XG 169 - Don't use me as a target

The zombie was no longer useful, so she swallowed its energy. Her nose caught onto the smell of oil that was getting stronger, and not long after, she felt a wave of heat along with the smell of burning. Someone, likely Kang Xunsu, must have set the zombies on fire.

But did he do that because he was getting tired of shooting, or because the new wave of zombies had reached their gate?

["Don't worry. It's still quite some distance away before the new wave hits us. Xunsu just wants to settle down the current wave before greeting the second one."]

Wong Xue Guo was quite sensitive toward sounds, so she was quick to distinguish that the words she heard were not caught by her ears.

Opening her eyes, she looked at Chen Yibo, who looked happy at his stronger ability. That lovely smile of his immediately shoots straight to her unprepared heart. Feeling weak from the power of his smile, she absentmindedly noted that his complexion looked much better than before.

He looked more lively. Even if white hair looked like it was done purposely like a k-pop idol.

Chen Yibo was worried that the words he conveyed to her mind would not sound like him. ["Don't be afraid. It's me, Chen Yibo."]

He was pleasantly surprised when he heard her thought, ["I know."]

["I can hear you."] Chen Yibo shared his thought, still surprised that he could actually do it, and also worried that she would be angry about the invasion of privacy.

["Huh."] He could sense she was slightly restraining her thoughts. ["Did you check if you can send your thoughts to someone other than me?"]

["Not yet."]

Glancing around her surrounding, she confirmed that they could effort a little distraction as there were more different degree of white-haired people, assumed to be the new batch of Awakened people, coming over.

"I'm hereeeeee!" A slender man with nice-looking muscles that would have been an impressive sight before his Awakened phase ran towards them from the direction of the lab, his attire having dirt on them. "I'm sorryyyy! I thought it's better to finish digging the hole first before coming oveeeer!"

"How is that better?" Someone muttered grouchily.

The masculine man's body started to change as he ran, his skin getting harder and translucent. "I shall protect everyone with my diamond-hard booooody!"

"... Although I'm grateful for his help, I just want him to go away. My eyes hurt!" The sunlight reflected fiercely from the diamond ability user's skin, announcing his presence like a beam of light.

Seeing as there were no more zombies in the base, the diamond man charged out from the hole in the fence. Letting out a high-pitched battle cry, he charged forward to attack the remaining zombies lingering around their front gates.

"Sorry... we... are... late." A middle-aged man was gasping heavily from chasing after the diamond man. He was too old for such speed running that even his Awaken status failed to boost his stamina. It was already good that the activated gene allowed his spine to straighten.

"Oh? Is he a power user too?" Someone asked, seeing the middle-aged man have white hair and a skinny frame.

"Yes... I've just recently Awakened. My name is Lee Seung Hae, and my ability is repatching."

"Repatching? Like fixing a broken car?"

Wiping his sweating forehead, Lee Seung Hae answered sheepishly. "No... more like... a broken vase."

"Then he can fix the broken fence, right?" Everyone's gaze at Lee Seung Hae became heated.

A man stepped right into Lee Seung Hae's personal space and asked, "Can you do it?"

"I... I think so?"

"Then welcome! Come, follow me to fix the fence!"

Wong Xue Guo shared a suggestion in her mind, ["Try brother Xunsu then."] The zombies could not answer them anyway.

Kang Xunsu was not doing anything dangerous and was only standing at a safe distance from the broken fence, surveying the result of the fire. The zombies' bones were indeed very much stronger and able to resist the fire, but not so for the fragile heart.

Kang Xunsu sighed in relief when the fire worked, even if it took quite some time for the fire to spread to their heart. The fire brought down quite a number of zombies, and their people swiftly cleaned up the rest that had escaped the fire.

Their base was now temporarily safe.

With a deep frown, he gazed at the bunch of slow-moving zombies making their way to them. With their speed, it would take about fifteen minutes for them to reach.

"Should we go and greet them instead?" Kang Xunsu murmured.

["Hello."]

Expressionless, Kang Xunsu turned to Chen Yibo, the only one with an ability that involves mental force. "You have nothing better to do?"

["Sorry. I'm testing if I can talk to you through our mind other than Xue Guo."]

["Oh yeah, it worked. Now try your ability on the zombies. See if you can ask them to commit suicide."]

["...Are you for real?"]

Even without emotions conveyed, their words were enough to express their sarcasm and incredulity.

Surprisingly, Wong Xue Guo could actually hear their conversations. Could it be because their ability was linked together?

Curious, she tried to test if she could speak to Kang Xunsu as well.

Kang Xunsu was staring at the bright fire, watching the zombies engulfed by the flames when everything within his sight vanished into the darkness.

["Hey, brother Xunsu. Wave if you hear me."]

Wong Xue Guo's cheeky grin evaporated as she watched the expression on Kang Xunsu's face wiped out of any emotion. With a blank face and eyes, he raised his hand and waved at her.

After doing so, he paused, seemingly waiting... for a new command.

"Yi...Yibo?" Wong Xue Guo's voice was as tiny as a mouse but full of alarm. Was she doing what she had done to Nana earlier?

"Don't worry. Try to cancel your ability."

L.L. quickly noticed something was wrong with his buddy, who was not responsive after calling him.

"Don't disturb. Let them handle it," Nana said, not that her expression looked good. After some of her energy was sucked, she was more cautious about making any contact while Wong Xue Guo was using her ability.

The young miss's ability was too dangerous. It was good that she was not a cruel person, or the world would be an even more chaotic place.

Smoker was spotted with a sad expression, guilty of asking his girlfriend to stop Wong Xue Guo, which caused her health to deteriorate. That sad puppy expression was also to soften his girlfriend's heart to forgive him.

Unknown how to stop it, Wong Xue Guo just pulled her hand away. Fortunately, it worked as she felt her ability receding from Chen Yibo, as well as the extension towards Kang Xunsu. She had not even realised her ability had gone to Kang Xunsu!

To their relief, Kang Xunsu went back to normal. From Chen Yibo's questioning, Kang Xunsu saw nothing but darkness, and the last thing he heard was a voice telling him to wave. After that, he does not remember anything, not even knowing that he had indeed followed what the voice told him to do.

Her heart did an intense workout for the third time in the day, along with a thicker strand of guilt.

Chen Yibo tested his ability on Kang Xunsu again, this time without Wong Xue Guo's ability mixing in. He could only share his thoughts with other people and not compel them to do as he said.

"Would our ability have different reactions whenever Xue Guo's ability is mixed in?" Chen Yibo mused.

"That will be fun. But next time, don't use me as a target, okay?" Kang Xunsu said threateningly and only eased his fierce expression after they agreed.

Wong Xue Guo was puzzled when Kang Xunsu let the issue drop, without any sign of being disturbed by the fact that their combined ability had hijacked his brain activity. Sure, he was a pretty easygoing guy whenever she caused a mess or trouble for him, but those accidents and mind control were two different issues!

Despite the question, she put it aside and focused on the battle. It was not the right time for questions and ability experimenting on their own allies.