Chapter 3

Through the puppet's perspective, Ling Mo vaguely saw the situation inside the car. In the dark, murky interior of the vehicle, there were many indistinct human figures, all in a state of stillness. After circling around to the front of the car, he could see that both the front and rear doors were deformed from the impact, making them impossible to open. Several windows were shattered, but none were large enough for someone to crawl out. Ling Mo controlled the puppet to completely smash one of the windows and then climbed inside.

The smell inside the car was extremely strong. Although it was sensed through the puppet, Ling Mo couldn't help but wrinkle his nose. The mixture of blood and decay was almost nauseating. As soon as the puppet jumped into the car, it stepped on a corpse. When Ling Mo looked down, he was immediately startled. The corpse, though decayed, had a swollen face with a pair of bright red eyes clearly visible. It was obvious that before dying, this person had already turned into a zombie.

No one had escaped, and no one had entered. Could this zombie have starved to death?

Ling Mo quickly controlled the puppet to move further into the car, but soon he noticed something was wrong. The interior of the car was covered in large patches of blood and pieces of clothing, clearly indicating that someone had undergone a mutation and gone on a killing spree. However, the bodies lying there were all mutated zombies, and Ling Mo noticed that their skulls had been punctured from behind.

Who did this?

Ling Mo suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Just as he was distracted, a black shadow suddenly darted out from behind a seat, pouncing onto the puppet's back like a swift leopard. The black shadow moved silently and with incredible agility. Although it wasn't very strong, by the time Ling Mo realized what was happening, the shadow had already thrust its hand toward the puppet's head.

Ling Mo was startled and instinctively controlled the puppet to fall backward, pinning the shadow to the ground. However, the puppet's head was already scratched open, and blood gushed out.

"Damn... This hand is like a knife!"

It had taken a lot of effort to raise such a young and strong puppet, and Ling Mo felt a pang of pain. At the same time, he was extremely wary of the shadow he had pinned down. He controlled the puppet to press the shadow's neck with his elbow and grabbed its wrist with the other hand, then managed to stand up. But as soon as he stood up, the shadow's other hand had already stabbed into the puppet's soft abdomen.

Although the puppet had no sense of pain, Ling Mo's expression became extremely complex. To be precise, at the moment the shadow moved, Ling Mo had already prepared to counterattack, but he froze when he saw the shadow's face.

"Ye... Ye Lian..."

The black shadow lying below, with one hand stabbed into the puppet's abdomen, was none other than his target, Ye Lian.

Ling Mo had made many assumptions, but he never expected to find Ye Lian in such a situation. After the mutation, Ye Lian's beautiful big eyes had turned blood red, but her expression was not as distorted as that of a typical zombie. Instead, it was normal and cold.

For a moment, Ling Mo was dazed, but when Ye Lian pulled her hand out, covered in the puppet's intestines, he suddenly snapped back to reality. Ye Lian's small hands looked no different from before, but her nails were abnormally hard, and her fingers were strong enough to pierce flesh. This was clearly different from a regular zombie.

Moreover, regular zombies wouldn't attack a puppet, which is a kind of zombie. Looking at the dead zombies in the car and then at Ye Lian, Ling Mo suddenly understood something. After the normal people in the car were eaten, the remaining zombies, driven by hunger, turned on each other. Ye Lian, who survived, seemed to have undergone some even more bizarre changes on top of the zombie mutation...

While Ling Mo was distracted, Ye Lian had already pulled out the puppet's intestines, and blood spurted out, splashing onto her. Stimulated by the fresh blood, her eyes seemed to turn even redder, and her strength increased. She grabbed the puppet's arm and threw it to the side.

As soon as the puppet fell to the ground, Ye Lian pounced again, her hands directly strangling the puppet's neck. Her movements were far more agile than those of a typical zombie. Before Ling Mo could react, he was already overpowered by Ye Lian.

As the feeling of suffocation set in, the puppet's instincts were triggered, and Ling Mo felt his mind go blank. This indicated that the puppet was about to lose control.

Ling Mo finally snapped out of his shock at seeing Ye Lian again. To some extent, he felt responsible for her current state...

While struggling to control the puppet, a bold idea suddenly came to Ling Mo. Since zombies were infected by a virus, and from the looks of it, the virus in Ye Lian's body had undergone some mutation, there might be a way to cure her...

Even though the hope was slim, as long as there was a possibility, Ling Mo wanted to try.

This thought immediately led Ling Mo to focus the puppet's eyes on Ye Lian's. As his concentration intensified, Ye Lian's head in his vision quickly turned into a light orb. However, the color of this light orb was different from that of a regular zombie. Zombies, influenced by the virus, had lost their reason and acted purely on instinct, so their mental light orbs were static and blurry. Ye Lian's, however, was much brighter and faintly red.

What was going on?

But there was no time for Ling Mo to think too much. He concentrated all his attention on Ye Lian's light orb, trying to delve deeper into it.

Indeed, it was different from a regular zombie. While he had encountered no resistance with regular zombies, Ling Mo felt a weak but noticeable resistance from Ye Lian. His heart skipped a beat.

Could it be that Ye Lian had regained some of her thoughts? But from her appearance, it didn't seem like it...

By the time Ling Mo finally managed to control Ye Lian, he was drenched in cold sweat, and the puppet had been completely strangled to death by Ye Lian.

But just as Ling Mo carefully controlled Ye Lian to stand up, he felt a strong desire. This desire came from Ye Lian's mental world, and its target was something in the puppet's brain...

When controlling previous puppets, Ling Mo had never sensed any emotional fluctuations from them, as they had no needs beyond their instincts. But now, he sensed something from Ye Lian, which filled him with both confusion and excitement. If a mutation could produce desire, then further mutation might restore her reason!

With this in mind, Ling Mo controlled Ye Lian to stab through the puppet's head. Guided by this desire, Ye Lian quickly extracted a small, gel-like object from the puppet's brain, which seemed to be infected and slightly elastic.

Ling Mo examined it for a while, then, despite feeling nauseous, he stuffed the gel into Ye Lian's mouth. A wave of heat immediately rose from her abdomen and spread throughout her body. Ye Lian's previously weak body seemed to be instantly revitalized.

To his surprise, this disgusting gel had such an effect. Perhaps Ye Lian's mutation was due to consuming this gel...

Controlling Ye Lian to jump out of the car and walk to his hiding place, Ling Mo finally met Ye Lian face to face.

Looking at Ye Lian's blood-stained body, her pale face, and her eerily bright red eyes, Ling Mo felt a mix of emotions. Although Ye Lian now seemed to exude a chilling aura and was extremely dangerous, her familiar face made him feel a bit dazed.

He couldn't help but reach out and wipe the blood from her face. "Don't worry, I'll find a way to help you recover."