Chapter 729: The Phantom of the Pipeline
“Could it be that Black Silk is seeing me as a backup symbiote?” Ling Mo suddenly had this thought pop into his head.
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Not to mention the lack of freedom as a symbiote, just imagining that talkative companion chattering in his mind all day sent a chill down his spine.
Now he began to understand Yu Shiran a bit more. No wonder she wanted his help to sever her psychic link with Black Silk. It must be quite torturous!
However, Black Silk’s idea was still rather far-fetched. Essentially, it remained Ling Mo’s Zombie Puppet. As long as the psychic link remained unbroken, it was impossible for it to rebel against him.
“But the fact that it even had such a thought… it’s definitely cunning. Guess Xia Na’s training wasn’t for nothing…”
Ling Mo quickly shook his head. Black Silk needed some discipline, but he didn’t have time to dwell on that now.
The main focus should be on exploring Niepan headquarters at the moment.
In a place like this, he couldn’t casually use his psychic tentacles for probing. Disturbing other mental ability superhumans would only expose him.
But sending out the main body wouldn’t yield much either, unless he knew some stealth techniques.
Generally speaking, it’s incredibly difficult to come up with an appropriate method in such stringent conditions.
Mu Chen thought the same. He was currently sitting in the next room, supposedly resting but actually keeping an eye out for Ling Mo.
He knew very well that after sneaking in, Ling Mo wouldn’t waste any time and would quickly take action.
But no matter how much he thought, Mu Chen couldn’t guess what method Ling Mo would use.
Without psychic power probing, how would he deal with the omnipresent guards and dense firepower points?
If it were anyone else, Mu Chen would have lost faith. But with Ling Mo, even though he had doubts, he still held onto a sliver of hope.
If they really had no way, then wouldn’t sneaking in here be tantamount to courting death?
In fact, as he saw it, Ling Mo often flirted with danger, but in the end, he usually came out unscathed.
However, this time was different from the past. They were now deep within enemy Headquarters. One wrong move could lead to complete failure.
“Ling-Ge, Ling-Ge, please don’t screw me over this time…” Mu Chen couldn’t help but mutter under his breath.
Separated by a wall, Ling Mo had no idea what Mu Chen was saying.
Unlike Mu Chen, Ling Mo was neither nervous nor racking his brains. Instead, he was meticulously inspecting the corners of the room.
Who knows what this room was used for before; the decor was quite decent, and it had all the amenities. But many pieces of furniture were evidently brought in from elsewhere, and even the decor seemed to have been redone.
Niepan headquarters had certainly invested heavily to meet the needs of these superhumans.
If this had been any other Survivor Camp, they’d use all that energy to gather supplies. With starvation lurking, who cares about luxury?
It’s exactly this stark difference that attracts so many superhumans to Niepan headquarters.
Some people have simple thoughts: risking their lives every so often is a given, no matter which camp they join. If that’s the case, they might as well enjoy the downtime. Who knows if they’ll survive the next outing? With a sword perpetually hanging over their heads, many of them act without any scruples. Ling Mo guessed that people here probably didn’t save their contribution points, spending them quickly as soon as they got them.
As he pondered, Ling Mo finished searching the floor and turned his attention to the Ceiling.
Niepan headquarters was unlikely to install surveillance cameras in the superhumans’ living quarters, and Ling Mo wasn’t looking for that either.
After observing for a while from below, he extended a few psychic tentacles.
Though psychic tentacles shouldn’t be used carelessly, using them to explore his own room was fine.
Quickly, Ling Mo’s attention was drawn to a spot.
As he eerily “hovered” mid-air, the ceiling lamp above him wobbled a bit.
When he reached mid-air, the white ceiling panel began to quiver mysteriously and then slowly pried open at one corner.
“Phew…”
Propping up the corner with his tentacles, Ling Mo immediately pulled out the little Jellyfish from his pocket.
He had initially intended to use this little thing as a backup battery, but given the current situation, it could now serve as an exploration robot.
Earlier, during a body search, it had been mistaken for a Toy. But as soon as it landed in Ling Mo’s palm, it immediately spun around energetically.
“Sure enough, the mental energy consumption is slow; even now, it’s still at its limit state…”
A silent psychic tentacle extended from Ling Mo’s psychic light cluster, then penetrated the Jellyfish.
Since it was already full, the tentacle did nothing more than intertwine with the mental energy inside; it wasn’t absorbed by the Jellyfish.
Ling Mo’s method wasn’t exactly controlling it but rather connecting it to his own mental energy.
“Though it’s pure energy without any memories, it could barely count as an artificial mini psychic light cluster…”
He moved the Jellyfish towards the Ceiling. With a mere thought, the Jellyfish crawled into the gap.
Once inside, the tentacle dissipated, and the ceiling panel returned to its original state.
Although it no longer fit as seamlessly as before, unless someone inspected closely, it wouldn’t be noticeable.
“That should do it.” Ling Mo jumped back to the floor, shifting his “vision” to the Jellyfish.
This feeling was completely different from controlling a Zombie Puppet. The Jellyfish had no eyesight, and even if it did, it would be useless in such a pipeline.
It felt as though he were in absolute darkness, with only those psychic light clusters visible, some near and some far.
But the Jellyfish moved quickly. Ling Mo felt like a phantom, occasionally passing by a psychic light cluster as he swiftly navigated Niepan headquarters…
“Roar!”
A Zombie waved its arms around but suddenly went weak in the knees and collapsed forward.
With the heavy thud of the Zombie hitting the ground, a small figure wielding a Curved knife appeared behind it.
“The Zombies around here are a real pain! Kill one, and a bunch more show up!” The girl with the Curved knife lifted her head, revealing a youthful face beneath her cap. She looked frustrated, breathing heavily.
Not far from her, another man was also taking down a Zombie. Though he seemed in good shape, he too was slightly sweating.
“This side’s pretty much searched. We can be sure they’ve left, right? Don’t forget, we have an actual mission,” the man said helplessly.
“Tsk, you’re making it sound like I’m abusing my power for personal gain. You heard what that lunatic from the Second Camp said-if we want to recruit them, we need to find that person,” the girl said indignantly.
“Yeah, you’re right,” the man said, rubbing his arm with a headache.
“Don’t act so resigned!” the girl snapped, “Falcon may have a lot of supplies, but it’s only enough to sustain themselves. The Second Camp is the real target worth recruiting. But the Second Camp clearly doesn’t listen to Headquarters. I’m doing this for the greater good! And besides… besides, aren’t we on the way?”
The man, looking defeated, said, “How is it that everything sounds so logical when it comes out of your mouth… But we’ve already searched all of Cuihu City and found no trace of them. We should head to Niepan headquarters.”
“Hmph…” the girl pouted, giving him a resentful look before turning back, “We haven’t seen them, nor have we come across any so-called enhanced zombies…”
She frowned slightly and then reached up to touch her neck. Though her neck bore no object…
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh-
Tentacles swept quickly, and before long, Ling Mo had followed the Jellyfish to the vicinity of three buildings at the back.
He “couldn’t see” anything but was able to clearly sense the nearby psychic light clusters thanks to the Jellyfish’s strong Sensing Ability.
This approach did carry certain risks, but Ling Mo believed that, barring someone being overly cautious, no one would be specifically watching the Ceiling.
“Eight… nine… thirteen… There’s a passage with thirteen people… That guy surnamed Li said ordinary members aren’t allowed here, so generally, no one should be casually hanging around this area. So these must be guards?”