Chapter 1276: Sneaking into the School
Chapter 1276: Sneaking into the School
Near a small school in town…
The area looked desolate; there was no sound, nor any sign of life. Apart from the rampant growth of various plants bursting through the fence, all that remained was a ground littered with debris. If someone were just passing by, not only would they find nothing of interest, they wouldn’t even bother to take a closer look. There were no supplies to scavenge here, nor was it a good place to take shelter. On the contrary, there might be unexpected dangers lurking-like elementary school students who had evolved into Senior Zombies, or a red-eyed homeroom teacher roaring “Bring your parents here!”… Either one would be a nightmare.
But in reality, if someone were to observe carefully, they’d notice that every few minutes, a figure would briefly appear on the Rooftop of the Teaching Building. Although this figure moved quickly, his gaze would sweep far beyond the school grounds before circling to another direction.
After patrolling for an entire day, just as night was about to fall, the moment his gaze shifted away from the area near the school gate, a blurry figure quietly emerged from behind an abandoned car.
The shadow cautiously poked its head out for a look, then swiftly slipped under the fence, flipping over without pause and landing lightly in the waist-high wild grass.
“Alright, I’m in.” The shadow let out a quiet breath.
Naturally, the shadow sneaking into the elementary school was the Zombie Puppet controlled by Ling Mo… After confirming the address, he immediately set out with Chen Wen’s ring. Although this move was extremely risky… perhaps even Chen Wen hadn’t expected him to infiltrate directly, at most just approach the entrance, but for Ling Mo, it was absolutely necessary.
If he kept relying on the personnel prepared by Chief of Staff Wang, he’d never truly seize the initiative. Only intelligence obtained directly from this person’s hands might reveal the truth hidden behind layers of fog. Besides, even in the worst-case scenario, Ling Mo would only lose a Zombie Puppet. Of course, unless absolutely necessary, he didn’t want to see that happen. After all, this “weapon” relied on surprise; exposing it too early would be a waste.
As for Chen Wen’s instructions, Ling Mo didn’t fully trust them either. Take this school, for example… After arriving, Ling Mo had hidden in the shadows for half a day. Only after discovering the sentry and deducing his patrol pattern did Ling Mo begin his move.
He first chose this timing… At nightfall, as darkness set in, it not only helped conceal his figure, but should also be the time for those inside to change shifts. Even if not, they ought to rest for a while.
After calculating when the sentry would next pass by, Ling Mo slipped out of the grass, quickly moving toward the Teaching Building, using the flowerbed and other cover for concealment.
This elementary school wasn’t large; aside from an empty playground, there were only two buildings. Ling Mo had observed from afar and found that the two buildings were actually connected by a Corridor on the second floor. The sentry was in the taller building, meaning it had a better view, but which building Chief of Staff Wang was in couldn’t be deduced from the outside.
“This Wang is really cautious… deliberately choosing such a spot with a great view, and not stationing anyone outside… That way, even if someone tries to approach, they probably wouldn’t expect anyone to be inside before entering the Teaching Building. The sentry is also hard to spot-he only appears for less than two seconds each time. If you weren’t watching closely, you’d think you were seeing things…” Ling Mo couldn’t help but think to himself.
But comparing the arrangements, it was clear that Chief of Staff Wang’s choice of hiding place was strikingly similar to the one Ling Mo’s group had found. The difference was, Ling Mo’s location wasn’t actually concealed at all. For Chief of Staff Wang, Ling Mo could be in the hospital, hiding nearby, or lurking among Mu Chen and the others-each possibility was about a third. But precisely because it was uncertain, he could only probe.
“I know he’s made preparations, but isn’t he also worried I’ve set something up in secret? Fine, mutual wariness and suspicion make the game interesting…”
In just five seconds, Ling Mo had reached the Teaching Building. Up close, aside from bloodstains at the stairwell and scattered across the outer walls, there wasn’t a single sound inside. Not even a hint of light, let alone noise.
Ling Mo used the Zombie’s eyes to scan inch by inch, then cautiously extended a Tentacle.
“Hmm? No psychic sensing?” Ling Mo was stunned for a moment, then quickly understood, “So that’s it… He’s making absolutely sure he won’t be discovered… But isn’t this a bit too cautious?”
Ling Mo shook his head inwardly, then quietly pressed himself against the wall of the Teaching Building. After watching the stairwell for a while, he decisively reached out both hands, gripping the outer wall lightly.
Next, his fingernails bent inward slightly, his feet pushed off the wall, and in the next moment he was already at a height almost level with the second floor.
In such dim lighting, as long as he stuck to the wall, he was safe. He’d verified this himself-no mistakes.
Actually, this kind of Teaching Building was easy to observe, since the area outside the Corridor was empty, and the other side was classrooms. But likewise, it was hard to find a suitable hiding spot here. To gather as much intelligence as possible, the first thing was not to be discovered.
Ling Mo chose to stick to the wall, then slowly approached the window at the Corridor’s corner. But as soon as he got close to the second-floor window, his heart suddenly pounded wildly.
He pressed himself to the side in an instant and immediately held his breath.
There was actually a gun barrel!
And it was carefully camouflaged!
With the Zombie Puppet’s eyesight, he had observed from outside all afternoon and still hadn’t seen it… Even just now, in that split second, he almost blocked the gun barrel.
Although this Zombie Puppet’s body was hard to see with the naked eye, it was obvious that this Sniper Rifle must be equipped with an infrared scope.
“That was close…” Ling Mo glanced up at the other windows… Most likely, behind each of these windows, there was a Sniper…
Thinking about it this way, maybe the sentry on the rooftop was actually a trap, meant to make people think they’d evaded the patrol, only to step out and be exposed right under the Sniper Rifle’s barrel. ȑãɴọ฿Ě𐌔
Ling Mo couldn’t help but feel lucky. If he hadn’t been so cautious, sticking to the edges even while invisible, he might have had his head blown off for no reason by now. And if the corpse was left in place, although it wouldn’t expose Ling Mo behind it, it was obvious that the enemy’s security would become even tighter. Next time he tried to get in, it wouldn’t be as smooth as this time.
“Damn, always playing these double traps. So annoying… But this does remind me. This guy is so careful even under his own nose, I need to be extra cautious.” Ling Mo cursed inwardly, then bypassed the window, crawling slowly along the wall into the Ceiling of the Corridor.
As soon as he entered the Corridor, he looked down from above and saw a figure. The figure was wearing headphones, fully focused on the scope, completely unaware that a Zombie had crawled just above him.
Ling Mo stared at him for a moment, noticed the headphones he was wearing, and silently crawled further in.
Killing a single Sniper wouldn’t help at all, and might immediately alert everyone, which was obviously not a worthwhile move. After entering the Corridor, Ling Mo crawled forward along the Ceiling.
At first, he carefully observed the interiors of the classrooms, but soon he thought of another possibility.
“Even if most of this building isn’t covered by psychic sensing, there must be extra guards near Wang’s residence. So I just need to head toward where the people are.” Thinking this, Ling Mo sniffed, then quickly crawled up the stairs.
He was now completely inside the Teaching Building, just sticking to the Ceiling the whole time. At one point, he even crawled right over a Sniper’s head, with less than thirty centimeters between them. If he made a bigger move, the other might have sensed something. When they brushed past each other, the Sniper even sensitively left the scope for a moment and glanced around. When he looked up, Ling Mo, who met his gaze, was so startled his scalp nearly exploded.
Luckily, the man was just sensitive. Not seeing the Zombie Puppet, he muttered something and lowered his head.
“Found it!”
After Sensing all the way, Ling Mo finally arrived at the door of an office. But before figuring out how to crawl in, Ling Mo suddenly realized… he didn’t know what Chief of Staff Wang looked like…
“No problem… I can observe…” Ling Mo comforted himself, while starting to observe the office.
This room was also located at the corner of the Corridor, seemingly inconspicuous, with the door tightly shut and not a hint of light coming from inside. But Ling Mo smelled the most people from here.
In addition, there were two Snipers stationed on this floor, and judging by their shooting range, they could cover anyone approaching this floor from all directions, and even turn to fight inside the building.
Moreover, outside this room, Ling Mo Sensed a faint, almost imperceptible energy fluctuation… So he stopped several meters away, to avoid touching this energy. Actually, with this Zombie Puppet’s evolution level, he shouldn’t be able to sense it so keenly, but while moving, Ling Mo kept his Tentacle released, and weakened its energy as much as possible.
Being able to do this was a result of Ling Mo’s Superpower evolving to this level… If he wasn’t worried about being detected, he could even send his spiritual body Xiao Hei directly through the door. In fact, ever since he learned Zhang She was the traitor, he also knew exactly how much Chief of Staff Wang understood about them.
Still only what they knew back at Miracle Base… After that, although he evolved, Zhang She slipped away at that time. And even if he knew, he couldn’t inform Chief of Staff Wang in time. Besides Ling Mo himself, Xia Na and the others’ evolution, and Ye Lian’s current state, were all things Chief of Staff Wang didn’t know.
He probably never imagined that in less than a month, Ling Mo’s group would have another collective power boost… And what the enemy didn’t know was precisely Ling Mo’s biggest Trump card right now.
So until the last moment, he didn’t want to expose it easily.
“But plans never keep up with changes… Now the problem is…”
How should he get in?
“The windows are all closed, the curtains are open but I can’t risk peeking in. After all, this Zombie Puppet is only semi-transparent, not completely invisible… Ugh, this is really troublesome…” Ling Mo hung less than ten meters from the nearest Sniper, racking his brains…