On a desolate street, a zombie was wondering unconsciously.

He grinned slightly, a trace of saliva hanging on his lips, a pair of reddish eyes showing blazing cold creepiness.

Not too far in the distance, there was a small abandoned supermarket. The glass door spattered with brownish blood, through the open glass doors one can vaguely see the crooked shelves, as well as scattered food.

Behind the supermarket’s door, there was also a middle-aged male zombie moving slowly. Judging by his clothing, he should be one of supermarket’s staff.

This zombie slowly approached the supermarket, after passing the middle-aged male zombie, he suddenly pulled out a chop bone knife, and he turned and forcefully cut off his neck.

Blood splattered, the headless zombie fell to the ground immediately.

And this strange zombie immediately grabbed a  bag from behind the counter, and began to rapidly gather food….

“Huuu…. Exhausted…”

……

In a dark residence home, the sweating Ling Mo was looking at his hands of a bag full of food and a variety of household items with satisfaction.

And in front of him, there sat the zombie from the small supermarket. But the way this zombie looked at Ling Mo was without any trace of malice, just emptiness.

“Looks like I improved a lot from a few days ago, now I’m finally able to manipulate with flexibility.”

Ling Mo turned his gaze to this zombie, mouth revealing a hint of smile.

Two weeks ago, the emergence of a new virus turned the entire world into a slaughterhouse.

Countless human turned into zombies…. To be more accurate, after the virus infection lead to loss of self-consciousness, and then turned them into crazy killing monsters….

The survivors could only hide inside city’s corners like mice.

However, Ling Mo, who was once only a normal person, discovered his ability to control zombies after the arrival of the end of the world.

He could feel a hint of connection between himself and the zombies; empty-headed zombies are like thoughtless puppets, and he could inject his own thoughts into them, thereby manipulating zombies’ actions.

The start of experiments was very tough; zombies often escaped from his manipulation mid-way, and even endangered him in life threatening situations several times.

With the increasing number of attempts, Ling Mo finally acquired some techniques, this helped him to control zombies consistently, manipulate them to walk around, and help him to collect necessities.

But the distance could never be too far apart, which made Ling Mo somewhat annoyed.

He felt like he is a zombie puppeteer, but the lines in his hands were not long enough, and he was also not skilled enough.

However, to be able to survive on a much safer level, Ling Mo is very satisfied with his zombie controlling techniques. He called the zombie he controls as Zombie Puppet.

In the process of controlling zombie puppets, Ling Mo glimpsed that when he was controlling them, a violent felling was also affecting him.

Whether the influence was bad or good, he does not know yet….

During these days, Ling Mo had gotten a better understanding of zombie’s habits, unlike general zombies, these zombies are not the living dead, but living people affected by virus.

Even though the bodies are still alive, but the mind has turned completely into a monster. They attack uninfected survivors, tear these people’s flesh with strength much stronger than an average person.

The virus has completely destroyed their senses, dominated their thoughts, and turned them into executioners driven by their killing instincts.

In Ling Mo’s view, these kind of zombies are much more terrifying that the ones he saw in games and movies, because they retain their five senses. Whether it is sound or smell, it will all attract their attention.

“The sun is going down, we will call it a day.”

This residence home is not safe; it’s a temporary place for Ling Mo to say when controlling the zombie puppets.

After putting the food he gathered today into his backpack, Ling Mo shook his head which was hurting a bit, and he commanded the zombies to stand up.

Up close, with the zombie puppet standing right in front of him, Ling Mo still felt a sense of strangeness.

Although unlike the ones in the movies that exudes a rotting stench, this zombie still have a strong smell of blood. Virus infection made his face pale with glowing red eyes, through the slightly opened mouth, one can see stained pork on the teeth.

No need to think much, it must be the leftovers from eating human….

The zombie had good looks, about seventeen or eighteen-year-old teenager, but now his looks made him look like an evil spirit.

“Go go….”

Ling Mo pressed down strong feeling of nausea, controlled the zombie to walk down the stairs.

Even though he has the zombie puppet to open the road, it does not mean he is safe. Ling Mo holds a sharp bone knife, carefully walked behind the zombie puppet.

From here to his temporary home, they needed to cross a street. When they came here in the morning, Ling Mo found some firecrackers, first he made some noise on the opposite direction and attracted most of the zombies from this street over there. However, there were still some zombies wondering on the street.

After they safely reached the intersection, Ling Mo saw, trouble is here.

Two zombies blocked the intersection, who knew where they came from, their bodies are full of fresh splattered blood, one of them even carried half human arm and was busy eating it.

In this provincial city that have millions of people, everyday there are survivors killed during their attempts to find food, so dead people are not rare.

But the sight of that arm wreckage made Ling Mo felt sad for the loss of his own kind. It was only because of his abilities that gave him a better chance to survive, so he can’t be careless or he can still easily become these monsters’ meals.

Ling Mo walked closer while carefully manipulated the zombie puppet, he raised the chop bone knife as he approached one of them.

While the other zombie were attracted by the sound, Ling Mo held the knife, rushed behind him and stabbed in his head.

The two zombies died almost simultaneously, after pulling the knife out with force, Ling Mo kicked over the body in front of him.

Ling Mo would not miss any opportunity if given the chance, even though it’s proven useful to manipulate zombies, but he must have the fighting ability to protect himself as well.

And Ling Mo faintly felt that when he beheaded zombies, some kind of violent cause in his body is affecting him, he even felt a moment of pleasure when he pulled the knife out.

“Virus is not going to be transmitted through spiritual contact, right…..if it can be contagious that way, I would have been infected ages ago…. If it’s not because of the virus, then what exactly is this feeling….”

Ling Mo was very concerned about this slight change, but he had no clues yet.

However, the ability to cleanly behead zombies and the fact that it’s getting better is a good thing for Ling Mo.

Before the end of the world, he was just an ordinary man. When he killed zombies for the first time, it was a scary exploration. Even after the killing, he felt terrified and his could not think straight for a while.

But in order to survive, it is necessary to enhance combat skill.

And in Ling Mo’s mind, he is always thinking about one person. To quickly master zombie controlling techniques, collect as many supplies as possible, and it’s all because he want to cross this district, and find her……

Chapter 2 – Crossing the Danger Zone

When the last hint of light at the horizon disappeared, Ling Mo has returned to the residence.

This was a seemingly insignificant small building, in addition to the solid iron door, one was also able to jump from the roof to the building next door, and there were enough open space at the front and back of the building. Plus, this place belonged to the suburbs, in terms of survivors and zombies; their numbers are much less than the ones in the city, which make this place much safer.

Most importantly, this was originally the warehouse of a small furniture factory, filled with low-quality paints and wood flavor, which was able to fully cover Ling Mo’s scent.

Through virus infection, those monsters not only did not lose five senses, but was further enhanced in which they have perfect night vision, incomparable hearing and smelling to those of ordinary people.

Before going to sleep, Ling Mo fed the zombie puppet a piece of rancid meat, kept him outside the iron door, locked the iron door firmly and then went to rest.

Even during his sleep, Ling Mo did not cut his spiritual connection with the zombie, it may be tiring, but on one hand he could train himself, and on the other hand it’s a way of staying alert for himself.

To allow one to get enough rest but also keep the connection with the zombie puppet, it was easier said than done. In fact is actually very difficult. Ling Mo also tried numerous times before grasping the right balance. Now when sleeping, he has always been in a light sleep state, and he could even hear the subtle movement in the surroundings.

But today Ling Mo has yet been able to sleep, a figure kept appearing in his head from time to time…..

After his parents died, the one person he missed the most in this world is her, his crush, but also his childhood friend next door, Ye Lian.

When the disaster broke out, he received the last phone call from her.

“Big brother Lin, run!”

After those 4 short words, there came the burst of “beep” of the busy tone…..

In fact, Ling Mo knew clearly that Ye Lian is probably dead. During the outbreak of the disaster, she was walking toward his residence, looking to make him a decent meal and to help him improve his living condition…

Because of this, there is always a knot in Ling Mo’s mind, whether live or dead, he felt he should find Ye Lian.

“Tomorrow, I will go find her …..”

After preparing for so long, Ling Mo felt that with the ability to control zombie puppet should allow him to cross the city district.

He had already sketched out the place where she might appear in his mind, not too far away from here, but separated by two residential areas in the middle which were regarded as the most dangerous region.

However, in order to cross as safely as possible, Ling Mo has done enough preparation, everything, and now he just had to wait until tomorrow…..

Early in the morning, Ling Mo opened his eyes, jumped down from a semi-soft bed. Once again after finishing packing his backpack, Ling Mo took a deep breath, walked downstairs.

The zombie puppet under his control had been well behaved by blocking the door; clothes are wet due to the cold air. His look does not show a single trace of tiredness though.

Due to unknown reasons, that sudden outbreak of virus not only turned most living people into monsters, but also enhanced their bodies to be very powerful. However, Ling Mo also noted that because they need to maintain a high intensity physical consumption, they just kept eating instinctively, and food sources are the uninfected survivors.

Clenched the bone knife tightly, Ling Mo opened the iron gate, manipulated the zombie puppet and walk towards the planned route.

Once entered in a residential area, there was an increasing number of wandering zombies. Attracting them through sound would not work, since the environment is too complex, and it would easily endanger himself.

The only way is to pick a route with fewer zombies, and go as quietly as possible.

An average person would face enormous difficulty trying to move in this kind of environment, luckily Ling Mo had a zombie puppet.

With cooperation of the puppet, Ling Mo continuously killed a dozen zombies and got through, he now arrived on a street that was once prosperous.

This place is like the transition zone between suburbs and city, in Ling Mo’s prediction, Ye Lian was at one of the corner when she made the phone call.

Abandoned cars were everywhere; shops were all open along the way, but they were all pitch black.

Other than the bloodstains everywhere, the only things left were the zombies.

Even though Ling Mo killed numerous zombies these days, but it was his first time to see such large number of zombies gathered in one place. Looking through, there are at least dozens in his vision, let alone those hidden in the dark.

Ling Mo intend to observe at a higher place, just as he was walking towards a residential building, there came a scream not far from here.

“Help Ah!”

I did not expect that there are still survivors! Ling Mo quickly controlled the zombie puppet, and carefully moving toward the sound direction.

Outside a residential building, there gathered about a dozen zombies, they are frantically hitting the security door.

Behind the door are two frightened teenagers, on one hand, they were trying to hold the door tightly, and on the other hand, they were desperately screaming for help.

“Idiots….” Ling Mo frowned, nervously looked around him.

Screaming like this would only lead to more zombies, originally Ling Mo wanted to lend them a hand in the best of his ability, but now it seems hastily shot would only harm himself.

Soon enough, some zombies were attracted, they continuously hit the security door, issued a “bang bang” sound and the connection walls began to come to loose.

The two young men looked ashen, let go of much more piercing screams of fear….

“Dang!”

With a bang, security doors finally got knocked down, and the two young men’s screams quickly drowned in the waves of zombies…

However, this was an opportunity for Ling Mo, taking advantage of how all zombies got attracted to over there so he could cross this district.

After successfully passing through this dense population of zombies’ area, Ling Mo did not had time to cheer before he realized that the intersection before him were blocked by one bus and a few cars.

During disaster outbreak, there were enough vehicle accidents, not to mention this kind of bus full of passengers. Whether or not the passengers mutated, or frightened by the situation, terrible things could happen.

Looking at the situation, the bus collapsed with the death-defying fleeing cars and incurred a chain of collision, in which its entire shape were deformed.

He just have no idea what happened to the passengers inside, perhaps trapped and died, or probably all turned into zombies…

Ling Mo wanted to go around, but he suddenly thought of something after staring at the bus.

Ye Lian seemed to have always taken the bus whenever she comes…… As soon as the thought came out, Ling Mo sees the bus differently.

He felt a sudden strong beating of his heart, both looked forward to, but also with some fear.

There are great possibilities that Ye Lian was on this bus, if she did not get out in time, she should still be on there.

Although he felt well prepared, but Ling Mo still a little panicking when its time to really face it.

Should it be decomposed body, or left with nothing, or….

After letting out a long breath, Ling Mo controlled the zombie puppet and climbed on the deformed bus head.

The feeling is wonderful when it comes to controlling the zombie puppet, it was like having his own shadow clone. Through the spiritual connection between the puppet, not only could he control the movements, but also receive feedback from the puppet’s facial expressions.

But in between Ling Mo and the zombie puppet, he could feel that there was still a layer or barrier which unable him to fully control the puppet.

From Ling Mo’s perspective, the ultimate state of mastering the control of zombie puppets would be like fusing with the puppet…

Although it feels weird, Ling Mo is still looking forward to that kind of state.

Chapter 3 – Encounter with Childhood Sweetheart

Through the zombie puppet’s vision, Ling Mo glimpsed the inside of vehicle.

Dark inside, there were many obscure figures, and all were at rest.

After bypassing the front you could see the front and rear doors cannot be opened because of impact extrusion.

Quite a few windows were cracked, but not enough to allow one to climb out. Ling Mo controlled the puppet, broke one of the windows and climbed in.

The smell was very strong in the car, although he felt it through the zombie puppet, Ling Mo couldn’t help but frown.

The scent of blood and rotting mixed together make people feel nauseated.

As soon as the puppet jumped into the car, he stepped on a dead body. After glanced down, Ling Mo is immediately startled.

Even though the corpse became rotten, but on its swollen face, a pair of red eyes are clearly visible. Its obvious before he died, he became a zombie.

No one escaped, and no one entered, did the zombies died of starvation?

Ling Mo quickly controls the puppet to continue walk toward the end of the bus, but he soon realized that something was wrong.

The compartment is full of large bloodstains, and clothing fragments, apparently some one started a slaughter after mutation.

But the ones lie here are all mutated zombies, and Ling Mo noticed that the back of their heads were cut open.

Who did it?

Ling Mo felt a sudden horror, and while he was dumbfounded, a shadow suddenly jumped out from one of the seat, as nimble as a cheetah, jumped onto the back of his zombie puppet.

The shadow moved silently and was extremely agile, although it had little power, but by the time when Ling Mo felt it, this shadow has already poked his hand to puppet’s back head.

Stunned, Ling Mo instinctively control the puppet to fall back, forcefully bringing the shadow on the ground.

But at the same time, zombie puppet’s brain has been scratched, blood instantly gushing out.

“Holy crap…. this hand is like a knife!”

It was tough to groom this young zombie puppet; Ling Mo feel distressed, but also became extremely wary of this shadow.

He used elbow to clutch the shadow’s neck while controlling the puppet, and use the other hand clutch his wrist, while leveraging to climb up.

However as soon as he rose, the shadow used his other hand to poke into puppet’s soft abdomen.

Although the zombie puppet feels no pain, but Ling Mo’s face still became extremely complex.

To be exact, at the moment when the shadow was preparing to strike, Ling Mo, who already prepared to fight back, instantly stopped when he saw the shadow’s appearance.

“Ye…..Ye Lian…..”

Lying below, the shadow whose one hand poked into the belly of the puppet, is the one whom he’s trying to find, Ye Lian.

Ling Mo has made many assumptions, but never expected to find Ye Lian in this situation.

After mutation, Ye Lian’s beautiful big eyes turned bloody red, but her looks are not twisted like normal zombies, but very normal, very cool.

For a moment, Ling Mo hesitated, but when Ye Lian took out her hand full with puppet’s gut, Ling Mo was suddenly awake.

Ye Lian’s small hands looked no different than before, but the nail hardness was unusual, the fingers were powerful enough to pierce the flesh. This clearly showcased her difference with normal zombies.

And normal zombies would not attack a fellow zombie puppet…….. Think back to the car full of zombie corpses, look at Ye Lian again, Ling Mo suddenly understood something.

After normal people were eaten, driven by hunger, the remaining zombies became cannibals, and the last zombie survivor Ye Lian developed some bizarre mutation…

While Ling Mo was dumbfounded, his zombie puppet’s intestines had been pulled out, blood pouring out, splashing on her body.

Stimulated by the smell of the fresh blood, her eyes seemed to get bloodier, and her strength seemed to increase as well, she grabbed the puppet’s arm and flipped him to one side.

As soon as the zombie puppet landed on the ground, Ye Lian rushed up and placed her hands directly on the puppet’s neck.

Her movement is much more flexible than the average zombies, Ling Mo could not even react and was countered by Ye Lian.

With the felling of suffocation, zombie puppet’s natural instinct was activated, and Ling Mo felt waves of emptiness in his head. When this feelings emerges, it means that the puppet is about to get out of his control.

And Ling Mo finally recovered from the shock after reuniting with Ye Lian. Ye Lian turned into this; to some extent it is also my own responsibility….

When trying his best to control his zombie puppet, Ling Mo suddenly had a bold idea.

Since zombies are just humans infected by the virus, and judging by Ye Lian’s look, her virus probably mutated or something. In that case, there might be a way to cure her.

Even if this hope was very slim, but as long as there is a chance, Ling Mo wanted to give it a try.

As soon as the idea came up, Ling Mo immediately controlled the puppet to tightly stare into Ye Lian’s eyes. With the concentration of Ling Mo’s spirits, in his eyes, Ye Lian’s head soon turned into a ball of light.

However, the color of this light bulb is different than the average zombies. Infected by virus, zombies lost their mind, acting purely on instincts, therefore the spiritual light that represents their inner mind are realy fuzzy. But Ye Lian’s spiritual light was obviously much brighter, and has faint traces of red.

What is that all about?

But the current situation does not allow Ling Mo to think more, he tried to focus his attention on the light of Ye Lian, and tries to go deeper.

And indeed it was different than normal zombies, Ling Mo felt resistance here where he did not felt in other zombies. Although weak, Ling Mo feel his heartbeat suddenly stopped a bit.

Is it possible, that Ye Lian regained some conscious? But judging by her look, seems not quiet….

When Ling Mo finally managed to control Ye Lian, his body was already covered in cold sweats, and zombie puppet was completely choked to death during the process.

But when Ling Mo was carefully controlling Ye LIan to stand up, he suddenly felt a longing. This desire comes from Ye Lian’s spiritual world, and the target is something is the puppet’s brain….

During his prior experience with puppets, Ling Mo never felt any emotion from them, because besides their instincts, the zombie puppets had no other desire.

But at this time he felt from something from Ye Lian, this makes Ling Mo confused and surprised. If mutation can produce desire, then if it continues, maybe she can regain her emotions!

Thinking of this, Ling Mo used Ye Lian to poke through the head of zombie puppet, under the guidance of this desire, Ye Lian quickly pulled out a small piece of gel-like object from the head.

It is like a part of the brain tissue after infection, a little red, like an elastic rubber when held in hand.

After Ling Mo toss and turn the object for a while, endure nausea, he pushed it into Ye Lian’s mouth.

A heat wave immediately raised from the stomach, quickly circulated through the whole body, and Ye Lian’s once weak body, seemed to have received some physical supplement.

Never thought this disgusting gel could have this effect, perhaps Ye Lian’s mutation is caused by eating this gel…..

Manipulating Ye Lian to jump out of the car, and walked into his hiding place, Ling Mo finally see Ye Lian face to face.

Watching Ye Lian’s bloodstained body, pale cheek and that pair of red, almost eerie eyes, Ling Mo was moved by a mixture of feelings. Even though Ye Lian now gives the impression of danger as if there was a chilly atmosphere forming beside her body, but her familiar face still left Ling Mo a little dazed.

He could not help but stretched out his hand, wiped Ye Lian’s bloodstains from her face: “ Don’t worry, big brother will for sure to find a way for you to recover.”