Chapter 741 – Learning a New Term

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Apart from those fixed to the ground, many similar iron rings hung in the air, with iron chains dangling from the Ceiling, resembling countless shadows suspended above.

Ye Lian and the three girls cautiously navigated around the iron rings on the floor while avoiding the dangling chains, slowly making their way inside. Through Xia Na’s perspective, Ling Mo saw many bloodstains on the ground, resembling rust on the Rebar. Beneath the rings were some black clumps, whose nature was unmistakable.

The strange smell Yu Shiran mentioned emanated from this kind of room-a mix of blood, rot, and disinfectant. No wonder the scent was odd… Ling Mo had already experienced this in the Experimental Group, so he wasn’t particularly bothered. However, Ye Lian and the others wrinkled their noses in disgust, Yu Shiran even pouted, displaying clear disdain.

Blocked by the hanging iron chains, the inside of the room wasn’t visible at first glance. Xia Na bent slightly to peek through a gap, and the first thing she saw was half of an empty iron cage. The cage was built low with limited space, making it impossible for an adult to stretch out or even lift their head easily. Under such conditions, escape was out of the question; the mere confinement was torture enough.

The cage, too, was marred with rust-like stains, with a large puddle of blood congealed at the base.

Covered in a faint Red Glimmer, the appearance of the cage made Ling Mo feel uneasy.

Xia Na, on the other hand, curiously examined the half-visible cage while slowly walking towards it.

“Bang!”

A Dark Shadow suddenly lunged forward, slamming into the cage with a dull thud.

“Aargh…”

The shadow let out a hoarse cry, baring blood-red gums and half-missing teeth.

Xia Na remained calm, though Ling Mo felt his Temple twitch.

This thing popped out too suddenly…

“Come take a look,” Xia Na called out.

The Dark Shadow’s face was mostly obscured by the cage, but as Xia Na approached, Ling Mo gradually made out its features.

With its ghastly pale skin, emaciated body, partially bald head, and twisted expression…

This female Zombie had both hands and feet locked by iron rings. Her legs were restrained to one side of the cage, while her hands were suspended overhead. This posture rendered her unable to exert any force, as she remained partially suspended. Due to the prolonged crooked position, her neck had evidently deformed, turning her into a genuine crooked-neck person.

She now stared at the three female Zombies outside the cage through blood-red eyes, her head lolling to one side.

It was the first time the Three Girls had seen their kind in such a state, leaving them momentarily silent.

A minute later, Yu Shiran was the first to speak. Hesitantly, she said, “This… can’t be considered a girl, right?”

The female Zombie’s face was twisted and deformed, and although she seemed young, her nearly bald head was far from any girlish image…

“Arrgh!” The female Zombie threw herself against the cage again. Her movement not only caused the ground-fixed cage to shake but also seemed to stretch her entire body forcibly.

“See if there’s anything special about her,” Xia Na broke the spell, speaking.

Ye Lian, her eyes wide with shock, continued to stare at the caged Zombie: “She… she’s already… very special…”

The female Zombie was about to crash into the cage again when she suddenly met Xia Na’s gaze.

A pair of eyes-one red, one black-locked onto the female Zombie’s eyes in an instant.

The female Zombie froze, then desperately tried to retreat while keeping her head crooked.

“Don’t move!” Xia Na commanded coldly.

The female Zombie’s Intelligence was evidently very low, and she might not even understand human speech. However, the intimidation from an Advanced kind left her rigid, as though she had plunged into an icy pit.

“This trick is quite effective…” Ling Mo remarked, impressed.

At this moment, he was in Xia Na’s mind, and he could fully empathize with the sensation she felt just now.

In that instant, Xia Na’s two personalities seemed to merge, fully entering Zombie mode. The instinctual intimidation from Black Na, combined with Nana’s psychic power, created a formidable killing intent that was even stronger than that of an average dominant level Zombie. This was the first time Ling Mo had seen her use this ability, and it appeared to be incredibly effective…

When the female Zombie made eye contact with her, it was as if she had been hypnotized, her eyes reflecting deep fear.

Ling Mo speculated that she might have seen some kind of illusion in Xia Na’s Red Eyes…

The female Zombie calmed down, but Ye Lian and the three girls became restless. Initially, seeing them frozen, Ling Mo thought it was out of fear or a sense of impending danger, but it turned out they were just curious! He had felt a pang of guilt, thinking he shouldn’t have brought them along, only to quickly realize how naive he had been…

“Everything’s normal at the bifurcation.”

“Normal…”

Watching the Three Girls closely examine the female Zombie and hearing their reports, Ling Mo’s expression grew increasingly bizarre…

What had these Zombie girls been secretly watching all this time?

“Ah! Here!” Yu Shiran suddenly made a discovery.

Xia Na immediately leaned in, and Ling Mo focused his attention.

At first glance, he was dazzled by two white patches. Then he saw what the Silver Thread was pointing to.

“What is this…”

It was something resembling a tail, tightly adhered to her body and matching her skin color, making it hard to notice at first glance. But now, upon closer inspection, it made Ling Mo’s scalp tingle. This was clearly not some kind of mutated tumor, because when the silver thread poked it, it produced a “ding” sound…

“Exoskeleton? Or an extension of a deformed spine?” Ling Mo instantly hypothesized.

As soon as he had this thought, Xia Na abruptly stood up and continued to move deeper inside.

Inside the room were not just one, but several cages, all firmly fixed to the ground and connected to electrical circuits.

Following the thick power cables, Xia Na quickly located another cage.

The Zombie inside did not react at all when she glared at it, and soon Xia Na found a similar “tail” on this one too.

Ling Mo searched his memory and quickly recalled something. Back with the F Team, he had encountered similar Zombies… They weren’t exactly variation zombies, but they had gradually begun to mutate in the wild, becoming something between a common zombie and a variation zombie. They retained some Intelligence and had gained stronger combat abilities…

However, what he had found back then were just the nascent forms of such Zombies, unlike the more fully developed ones seen in Niepan.

“What is Niepan trying to breed here…? Or could it be that these are…”

“…Nana…” Ye Lian’s voice suddenly came through.

Xia Na hurriedly ran over, only to see Ye Lian standing at a desk, holding a notebook.

“Let me see…”

Xia Na took the notebook, and as soon as she opened it, Ling Mo’s eyes lit up.

The handwriting! It was identical to the notes he had found in the Dongming branch!

Clearly, it was recorded by the same person!

“…Zombies that undergo mutation can be roughly categorized into three types. The first type involves ordinary zombies that gain evolutionary abilities through an enhancement. I prefer to consider this form of mutation as a qualitative change that occurs after an accumulation of evolutions… Unfortunately, the quantity of such Zombies is too low; we haven’t yet captured a specimen for further research and validation of this hypothesis…”

Upon reading this highlighted sentence, Ling Mo was stunned.

This person was undoubtedly the most impressive researcher he had encountered so far! They could infer so much with just conjecture!

“The second type is Zombies born from a mutated virus, inherently different, with both defects and strengths coexisting.” Next to this was a note, “We’ve already captured a specimen. What should we name it… Let’s call it 101. I really like ‘101 Dalmatians,’ it’s my favorite movie…”

“Imbecile, you even got the movie title wrong! And why are you jotting down random thoughts in such an important set of notes?” Ling Mo fumed.

Fortunately, Xia Na had already turned the page: “The third type results from the collaboration between common zombies and the second type. Currently, their numbers are minimal, but the potential for artificial cultivation is high… The failures in artificial cultivation result in deformed spines that can’t retract, which is extremely disappointing…”

“It’s your own failure, why blame the test subjects…” Ling Mo’s impression of this researcher was overturned by these notes. It seemed that instead of being merely cruel, this person was more of a lunatic!

“…Number 1 has some qualities that could be mass-produced, but if it could be combined with No.0’s psychic power, that would create the perfect humanoid weapon. However, the issue of Intelligence remains unsolved…” This line was followed by a large question mark, with no further notes, indicating that the researcher hadn’t yet figured out a suitable solution.

Ling Mo wasn’t surprised by this. The higher the Intelligence of the zombie, the less likely it was to obey humans. This was because they had a thorough understanding of their intrinsic nature as zombies and knew how to exploit it. However, Ye Lian and the others were exceptions. Although Ling Mo wouldn’t risk severing the psychic link, he had experienced many such moments firsthand.

At this point, no matter how much Ye Lian and the others evolved, they no longer displayed genuine killing intent toward him as they once did.

This realization made Ling Mo feel quite content; he couldn’t help but smile a bit as he thought about it…

“Wait, wait, wait! I haven’t finished reading yet! Don’t turn the page so quickly! Don’t skip ahead!”

Ling Mo snapped back to attention instantly.