Chapter 1261: The Combat Race
Chapter 1261: The Combat Race
The last time I saw this kind of Creature was a few months ago… There’s no helping it, Ling Mo really doesn’t know what to call them. If he calls them baby zombies, the zombies he’s seen always use their own children as cannonballs…
This really is a thoroughly combat-oriented race…
Just as Ling Mo got a clear look at the baby zombie, more screams erupted from behind other doors. Immediately, a slew of doors were flung open, and wave after wave of Dark Shadows pounced at them in rapid succession.
“Wow! Kids!” Li Yalin’s eyes widened.
Ling Mo blocked the baby zombies with a protective net, shouting loudly amidst their frenzied tearing, “Senior Sister, calm down! These aren’t ordinary kids, they’re the ultimate Brats!”
Unexpectedly, Yu Shiran, who had been silent all this time, suddenly snorted, “How foolish. Ferocity is the standard for judging whether a zombie baby is cute, you know?”
“Pa!”
Ling Mo took the opportunity to smack her on the head, instantly wiping away her smug expression. “Is this the time for you to sell me out! Even if you can’t help but betray your teammates, at least read the room!”
But while he was talking, Li Yalin couldn’t help but let out an “ah,” and darted out.
She moved incredibly fast-almost before Ling Mo’s heart could skip a beat, she was already behind a baby zombie lunging at her. With a strange smile, Li Yalin reached out midair and grabbed the nape of the baby zombie.
Although this baby zombie was still acting on instinct, its physical reaction speed was already impressive. Almost as soon as it was grabbed, it began to struggle violently, even desperately twisting its head to bite Li Yalin’s wrist.
Watching this scene, Ling Mo, a human, couldn’t help but click his tongue… Although he’d already known from the commotion that trouble was coming, he hadn’t expected the enemy to unleash a batch of rampage-level infant killers with no instinctive fear at all.
At this moment, he also noticed that it wasn’t just the one Li Yalin caught-other baby zombies were just as ferocious. Although they crashed into Ling Mo’s protective net, they quickly opened their mouths and began biting at the invisible barrier, their limbs flailing wildly. Their tiny hands had already popped out half-inch-long sharp nails, and their gaping mouths were filled with dense, shrill screams.
Ling Mo suddenly had a rather terrifying thought… Once these little things are formed, they could probably bite through their own umbilical cords, tear open their own bellies, and crawl out themselves… And thinking further, it actually seemed possible, since he’d never seen a pregnant zombie up to now.
The gestation period for zombies is extremely short. Even if they really give birth this way, they can rely on their own healing abilities to quickly recover from the wounds. But during this period, the zombie’s own attack power would definitely decrease, so they rely on the baby zombies’ innate hunting instincts.
Thinking of this, Ling Mo felt a chill run down his back. This nearly perfect method of child-rearing probably only exists among zombies. If not for the intense internal elimination among them, their terror might be more than double what it is now.
At the same time, Ling Mo suddenly understood the brutality of those areas completely controlled by zombies. By comparison, the situation for people like them was probably already considered lucky.
“But once those foreign zombies fully mobilize, the zombies here will end up being controlled or eliminated just like humans. So, speaking broadly, there’s not much difference between the situations of humans and zombies…” Ling Mo couldn’t help but think. But this thought couldn’t change the situation in front of them-the number of baby zombies was just too great…
At this moment, the baby zombie caught by Li Yalin had already been forcibly lifted in front of her with a seemingly gentle gesture. The little thing was still struggling madly, but unfortunately, all its attacks were slower than Li Yalin’s movements.
So Li Yalin, while deftly blocking all its attacks with a teasing gesture, smiled and said to it, “Good boy, can you smile? Give me a smile. Or you can cry for me…”
Ling Mo’s scalp tingled as he listened. He wondered what kind of expression Yuwen Xuan would have if he saw his younger cousin radiating maternal glow at a baby zombie. But when he turned to look, he was dumbfounded to find Yuwen Xuan shouting “ah ah” as he hurled fireballs at the baby zombies. He was shouting especially loudly, clearly trying to drown out Li Yalin’s voice.
It’s really not easy… Ling Mo thought to himself.
At this point, he finally understood the situation on this floor… Damn, this is basically a giant gestation pod. Presumably, all the newborn zombies in the town are here, which means this place is actually a maternity ward. ȒἈ𝐍𝖔ꞖÊ𝐒
Now he also understood why the zombies insisted on driving them here… Their biggest purpose was probably to use these living beings to feed the baby zombies.
If they had been killed by those guys downstairs ahead of time, then their corpses would probably have already been sent up. Now that they could enter here, it might be an accident for the “designer.”
This might also be why Fang Zhou had to meddle; if he hadn’t deliberately provoked those little guys, maybe Ling Mo and the others could have walked safely for a while longer. But that would have been it. What would happen after the safe distance would surely not differ much from Ling Mo’s previous guesses.
“Aw aw aw!”
The baby zombies kept screaming. Ling Mo suddenly flung out the protective net, forcibly opening up some distance while also taking out a few of them. After the baby zombies hit the ground, their fate was unknown, but judging by their size, Ling Mo felt his hit rate wasn’t that high. Without stopping, he shouted, “Run!”
At this point, the others also quickly finished off the baby zombies they were fighting. Even Li Yalin reluctantly gave up on the baby zombie that was growing increasingly hostile toward her, tossing it back into the room in one go. The group fought as they retreated, hurrying toward the stairs. However, just then, another strange sound came from behind those open doors.
“Whoosh!”
A pair of hands suddenly shot out from the crack in the door. Xu Shuhan was caught off guard and was instantly grabbed.
“Ah!”
She was silent for about a tenth of a second, then let out a scream that drowned out all the baby zombies. At the same time, she twisted hard and, at a speed invisible to the naked eye, darted behind Ling Mo, leaping onto his back.
Ling Mo only felt a sudden weight on his body, and the next moment, screams kept coming from above his head. But he had no time to ask, because the owner of those hands had already been dragged out by Xu Shuhan’s movement.
A baby zombie’s mother…
She seemed to have just given birth not long ago. Her complexion wasn’t the usual pale of zombies but had a bluish tint. Ling Mo looked closely and realized that the so-called blue was actually the blood vessels on the zombie’s face. But after understanding, her appearance became visually terrifying.
In addition, although her eyes were completely blood-red, they didn’t have the same feeling as a common zombie’s. Instead, it looked as if blood might spill out at any moment.
After a brief shock, Ling Mo immediately looked at her abdomen. Sure enough, there was a tear in her clothes, the edges soaked with blood, and the exposed skin was also covered in blood. Ling Mo even vaguely saw a light pink mark, presumably a wound that had only just healed.
Just as I thought!
Ling Mo felt his head swell… This method of giving birth was just too crude and direct…
This female zombie was the first to crawl out. Although there were also noises from the other rooms, most only had a hand sticking out. So as everyone looked around and continued to retreat, their main attention was focused on this female zombie.
“Giggle giggle…” The female zombie let out a low sound from her throat, then suddenly lunged at Ling Mo and his group. Her movements were so frenzied that Ling Mo immediately thought of one word: fiercely protective of her child.
But this was a battle between two species, and Ling Mo wouldn’t show mercy just because of that thought. He immediately sent out his Tentacle, while Yuwen Xuan, in shock, let out a “wah” and released a fireball.
“Boom!”
The female zombie’s movement was interrupted by Ling Mo’s Tentacle, causing her body to stagger mid-run, and Yuwen Xuan’s fireball swept over, burning her clothes off.
She died.
But just as the corpse was about to fall, Ling Mo’s eyes suddenly widened.
He stared at the corpse’s belly and shouted, “Careful! There seems to be another one!”
That belly had just clearly moved…
Ling Mo didn’t know what was going on, but since it happened to a zombie, anything was possible.
When a hand suddenly reached out from inside the belly, Ling Mo was horrified to realize that this baby zombie hadn’t fully matured yet. But because the Progenitor had died, it sensed danger and had to force itself out early.
The birth process of this baby zombie was actually very fast. By the time Ling Mo and the others snapped out of their shock, it had already crawled completely out of the Progenitor’s belly.
And as soon as it was born, it opened a pair of blood-red eyes and stared straight at Ling Mo.
“Aw!” it suddenly opened its mouth and cried out.
The whole floor instantly fell silent, and then, a large number of female zombies howled and charged out, while this baby zombie, after a brief pause, suddenly pounced at Ling Mo…
Crap… You can’t kill a pregnant female zombie lightly…
Ling Mo realized this at once.
But that didn’t mean they were cruel. This kind of thing was common even among zombies, let alone between two opposing species. For example, Xia Na and the others were very calm.
But after taking another look at that corpse, Xia Na suddenly froze, and the Scythe she was about to swing paused as well. Just that brief hesitation caused her movements to stall, and a Female Zombie charged right up to her, raising its sharp claws.
At this moment, everyone was already engaged with the Female Zombies, and no one had time to notice Xia Na’s strange behavior. Even when Ling Mo realized it, it was already too late.
But just then, an unexpectedly soft hand suddenly reached out from Xia Na’s side and grabbed the Female Zombie’s wrist.
The movement of this hand looked gentle, but what happened next made everyone instantly realize-it only looked gentle! Because when it let go, the Female Zombie’s arm just dropped limply.
Ling Mo immediately turned his head and met Ye Lian’s slightly dazed gaze. However, her eyes only looked confused for a moment before suddenly clearing up.
A faint chill flashed in her eyes, but this coldness was different from that in other zombies’ eyes-it felt calm. Yet when she looked at Ling Mo, that coldness diminished significantly.
Just a second later, she spoke: “The real trouble isn’t here. These zombies are being commanded.” After saying this, she swayed a little, and when she steadied herself again, the light in her eyes was gone, and she returned to her bewildered state.
“Ah, she’s in standby mode again.” Li Yalin killed a Female Zombie and turned her head to say.
…It took Ling Mo several seconds to pull himself out of his chaotic thoughts. Ye Lian could wake up briefly-did this mean her evolution had reached the point where it couldn’t be delayed any longer?
As soon as he voiced this thought in his mind, Xia Na, who had snapped back to herself, shook her head and said, “Yes, but not quite. She was in great shape just now, which means there’s still some time… just not much.”
Ling Mo glanced at her and asked, “What happened to you just now?”
Xia Na shook her head in confusion and said, “I don’t know… For a moment there, I seemed to… suddenly feel an emotion called sympathy…”
Sympathy?
Ling Mo was startled again. Although Xia Na possessed some humanity, she really didn’t feel much emotion. And sympathy was supposed to be a rather ‘advanced’ emotion…
But looking at Xia Na’s expression, Ling Mo fell silent again. Once more, he felt that letting zombies possess those complex human emotions-he really didn’t know if it was good or bad…
“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Xia Na gave him another sly smile.
But this time, Ling Mo felt her smile wasn’t as sinister as before.
It seemed they couldn’t stay on this floor any longer…
The commander Ye Lian mentioned… where could it be?
Ling Mo thought, and suddenly looked up toward the upper floor.
If he wasn’t mistaken, when Ye Lian spoke, she seemed to glance at the Ceiling…
“It’s upstairs!”
Ling Mo decided to trust his understanding of Ye Lian… He couldn’t be wrong.
“Shake them off, we’re going up!” Ling Mo shouted.
Ye Lian’s voice earlier hadn’t been loud, and the change was so brief that not everyone noticed. Now, hearing Ling Mo’s sudden shout, Yuwen Xuan, Xu Shuhan, and the others who were fighting the Female Zombies all froze for a moment.
Shake them off? Would that work? These Female Zombies looked like they wouldn’t stop until they killed them all. Yu Shiran was especially frustrated-she’d secretly unleashed her Senior Zombie aura several times, but the Female Zombies simply ignored it.
“Listen to me!” Ling Mo added.
As he spoke, Xia Na and the others were already moving. She and Li Yalin, one in front and one behind, charged into the zombie encirclement, swinging their weapons.
Black Silk leapt in front of Yuwen Xuan and the others, punching each Female Zombie in the knee and sending them flying.
“Aren’t you going to retreat?!” Black Silk shouted without looking back.
At this point, Yuwen Xuan realized Ling Mo was serious.
No matter what, just run first!
The group managed to force open a gap in the Female Zombie horde and moved with difficulty through the Corridor. During this, several baby zombies suddenly pounced, but were blocked by Ling Mo’s protective net. These babies were fast, but too weak, so it was hard for them to break through Ling Mo’s defense.
Ling Mo felt he was moving as fast as possible, but by the time they reached the stairwell, two or three minutes had already passed…
“Go!”
Ling Mo glanced back at the pitch-black stairway and shouted.