Chapter 308 - 158: Hunting Down

Chapter 308: Chapter 158: Hunting Down

Five minutes later, Luo Li opened her eyes.

Her face was still pale, but a hint of color had returned. The exhaustion in her eyes remained, yet there was also a look of resolve. She was clearly ready.

"I’m ready," Luo Li said, her voice hoarse but clear. "Should I break the link with the zombies now?"

"Not yet."

Xu Mo shook his head.

Luo Li paused, looking at Xu Mo for an explanation.

Xu Mo walked to the edge of the stair landing and glanced down. The zombies were still feeding, but their numbers had clearly dwindled. It wasn’t because they had been killed, but because they had finished eating and were slowly starting to disperse.

"If you break the link, you’re just giving the enemy fresh troops. Instead of doing that, we might as well wear them down some more," Xu Mo said.

Luo Li’s eyes lit up slightly.

Xu Mo looked up at the stairs leading to the floor above.

"We’ll go to the roof. Then you take control of the remaining zombies and have them counterattack. Kill as many as you can. We’ll leave once most of them are dead."

Luo Li nodded. She understood what Xu Mo meant. They were going to have to abandon those zombies anyway, so they might as well get one last use out of them. Every enemy they killed now meant a little less pressure on them later.

"Okay."

Xu Mo took the lead, with Luo Li following behind, holding Tiantian’s hand as they climbed step by step. Tiantian stayed close, her blood-red eyes still empty, but her steps were surprisingly steady.

The iron door to the rooftop was ajar, its rusted lock long since broken. Xu Mo pushed it open, and blinding sunlight poured in.

The roof was a wide-open space. The concrete floor was covered in cracks, a few abandoned antennas stood crookedly, and a pile of miscellaneous junk left behind at some unknown time was stacked in a corner. The view was excellent, offering a clear sight of the vast ruins all around, as well as the distant zombies.

Xu Mo quickly walked to the edge of the roof and looked down. In the open area below, some of the zombies were still feeding.

Luo Li walked to Xu Mo’s side and closed her eyes. A wave of Spiritual Power spread out from her again, and then the sounds of a fierce battle erupted from below.

The zombies under Luo Li’s control sprang into action. They charged out from the shadows like a suicide squad, launching a desperate assault on an enemy that outnumbered them several times over.

The two torrents of zombies crashed into each other again, but this time, the situation was completely different.

Luo Li’s zombies fought with the resolve of those who were already dead. They had no retreat and held nothing back, putting all their strength into every attack. The battlefield was a spray of black blood and flying limbs.

Xu Mo stood on the roof, watching the slaughter below. He held his Barrett, but he didn’t fire. Shooting now would only interrupt Luo Li’s control, so he simply watched.

When the last of Luo Li’s controlled zombies fell, at least a hundred enemy zombie corpses lay on the open ground below. The exchange ratio was nearly one-to-two.

Xu Mo turned to look at Luo Li. She was leaning against the railing at the edge of the roof, her eyes half-closed and her chest heaving. The counterattack over the last twenty-odd minutes hadn’t consumed too much of her Spiritual Power, but the feeling of watching the zombies she had personally cultivated die one by one was clearly not a pleasant one.

Tiantian stood beside her, her small hand tightly gripping the corner of Luo Li’s shirt. Her blood-red eyes were fixed on Xu Mo, containing no hostility, only an indescribable complexity.

Luo Li opened her eyes and looked at Xu Mo.

"It’s about done," she said, her voice hoarse. "I left a few to block the stairwell so the enemy can’t charge up too quickly."

Xu Mo nodded.

"Let’s go."

The three of them made their way from the edge of the rooftop to the other side. This row of residential buildings had connected roofs, allowing them to cross from one to the next. Xu Mo walked in front, Triangular Spike in hand, wary of any spot that might hide danger. Luo Li followed behind him, holding Tiantian’s hand with one hand and steadying herself against the wall with the other.

When they reached the building at the very end of the row, Xu Mo stopped.

Below was a narrow alley flanked by collapsed walls and piles of rubble. No zombies were roaming about—at least, not right now.

"Let’s go."

Xu Mo was the first one down the stairs. Their footsteps were light, making almost no sound. Luo Li maintained the wave of her Spiritual Power, spreading it outward to drive away any zombies that might approach.

Reaching the ground floor, the three of them filed out and disappeared into the shadows of the ruins.

Freed from the immense mental burden, Luo Li’s condition noticeably improved. Her steps were a little lighter than before, and her face was no longer so pale.

Whenever they encountered a lone zombie on their path, she would simply drive it away. If they came across a small group, the three of them would detour around it. Only when they faced a group they absolutely couldn’t avoid would Luo Li use her power to briefly control them, releasing them after the three had passed.

As they walked, Xu Mo observed their surroundings. They had left the previous battlefield and were now heading deeper into Luochuan City. The buildings around them grew denser, and signs of zombies became more frequent.

But a question suddenly occurred to Xu Mo.

"Luo Li," he asked in a low voice, "do you think something will happen to the settlement?"

Luo Li’s steps faltered for a moment before she continued walking.

"Don’t worry," she said. "The people at the settlement are strong fighters, too."

Xu Mo was taken aback for a second, but then he understood.

The residents of the settlement, those people with various mutations, had eaten the flesh of mutated creatures, and their bodies had undergone irreversible changes. But as a price for that, they had also gained power far beyond that of ordinary people.

Luo Li was right. Their fighting capabilities were indeed formidable.

"They have weapons, walls, and organization," Luo Li said. "Besides, the zombies’ target isn’t them—it’s us. As long as we don’t go back, the settlement will be safe."