When the last glimmer of light faded from the sky, Ling Mo had already returned to his residence.
This was a seemingly inconspicuous small building with a solid iron door, escape routes that lead from the rooftop to the adjacent building, and comparatively open spaces both in front of and behind the house. Given that this area originally belonged to the suburbs, there were far fewer survivors and zombies than in the city, making it relatively safer.
Most crucially, this place was formerly a warehouse for a small furniture factory, filled with the scent of substandard paint and wood material, which effectively concealed Ling Mo's own scent.
After the virus infection, these monsters not only retained their five senses but actually experienced heightened awareness. Even at night, they maintained clear eyesight, and their hearing and sense of smell were far superior to those of normal humans.
Before sleeping, Ling Mo first fed a piece of rotten frozen meat to the Corpse Puppet, then he left it outside the iron door and locked it completely before he could go to rest with peace of mind.
Even in sleep, Ling Mo did not sever the Spiritual Connection between himself and that zombie. Although this was more exhausting, on one hand, it served as a form of training, and on the other, it was akin to setting a watch for himself.
Being able to rest while maintaining the connection to the Corpse Puppet might sound simple, but in practice, it was quite difficult. Ling Mo had tried countless times to find the right balance. Now, when he slept, he was always in a light sleep state, even able to hear subtle movements around him.
But tonight, Ling Mo simply couldn't fall asleep. The figure of a certain someone kept surfacing in his mind...
After his parents passed away, the person he was most concerned about in this world was only her, his unrequited love, and the girl next door he grew up with, Ye Lian.
The last phone call he received when the disaster broke out was from her.
"Ling, run!"
Those brief four words, followed by a series of "beep beep" busy signals...
In fact, Ling Mo was well aware that Ye Lian was probably in grave danger. When the disaster struck, she was on her way to his place to cook a decent meal for him, to improve his living conditions...
For this reason, a knot remained in Ling Mo's heart; regardless of whether she was alive or dead, he felt it was his duty to find Ye Lian.
"Tomorrow, I'll go find her tomorrow..."
After such extensive preparations, Ling Mo felt that with the ability to control the Corpse Puppet, he should be able to traverse through this urban area.
He had already mapped out in his mind where she might be. The distance wasn't too far from here, but there were two residential areas in between, the most dangerous part of the journey.
However, in order to pass through as safely as possible, Ling Mo had made thorough preparations—all that was left was for tomorrow...
As dawn approached and the sky brightened, Ling Mo opened his eyes and hopped off a half-finished soft bed. After reorganizing his backpack, he took a deep breath and went downstairs.
The Corpse Puppet obediently guarded the door under his control, its clothes dampened by the cold. Despite its appearance, it did not show any signs of fatigue.
For some unknown reason, the virus that had suddenly erupted not only turned many living people into monsters but also made their bodies incredibly robust. However, Ling Mo also noticed that in order to sustain the high energy demands of their bodies, they were driven by instinct to constantly feed, and their source of food was the uninfected survivors.
After gripping the boning knife firmly, Ling Mo opened the iron door and controlled the Corpse Puppet to walk towards the route he had long planned.
Upon entering the residential area, the number of zombies wandering on the street increased. In such a place, attracting them with noise was not an option, as the complex environment could quickly lead one into peril.
The only strategy was to choose areas with fewer zombies and pass through as silently as possible.
For an ordinary person to navigate in such an environment would be unimaginably difficult, but fortunately, Ling Mo had a Corpse Puppet.
With the help of the Corpse Puppet, Ling Mo successively killed more than a dozen zombies before finally passing through the area and arriving at a street that used to be bustling bac in the day.
This was the transitional area between the city center and the suburbs, and Ling Mo predicted that Ye Lian should have been somewhere on this street when she made that phone call.
The street was littered with abandoned cars, and the shops along the way were wide open, appearing pitch dark at first glance.
Apart from the omnipresent bloodstains, all that remained were zombies.
Even though Ling Mo had killed many zombies these past few days, it was still his first time seeing so many of them gathered together. At a rough glance, just within the range of vision, there were probably dozens of them, not to mention those lurking in the dark.
Ling Mo planned to observe from a higher place first, but as he walked towards a residential building, he heard a scream not far away.
"Help!"
Unexpectedly, there were still survivors lurking here! Ling Mo quickly controlled a Corpse Puppet and cautiously approached the direction of the scream.
Outside a residential building, more than a dozen zombies were gathering, furiously ramming into the security door at the entrance.
Behind the door were two young men with terrified expressions, pushing against the door with all their might while desperately calling for help.
"Idiots..." Ling Mo frowned, looking nervously around him.
Yelling like this would only attract more zombies. Ling Mo had considered helping them if it was within his ability, but now it seemed that any rash action might just doom himself.
Sure enough, the noise quickly attracted more zombies. The security door was being repeatedly slammed, making a "bang bang" sound, and the connection to the wall began to loosen noticeably.
The two young men's faces turned ashen, and their screams became even more heartbreaking in the throes of terror...
"Bang!"
With a loud crash, the security door was finally knocked down, and the screams of the two young men were quickly drowned out...
However, for Ling Mo, this was an opportunity. While many zombies were attracted over, he could pass through this area.
After successfully passing through the dense zombie-infested area, Ling Mo hadn't even had time to feel relieved when he found the road ahead blocked by a bus and several cars.
During the disaster outbreak, there were countless car accidents, especially involving buses full of passengers. Whether the passengers mutated inside the vehicle or were panicked by the situation on the road, such tragedies could occur.
It looked as though the bus had suffered a series of collisions with these frantically fleeing cars and was badly deformed.
It was unclear what had happened to the passengers inside, whether they were trapped and died, or if they had all turned into zombies...
Ling Mo had initially wanted to bypass it, but as he stared at the bus, a thought suddenly "buzzed" in his mind.
Ye Lian seemed to always come by bus... This thought sprang to mind, and Ling Mo's gaze towards the bus changed.
He felt his heartbeat intensifying, filled with both anticipation and a touch of fear.
It was highly possible that Ye Lian had been on that bus at the time. If she didn't manage to escape in time, she would probably still be there.
Although he felt he had made full psychological preparations, when it really came down to facing the reality, Ling Mo still felt a sense of panic.
Would it be a rotting corpse, or would there be nothing left at all, or...
After taking a long breath, Ling Mo controlled the Corpse Puppet and climbed onto the deformed bus's front end.
Controlling a Corpse Puppet was a strange feeling, as if he had gained an Avatar of himself. Through the Spiritual Connection with the Corpse Puppet, he could not only maneuver its actions but also receive feedback from its senses.
But between Ling Mo and the Corpse Puppet, there was a barrier that prevented him from truly controlling the Corpse Puppet with ease.
In Ling Mo's view, to control it effortlessly probably meant merging with the Corpse Puppet...
Despite the odd feeling, Ling Mo was quite looking forward to reaching that state.