"It doesn't matter who uses it; what matters is what gets activated. Ownership can always be transferred anyway." Staring at the blue shard, Xu Mo suddenly had a vague hunch flash through his mind. He quickly turned to the two and said, "Sister Chang, give the shard to Brother Du and let him activate it. If my guess is right, this shard might be very important for him!"
"Huh? No way! Can you predict what an Apocalyptic shard will randomly activate?" Chang Zitong looked at Xu Mo in disbelief but still followed his suggestion and handed the blue shard to Du Zhizhang.
As the blue shard gradually disappeared into the wound on Du Zhizhang's palm, a grotesque, eyeless creature with exposed muscles and razor-sharp claws suddenly appeared before him, accompanied by a faint blue glow.
Instinctively summoning her war hammer, Chang Zitong exclaimed in surprise, "A Licker? Could it be the one from earlier? Why is it this?"
"Looks like my guess was correct..."
When Xu Mo saw the blue shard earlier, he suddenly recalled that it seemed to have dropped from the Licker that had ambushed Chang Zitong. This reminded him of the sneaky "Fallen Feather Raven" from before, and a strange thought popped into his mind—could it be that the creatures spawned from blue shards in the Apocalyptic Mirage were somehow related to the mirage's content? Or even the very same creature that had dropped the shard?
The Fallen Feather Raven alone wasn't enough to confirm this theory. But now, seeing Du Zhizhang activate a Licker, Xu Mo could be sure of it.
This meant that from now on, he could make more informed choices when activating blue shards.
However, that still didn't explain where the "Grass Mud Horse" came from... That was a puzzle he just couldn't wrap his head around.
Having the rare opportunity to observe a creature that previously only existed in movies up close, Chang Zitong curiously circled the Licker several times, nearly climbing onto its back for a better look. Suddenly, she gasped, "Hey? Xu Mo, did you notice this Licker seems different from the one before?"
"It does. Looks about two sizes smaller than the previous one." Xu Mo also took note of the detail and then suggested to Du Zhizhang, "Brother Du, give it an order to attack me at full strength."
Following Du Zhizhang's command, the smaller-sized Licker, roughly the size of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old teenager, immediately launched a fierce assault on Xu Mo. Xu Mo skillfully parried its attacks with his Spartan short sword, deliberately avoiding any counterattacks. After a few seconds, he suddenly called for a stop, nodded, and said, "As I thought, this Licker's strength is only about half that of the one before. Even factoring in the attack boosts from its claws and tongue, its actual combat prowess is only on par with a special forces soldier."
"That's still pretty good. After all, Zhizhang has zero combat ability. With this Licker, it's like having a personal bodyguard." Chang Zitong was satisfied.
"This Licker should have some sort of special ability, right?" Xu Mo asked. Generally speaking, intelligent Apocalyptic shard creatures all had a unique survival ability, just like the Fallen Feather Raven's "Spatial Teleportation."
Closing his eyes for a moment to communicate with the Licker, Du Zhizhang then replied, "Stealth Crawl. It can use its mental energy to suppress the sounds and presence of its movement, allowing it to approach targets undetected. But it seems to have a time limit."
"Looks like your Licker is more of an assassin. Unless absolutely necessary, don't try using it as a tank." Xu Mo chuckled and offered some advice.
By now, the three of them had been resting in the room for at least fifteen minutes. While that wasn't enough time for Xu Mo and Chang Zitong to fully recover, the dire situation outside didn't allow for a longer break. After a quick snack of biscuits, they stepped out once more.
In truth, ten minutes ago, nearly ten thousand zombies from all directions had already surrounded Liangyuan Theater.
From the second-floor window, they could see that the entire plaza in front of the theater was completely packed with a black mass of zombies. Rotten, twisted faces, mouths full of yellowed teeth, roared ferociously as they ceaselessly slammed their decaying bodies against the three reinforced glass doors of the theater. The pooling blood had almost completely stained the lower half of the doors an opaque, dark red. The metal hinges and locks groaned under the pressure of hundreds of zombies crashing against them, sounding as if they could give way at any moment.
To prevent any Licker-like special zombies from infiltrating through the rooftop, the entrance to the third-floor terrace had been completely barricaded with debris, and the original sentries stationed there had been relocated to various positions on the second floor.
As soon as Xu Mo and the others arrived, Dong Tian, who was in charge of defense, immediately approached to report the current situation.
"Ten minutes ago, the zombies launched a fierce assault on all entrances of the theater. Because the theater's foundation is about 1.7 meters above ground level, the twenty or so windows, which are at least 2.5 meters high, are not under much threat. The main attacks are concentrated at the front and rear entrances.
From what we've observed, the zombies will have a hard time breaking through the front entrance. The platform in front is only three meters wide, allowing at most 200 zombies to attack at once. The stairs also block the force from the hordes behind. The rear entrance, however, is a concern. Fortunately, it's an iron door, and with reinforcements, it should hold for a long time.
The only real problem is a type of special zombie that moves as nimbly as a normal human. These creatures actually know how to climb on top of other zombies to reach the windows, causing a huge headache for our defenses. Luckily, the two weapons you provided earlier can harm these zombies. After chopping off the fingers of a dozen of them, the situation has stabilized."
"Have there been any Lickers? The kind that crawl on all fours, move extremely fast, and look like oversized monkeys?"
Xu Mo was most concerned about the highly mobile and deadly Lickers. While their combat strength wasn't overwhelming, they were like assassins among the zombies—adept at hiding. If even one infiltrated the theater unnoticed, there wouldn't be many people besides him who could deal with it.
"I know what you mean. I've assigned people to keep a close watch, and so far, we haven't spotted any among the horde. I believe these creatures are still relatively rare," Dong Tian responded with confidence.
Rare? Even if just one in a thousand was a Licker, that still meant there were at least nine more lurking in this ten-thousand-strong horde! These creatures were intelligent enough to stay hidden until the right moment...
Since the theater's defenses were holding up well, Dong Tian knew they would need Xu Mo's help if any powerful creatures appeared. He didn't press them to stay, instead urging Xu Mo to rest and conserve his strength. Before they left, he handed Xu Mo a security team's walkie-talkie for easy communication.
Due to the enhancement from Apocalyptic shards, Xu Mo's stamina recovery was significantly faster than normal. Unless he was utterly exhausted, he didn't need to rest consciously—just maintaining a relatively calm state would allow him to gradually recover.
Compared to the relatively stable external defense, he was more concerned about the mental state of the 2,000-plus civilians inside the theater. After all, external threats could be dealt with, but if chaos broke out inside, the situation would be much harder to control.
Surprisingly, the so-called "local supporting central" Minister Wang, despite his cowardly and selfish nature, was actually quite skilled in civil affairs. When Xu Mo arrived at the auditorium to check on the evacuees, he found that a movie was being played.
Of course, it wasn't Resident Evil, but rather a domestic comedy film that had been released around the same time. The bursts of laughter helped alleviate some of the oppressive fear hanging over the people.
When Xu Mo went looking for Minister Wang, he was told that the man was in a meeting with other leadership members and had refused any visitors until it was over.