Chapter 748 – The Screaming “Face”

Before the action, Ling Mo curiously asked, “How did this Long-arm Zombie get its arms?”

He roughly guessed that these might be the two arms lost by the Progenitor Zombie of 101, but he still needed to confirm to be sure.

Lan Lan didn’t suspect anything strange about this. Zombies’ curiosity is part of their nature, and this zombie was just curious in a slightly different way.

She organized her words and explained in a manner that zombies could understand, “They were cut off from another zombie and then attached to this one while they were still fresh… But how exactly it succeeded, I don’t know.”

As she spoke, her tone inevitably became a bit uneasy.

Such things seemed normal to her, but saying it to a zombie felt quite awkward…

Would he become enraged and seek revenge on behalf of his kind? Lan Lan immediately felt a bit anxious…

After a few seconds of silence, Ling Mo calmly said, “Let’s go.”

“Huh? Okay…” Lan Lan quickly nodded.

…

In the dimly lit corridor, Lan Lan cautiously walked ahead, followed by a zombie with bloodshot eyes.

Lan Lan’s eyes occasionally shifted to the side, stealing glances backwards with her peripheral vision.

But aside from the corner of a white coat, she couldn’t see anything.

As they got closer to that door, Lan Lan suddenly whispered, “Um… could you maybe consider grabbing my arm or something? Grabbing my neck all the time makes it hard for me to walk, and it’s not convenient for you either, right?”

“I’m quite comfortable,” Ling Mo’s dry voice came from behind.

“How could that be…” Lan Lan pouted in dissatisfaction, making a grimace. But her tone was still full of pleading, sounding somewhat like she genuinely cared about Ling Mo.

“Because you’re short,” Ling Mo directly pointed out.

Trying to pull a trick? One sentence dashed your hopes.

And he was indeed telling the truth. Lan Lan was petite, and holding her by the neck felt no different from carrying a small cat.

“…” Lan Lan was speechless. She had actually been mocked by a Zombie!

Does he even understand the concept of “life is hard enough without being torn down”?

Talking so bluntly, no wonder he is just a Zombie!

“Curse you to be a lone Zombie forever!” Lan Lan inwardly grumbled.

Whether this Zombie was truly single-minded or was consciously guarding against her, it meant that this Zombie was genuinely not easy to deal with.

But… how could a human lose to a Zombie in terms of intelligence?

“Even if this Zombie has undergone brain mutations and increased intelligence, his thought processes are still his weak point! Simply put, he’s a brat among Zombies. When faced with a human brat, he still has to submit! The reason I failed just now was because I underestimated him and was careless. Now that I’m prepared, there’s no way I’ll lose to him. A Zombie that doesn’t eat people is not to be feared!”

After analyzing the situation, Lan Lan came to this conclusion.

She not only categorized Ling Mo as a “brat” but also shamelessly defined herself in the same way.

The only difference was the species…

“…I hope he doesn’t suddenly get hungry,” Lan Lan thought to herself.

Thinking of this, Lan Lan’s expression turned sorrowful again. No matter what, she was indeed at a disadvantage right now…

In no time, the human and the Zombie arrived at the door. Upon closer inspection, Ling Mo was somewhat surprised to find that it was a semi-automatic security door.

Usually, this door could only be opened with a password, but in case of a power outage, a special key could be used.

Lan Lan extended her hand and skillfully began pressing the code on the keypad.

She moved quickly, so fast that an average person wouldn’t be able to memorize the code in one go.

Actually, during their earlier encounter, Ling Mo had already noticed that Lan Lan was likely a superhuman with enhancement abilities. Her speed and reflexes were quite impressive, and her combat skills were decent. However, compared to someone like Xia Na, who had trained in martial arts since childhood, she was far behind. Even before Xia Na’s infection and mutation, she was much stronger than Lan Lan.

Ultimately, the environment here favored her; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to treat this place like her personal playground.

Unfortunately, today she had met her match…

Lan Lan had just pressed the keypad twice when she felt the Zombie’s grip tighten around her neck. That raspy voice mercilessly sounded again, “Move slower.”

“…” Lan Lan almost jabbed her fingers into the keypad in frustration. What kind of Zombie is this?

Not only does he need to remember the password, but he also directly makes demands!

“Blame your poor eyesight…” Lan Lan cursed inwardly, biting her lip.

With a bitter expression, she slowly entered a few more digits. Then a faint “click” sound was heard.

“Open the door,” Ling Mo commanded, his arm still curved, clearly not intending to let Lan Lan easily step inside.

Lan Lan was speechless once more. She sighed resignedly after a moment of silence and slowly pushed open the door.

An alarm was positioned on the floor just inside the entrance. If Lan Lan took two more steps, she would step on it.

“So there is a trap…” Ling Mo’s main body shook his head, then controlled the Zombie Puppet to say, “Stick to the edge and go in.”

At this point, Lan Lan was on the verge of tears. “What kind of Zombie is this!”

The level of caution and vigilance this Zombie showed had completely shattered her worldview, and her attempts at trickery being thwarted every time was getting downright frustrating!

He’s just a Zombie! Unable to outwit a Zombie, she might as well rename herself “Foolish Lan Lan”!

“I’m sorry, humanity; I’ve disgraced you…” Lan Lan thought miserably.

Behind the door was actually a foyer, with some coats hanging on the wall and even a potted plant in the corner.

But as they reached the plant, its leaves suddenly rustled, and a face emerged from within.

The face looked very human-like but was entirely red, with an expression as if it was in agonizing scream.

Ling Mo was initially startled but then realized it was a flower!

“What’s this?” Ling Mo wasn’t about to let Lan Lan off the hook and asked her directly.

“What?” she started to ask, only for her head to be turned and her gaze forcibly directed towards the plant.

Lan Lan pouted in frustration before casually responding, “It’s just a flower he planted when he was bored. It’s actually quite simple: soak the seeds in the virus and water it with blood every day.”

Ling Mo felt a chill run down his spine. This planting method was downright twisted!

And what’s the aesthetic value of a flower that blooms so grotesquely?

Watching the flower continuously tremble, as if the human-like face was silently screaming, Ling Mo didn’t want to look at it any longer.

“It reacts similarly to a sensitive plant,” Lan Lan added, “except it’s more sensitive and reacts to someone approaching. But you shouldn’t touch it, it’s poisonous. Oh, but you can touch it. Want to?” she offered enthusiastically.

“No thanks,” Ling Mo replied, sensing her bad intentions. Even without traps, he wouldn’t touch such a bizarre plant.

After turning past the foyer, a large room came into view.

It was called a room, but the internal environment was quite complex. It was hard to see its entirety with just a glance; even seeing a single corner clearly was difficult.

Moreover, the room was divided into many small cubicles, making it look very cluttered.

The fluorescent lighting overhead was quite bright, to the point that Ling Mo felt it strain his eyes a bit.

What surprised Ling Mo was Lan Lan’s reaction; she adapted well to the change in lighting. No wonder she could move around so well in the dark…

This was the heart of the entire Experimental Group, and even the Niepan headquarters.

And the person responsible for fueling that heart was right here…

“Where is he?” Ling Mo asked.

“Inside,” Lan Lan replied nonchalantly, but her vague answer didn’t satisfy Ling Mo.

“If I call out, he’ll come out, right?” Ling Mo smiled and said.

Lan Lan was startled for a moment before quickly shaking her head. “You can’t shout! If you do, a lot of people will come to catch you!”

“I have you in my hands; I’m not afraid,” said Ling Mo.

“You’re really straightforward! But… even if I die, you’re dead too,” Lan Lan said, then suddenly realized something was off…

Right, Zombies aren’t afraid of dying!

Sure enough, Ling Mo didn’t answer and just chuckled.

The sound of his laughter sent chills down Lan Lan’s spine. She bit her lip and said helplessly, “You really can’t shout; he won’t hear you…”

“He’s not here?” Ling Mo asked.

“He is… but… not in the place you can see,” Lan Lan replied vaguely, but Ling Mo had already started to understand.

So this is just an outer room!

It made sense; the person must be of monumental importance to the Niepan headquarters. Even though he lived dangerously in a place like this, his living area would at least be secured.

The door was a form of protection, the alarm was another, and the hidden inner room was yet another layer of security.

This indicated the researcher’s exceptionally high status-so high that even the Progenitor Zombie 101 didn’t get such privileges.

“Although the best method might just be to lock him in a cage, considering how he keeps courting death!” Ling Mo thought, recalling the various bizarre experiments and that grotesque flower the researcher had grown out of boredom. The biggest danger seemed to be the researcher himself!

“Lead the way,” Ling Mo pushed her forward, and Lan Lan reluctantly walked deeper along the narrow passage.

Having been forced to tell the truth once more, she was in a foul mood.

The room was eerily quiet, and as they walked further in, the more of those screaming flowers they saw.

Apart from the occasional human-face flowers silently popping up, it seemed there was something moving in the shadowy corners as well.

Ling Mo cautiously watched his surroundings, staying alert for any potential traps that could spring at any moment.