Chapter 543 – The Muscular Man in Pain

“Ouch…” Xiao Ming was still whimpering in a low voice.

He was completely stuck in the crevice, any movement forward or backward would rub against his wound, leaving him in a painful dilemma.

“Sigh, stop your whining, you’ll draw the zombies over!” Although Guan He was scolding him, his actions were gentle.

An unexpected incident had occurred during their mission. Ling Mo didn’t say anything, but Huang Duo had already put on a sour face.

“What’s going on… If it weren’t for Guan He vouching for you, why would we have brought you along? Guan He, didn’t you say he wouldn’t hold us back? He can’t even walk without causing trouble, what kind of person is this…” Huang Duo grumbled discontentedly.

Xiao Ming’s face turned red, beads of sweat forming on his forehead—it was unclear if it was due to the pain or embarrassment.

“Come on, Huang Duo, cut him some slack…” Guan He whispered.

Ling Mo took a step back and leaned against the wall. A few minutes’ delay wasn’t really a big deal…

However, just then, a shadow suddenly sprung from behind them.

The figure moved at an incredible speed, appearing out of nowhere in everyone’s field of vision and pouncing directly at Xiao Ming.

“Ah!” Guan He cried out instinctively, but it was already too late to react.

The attacker moved too fast! From appearing to leaping, then pouncing on Xiao Ming’s back, the whole sequence was executed in barely a second.

Ling Mo was taken aback. He hadn’t expected that under his sensory detection, a creature could still break through!

His thought process was much faster than his physical reflexes; as soon as the figure appeared, Ling Mo’s mental Tentacles had already reached out, wrapping around the assailant.

At the same time, Ling Mo “saw” the Mental Sphere of the shadow.

It was blood red, clearly a high-level zombie. But judging by the fluctuations, its intelligence wasn’t as high as Ye Lian and the others. However, its stealth and speed were already at the leader level. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so easy to sneak up and launch a surprise attack under the watch of Ling Mo and three leader-level female zombies.

“Ah ah ah!!” Xiao Ming screamed as well, almost instinctively trying to squeeze forward, but the more he panicked, the more mistakes he made.

His desperate squeezing not only failed to get him through, it tore the wound on his body even wider.

Guan He had already reacted, hurriedly pulling hard on Xiao Ming’s arm.

“Don’t move!” Ling Mo shouted.

“Don’t move?” Guan He was stunned. With Xiao Ming in his current state, not moving was tantamount to suicide!

But if they could pull him through immediately, the zombie would crash into the tanker truck and not harm him.

The tanker truck was actually wedged sideways against the wall, leaving a very narrow gap, and the body of the truck was almost completely flush with the wall.

To get through, one had to slightly bend down and carefully squeeze through the gap below.

So after Xiao Ming got stuck there, it was already difficult to exert any strength, and with the injury, it was even harder to squeeze through all at once.

Now he was really struggling, causing the bloodstains on his pants to spread immediately.

But what’s more important, the wound or one’s life? The answer goes without saying!

Guan He paused for a moment, but Xiao Ming was still trying to squeeze inside.

Huang Duo cursed, “Don’t just stand there; do you want to die?”

Ling Mo didn’t pay them any attention. When he shouted for them to stop moving, it was only to prevent Xiao Ming from worsening his wound.

However, it now seemed that while Guan He and Xiao Ming admired them, expecting them to completely entrust their lives to someone else after just a few minutes of cooperation was somewhat unrealistic…

Ling Mo’s attention was still focused on the zombie. As his mental Tentacles wrapped around the creature, he immediately felt a throbbing pain in his temples.

“So strong!” Ling Mo was startled and quickly increased the output of his Mental power.

One meter… half a meter!

Xiao Ming was already numb and his heart had stopped!

Guan He’s face turned ashen; he was still pulling on Xiao Ming with all his might, but it was clear he couldn’t keep up!

Huang Duo attempted to intervene, but the space was so narrow. Could he even get through? By the time he would make it around the vehicle, Xiao Ming would already be dead!

He looked anxiously at Ling Mo, who was so powerful. Was he just going to stand there and watch?

Of course, Ling Mo wasn’t just watching; he was locked in a struggle with the zombie using his mental Tentacles…

The zombie’s speed was forcibly slowed down, and its specific form was revealed to Ling Mo.

“Damn! What the hell is this?”

It was then that Ling Mo realized this was a mutated zombie!

And not just an ordinary mutated zombie, but a particularly bizarre one.

Its lower body still had a human form, but from the waist up it began to mutate rapidly, looking like it was skinless, with nothing but blood-red muscles.

The upper body of this mutated zombie was even more robust, making even human bodybuilders seem inferior.

But those seemingly exposed blue veins and muscles were incredibly creepy…

Its arms were also extraordinarily long, like those of a gorilla, and in contrast, its head was very small…

“Another monster where body mutation and intelligence are inversely proportional…”

This was a common situation for many mutated zombies, though there were exceptions like the Spider Queen.

Speaking of which, the Spider Queen had been lured by Ling Mo to serve as a temporary enforcer, and her current status was unknown…

“This isn’t the time to think about that!” Ling Mo quickly refocused his thoughts.

He was now using more than a dozen mental Tentacles, each pulling on the limbs and neck of the mutated zombie. Another Tentacle shot directly toward the creature’s head.

Headshot!

Ling Mo had already anticipated the monster’s fate, but to his utter surprise, the solidified Tentacle he shot out only managed to create a lump on the creature’s head!

Yes, just a lump!

The defensive power of this mutated zombie was formidable!

“Ow!”

The mutated zombie let out a mournful cry but didn’t stop its movement.

Ling Mo’s expression didn’t change; he immediately increased the output of his Mental power.

“Boom!”

Finally, when the zombie was less than half a meter from Xiao Ming, it was forcibly thrown backwards and landed heavily on the ground.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Xiao Ming finally managed to squeeze through, but his pale complexion, panicked eyes, and the long stream of blood indicated that his situation was far from good.

Yet, having narrowly escaped death, his expression was one of sheer excitement.

Huang Duo’s expression also changed slightly. The recent events seemed lengthy in description, but in reality, they had happened in the blink of an eye.

Ling Mo stood motionless, yet he was able to send a swiftly moving zombie flying with a direct hit. This level of reflexes and combat ability was something Huang Duo knew he could not match.

Especially recalling his own recent doubts about Ling Mo, Huang Duo felt a twinge of guilt.

But the more he felt guilty, the more disgruntled he became when he looked at Ling Mo…

The mutated zombie had only been knocked down and quickly got up again, but by then, Li Ya Lin had already leapt into action, appearing beside the mutated zombie in the blink of an eye.

How she managed to slip through that narrow gap so quickly, no one saw except for Ye Lian and the others…

Tears streamed down Xiao Ming’s face as he watched others move freely while he had just embarrassingly gotten stuck.

Li Ya Lin flashed beside the mutated zombie, and as it was just getting up, she swung her arm down in a swift motion.

“Clang!”

However, her Snake’s Kiss blade striking the mutated zombie’s neck emitted a sound like metal clashing against metal!

A streak of blood appeared, but it didn’t truly harm the mutated zombie’s tendons or bones.

Ling Mo had noticed that when the mutated zombie was attacked, its muscles immediately contracted, effortlessly turning Li Ya Lin’s powerful slash into a superficial flesh wound.

Furthermore, its muscles were incredibly resilient, making it as difficult to cut through as a dull knife through meat.

Most people would be dumbfounded in such a situation, but Li Ya Lin, being a high-level zombie, was devoid of any emotion like panic…

“Roar!”

The mutated zombie, in pain, swung back with a slap, but Li Ya Lin had already soared up like she was on wires, appearing above the mutated zombie’s head.

The mutated zombie was clearly stunned for a moment, and taking advantage of this, Li Ya Lin came crashing down with a “thud,” her feet forcefully stomping on its head.

The head was hard, but the neck was not…

With a “crack,” the mutated zombie’s neck snapped, its head tilting instantly into a position reminiscent of a severe crick.

“Roar!”

It leaped up, its head askew, reaching out to grab Li Ya Lin, but she had already swung up, appearing some fifteen meters in mid-air.