Chapter 316 - 160: Standoff

Chapter 316: Chapter 160: Standoff

Four arms extended from the sides of its shoulders, two on the left and two on the right, hanging naturally at its sides. The arms looked human as well, but their skin was covered in fine, black lines, like some kind of grotesque network of blood vessels.

It wore tattered clothes—to be precise, a piece of cloth it had picked up from somewhere, barely wrapped around its body. On its exposed skin, strange marks were faintly visible, resembling scars or perhaps some kind of tattoos.

Xu Mo looked at it, and it looked back at Xu Mo.

Four eyes stared at Xu Mo at once. The sensation of being watched by two different consciousnesses simultaneously made the situation feel even more bizarre to him.

Xu Mo’s gaze instinctively shifted to Luo Li. She was also looking at the creature, but the light glimmering in her eyes was too complex to decipher.

A thought popped into Xu Mo’s head. ’No wonder Luo Li’s power is no match for it. It has two heads—one human and one zombie. Two heads and two consciousnesses mean two sources of Spiritual Power. Luo Li only has one. Even with Tiantian’s amplification, she can barely hold her own against it.’

’In terms of total Spiritual Power, this two-headed, four-armed creature might have double Luo Li’s, or even more.’

"What are you looking at?" the creature spoke.

The voice came from the human head. The zombie head’s mouth simply hung open, emitting a low hissing sound, like some sort of background noise.

"Nothing," Xu Mo said, looking away. "Let’s talk."

The creature hesitated for a moment, then took two steps forward, stopping about ten meters from Xu Mo. The distance wasn’t too close, but not too far either. It was just enough for it to react if Xu Mo were to suddenly attack.

"Talk about what?" he asked.

"How did you end up like this?" Xu Mo asked, getting straight to the point.

The creature’s two heads fell silent for a few seconds. The human head’s brow furrowed, while the zombie head let out a low, guttural roar, as if expressing some kind of emotion.

Then the human head spoke:

"I don’t know."

"You don’t know?"

"I was like this when I woke up." There was a sense of bewilderment in its voice. "Zombies were everywhere, but they didn’t attack me. They just gathered around me, as if protecting me, or maybe waiting for my command."

Xu Mo frowned. ’When he woke up?’

"Were you originally human?" Xu Mo asked.

The creature was silent for a moment.

"I think I was." Its voice became faint. "I remember some things... vaguely, like I’m dreaming. Someone was calling my name, but I can’t recall any specifics."

Xu Mo said nothing, just listened quietly.

"Later, I discovered I could control them," the creature continued. "Not all of them, but most would obey me. So I led them, and we’ve been surviving here ever since."

Xu Mo’s gaze swept back and forth between the two heads.

’A human head and a zombie head. Two consciousnesses coexisting in one body. What in the world is this? A special form that evolved after a human was infected? Or a mutation that happens when a zombie evolves to a certain stage?’

He thought back to the records about the apocalypse in the Jiang City library. Not a single one had ever mentioned a creature like this.

"Why did you attack me?" Xu Mo asked, getting to the heart of the matter.

The creature’s two heads stared at him simultaneously.

"You attacked my offspring first." Its voice held a note of self-righteousness. "You killed it. Of course I had to get revenge."

Xu Mo’s frown deepened.

"Then what about you?" The creature suddenly looked at Luo Li. "Why did you attack me?"

Luo Li’s body stiffened slightly.

"You attacked my settlement," she said, her voice hoarse but clear. "You led your zombies and tried to enter our territory."

The creature seemed taken aback. Its zombie head tilted to one side.

"I just saw that there was someone like me over there." Its voice was tinged with confusion. "I thought they were one of my kind, so I wanted to go have a look. My underlings followed me, but I never told them to attack anyone."

It paused.

"But before we even arrived, you attacked."

After hearing this, Xu Mo fell silent.

He looked at Luo Li.

The expression in Luo Li’s eyes was unreadable. She said nothing, just bit her lip tightly.

Xu Mo was suddenly struck by a sense of the absurd. ’What is this all about?’

’This two-headed, four-armed creature saw someone "like itself" in the West District of Luochuan City—probably referring to Luo Li’s mutated state—and thought it was one of its own, so it decided to go check it out. But before it even made contact, Luo Li’s side struck first.’

’Or rather, the zombies Luo Li controls clashed with this guy’s underlings, and the conflict just kept escalating until now.’

Xu Mo took a deep breath, trying to suppress the overwhelming sense of absurdity.

"So," Xu Mo began, his voice tinged with an unreadable emotion, "you two fought for so long, lost so many underlings, and I fought my way through all of this, only to find out—"

Xu Mo trailed off, pausing.

"—it was all a misunderstanding?"

Both of the creature’s heads stared at him. The human head blinked, while the zombie head opened its mouth to hiss.

"You killed my offspring," it emphasized.

"You had me surrounded," Xu Mo said.

"You killed first."

"You sent the Scale Beast to kill me."

"That was revenge."

Xu Mo fell silent. He found that he couldn’t argue with that logic.

’Logically, he *had* killed its offspring first. Then it sent the Scale Beast to get revenge, only for him to kill it instead. After that, it cornered him, trying to turn him into one of its underlings.’

Xu Mo turned to look at Luo Li. Her head was bowed, and she remained silent.

The roars of the surrounding zombies had died down, as if they were awaiting their master’s command.

A strong sense of helplessness washed over Xu Mo—not from exhaustion, but from the sheer absurdity of the situation.

’Here in the apocalypse, two people had led their respective zombie armies against each other in a fight to the death. And in the end, it turned out the entire conflict had started from a simple misunderstanding.’

Xu Mo shook his head and slid the Triangular Spike he was holding back into its place at his waist.

"All right."

Luo Li and the creature across from him both looked at Xu Mo, seeming to wait for what he would say next.

Xu Mo looked at the creature, then at Luo Li, and finally at the teeming horde of zombies surrounding them.

"Now what?"

Xu Mo’s head began to throb. ’I really wish that creature hadn’t said anything and had just attacked me from the get-go. It would have saved me so much trouble.’

’But no, the creature had to go and reason with me. It even pointed out that I struck first by killing its offspring, and that it was only here for revenge. Now I’m the one who feels like he’s in the wrong. This whole thing has become a real mess.’