XG 7 - The one in power between the mother and daughter duo

Surprisingly, there was no second wave heading towards them.

Wong Xue Guo noticed that among the corpses were dead zombies. It was obvious with their completely white hair and body that resembled a dried-up human whose vitality was completely sucked dry. Looking at the unmoving zombie’s injuries, they do not seem to be finished up by knives.

Other than her mother, there was someone else who managed to kill the zombies without much trouble.

They passed by the cinema entrance with dim lights that were their usual setting. Large movie posters were lined up on the wall beside the ticket counter, with tiny light bulbs lit up around the frame to display the movies that will be airing for these few days.

There does not seem to be anyone around the cinema and there was no sight of her classmates. She had also unconsciously been identifying the corpses’ attire to see if they might be them, even if she had not remembered their clothing well.

Her heart nearly went into a heart attack when her eyes landed on the zombie movie poster that her classmates had planned to watch. Fortunately, the zombies in the poster looked different from the zombies that were currently walking around the mall.

Hmm? (・・ )? One of the zombies has white hair…

Before she could finish her thought, the white-haired zombie suddenly moved away from the poster and charged right at her!

The f*ck?! It knew how to blend in and launch a surprise move?!

Unfortunately, Wong Xue Guo was quite some distance away from her mother, where the former was distracted by the cinema posters and corpses that her pace slowed down.

Truly, one would suddenly gain super strength when their heart was constantly abused by fear and shock. Her shock woke up her wrath at being tricked and swung her broom to bring it down onto its head. The sloppy attack managed to buy her some time for her mind to timely remind her of the weakness of the zombie.

"Yaaaah!" Using both hands, she stabbed its chest where the heart was, but the broom only managed to enter an inch. Or maybe even lesser than that?

Wong Xue Guo: F*ck. (ᄑ_ᄑ)

The zombie wiggled under her broom, struggling to grab onto her. Its large and powerful movement made it hard for her to continue stabbing deeper while avoiding its grabby hands at the same time.

Watching in horror as the broom slowly slipped out of the zombie, she struggled to regain control when she somehow was able to gain control over the broom without much fanfare. It turned out that Suzie Yap had grabbed a hold on the broom and helped her pierce deeper into the zombie’s chest with just one hand.

This salted fish has a golden thigh. (⁀ᗢ⁀)

"Guo Guo learns quickly…" Suzie Yap praised, but Wong Xue Guo could detect slight melancholy from her.

Wong Xue Guo: If I don’t, I will die.

Despite the kidnapping attempts, her parents never allowed her to learn self-defense, even if she was willing to. They only placed more bodyguards around her, as if doing so would be enough. But that made her stand out among the mass with a pack of males with dangerous air around her. Very quickly, she got frustrated with everyone's strange looks.

That was why she hardly stepped out of the house and it was only when she was in school did her bodyguard was forced to retreat from her side. Unable to roam around the streets freely, she turned to online entertainment instead.

It was then she discovered the world of anime and web novels. Her unwillingness and complaints were histories since then.

The broom handle still needed to be used again, so Wong Xue Guo had to pull it out of the zombie’s chest while shivering from the unpleasant sensation of mushy feeling the broom had transmitted to her.

Since the broom will need to continue working hard to stab more zombies, she tried to ignore the bloody end of the stick with some gunk of flesh sticking on it, but in the end, her disgust won out. Using the decorative curtain beside the cinema ticket counter, she wiped her broom handle as cleanly as possible.

She regretted she did not have the foresight to buy some surgical gloves.

"Excuse me."

The sudden voice that does not belong to her mother echoed softly and Wong Xue Guo immediately turned in the direction of the voice.

There was actually a door at the other corner, which blended well with the wall and no one would notice it easily. Currently, it was open wide enough for a person to fit in.

The Indian man that called them seems to be a staff of the shopping mall, with a gold name tag pinned on his dark suit. He peered at them behind his silver, thin-framed glasses and waited until the mother and daughter adjusted to his sudden intrusion.

"We are not bitten." The man clearly told them he was not alone, at the same time dispelling their worry. Yet he did not open the door wider to reveal the inside of the room and the occupants.

"We are not bitten too." Suzie Yap 'kindly' dispels the man's worry in return.

The man did not doubt her words at all. "We need help to get to safety. I've seen how good you are with your knives and ask you to join us."

Suzie Yap chuckled and shook her head. "Unfortunately, I have my hands full with my daughter. I could not help you."

If the man had only seen them dealing with the zombie that blended in with the poster, he would have believed Suzie's words. "I have a way to get out of this place," the man revealed. "I have watched you kill those monsters all the way in and rescued your daughter inside the washroom."

Wong Xue Guo: This man followed her mother! (°ロ°) !

Suzie Yap's gaze narrowed dangerously. She had not sensed anyone following her at all and treated those eyes on her to be those crawling creatures. As a veteran, she had made an error by generalizing everything and took the start of the outbreak too casually.

Zheeeeerk!

The sound resembled a heavy thing being dragged on the floor and it stopped the discussion.

The man pushed open the door wider, clearly inviting them to enter. The three of them knew Suzie Yap will not have much trouble dealing with the danger and need not hide. This action was just to ask for her answer to his offer.

Suzie Yap first nodded at Wong Xue Guo and had her enter the room first, leaving her to enter last in case the danger arrived behind them. The Indian man would not harm them when he clearly wanted to form a group with them.

The door was without any label, hence Wong Xue Guo assumed it was a room for the cinema staff to have their breaks. But what greeted her was rows of monitor screens, showing her the live footage inside of the mostly empty shopping mall. There was only one light lit in the room, likely to avoid attracting attention from outside.

The existence of the monitors explained how the man had seen her mother in action.

Her eyes continued looking around the room but only saw a Chinese young boy inside the monitoring room, unlike a group of survivors the man had made them believe. The boy has red-rimmed eyes and pursed lips as he gazed at the two women silently while gripping onto his backpack.

"This is Kim Sung-ho. His parents left him with me to run before their… demise," The man explained after closing the door, skipping the part of how the boy’s parents had met their end by zombie attack to spare the boy’s feelings. The boy had been crying silently for a long time, obeying his late father’s words to keep quiet to avoid attracting monsters.

Turns out the child was a Korean, and likely to have come to Malaysia for holiday.

"I'm Vihaan Kumar,” the man introduced himself.

"I'm Suzie, and this is my daughter, Xue Guo," Suzie Yap introduced briefly. “Mr. Vihaan works as a security?”

“No, I’m this floor’s manager. These monitors, unfortunately, only show this floor.” Every floor has its own monitoring room, designed to allow the security team to catch onto trouble earlier.

This security room was free from blood or destruction as every security guard had gone out to deal with the outbreak. Their outcome was unknown, but it would not be pretty if they were committed to their job.

“How do you plan on leaving this place safely?” Suzie Yap asked after finishing looking through the monitors. The only figures that passed by the CCTV were all zombies. None of the survivors, if hiding inside the stores, could be seen visibly.

“Do you agree to team up?” Vihaan questioned. He would not reveal the safety route if the mother and daughter duo rejected the offer.

“Guo Guo, what do you think?” Surprisingly, Suzie Yap asked for her daughter’s thoughts.

Although her mother acted differently than she used to, Wong Xue Guo could not believe that she would ask her opinion on such an important matter. Her parents always treated her as a child, and only let her choose on her own when it comes to small matters. Big issues like letting the man and boy into their group usually never had the chance for her to make comments.

Wong Xue Guo: Is she being tested?

Regardless, she replied perfunctorily. “I will follow whatever mother decides.”

Suzie Yap blinked her eyes to stop them from tearing up. How could she only notice how obedient her baby was after she had left her side? With her eyes no longer covered by cobwebs that increasingly grew thicker with the help of other people, she could finally see how lovely her baby was. Why did she always think her daughter was stubborn and unable to meet her standards?

“Baby, mommy knows you are an obedient girl, but this time, mommy wants to hear your thoughts. Let mommy know if I have thought of everything that needs to be considered.”

Wong Xue Guo paused in surprise, and even Vihaan too, but he quickly calmed down, thinking that the teenage girl would not be that against to team up. Suzie Yap's appearance was younger than her age thanks to her genetics and routine skin care, and Vihaan guessed her daughter would at least be a high schooler.

A high schooler will not think too deeply and still have an innocent mind.

On the other hand, Wong Xue Guo was not optimistic. Her mother’s words were plausible, and she seems to be treating her like an adult whose opinion matters, even if she excused it as ticking off her checklist.

Could it be that her mother wanted to use her as an excuse to reject them? No matter the reason, she will just do what her mother wants.

“Frankly speaking, I’m a weak chicken and new to the killing business,” Wong Xue Guo started, but her words left one to ponder over her words that seem to hold self-criticism. “That boy will likely be weaker than me, judging by appearance. If we team up, there will be one powerhouse, one ordinary person, and two weak chickens that will drag things down. Other than knowing the way to leave this place safely, what else can they offer? With my mother’s strength, she does not really need you to get us out.”

Of course, Wong Xue Guo did not bother saying that teaming up would likely help her mother share her burden, but what if her mother had to work more if Vihaan was also a weak chicken that stuck in the office from Monday to Friday with no time to exercise?

Suzie Yap nodded and did not refute any of her daughter’s words. Her expression revealed that she strongly considers the choice of rejecting the partnership.

Vihaan’s heart slowed down. Had he wrongly deducted on who was the one in power between the mother and daughter duo?

This teenager was surprisingly someone that assessed the situation deeply.