It was midnight in the pitch black room when Shana opened her eyes after being almost vegetative.
Also at a distance, Ling Mo could already see Shana’s pair of nearly glowing red eyes. More concerning to him, however, was the observation that Ye Lian appeared almost restless. Ling Mo learned to trust the instincts from a mutated zombie such as herself as a warning signal.
Was Shana fully mutated? Ling Mo carefully approached, waiting with bated breath to observe more carefully at Shana’s reaction.
But just as he walked to the bed, Shana suddenly stood up, in the almost-pitch-darkness, instantly rushed over and effortlessly dashed towards Ling Mo.
If it were normal people standing against such a charge, they would have only felt a rustling in the air before they would be sliced into ribbons. In the dark, zombies are much stronger than average people, and in terms of vision, they hold absolute advantage.
Ling Mo naturally could not clearly visualize Shana’s movements in the pitch black room, but he could feel Ye Lian’s actions and thoughts, and by proxy, have his eye trained on Shana, enabling him to predict Shana’s move. Ling Mo immediately rolled sideways as Shana leaped, and Ye Lian who was quietly sitting on the bed also suddenly jumped out from behind and grabbed Shana’s arm from behind. Although Shana’s reaction is super fast, and immediately turned to attack Ye Lian, Ling Mo has already recovered from his evasive dodge, and picked up Shana to hurl her under the bed.
This is zombies’ weakness, it is lack of judgment, they only know how to attack with instincts, and very easy to be diverted of attention.
It was only after restraining Shana that Ling Mo realized as his heart skipped a beat that Shana was fully mutated. Ling Mo was thankful that Ye Lian had grabbed her arm to distract her so he could recover from his roll, otherwise he would have been pulverized on the spot.
Ling Mo reached under Shana’s bed and yanked her arms out. But just as Ling Mo turned her over, and ready to manipulate her, Shana suddenly spoke out in a somewhat confused, but wholly human voice, whispered:
what are you doing??
Ling Mo leaped back in shock.
If he has not just seen Shana’s super strong attacking power, Ling Mo could have thought that Shana is still a normal person!
Under the shock, Ling Mo somewhat confused and looked at Shana’s pair of eyes, and found out that that pair of eyes that were bloody-red a moment ago right now returned to the normal state!
Even in the darkness, Ling Mo could still make up a vague impression of her face. Ling Mo felt thunderstruck at seeing Shana’s drastic reversion into what is seemingly a human face after believing that he had lost her to the zombies.
Ling Mo has seen this sudden gaze of clarity and consciousness prior to the cusp of evolution of Ye Lian. It both seemed like regaining a faint trace of consciousness, and also almost like a budding of thinking, a trait far distinct from a zombie who was trained to only kill. Even though that look soon disappeared from Ye Lian’s eyes and was lost till this day, it has stubbornly carved itself into Ling Mo’s memories. This means to Ling Mo, it’s kind of a hope, a hope that he looks forward that Ye Lian will be able to completely regain her consciousness some day!
But right now, he even saw the same expression in Shana’s eyes, and different from Ye Lian at that moment is that she still knows how to talk…
Shana? Shana???
Ling Mo took quite a while to start talking again, and quickly grabbed the shoulders of Shana and rattled a few times, whispered rapidly.
The movements inside the bedroom has also alerted Wang Cheng who was on duty in the living room, even awakened Liu Yu Hao.
Big brother Ling! Did something happen to Shana?
Liu Yu Hao anxiously asked repeatedly outside the door.
Ling Mo said without turning his head back:
Do not come in!
Not even Ling Mo knew what happened to Shana, who was exhibiting the clarity of a human, but still possessing the aggressiveness of a mutated zombie. Letting these two inexperienced survivors in is sure to cause even more unnecessary chaos.
Shana gathered herself and began to rouse herself, apparently being roused by Ling Mo’s shaking, but she did not answer Ling Mo. Instead, she began to frantically struggle to stand up, her eyes has once again become bloody-red. That sense of fierce rage that belonged to zombies once again occupied her mind.
Ling Mo needed to act fast before she started to attack again. He quickly let Ye Lian firmly grasp Shana, and he is using the zombie puppet ability trying to control Shana. She must not be allowed to continue to mutate like this, it will eventually be lose-lose, it is necessary to stop her from attacking anyone.
As Ling Mo began to merge his consciousness with Shana’s, he saw something that was astounding. Shana’s consciousness seemed to be rapidly switching between the rage-fueled zombie state, as well as a free-thinking human state! Right now, it’s obvious that the violent component is having the upper advantage, and Shana has become extremely violent because of this. Even her consciousness was violently resisting Ling Mo’s attempts at controlling it, reacting with unprecedented pressure.
Fortunately, Ling Mo’s spirit of power has evolved several times, although very difficult, but when Ling Mo was almost at the point of collapse, he finally suppressed Shana’s instinct and seized control of Shana’s body!
But because Shana is still behaving with some sanity, Ling Mo did not decide to forcibly and completely control her, but just like he controlled Ye Lian before, he only maintained a spiritual connection with her. This way, he would be able to rapidly mentally restrain Shana if she ever reverts to this mutated zombie state.
Finally, Shana quieted down. Ling Mo looked down at himself and saw his whole body has been soaked by the sweat after this work out. Ling Mo slowly removed himself from the bed while rubbing his temples, eyes looking at Shana perplexedly.
Shana’s current situation where she suddenly is a zombie, and suddenly showing a trace of rational ways, allowed Ling Mo unconsciously thought of a word:
schizophrenia.
The two brain gels she swallowed obviously had something to do with her current state. As Shana started to mutate and structurally deform under the load of the virus, the gels stopped her body from falling apart like the late Lu Xin. Instead, the virus must have been redirected into her brain, causing degeneration of consciousness and sanity. A truly bittersweet outcome!
Ling Mo, still extremely cautious, decided to forcibly control Shana’s body movements for the moment. Controlled by Ling Mo, and her desire to attack being forcibly smothered, Shana once again calmed down, even that pair of eyes has slowly returned back to normal. However, her eyes were extremely hazy, almost as if she was in a semi-conscious trance. Even so, to maintain control against her under this condition Ling Mo still spends a lot of his strength.
Of course under the current situation, it’s already good that she could maintain spiritual connection with him, but to control her actions would be difficult.
Controlling another mutated zombie, a somewhat schizophrenic zombie, this to Ling Mo is really a huge pressure.
Liu Yu Hao could not wait another second, being overwhelmed by temptation and rushed in. His jaw dropped at the sight of the bedroom.
His eyes glazed over the damaged bed, and stared at Shana, who was apparently peacefully sitting in bed. Liu Yu Hao suddenly exclaimed with surprise:
Shana did not become a zombie, she actually did not become a zombie! Ha ha ha, Shana!
As he said, he rushed before Shana, excited trying to reach out and embrace her.
Don’t touch her!!!
But Ling Mo was still a step late, as Liu Yu Hao’s hand brushed by Shana’s arm, Shana who was previously unconscious suddenly turned violent again, her eyes glowing a bright crimson. If she wasn’t tightly restrained by Ling Mo, she would have most likely started to attack Liu Yu Hao.
Liu Yu Hao was horrified and stepped a few steps backwards, then looked at Ling Mo with a terrified look, his heart beating in his throat:
what is going on?!?
Ling Mo cannot tell him that he is currently mind controlling Shana, otherwise he would fear that Liu Yu Hao will go insane as well. Fortunately, he quickly thought of another answer
I guess she is still in the aftermath of infection, and is very mentally unstable ….you better not mess with her, otherwise she would lose her sanity for good.
Like a hangover?
Liu Yu Hao widened his eyes, but did not have slightest doubt for Ling Mo’s words.
Indeed, there is no better explanation that could better explain Shana’s current situation. And right now Shana’s eyes revealed bloodthirsty breath, and appeared no different from an ordinary bloodthirsty and savage zombie. But Ling Mo did not feel any desire to leap out and strike, suggesting to him that Shana was consciously suppressing the urge to attack.
