Owed chapter 4/4! Yay done! See you tomorrow~
XG 168 - The zombie looked like an overturned cockroach
The increase in her power allowed her shadow to be more solid with more details. Even the shadow rope attached to her could be thinner to be least obvious. Based on her current mood, it took on a form of a tiger head to chase after the zombies.
Among the fighters, there was a particular person with a familiar frame who fought exceptionally well. Wong Xue Guo's eyes would frequently follow his back as he swiftly brought down zombies with a sword, herding them away from breaching into their base even further in.
Wong Xue Guo found herself admiring this guy, and even entertained a moment of picking this guy as a potential teammate. But this guy certainly likes loose-fitting clothes.
Won't he find it hindering his movement?
Just then, the guy suddenly changed his direction, giving her a nice view of his face.
Shit. Chen Yibo?!
She made a mistake without thinking that the different styling could be due to gene activation reasons. Chen Yibo does not like wearing tight-fitting clothes, and so now with his weight loss, his clothes looked baggy on his frame. Not to mention his clothing, why could she not recognize his sword?!
The admiring gaze slipped away so quickly like it was never there before. Her head turned away unnaturally to cut off any chance of eye contact.
With Chen Yibo out here, it means that he was now an Awakened person. There was no display of his ability so far, but it should be powerful if he needed a cap to hide his hair.
She could use him to experiment with her ability, but she does not want to approach him first to break the awkwardness between them. Not to mention, he might not have enough nutrients to be tossed around.
Wong Xue Guo approached one of the twins, the one that could repel the zombie away. "Would you allow me to test something on you? The good thing will be that your ability strengthens, and the bad thing will be having mild symptoms similar to after undergoing the Awakening process."
Before Scot Lang could answer, someone else had already robbed him of the chance. "Can I volunteer?"
Chen Yibo finally approached her after taking down most of the zombies inside the base, letting the guards have an easier time barricading the hole temporarily. The other ability users were also doing their best to help with their abilities.
Wong Xue Guo's expression subtly changed. Meeting his eyes, she asked, "What's your ability?"
Expression of someone pondering over something, Chen Yibo once again tried to read Wong Xue Guo's mind.
Nothing.
He could read the others but it was total silence from her. Could it be that he could not read the minds of stronger Awakened people?
Currently, Uncle Charles and Vihaan could be considered the strongest among the Awakened rank. He could only test his theory when they return.
Right now, the strongest Awaken person he had met was undoubtedly Wong Xue Guo.
"Mind reading," Chen Yibo answered truthfully. "Please keep it among ourselves for now."
As his words finally registered, everyone's expression shifted, turning guarded and avoiding eye contact.
The one with the least resistance reaction was Wong Xue Guo, whose face was coloured light pink. "So you can read my mind...?"
"For unknown reasons, I can't read yours."
"You can read our mind? How about the twins?" Kang Xunsu asked.
"I can read everyone's."
Wong Xue Guo's face showed relief, before quickly turning into regret. Her shadows became more aggressive in attacking the zombies. "Your mind reading is a good ability, but useless against mindless zombies. I'm afraid upgrading your ability won't have much effect... other than expanding your ability range? You have a distance limit, right?"
"Yes, I do have that limitation. That is a reasonable analysis, but I hope there's a chance for my ability to deviate."
"Can your body take it?" Perhaps she frequently hang out with him, but his sudden weight loss was much harder for her to accept. But unlike his weight loss, the white hair under his cap does not deter his good looks.
"If you could share some of the energy you took from the zombies, I will be fine."
Wong Xue Guo's mouth twitched. She does not know if it was because Chen Yibo was too smart, or that Chen Yibo was expecting too much of her ability.
"I can try, but don't place high hopes on it. Be prepared of getting backfired," she warned.
"I understand."
"I have zero understanding of how I suck the energy from the zombies and have zero experience in sharing my energy. It will be completely trial and error. I might even do a reversal and suck your energy instead. Do you still want to do it?"
"Better me than other people."
Wong Xue Guo's face sank. "How self-sacrificing you are."
"But I also trust that you will do your best not to put me in danger."
"...Just don't blame me if anything bad happens to you."
Chen Yibo laughed lightly at her way of showing concern. "I won't."
While it seems easier to start by clashing his ability with hers, it was actually difficult. She and Miu had used Mr Rabbit as the medium, with him as the platform to merge their ability.
They could use a zombie as their medium, which was not a problem.
Wong Xue Guo pointed at a zombie in the crowd. "That zombie with a pink shirt."
"That one?"
"No, that one."
"Got it."
To stop the zombie from moving, Scot Lang pulled the zombie over to them first before Gen Lang restrained its movement, pushing it again and again onto the ground as it struggled to climb back up.
The zombie looked like an overturned cockroach before being pinned down by a fishing net L.L. had mysteriously found somewhere.
"Right. Start on the count on three. One... two... three!"
Chen Yibo focused his mind-reading ability on the selected zombie, as Wong Xue Guo's shadow in the shape of a tweety bird landed on the target's head.
One... two... three seconds... no reaction.
"Not working?" Kang Xunsu muttered, his eyes going between the duo while paying half of his attention to shooting down random zombies.
"Hold on, let me try again," Wong Xue Guo adjusted herself, trying to get into the same state when her ability mixed with Miu's, not that she could remember exactly how it was. She let her focus sharpen on the zombie, slowly detaching herself from reality, just as her shadow finally caught onto two different forces of energy.
Naturally, she could not see it and could only rely on her senses. Both of them gave her different feelings, and she was naturally attracted to the warmer and more welcoming energy.
Recognizing the more disgusting and cold one was the zombie, she ignored it and approached the other. Her shadow carefully reached out to make contact with the energy, and Chen Yibo nearly fell to his knees when both energies collided.
Chen Yibo was reacting the same way as Miu, and this time, she restrained her shadow so as not to suck the energy. Multitasking to boost Chen Yibo's ability and sharing her energy with him was more difficult than she thought.
"Let me hold your hand." Wong Xue Guo grabbed his hand before he could reply.
She closed her eyes to help focus on guiding her shadow better, while strongly assuring herself that her safety would be guaranteed. Her bodyguards will be protecting her, including the twin butlers with their abilities. She just need to concentrate on succeeding in the experiment so that she would not be exposed to danger for much longer.
It could not be helped that her ears caught the sound of guns shooting and yelling even clearer once she closed her eyes, this time with a different kind of distraction. Taking a deep breath, she tried to block out the noise, sinking deeper into her consciousness.
It took a few tries before she succeeded in transferring her energy to Chen Yibo using their clasped hands as their connector, with the zombie completely forgotten. She was only moving her energy to him and Chen Yibo had to accept the energy by himself.
During mid-process, she belatedly realized transferring her energy to him would have boosted his power anyway.
I had walked half a circle just to figure out that I could actually get the same result by walking straight.
Luckily she had not reached the stage of breaking something inside her just to figure out how to do two things at the same time.