Her face, full of collagen, still looked fair and supple under the dim yellow light. Lu Chen unconsciously clenched his palm and pinched her face, pulling a piece of her cheek to the side.
"What are you doing?" Su Mo’s mouth was pulled up along with it as she glared at the man in front of her.
The man let go of his hand, and the soft touch in his palm made his chest tighten. After a while, he managed to say, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
He left the kitchen, and Su Mo, rubbing her face, looked utterly baffled.
It was late at night, and Su Niang had finished making all the small steamed buns. They still needed to steam for a while. Su Mo and Lu Chen were ready in the living room, about to set out.
She had specifically served them West Lake Longjing Tea, instructing them to bounce downstairs.
Only after the Light as a Feather Skill enhancement was successfully added, and Li Qian and the others received the notification in their minds did they officially set off.
Downstairs in the residential complex, Li Qian specifically pulled back the curtain to check. It was unpopulated, with only the occasional patrol passing by with a flashlight. Residents did not come out after dark.
Lu Chen planned to exit through a small window in the restroom. Just outside the wall was a drainpipe that led underground; climbing down would get them quickly to the ground.
"I’ll go out first." He stepped on the toilet lid and half of his body leaned out.
Su Mo knew the system’s status wouldn’t have issues, but seeing him hang out without any protective measures still made her anxious, "Hold on tight."
In Lu Chen’s palm, the sharp hooks embedded fully into the pipe, securing him firmly to the water pipe. His feet pressing against the pipe, he climbed down with both hands alternately.
After he had climbed down a distance, seemingly getting used to the feeling in his palms, his speed became very fast. The six-story building was no match for him as he reached the ground in the blink of an eye.
He gestured upwards, and Su Mo followed by climbing out quickly.
The evening breeze from the sixth floor brought bursts of wind and chill, pressing her clothes tightly against her back.
"Momo, climb down slowly," Zhao Changsheng watched her with concern from outside the window. The gust seemed as if it could sweep her away.
Su Mo nodded. The miraculous adhesive force in her palms firmly glued her hands to the water pipe, and the hooks embedded in the pipe didn’t leave a trace.
Lu Chen stood below, his deep blue eyes intently focused on her.
With him there, Su Mo didn’t feel anxious at all and agilely sped down from the pipe.
Once she had safely reached the ground, Li Qian also climbed down, and the three of them met up, leaving only Jianxiong behind.
It took him an enormous amount of effort just to climb out the small window, ultimately Zhao Changsheng had to forcefully squeeze him through.
Seeing this from below, Su Mo whispered, "Should we let him go back?"
With his physique, she seriously doubted whether the pipe could bear him.
Li Qian solemnly nodded in agreement.
However, Lu Chen showed no concern and instead coldly said, "If he can’t even do this much, he shouldn’t be a soldier at all."
Jianxiong climbed onto the pipe. Happy that his large palm had successfully adhered, he immediately waved to the people below after releasing one hand.
The metal rings securing the pipe to the wall, because of his large movements, the top few immediately snapped and were pulled out from the wall.
The pipe instantly detached from part of it and tipped outwards.
Just as Su Mo’s heart tensed, she and Li Qian were pulled by Lu Chen and pressed against the wall. From the other side of the main door, voices of Ling Fang talking with people could be heard.
Lu Chen pressed against the wall and squinted his eyes to look outside.
"I don’t know what has happened recently, but ’relatives’ have gone missing from both Building 2’s basement and Building 5’s basement."
"If they accidentally come out, we would definitely notice," Ling Fang said as she held her son, her expression serious.
"Maybe the count is off, or maybe the iron mesh between them is broken. I’ll have them count again tomorrow."
"Mom, can I still go see Grandma?" Ling Ye tugged at Ling Fang’s collar, his eyes swollen like walnuts as he anxiously looked at his mother.
"Of course, you can," she said, patting his head, her voice slightly choked up, "You can visit Grandma once a week."
"Thank you, Mom," Ling Ye nodded understandingly and snuggled into his mother’s embrace.
After their conversation ended, Su Mo looked up to see the pipe half-detached, hanging in the air. Jianxiong had already jumped onto the wall, his hands firmly stuck to the surface as he rapidly descended.
As Lu Chen said, Jianxiong, the soldier, did not serve in vain; despite his large physique, his speed did not decrease in the slightest.
When he was a few meters from the ground, he jumped straight down.
"Don’t..." Su Mo hadn’t finished her sentence when he had already jumped straight down.
Jianxiong thought he would land perfectly, but he hadn’t controlled his "Light as a Feather" skill well and ended up bouncing two meters high.
He fell awkwardly from mid-air, landing in a disastrous seating position.
"I reminded you to be careful when jumping," Su Mo said amusedly as she watched him grimace in pain.
"Let’s hurry up and go," Li Qian reminded from the side, pointing towards the dark buildings surrounding the compound, "You should know what those things under these buildings are by now."
"Zombies," Lu Chen said coldly, stepping on the ground and added, "Below."
Su Mo’s expression turned serious, her cute face hardening as she looked into those buildings. Even though each building was filled with people, this night they seemed like towers of death, all the windows blocked, not letting a single ray of light escape.
She had some idea of what was going on: "The dead were all relatives of the residents of this compound, weren’t they?"
"Yes," Lu Chen nodded.
Jianxiong got up from the ground and tried jumping again to get used to the feeling of being "Light as a Feather": "Then what are we waiting for? Let’s find the oil and then get out of here."
"First, let’s find their control room," Li Qian said softly.
The structure of the compound was simple, other than the dry swimming pool in the center, it was just rows of symmetric buildings, very open without any greenery to hide them, and there were people patrolling back and forth at intervals.
Su Mo, being relatively petite, decided to dash out first to scout, with the others helping from behind.
As she sprinted down the road they had come on, a man with a flashlight walked out from a building as she passed the swimming pool. She instantly changed direction and jumped into the pool, laying flat against the pool wall.
The man shone his flashlight into the pool: "Who’s there?!"
The flashlight revealed nothing but emptiness; the moon hid behind the clouds, the night wind whooshed, and from the pool’s outlet, a deep, unhuman sound emerged, making him shiver and cautiously step towards the pool with his gun drawn.
Su Mo glanced briefly at the dark pipe nearby before turning her gaze back, a flat pan appearing in her hand, ready to knock out anyone who approached.
Using superpowers was easily noticeable; Lu Chen also conjured a gun in his hand, ready to shoot without hesitation at any sign of movement from the man as he stayed by the wall.