XG 20 - My mother's new filters are too thick!
Gazing straight into Suzie Yap's eyes, Nurul Hanani knew she was confident with her words. She had spoken in an upfront manner that this was a 50-50 chance and did not sugarcoat her words. The final decision lies in herself to make.
Nurul Hanani prayed first before nodding, accepting the only chance of survival. She could already sense her hunger growing stronger, and she could not survive by eating non-stop.
She had already been bitten once. One more time won't be much different!
Suzie Yap's smile was much more appreciative towards this brave and steady girl. "Be confident that you will succeed."
She remembered that this girl had not survived in the past, and became a zombie along with her daughter.
Dislocating the zombie's jaw was so it would not eat Nurul Hanani's flesh and allowed its bite to be controlled. Suzie Yap chose to grab its head with her hands to control its movement and used her body weight to hold it down to the ground. Her normal practice was grabbing a person's hair, but these failures without enough vitality will have their hair turned white before falling off from its root.
Nurul Hanani stared with wide eyes instead of avoiding the sight when Suzie Yap pressed the zombie's head closer. This was different from having an injection where you can look away without worries.
"We shall start now," was the only warning Suzie Yap gave before piercing the row of upper teeth into the injured spot. "Hold still!"
Gritting her teeth in pain, Nurul Hanani held herself still and tried to ignore the instinct to pull away. Her heart thumped fiercely as she watched the teeth sink deeper into the flesh.
"So deep?" Nurul Hanani gasped, her sight similar to a bad reception TV. She tightened her fist, stopping herself from fainting, and tried her best to remember Suzie Yap's instruction. The only thing she could do to elevate the pain was scratch the tile on the ground and gasp heavily.
Suzie Yap calmly pressed the bite deeper. "The bite needs to reach your bone."
"Why-" Nurul Hanani coughed and struggled to stop it to avoid her body moving. Her struggles caused cold sweat to emerge, wetting the back of her clothes quickly. Her increasingly dry throat made it harder to endure, including her complaining stomach that demands nutrients.
All the food she ate was gone in her as if she had not eaten anything in the first place.
"Do you feel anything?"
Nurul Hanani struggled to keep her mind straight, shaking her head to push away the fog clouding her thoughts. "Hun...gry…"
"Not yet," Suzie Yap mumbled and watched as Nurul Hanani looked worse with the flesh on her cheeks starting to shrunken even further. With a frown, she said, “I will need to offend you by removing your tudung.”
With quick hands, Suzie Yap unfasten the safety pin and removed the tudung from Nurul Hanani, revealing her hair tied in a low ponytail that was rapidly turning white.
Suzie Yap's eyes flashed half worried and half joy, before accurately breaking the zombie's spine with her strong knee and paralysing it. With one of her hands now free to move, she forced Nurul Hanani to continue eating from the snack bag.
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"Immediately tell me if you start feeling something else aside from pain, tiredness, and hunger. Then we can finally pull the zombie away."
Suzie Yap's words renewed Nurul Hanani's flickering determination. Her hunger does not abide even after eating plenty of snacks, but she did not stop. Something told her she would be in danger if she stops eating now.
The sudden surge of heat suddenly spreading from her heart had Nurul Hanani choking on the banana she was eating halfway. Her freed hand quickly patted her chest to help move the banana down her throat, her teary eyes urgently sought Suzie Yap’s attention.
"Already? Good." Suzie Yap pulled the zombie away, twisted its neck and tossed it at a side uncaringly. "Do not struggle against that feeling. Let it do whatever it wants. Continue eating."
Nurul Hanani gasped uncomfortably from the weird heat spreading from her heart and swam around her body. Only Suzie Yap noticed a small cloud of smoke exhaled out of her mouth.
Till the last second, Nurul Hanani struggled to swallow the last piece of muffin down her throat before she went unconscious, succumbing to the great tide of heat over her consciousness. No matter what, she would not let herself look unsightly with people thinking she died from choking on food.
Suzie Yap chuckled at the fainted girl, already pleased that there would be a useful power user entering their ranks.
Wong Xue Guo was silently eating the orange-flavoured energy bar when she saw her mother's silhouette passing by the display window. Immediately forgetting the food, she sprang up from her seat and rushed to the metal door to let them in.
Her anxiousness had her body moved without thinking and only coming back online midway through her sprint. Thinking that her mother might not bring danger back to their base, she continues on her way.
"Guo Guo!" The one that had the least courage, Low Lin Ya, was the first to react. "Don't!"
Vihaan and Chen Yibo simultaneously grabbed their weapon, ready to fight if there was any danger. As for Chen Jiang An, he was flustered to the extent of knocking over his weapon instead of grabbing it.
Wong Xue Guo grabbed onto the door handle but did not open it. "Mother?"
"Guo Guo, it's fine. Open the door."
Recognizing her mother's voice, she opened the door and let them in.
Suzie Yap entered the store with the unconscious Nurul Hanani and Low Lin Ya stepped forward to help with the weight.
"Nothing happens while we are gone?" Suzie Yap asked her daughter with a concerned gaze.
"No."
Suzie Yap smiled. "That's good. I've brought back some medicine, so if Guo Guo isn't feeling well, tell mommy, okay?"
Wong Xue Guo shook her head. "I'm fine. Mother should eat medicine if you are hurt. I have also picked some clothes that fit your size."
With a heart-melting expression, Suzie Yap hugged her daughter and showered her with mindless praises.
Wong Xue Guo's body was in a dilemma, unsure whether to break out goosebumps or not. The sudden extreme affection was a little hard to digest. As for her mind, it was a repeating thought of 'My mother's new filters are too thick!'.
From the beginning, Vihaan and Kim Sung-Ho only saw that they have a good mother-and-daughter relationship, so they just accepted it. Cheng Jiang An was considered a classmate that did not know about the Wong family matters.
As a close friend, Low Lin Ya was in the know, but seeing Suzie Yap's caring reaction, she just assumed Mrs Wong finally came around and left it at that.
It was only Chen Yibo that faintly frowned at their interaction. As a neighbour and also a family friend, he had socialized with the Wong family often and was clear about how the family members interacted with each other.
Chen Yibo's heart throbbed in envy at the scene of the mother and daughter hugging. Nevertheless, he was still happy for Wong Xue Guo that her mother finally came around.
"Hani is burning up!" Low Lin Ya retracted her scaled hands and exclaimed after she touched Nurul Hanani's flushed cheeks.
"Don't worry, the worst has passed. She is now adjusting and will be fine soon." Suzie Yap had helped Nurul Hanani wear her tudung again, hiding her hair which more than half had turned white. Luckily her eyebrows were still black, and with the tudung, the sight of her would not alarm others.
Low Lin Ya sobbed. "She's even thinner than before."
Nurul Hanani's frame was now very skinny, resembling an anorexic. Her family would be extremely shocked and would have difficulty recognizing her.
However, it was actually a normal body size among those with the activated ability so Suzie Yap was used to it. On the other hand, she was slightly uncomfortable with her current healthy body size and even felt she was heavier. Do not judge from the cover, because their skinny frame was actually more powerful and stronger than normal humans.
"Will we be moving after she wakes up?" Vihaan asked as he passed a bottle of water to Suzie Yap.
Suzie Yap accepted the friendly gesture. "Yes. We need to leave here before morning arrives."
Vihaan's face changed. "What will happen when morning comes?"