Lu Xin's mutation wasn't a surprise to Ling Mo, but his kidnapping of Xia Na and the threats he issued clearly indicated that he still possessed some rationality.
This point piqued Ling Mo's interest instantly. His greatest wish was for Ye Lian to regain her senses as soon as possible. However, aside from showing a hint of developing self-awareness after her last evolution, there had been no further changes.
Ling Mo couldn't help but feel a touch of disappointment. Although he knew it wasn't a problem that could be resolved overnight, he immediately set out to hunt Mutated Zombies, hoping to promote Ye Lian's evolution, so that she could recover her true thoughts sooner.
But the anomaly in Lu Xin made Ling Mo feel that he might obtain some new clues from him!
As long as there was a sliver of possibility, Ling Mo didn't want to give up, especially when Xia Na had been captured by Lu Xin, who had personally threatened him. To Ling Mo, the threat of a Mutated Zombie was trivial. Lu Xin thought transforming from a Rat into a sick cat would be enough to seek revenge, which was naively optimistic.
"Ling! Please, we have fought side by side and developed a bond, I beg you…" Liu Yuhao pleaded repeatedly with increasing urgency in his expression.
"Where are they?" Deciding on his course of action, Ling Mo asked.
Liu Yuhao was overjoyed and quickly dragged Ling Mo downstairs: "In the male dormitory building! Hurry, I'm afraid Lu Xin might suddenly lose his rationality, then Xia Na would be doomed!"
"That would be bad!" Ling Mo's scalp tightened and he quickly picked up the pace. Ye Lian also closely followed under his Puppet Control Ability.
Liu Yuhao, driven by an urgent desire to rescue, maintained a swift pace despite being exhausted. Ling Mo and Ye Lian, following behind, appeared relaxed. On the other hand, Wang Cheng was panting heavily as if he would collapse at any moment, if not for the dire need to save his own life. Unfortunately, those ahead had no intention of stopping to wait for him…
Thus, a hint of displeasure flashed in Wang Cheng's eyes as he watched the three figures move ahead, but he quickly concealed it.
Several zombies appeared on the pathway leading to the male dormitory, attracted by fresh corpses on the ground. As a result, Ling Mo made an unexpected discovery: these ordinary zombies didn't attack their kind, but when a zombie corpse was present, they would feast upon it…
The zombies outside the male dormitory were engrossed in eating the corpses on the ground. If it weren't for the intact heads of the corpses, with their blood-red eyes visible at a glance, Ling Mo wouldn't have believed his own eyes.
So that's how it is... But wouldn't this lead to even more Mutated Zombies?! Eventually, the entire zombie community would slowly evolve to become stronger and stronger!
Although their evolution pace was nowhere near as fast as the Mutated Zombies that emerged from closed environments through mutual slaughter, the advantage of this gradual overall evolution would eventually become apparent.
"Damn it!" Ling Mo cursed silently in his mind while wielding the short knife, rushing towards the oncoming zombies. With his Puppet Control Ability and increasingly skilled attack techniques, he took down several zombies in the blink of an eye.
Presumably, the corpses of these zombies would attract others to feast on as well... But as a survivor, Ling Mo didn't have the time or energy to deal with bodies, and the slow evolution process of the zombie community was simply unstoppable.
"I didn't expect zombies to eat other zombies!"
Ling Mo looked up again at the dismembered zombie corpses and said with furrowed brows.
However, Liu Yuhao looked up at Ling Mo somewhat confusedly and said as if it were obvious: "Of course they do, how come you didn't know, Ling?"
Ling Mo immediately shut his mouth helplessly. Liu Yuhao and the others had been living among zombies all this time, so it wasn't surprising that they knew this. But before, Ling Mo always stayed away from zombies, and he was Controlling the Corpse Puppets even when searching for food. Even if he did kill zombies, he wouldn't go back after a while to check on the status of the bodies, so naturally, he had no way of knowing.
However, this once again confirmed that his own speculation was indeed correct. Only by quickly enhancing his strength could one survive in the increasingly severe environment...
After taking down a few more zombies, Ling Mo and the others finally entered the male dormitory.
The narrow dormitory corridor was like a passage through Hell, with dark brown bloodstains splattered all over both the walls and the floor. The half-open doors of some of the rooms added an even eerier atmosphere. Walking in such a place, one had to be constantly alert for zombies that might leap out from inside the rooms.
This building had five floors and there were roughly over a hundred rooms. Logically, finding Lu Xin and Xia Na would not be an easy task.
But Ling Mo wasn't worried about this because he had only glanced around before he immediately noticed the traces left by Lu Xin.
Ling Mo lightly touched some fresh bloodstains on the ground and asked, "Has Lu Xin's wound reopened, or is Xia Na the one who is injured? I saw it on the stairs earlier, and I've also seen it along the way. But because there were zombie corpses nearby, I wasn't sure. But there's nothing around here, so this blood must be from one of them."
"It's Lu Xin," Liu Yuhao hastily replied. "I just saw him covered in blood, I don't know what happened."
"As long as it's not Xia Na, that's good." Ling Mo thoughtfully nodded and followed the direction of the bloodstains.
Those intermittent blood spots, falling on the ground covered in brown bloodstains, would be hard for anyone to notice at first glance. If it wasn't for Ling Mo's keen Observation, he wouldn't have noticed these details. But it seemed that Lu Xin didn't intend to cover his tracks. Ling Mo had just led Liu Yuhao and the others up to the third floor following the bloodstains when he saw Lu Xin in the corridor.
It hadn't even been two hours since their separation, but Lu Xin's appearance had become utterly unbearable to look at!
Before, he just seemed punchable, but now, he was outright disgusting! His skin was not only scratched to shreds, but it had also begun to suppurate, with murky pus mixed with blood occasionally dripping down his trouser legs. Ling Mo thought about how he had just touched such blood and immediately wanted to wash his hands.
But the expression in those bloodshot eyes was just as arrogant and nauseating as before.
"Lu Xin! Where's Xia Na?"
The moment Liu Yuhao saw Lu Xin, he became frantic. If Ling Mo had not stopped him, he probably would have rushed up to fight.
Ling Mo, however, felt that there was something very unusual about Lu Xin now. It didn't seem like he was turning into a zombie, but more like he was... rotting away, little by little!
Exactly, rotting! His eyes, his strength changes, all resembled those of a zombie, but the changes on his body were completely different from those of a zombie. Could it be because he came into direct contact with the Mutated Zombie Virus that his body couldn't bear it?
Compared to an ordinary zombie, the virus from a Mutated Zombie is more pure and, of course, stronger!
The changes in Lu Xin indicated that if a person is infected by the Zombie Virus and doesn't die immediately, they would indeed turn into a zombie. But if they were directly infected by a Mutated Zombie, coming into sudden contact with a high purity virus, their body would not be able to withstand it.