Chapter 571 – Attention! This is Just a Drill!

Ling Mo was, frankly, stunned.

These were details he had never observed before, much like what Mu Chen had said: to human eyes, the zombies outside had only one characteristic: danger.

To notice such subtle changes within the teeming masses of zombies, one would need to watch them around the clock, which was simply impossible.

Unthinkable things naturally don’t lead to experiments.

But it was different for Niepan. Their members were scattered across three provinces, embedded within various small survivor groups.

This model effectively meant that all the information small forces could gather was now consolidated in the hands of Niepan. Moreover, Niepan had their own hunting teams dedicated to capturing high-level zombies and even teams specializing in virus research.

The level of control they had over this aspect was unmatched by any other organization Ling Mo knew.

Perhaps… even Falcon had Niepan’s people within? It’s really hard to say…

But there was at least one thing Ling Mo was sure of: there were definitely no Niepan members inside Falcon Second Camp. Yuwen Xuan might be unreliable, but he wouldn’t allow their stronghold to be compromised by spies. However, the development of Falcon Second Camp was still restricted by the headquarters, which was exactly why Ling Mo chose Team F to establish a squad, rather than Falcon Second Camp.

Yuwen Xuan’s place just couldn’t spare the manpower…

“How about it?” Mu Chen lifted his chin proudly. He felt he had finally scored a point in this area, regaining some face after being constantly outmaneuvered by Ling Mo.

“What else is there?” Ling Mo asked earnestly.

“Heh heh…” Mu Chen was quite pleased and continued, “You see, although these zombies all look the same, their actions are actually different once a survivor appears. Ordinary zombies would be led by what we can call the leader. This leader uses sounds to drive the ordinary zombies to confront the threat first, while other high-level zombies either hide within the horde or climb onto roofs and walls, flanking from all sides. In other words, they have already developed a rudimentary strategic consciousness.”

“They’ve learned to use tactics…” Ling Mo nodded thoughtfully.

“Exactly. Now we have reason to believe that even ordinary zombies have evolved a basic level of intelligence, capable of understanding simple commands from their high-level counterparts. As for why they can resonate so strongly, we can only attribute it to the homologous virus…” Mu Chen said, then suddenly realized he had spoken too freely. But considering that Ling Mo didn’t know much, he wasn’t too worried about it… However, Ling Mo was very astutely tuned into this term: homologous virus.

The last time he heard it was from Jian Qi’s mouth, and now from Mu Chen.

It seemed Jian Qi was right; Niepan had indeed made research progress, but to what extent, that was still unknown.

Ling Mo had made up his mind that cooperation would be preferable, but if the other party chose to play hardball in the end, he, hidden in the shadows, was prepared to use some special methods to obtain these research findings.

These results were of great significance to Ling Mo; having them would unravel many mysteries.

Even if he couldn’t solve them immediately, at the very least, they would provide him with a direction.

“So it is…” Ling Mo continued to nod, “But now, these ordinary zombies have actually become quite extraordinary, haven’t they?”

Mu Chen cleared his throat and nodded, “Definitely. They are generally approaching the strength of mutated zombies.”

“Mutated zombies…” Ling Mo heard another familiar term.

This was the classification system he had originally devised and later provided to Falcon. He hadn’t expected it to become so widely disseminated…

Communication was so difficult, yet how did this information spread so quickly?

Ling Mo muttered to himself but then listened as Mu Chen explained further: “Mutated zombies refer to those that have just broken away from the ordinary zombie state and possess a bit of intelligence… This can mainly be seen in their eyes and expressions. However, it’s hard to distinguish them from the higher-level advanced zombies. You can only really tell after engaging them in combat…”

“This is my classification system, alright…” Ling Mo rolled his eyes inwardly. They might not be able to distinguish, but that didn’t mean Ling Mo couldn’t. For him, a glance at a zombie’s Mental Sphere was enough to determine its level quite clearly.

Mu Chen, parched from talking so much, suddenly realized something.

Damn!!! Hadn’t he just inadvertently provided Ling Mo with a ton of information?

He was supposed to be undercover, not freely handing out intelligence!

A serious mistake!

Mu Chen felt like smacking himself, but then he thought that it was all Ling Mo’s fault. If it weren’t for his constant trickery, Mu Chen wouldn’t have gotten caught up in this meaningless competition.

Instead of showing any admiration for him, Ling Mo had let him spill everything he should and shouldn’t have…

“Could it be that he was deliberately getting information out of me?” Mu Chen suddenly felt very awkward.

Thinking back, it seemed that Ling Mo had intentionally led him to reveal that information…

But how could Ling Mo know so much? It was probably just his own overthinking… Mu Chen reassured himself, albeit still confused.

“We’re back.”

The door suddenly opened, and three figures entered one after the other, speaking in unison.

These three were Skinny Monkey, Zhang Xincheng, and Ye Kai.

Compared to those inside the room, they looked much more exhausted; they were covered in sweat, and their weapons were stained with blood.

“There are so many zombies out there; we’ve cleared the way, but I don’t think it’ll stay quiet for long. The neighboring streets are crawling with zombies, and they’ll come over if they catch a whiff,” said Zhang Xincheng.

“Mmm…” Skinny Monkey also nodded in agreement, seemingly still shaken, with his legs trembling.

Seeing this, Ling Mo couldn’t help but remember how Skinny Monkey had been scared stiff when commanded to follow along, almost clinging to Ling Mo’s legs and wailing.

Ling Mo felt that this person’s special abilities were useful, but his temperament was too soft, so despite his pleas, Ling Mo still sent him out.

As he was leaving, Skinny Monkey clung to the doorframe, giving Ling Mo a resentful look that still gave him the creeps when he remembered it.

“How did it go? I told you it would be fine following them, didn’t I?” Ling Mo approached and patted Skinny Monkey on the shoulder, saying.

His pat was light, but Skinny Monkey still shuddered and nodded hesitantly: “Uh… yeah…”

“Right, didn’t I tell you to try and draw the zombies away as much as possible, and if you couldn’t, to lure them into a building to take them out? That should have been quite easy for Ye Kai to do,” Ling Mo said.

“I did that, but one time when we entered a building, suddenly two more zombies popped out, so…” Ye Kai sighed in frustration and admitted, “My bad.”

“It was me and Skinny Monkey who didn’t scout properly,” Zhang Xincheng said, showing loyalty.

Skinny Monkey, realizing he was being implicated, shivered and then looked nervously at Ling Mo, as though afraid of being held responsible.

“It’s okay…” Ling Mo said with a forgiving smile.

Just as Skinny Monkey relaxed with a relieved smile, Ling Mo added, “That was just a drill, the real deal is coming up.”

“What?!” Skinny Monkey nearly jumped out of his skin.

A drill?!

They had just made their way alone through a street with hundreds of zombies, scouted a path to a mall, and even cleared a route, with countless dangerous moments along the way. Skinny Monkey had used up a month’s worth of trembling in one go, only to find out it was just a practice run?!

This was practicing with their lives on the line!

However, the only one who reacted strongly was Skinny Monkey…

Zhang Xincheng still nodded calmly, while Ye Kai, fired up, said, “Don’t worry, I definitely won’t make the same mistake again.”

“How can you still be looking forward to this…” Skinny Monkey was on the verge of tears. He was a typical follower and didn’t have the courage to stand out and object or protest on his own. Unfortunately for him, his teammates were not supportive at all and weren’t on the same wavelength.

“But I still want to ask, what exactly can our team do?” Zhang Xincheng glanced at Ling Mo and asked.

“The lifeline of Team F will be in your hands. How does that feel, does it add pressure?” Ling Mo said.

Both Ye Kai and Zhang Xincheng’s eyes lit up.

Pressure? When was living not pressured? But if they could change their way of life under this pressure, that was exactly what they were hoping for.

Meanwhile, Skinny Monkey just stared at them, then looked down at his own palms.

In control… of Team F’s lifeline? Did he really have that kind of ability?