XG 162 - Deal zero damage to the zombies
Lee Su-Hwa was coaxing Yuna to control her crayon version of her parents and dog, but the three crayon figures remained unmoving.
Wong Xue Guo had heard that each crayon figure could hide one person in its body and it could take on any attacks without injury. Many concluded that the crayon parents' and dog's usage were to protect a person from any harm, the ability likely to be influenced by Yuna's heart that sought protection from her parents when she got bitten by a zombie.
"Yuna, can you have your mom and dad throw those monsters far, far away so that Yuna and everyone would be safe?" Lee Su-Hwa suggested.
Someone beside them had heard their conversation and suggested, "Why not let her grab that guy first?"
Lee Su-Hwa immediately caught on and started another round of coaxing. "Yuna dear, come, we need your help to rescue that poor uncle..."
Wong Xue Guo did not stay around to see if Yuna did help that guy or not, not intending to stand aside and watch without contributing anything.
When she first arrived, she had already sensed eyes on her as some of the guards greeted her with a brief nod. The curious eyes questioned who she was and what was she doing here. Especially so when Nana and Smoker followed a step behind her, indirectly placing her in the commanding position.
Unlike the researchers that knew her identity just from her face alone, not all guards and survivors in the base knew about her.
She could just imagine what they would think about her, especially after they saw what her ability was. Some would definitely assume she had hidden her 'white' hair under her dark shadow!
Then the scorn would get worse after seeing her shadow deal zero damage to the zombies.
If she was not allowed to cross the gates to fight the zombies, Wong Xue Guo does not know what else she can do to help. Anyway, just treat it as teasing the zombies with her shadow, before ending the show with bullets.
She chose to test her ability beside Do Eunhyuk, who had taken over a tower guard where he can shoot comfortably from above without worrying that his bullets would not reach the crowd of zombies. It was also the closest tower to the gate. Do Euhyuk gotten the most appreciative, envious and full of dependence gazes from others as his bullets were endless, without even needing cooling down time.
Activating her shadow, she spread it as wide as she could, not having much hope about the result. Doing this was just so to prove that she had indeed 'tried' so that her promise to Chin Chun would be fulfilled.
It was good news that her shadow was not strongly affected by sunlight, only that the colour was a shade lighter and needed a little bit more energy from her to maintain its form. The agility was about the same, including the length.
The sun was setting and there were more shadows around, so her 163 cm width shadow, also Wong Xue Guo's height, could get a wider reach with the help of the other shadows. She had never tried to force herself to use her ability beyond the limit, other than testing Mr Rabbit for the first time, so she was not sure if she could forcefully lengthen her shadow if she did not use other shadows as a launching board.
Her mother had said that in the future, there were rumours that some Awaken people have mutated abilities, but no one could prove if that person really had a mutated ability.
Mutation and various ways of using their ability were too close to divide which was which.
Her shadow molested every surface it touched, but she did not receive any feedback from it. It felt like her shadow was not her extended arm, but more like something added to her that she could control.
Unfortunately, her shadow could not extend further, like hitting an invisible border. She had even controlled her shadow to move straight ahead, forming a straight line to see if it would make a difference, but it was still the same length. It had not even reached the zombies outside, and without a reliable weapon, she refused to get closer just to test her ability.
Even if she was now an Awakened person and immune to zombie bites other than getting sick, she would still die with a mouthful of missing flesh!
"The zombies are piling up! They are going to be as tall as the wall soon!" Someone yelled in panic.
They had never expected so many zombies running over in one go, and them stacking over each other's bodies had built a staircase for the other zombies to climb up.
The guards had also built a thin wall after the electric fence, as it would easily be trampled over with just enough weight. It was a good decision because the electricity emitted from the fence did nothing to stop the zombies, for it was made for living beings that were afraid of pain.
The electricity only cooked the remaining rotten meat hanging on the zombies and the smell was disgusting, but it was also good that it smelled awful. If the cooked flesh seems delicious, many people would have mental trauma.
The zombies were becoming even less decent after winter ended, only coming out in public with just their bones covering their organs. The erratic and intense red beating hearts underneath their rib bones creeped many people out.
What about their organs, tongue and eyes? They were still inside the skeleton zombies, but they had turned white, blending in well with the white, pristine bone. Their new state does not deter their glands from continue secreting saliva, an important factor to activate the Alpha gene.
Their base had only enough time and materials to build a thin wall just fifty meters from the gate, not even reaching half of their land. That was because they prioritized extending their underground hideout, where they would be much safer compared to staying above ground. Thus, most of their land was only protected by an electric fence that could easily knock down by a swarm of zombies.
Fortunately, the green-shirt guy has manners and approached their front door instead of the back!
"We got him!" Someone yelled after Yuna's 'dog' managed to stuff Max into its body. The crayon dog nearly fell from the pillar with its uneven legs as it hopped back to the ground where Yuna was.
The dog expelled the confused and scared Max from its body.
Nearly blinded by the sudden return of light, Max groped his body frantically to see if anything was missing, terrified of the unexpected experience. Before he could even assure himself that he was fine, he once again saw the same black dog that had swallowed him earlier and screamed in a rather high-pitched voice that could be mistaken for a female.
Some zombies from the outside returned with a fierce growl.
"Okay, shut up! You have caused us enough trouble as it is already!" A man yelled, accompanied by sounds of gunshots all around them.
Staring at the endless bullets from Do Eunhyuk's gun, Wong Xue Guo was tempted to test her ability with his. But remembering the aftermath of a terribly exhausted Miu that lost a significant amount of weight, as well as the large crack on the dried up ground in her family apartment, she controlled her childish impulse.
"There's enough space for us!"
Wong Xue Guo looked back and saw two familiar faces climbing up the guard tower.
"Hi! Mind if we do our research in this space?" Kenneth, an Awakened person with thunder ability asked.
"Go ahead," Do Eunhyuk said and returned back to his shooting.
Their guard tower was only occupied by Do Eunhyuk because of his ability, but that does not mean he was not struggling with the number of zombies.
Following behind Kenneth was a calmer Mamoru, dubbed as their base's power bank.
Kenneth opened a small silver briefcase and took out a strange-looking gun with wires hooked to red stones and unidentified aluminium-looking cans. Then he passed it to Mamoru.
Seeing Wong Xue Guo looking at their actions curiously, the happy Kenneth explained, "This is a special gun made by us, tailor-made for Mamoru's ability. With constant charging, this laser gun could be used anytime without worry about losing energy!"
If Wong Xue Guo had not known it was possible, Kenneth would really sound like a scammer trying to sell something outrageous.
"Does it work for your ability too?" Wong Xue Guo asked.
"No. My thunder is useless!" Kenneth complained and the thunder rumbled above the sky, partially hidden by clouds.
Their base was not equipped to absorb electricity from thunder, not that it could work even if they had. Kenneth's thunder could not reach down the earth and only travelled around the clouds to give a lightning performance!
Luckily Jihyo gave them some solar panels as payment for dealing with the church, so their electricity reserve was still alright.
A/N: Laser... thunder... organs... saliva gland... Next time, I will write a simple, uncomplicated novel!