Chapter 602 – Infection Source

Trouble had indeed found its way to them.

Ling Mo hurriedly approached, using the flashlight’s residual light to assess Xiao Bai’s condition.

The Mutated Panda lay sprawled on the ground, limbs spread out, whimpering from discomfort.

Caught in the beam of light, it opened its eyes to glance at Ling Mo, then listlessly closed them again.

“What on earth is happening…”

Ling Mo had never seen zombies or Mutated Beasts in such a state; it looked as if… it were sick?

But that was nonsense! What virus could possibly outdo the zombie virus?

However, as the fearless and ruthless “Iron-Blooded Killer,” Xiao Bai was not writhing in pain but was enduring it with all its might.

“Are you injured?”

Ling Mo rummaged through Xiao Bai’s thick fur for a while, only to find a few superficial wounds.

Such minor injuries were nothing more than an itch to Xiao Bai and couldn’t possibly be the cause.

“Open your mouth, let me have a look,” Ling Mo said as he reached to pry open Xiao Bai’s jaws.

“Mehh…”

With its mouth open, Xiao Bai could have easily swallowed Ling Mo’s head whole.

Anyone else would have probably been scared stiff at the sight of such a gaping maw.

But Ling Mo, a fearless controller of zombies, was utterly indifferent to such a sight.

So when the massive mouth opened before him, Ling Mo leaned in without any hesitation, shining the flashlight’s beam inside.

And then, immediately after…

“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!”

Ling Mo let out a string of screams, retreating in a panic.

“This… this…”

Pointing at Xiao Bai’s mouth, swallowing hard, he eventually found the courage to say, “Inside Xiao Bai’s throat…”

It was no wonder Ling Mo was so alarmed; for any normal human being, this scene would be terrifying.

In the instant the light shone inside, at the very back of that gaping mouth, Ling Mo shockingly saw a hand extending from inside the body!

And that hand, with fingers splayed, seemed to be reaching for something to grab onto before sliding in completely…

From Ling Mo’s perspective, it was like a hand from hell trying to pull him in!

After composing himself, Ling Mo realized Ye Lian and the others were staring at him blankly.

Shana, in particular, after taking a brief look, just shrugged indifferently, “It’s just something stuck in its throat…”

“Mhm! Mhm!” Ye Lian and Li Ya Lin nodded in agreement.

“…”

Ling Mo was speechless, wondering why it seemed like he was the one overreacting.

“How many times have I said, don’t hunt! Even though it’s a zombie, it’s still a humanoid creature, think about my feelings, will you…”

While Ling Mo continued to feign composure, Shana had already rolled up her sleeves and said, “Hang in there, Xiao Bai… for your unfortunate master.”

“Mehh…” Xiao Bai murmured indistinctly.

“What are you going to do?”

Ling Mo’s eyes widened as he watched Shana squat down and then slide her delicate arm into Xiao Bai’s vast mouth.

“Ah… got it.” Shana said expressionlessly, but then her face twisted strangely, “Huh…”

“What’s wrong?” Ling Mo immediately tensed up again.

“I’m not sure…” Shana muttered, her arm suddenly retracting back.

The hand she was pulling on came out, and following it from Xiao Bai’s mouth emerged a bald head and a body…

Ling Mo was completely stunned…

It was a complete zombie! And… it was very small!

So small that… it was exactly like an infant!

To be precise, this zombie was much smaller than a regular infant, more like a newborn kitten.

But the size of its hands was disproportionately large compared to its body; those hands were about half the size of its entire body…

However, while Ling Mo was still in shock, the hand that had given him a big scare suddenly grabbed his ankle.

“Ah!”

Purely on instinct, the moment Ling Mo felt the grasp, he kicked out reflexively.

“Squeak!”

With a strange cry, the little zombie was thrown against the wall. After hitting the ground, it landed on all fours, glaring at Ling Mo like a vicious little dog.

Although its body was about the size of an infant’s, the blood-red eyes of this little zombie did not shimmer with innocence but with brutality.

Among the group, it unsurprisingly locked onto the only human, Ling Mo.

“Wow, that was a quick reaction.” Li Ya Lin complimented.

“I’m not watching a play here!” Ling Mo grumbled.

“Wow, it really is alive!” Shana exclaimed excitedly.

This time Ling Mo finally lost it: “You knew all along, didn’t you?”

“I couldn’t be sure until I pulled it out.” Shana said innocently.

The infant zombie didn’t look at all like it had just come out of Xiao Bai’s esophagus; it watched Ling Mo warily while swiftly hopping back and forth in place.

“It’s not really seeing me as prey, is it…” Ling Mo said with a twitch of his mouth.

“Don’t misunderstand, you’re just a big lump of meat in its eyes,” Shana explained. “It won’t back down because you’re larger. On the contrary, it’ll get more excited.”

“…Thanks for the clarification, haha, I feel so much better now…”

Ling Mo carefully kept an eye on the little zombie and said, “It seems that the infection source has a very wide-ranging target, even including newborn zombies.”

“What are you talking about…” Shana giggled, “Isn’t this the infection source?”

“What?” Ling Mo was shocked.

This little thing… is the infection source?!

Shana showed her hand, and Ling Mo noticed for the first time that she was holding something in her palm.

A white object, similar to a straw…

“I pulled it off him.” Shana said with a smile.

Ling Mo looked again at the infant zombie but didn’t see any wound that might be suspected.

“He tried to bite me just now,” Shana continued.

Ling Mo finally had an epiphany when the infant zombie opened its mouth again and yelled. Indeed, he spotted a similar straw-like object in its mouth.

Thinking about it, maybe Xiao Bai hadn’t actively tried to swallow it?

Regardless of how the earlier scene played out… what Ling Mo wanted to know the most right now was whether Xiao Bai had become infected.

“Squeak!”

In the instant Ling Mo’s gaze drifted, the infant zombie seized the opportunity and leaped with force.

Its disproportionately large hands were quite powerful, pushing off the ground and propelling it about two meters high, lunging straight at Ling Mo’s face.

Now Ling Mo understood the creature’s method of infection, or rather its feeding habit, which was to latch onto the face…

However, Xiao Bai’s head was large, and so was its mouth, so it ended up swallowing this thing whole.

“You really think I’m an easy target.”

Ling Mo had been startled twice by this thing, and now he was truly angered.

His Mental power was shielded, but as it turned out, the tentacle still retained about one-tenth of its effectiveness…

The infant zombie was fast, but its flaw was also clear.

As it pounced towards Ling Mo, the little zombie was suddenly intercepted by a tentacle.

“Squeak!”

The lightweight little zombie was flung away, and as it fell backward, another tentacle intercepted it from behind…

After a minute of this back and forth, the dazed and confused infant zombie “smacked” onto the ground, and Shana grabbed it with one hand.

She shook the infant zombie a bit and said, “He’s been knocked out.”

With unlimited bouncing and a minor mental shock, it would have been odd if it hadn’t fainted.

“Alright, let’s not finish it off for now, but be careful.” Ling Mo said.

The infant zombie might look like an actual baby, but it had absolutely no relation to human children.

Such a small creature, yet its lethality was comparable to a hundred mischievous kids.

“Mm-hmm,” Shana nodded, curiously examining the groggy little creature, which, despite being dazed, still managed to snarl at her, causing Shana to burst into laughter.

Ling Mo then turned his attention to Xiao Bai. This Mutated panda had been saved, but it still looked listless, though it was now able to get up.

“This is tricky; it might be infected.” Ling Mo said with some concern.

Li Ya Lin leaned in to sniff it and remarked, “It’s not a lot; otherwise, it would be delirious by now, right?”

“What do you mean?” Ling Mo asked.

Ye Lian looked around and interjected, “You… you see…”

Ling Mo followed her line of sight and after a moment of contemplation, he finally came to a realization: “Right, that makes sense!”