Chapter 1

In the desolate street, a zombie was wandering aimlessly.

His mouth was slightly open, a thread of saliva hanging from his lips, and his red-rimmed eyes emitted a chilling light.

Not far ahead of him was an abandoned small supermarket. The glass door was splattered with brown bloodstains, and through the open door, one could vaguely see the scattered shelves and some food scattered around.

Behind the supermarket door, another middle-aged male zombie was slowly moving. From his attire, he seemed to be a staff member of the supermarket.

This zombie slowly approached the supermarket. After passing by the middle-aged male zombie, he suddenly pulled out a bone cleaver from his chest and turned to forcefully slash the other's neck.

Blood splattered everywhere, and the headless corpse immediately fell to the ground.

This strangely behaving zombie immediately grabbed a shopping bag from behind the counter and began to quickly gather food inside the supermarket...

"Phew... I'm exhausted..."

In a dimly lit residential room, Ling Mo, drenched in sweat, looked at the bag full of food and various daily necessities with satisfaction.

In front of him sat the zombie that had appeared in the small supermarket. However, this zombie looked at Ling Mo without any malice, its eyes somewhat vacant.

"You've improved a lot compared to a few days ago. Now I can finally control you more flexibly."

Ling Mo turned his gaze to the zombie, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Half a month ago, the emergence of a new virus instantly turned this world into a gruesome slaughterhouse.

Countless humans turned into zombies... more accurately, they became mad monsters who lost their self-awareness and only knew how to kill after being infected by the virus...

The survivors who managed to live on had to hide in the corners of the city like rats to survive.

But Ling Mo, who was originally just an ordinary person, discovered after the apocalypse that he could control zombies.

He could feel a faint connection between himself and the zombies. The brainless zombies were like puppets without thoughts, and he could inject his own thoughts into them, thus controlling their actions.

However, the initial attempts were very difficult. The zombies often suddenly broke free from his control, even putting his life in danger several times.

As the number of attempts increased, Ling Mo finally mastered some techniques. This not only allowed him to maintain control over the zombies but also enabled him to make them move around and gather food and other necessities for him.

However, the distance between them could not be too far, which made Ling Mo somewhat frustrated.

He felt that he was now a zombie controller, but the strings in his hands were not long enough, and his control techniques were not yet proficient.

But being able to use zombies to survive more safely already made Ling Mo very satisfied with this ability. He called the zombie he controlled a "zombie puppet."

During the process of controlling the zombie puppet, Ling Mo vaguely felt that while he was controlling the other, a sense of madness was also influencing him.

He couldn't yet determine whether this influence was good or bad...

In these days, Ling Mo also gained some understanding of the habits of zombies. Unlike the typical zombies, these were not the undead but living humans infected by the virus.

However, although their bodies were still alive, their minds were completely those of monsters. They attacked uninfected survivors, tearing at their flesh, and their strength was astonishing, far surpassing that of ordinary people.

The virus had completely destroyed their rationality, dominating their thoughts and turning them into executioners driven by the instinct to kill.

In Ling Mo's view, these zombies were more terrifying than those he had seen in games and movies because they retained their five senses. Any sound or smell could attract their attention.

"The sun is about to set; let's go back for today."

This residential room was not very safe; it was just a temporary place where Ling Mo stayed while controlling the zombie puppet.

After stuffing the supplies he had gathered today into his backpack, Ling Mo shook his head, which was a bit painful, and made the zombie puppet stand up.

Looking closely at the zombie puppet standing face-to-face with him, Ling Mo still felt a bit strange.

Although it didn't emit the putrid smell of decay like in movies, the zombie still had a strong bloody smell. The virus infection had made his face pale and bloodless, his eyes red, and through his slightly open mouth, one could see red meat fibers on his teeth.

No need to think; this was definitely a residue left from eating people...

The zombie had a decent appearance, a boy of about seventeen or eighteen years old, but now he looked like a demon.

"Let's go, let's go..."

Ling Mo suppressed his nausea and controlled the zombie puppet to walk down the stairs.

Although the zombie puppet was leading the way, it didn't mean he was safe. Ling Mo held a sharp bone cleaver and carefully followed behind the zombie puppet.

To get from here to his temporary residence, they needed to cross a main street. In the morning, Ling Mo had found some firecrackers and created some noise in the opposite direction, attracting most of the zombies on this street. Even so, some zombies were still wandering around.

They reached the intersection without any major issues, but Ling Mo found that trouble had come.

Two zombies were blocking the intersection, not sure where they had wandered from. They were splattered with fresh blood, and one of them was holding half an arm, gnawing on it with his head down.

In this provincial city with a population of millions, survivors often died while searching for food, so deaths were not uncommon.

However, seeing the remains of the arm, Ling Mo felt a sense of empathy. Because of his ability, he had the means to live better and could not become a meal for these monsters due to a moment of carelessness.

Ling Mo carefully controlled the zombie puppet to approach them and raised the bone cleaver as he got close to one of them.

When the other zombie was distracted by the sound, Ling Mo held the knife and rushed to his back, stabbing him in the back of the head.

The two zombies almost died simultaneously. After forcefully pulling out the knife, Ling Mo kicked the corpse in front of him over.

Whenever he had the chance to act, Ling Mo would not miss it. Although controlling the zombie puppet was very useful, he also needed to have the ability to protect himself.

Moreover, Ling Mo vaguely felt that when he killed the zombies, a sense of madness was subtly influencing him. When he pulled out the knife, he even felt a faint sense of pleasure.

"The virus can't be transmitted through mental connection... If it could, I would have already mutated... If it's not the influence of the virus, then what is it..."

Ling Mo was very concerned about this subtle change but had no clear idea yet.

However, being able to cleanly and decisively kill zombies and becoming more proficient in his techniques was a good thing for Ling Mo.

Before the apocalypse, he was just an ordinary person. The first time he killed a zombie, the process was dangerous, and afterward, he felt a lingering fear, even feeling a bit dazed.

But to survive, he had to improve his combat skills.

Moreover, Ling Mo always had someone in mind. Rapidly improving his proficiency in controlling zombies and gathering as many supplies as possible were all for the purpose of crossing this area to find her...

PS: New author, new book, please support!