xu Shuhan was startled and quickly felt her neckline, shouting, “Give it back!”

“Nope, it’s a deposit.” Ling Mo casually put it in his pocket, saying, “It’s pretty good, right?”

“Good my ass…” Xu Shuhan almost cursed but held back at the last moment.

Ling Mo nodded, “Not bad, you still know how to maintain your image… You’re far from a complete mutation; that puts my mind at ease.”

Xu Shuhan glared at Ling Mo for a while, then slumped back in defeat, “Keep it then…”

“Honestly, I can’t quite figure you out. Why can’t you admit that, at your core, you’re actually a good person? At least in some matters, you’re quite humane…”

“Stop, stop, I don’t accept good person cards,” Ling Mo said, waving his hand seriously.

“Be serious!” Xu Shuhan fumed again. How could he always divert the topic at such moments?

“Alright, I’ve taken the deposit…” Ling Mo clearly didn’t want to continue this conversation. He braced himself against the wall and shakily stood up.

“Wait, one last question.” Xu Shuhan bit her lip and asked, “You… with them… have you thought about what you’ll do in the future?”

Ling Mo’s movements halted abruptly. He quietly looked at Xu Shuhan, his eyes suddenly brightening, but not showing any panic.

“I… I don’t know how you manage with them… but what if they lose control in the future? Look at me… this instinct is really hard to fight against! Or what if someone finds out?” Xu Shuhan started off anxiously, but the more she spoke, the softer her voice became.

Ling Mo didn’t interrupt her, but his unusually bright eyes made Xu Shuhan suddenly realize that she had asked a very foolish question.

Perhaps Ling Mo had already thought about these questions countless times in his mind.

As for the answer… everything he was doing now already indicated it.

“So… are you tired?” Xu Shuhan asked softly.

Ling Mo didn’t respond immediately. After a few seconds, he stepped down the stairs, braced himself against the wall, and walked over, squatting in front of Xu Shuhan: “See, you’re much calmer now than you were before.”

The topic shift was too abrupt!

Xu Shuhan was stunned for quite a while before she finally reacted.

She slightly opened her mouth, stared at Ling Mo with wide eyes, and nodded incredulously: “It’s true, I’m not as agitated as before… but you haven’t…”

“It’s just a diversion. By slightly shifting your attention, focusing on something else, your body quickly gets used to the feeling. Human adaptability is very strong, and zombies are even stronger. The fact that you can regain clarity of mind in such a situation shows that your willpower is also very strong.”

Ling Mo smiled as he spoke.

Xu Shuhan’s gaze flickered. If it weren’t for Xia Na’s reminder, she wouldn’t have been able to achieve this on her own.

“So that’s it…”

“But our conversation therapy ends here; we need something more practical.” As Ling Mo spoke, he took out a vial of medicine from his pocket.

“What’s this?” Xu Shuhan asked, her face full of shock.

“A serum used by Number 0, made by diluting the zombie virus with a prepared solution. It’s a moderate concentration, which should balance with the virus in your body…” Ling Mo explained as he unscrewed the cap.

“I know, I recognize this! But why are you bringing it out?” Xu Shuhan’s pores stood on end at the sight of the Virus; she hated it to death now.

Although she had retained her rationality, Xu Shuhan’s memories were still quite chaotic.

One could say that most of what she experienced in her confusion was not well remembered.

Mu Chen had told her quite a bit, but some things even he was unclear about.

Ling Mo brought the bottle to his nose and took a whiff: “Pretty good.”

The Virus’s scent immediately wafted into Xu Shuhan’s nose, causing her breathing to become rapid and her body to tense up instantly.

“Stay away… What are you trying to do!” Xu Shuhan retreated in panic. At this moment, Ling Mo seemed like a pervert to her, approaching with an injection and a wicked smile.

“Come on,” Ling Mo moved closer, “it’s not the first time, so why so nervous…”

“Stay away…” Xu Shuhan pressed herself into a corner, her feet scrambling on the ground, trying to fend off Ling Mo, “Stay away from me.”

Ling Mo was nearly kicked and crouched down with a somewhat helpless sigh.

This is the downside of retaining one’s rationality…

He shook the bottle, then blew a couple of strong breaths into it: “Want it? Can you still hold back?”

Xu Shuhan was practically trying to burrow into the wall, her nails scraping at it continuously.

“You bastard…”

Though her rational mind was screaming “no,” her body’s instinctual craving was screaming even louder.

This was the scent of the Virus…

Humans found it pungent, but zombies found it intoxicating, making their blood boil.

Even if one could resist the craving for the scent, the Virus itself, in order to evolve, would drive them to give in.

“Stop kicking; this is good medicine for you. If you don’t want to fully mutate, you have to drink this… Hey, stop kicking…”

Seeing that Xu Shuhan wasn’t listening, Ling Mo had no choice but to use his tentacles.

Her legs were suddenly bound together by an invisible rope, and her flailing arms were lifted high.

Xu Shuhan, her eyes red, watched Ling Mo approach with increasing tension, her breathing growing more and more rapid.

“Don’t…”

Xu Shuhan trembled, speaking with a mix of resistance and inner conflict.

“I won’t hurt you.”

Ling Mo held Xu Shuhan’s chin and brought the vial closer.

As the bottle neared, the scent grew stronger, and the screams within Xu Shuhan’s body began to drown out the warnings from her mind.

Before the bottle even touched her lips, Xu Shuhan suddenly bared her teeth and eagerly leaned forward, biting down on the bottle.

Ling Mo quickly pulled his hand back to avoid being bitten and lifted the bottle, watching the liquid rapidly flow into Xu Shuhan’s mouth: “Slow down, don’t bite through the bottle… Oh well, zombie stomach acid can handle anything… probably.”

Once the vial was completely empty, Xu Shuhan still had her mouth open, and the redness in her eyes had grown more intense.

As Ling Mo pinched her cheeks, he removed a small shard of glass from her mouth: “Don’t mind me, I was afraid you’d bite me…”

But Xu Shuhan didn’t react; her expression was vacant, clearly caught in another battle with the Virus.

“This should hold until we reach headquarters.” Ling Mo effortlessly lifted Xu Shuhan, then slung her over his shoulder. Using the wall for support, he struggled to stand up, “I thought my enhanced physique would make carrying three bags of cement easy… but I can barely handle one… Good thing she’s durable.”

“Speaking of which… where did that idiot go?”

While Ling Mo was laboriously carrying Xu Shuhan and gripping the handrail to climb up, the “idiot” he mentioned was wandering in another stairwell.

Mu Chen cupped his hands around his mouth, calling out softly, “Xu Shuhan? Captain? Ling Mo? Ling-Ge? Where are you guys… someone answer me…”