Warning: This chapter has detailed gore.
XG 170 - Power is the new privilege
The ground did not crack from dehydration, so it was Wong Xue Guo's own energy that boosted Chen Yibo's ability. She admits that she does not feel as vigorous as before, but it was now at the normal level, where she did not have a crazy mentality that she could punch a tree into two or something.
Surprisingly, there was someone that ran out to meet the second-wave zombies without anyone backing him up.
It was the diamond guy who had left the base and jogged towards the second wave with a confident smile. The exhaustion from digging the underground for expansion was mostly forgotten thanks to the excitement of finally getting the chance of using his new ability to fight against these monsters that drove them away from their home and loved ones.
Although he was curious about why the group of zombies were led by a female zombie, which her gender was identified from her dry, long hair and short dress, he did not think too much of it. Anyway, all of them would be killed by his diamond skin.
Clenching his diamond-covered hand, he was about to do a big greeting by directly punching the mummy's chest, when she suddenly parted her mouth. His eyes unconscious went to stare at her mouth, before moving up an inch to meet her eyes.
It was all done without much thought, with his normal behaviour of meeting one's eyes when speaking.
As soon as they made eye contact, the diamond guy immediately felt discomfort rising from inside his body. The discomfort was so strong and came without warning that he stopped his attack to clutch at his torso.
The pain was unlike any he had felt before and it was spreading everywhere in his body.
Strangely, the female zombie did not make any move toward him, only silently watching him. But the zombies behind her continued forward, bypassing the diamond guy. Interest sparkled in the female zombie's eyes when he started coughing violently.
"Geeeeeuuuk!" The diamond guy rubbed his arms fiercely, and his effort to ease the pain failed. Not only that, there was a weird crawling and biting sensation all over his body that made him want to scratch himself badly.
The diamond guy finally coughed something out, easing his throat momentarily. His eyes bulged in disbelief as he watched yellow maggots wriggling on the ground, which was what he had vomited out earlier.
"Ah... ah... ah...!" He clutched his head just as maggots began crawling out of his eyes and any hole a human body has.
Ari watched the diamond-skinned guy fall to his knees with a loud clink, just as the maggots hungrily ate his quickly rotting flesh from inside. When he finally died with diamond skin and hollowed insides, she continue making her way towards the Musihada base.
Her hand slowly raised up to straighten the black lace veil that rested on her head like a bride. It did not cover her face so that everyone could look at her.
Beauty was once something she was proud of about herself, and she had spent a lot of money to keep herself beautiful. It was the thing that grants her special privilege and she enjoyed it without hard feelings. As it was her right, she often used it to get things done her way.
But it became her downfall once civilisation collapsed, and after experiencing hellish days under those dog men, she did not need to think twice to get rid of her beauty and choosing power.
Power is the new privilege in this new world.
Of course, the price of getting power was to obey Jasmine's orders. To her delight, her first order, which was to destroy the Musihada base, was just in line with her desire to give them a little payback. After all, they knew what those bastards were doing to her, but ignored her plight. Not even their 'kind' offers were sincere in helping the victims, made only to benefit themselves.
The single-minded and controllable zombies were soldiers given by Jasmine to help her quest, who was surprisingly a corpse controller, also known as a necromancer.
Her pale and dry lips formed a grin slowly as if she had already witnessed the Musihada base's collapse.
"Mr Diamond...?" A guard that was hoping to watch the diamond guy's splendid performance was shocked into stupidity.
What happened?
Why did Mr Diamond stop attacking?
What did that female zombie do to him?
Is Mr Diamond dead? He certainly look like it when he was not moving on the ground.
"Xue Guo, go and absorb all the energy from those zombies. You will need a lot of energy to boost other Awaken people later," Kang Xunsu said, already planning how to use her ability to their benefit.
Even knowing that her ability would protect her from the zombies, it still instinctively made her feel afraid of facing a group of zombies.
"I will go with you." Chen Yibo sounded like he was coaxing a child that the boogeyman under the bed would not harm her.
Even if it was better not to let him go with her in case her shadow attacked him, she was still annoyed at his instant rejection of her confession. He could have hesitated even a little before rejecting her!
"Of course, you will be coming with me. Who else will be watching over me while I swallow their energy?" Wong Xue Guo said coolly.
"There's definitely something wrong with that female zombie, so be careful," Kang Xunsu warned.
By now, almost no one close by does not know her shadow had sucked whatever energy that allowed the zombies to move. Luckily, almost no one noticed her shadow nearly killed someone, so no one was wary of her yet, treating it as an accident.
Wong Xue Guo also has no intention of making anyone scared of her.
Everyone tacitly stepped back, tacitly letting Wong Xue Guo head to the frontline. Some even smile encouragingly at her.
Why do I feel like a sacrificial offering to the monsters?
Her shadow spread out and rose from the ground, forming into a big cat the size of a golden retriever dog. It arched its back for a nice stretch before galloping to the slow-moving zombies.
"Your shadow seems to be more lively than before," Kang Xunsu commented.
"I don't have much control over how it acts, and I don't mind it as long as it carries out what I want it to do."
"Dangerous," L.L. murmured. Just like letting an AI do what it wants as long as the objective was achieved, it was the same as not keeping an eye on a being that has the capability of forming natural intelligence and betraying its master.
"It will be much better once she learns more about controlling her shadow," Chen Yibo said rather optimistically.
Everyone had expected the zombies to start dropping to the ground once the shadow got past them, but the reality was different.
Wong Xue Guo frowned. "I can't absorb their energy."
"They are missing their hearts," Chen Yibo observed.
Adding up to what he saw and experienced, the heart was the zombie's weakness. The activated gene would absorb all the nutrients, storing them in the heart for unknown purposes. That could also explain why the zombies' flesh would rot so quickly.
His elder brother had also confirmed that the heartbeat rate of an Awakened person was slightly faster than the norm.
Vihaan had often gone out of the base to hunt zombies and reported that he spotted a lot of zombies were missing their hearts lately.
Only after he saw Wong Xue Guo's ability did he realize their enemy might be using the same technique as her, absorbing the energy from the hearts to get stronger. If the enemy unleashed the virus on the world just for this purpose, it was extremely evil of them.
But was it only one enemy that could do it, or a group of it? Would their Awaken allies be able to learn that method and get stronger?
Chen Yibo was still wearing rose-tinted glasses when it came to human nature and wanted everyone to get stronger together.
"So how are they still moving?" Wong Xue Guo asked and her eyes went to the female zombie walking behind the rest of the group. "Is she controlling them? Is she..."
... the same type of zombie as the zombie Chen Yibo from the future?