Chapter 44: Mobile Turret
After adjusting the shopping list, reducing some items and adding more medical supplies, Lin Xiwan put down her pen and reviewed it.
Satisfied, she looked at Lin Jiayao.
Her sister was leaning against the headboard, hugging a pillow, facing her, as if she had been watching her write.
But her eyes were closed; she seemed to be asleep.
“If you’re tired, just sleep…”
Lin Xiwan smiled, walked over, placed the pillow behind her sister’s back, and gently laid her down.
Lin Jiayao’s breathing remained even, her lips slightly parted; she seemed to be sleeping soundly.
Lin Xiwan tucked her in and whispered, “Be good. Sister is going shopping and will be back soon.”
She kissed her sister’s forehead and left the room, shopping list in hand.
The camp residents were starting to sense something was amiss, as if aware that something big was about to happen.
Prices had started to rise slightly.
Once Wang Yi announced the situation with the Baiyan District supplies, the camp’s economy would likely collapse.
She needed to stock up in advance.
Meanwhile, Lin Jiayao, in her “sleep,” controlled Mask’s body and stood up in the old ancestral hall.
“Clang—”
The assortment of rifles and magazines hanging from her bone spikes clattered together.
So many guns…
Lin Jiayao brought her bone spikes forward and counted. Eight QBZ95 assault rifles, each with a different paint job, and fifteen loaded magazines.
The number of bullets in each rifle wasn’t consistent, so she removed the magazines and replaced them with full ones.
Then, a thought struck her.
Mask’s [Bone Mimicry] ability.
She could preset her bones into any relatively simple shape and then quickly transform them.
Could she mimic a curved groove to grip the rifle handles, and then mimic a finger to pull the trigger?
Theoretically, she could control eight rifles and fire them simultaneously.
She looked at the extraction point and time.
「Extraction Time 3:59:11」
【Extraction Point: 17km】
The extraction point was getting further and further away… but there was still plenty of time.
But the direction wasn’t towards the highway this time, but towards the mountains behind the village.
It seemed the extraction point was heading towards uncharted territory.
With time to spare, she decided to experiment with Bone Mimicry.
Being able to operate eight rifles simultaneously would be a huge boost to her combat power.
Like a mobile turret, a walking arsenal.
The bone transformation was easier than she expected.
Following her imagination, the bones in her arm twisted and deformed, extending a smooth, concave shape.
She placed a rifle grip in the groove, and the bone around the edges extended, completely encasing the grip.
And on the other side of the bone encasing the grip, a jointed bone spike extended, perfectly positioned to pull the trigger.
It looked like a skeletal hand gripping the rifle.
She tested it, removing the magazine, pulling the bolt, and then pulling the trigger. Smooth.
Lin Jiayao repeated the process, securing each rifle to a bone spike. Soon, eight rifles were firmly attached.
Four on the left, four on the right, extending from the back of her head and pointing forward.
An intimidating sight.
It’s a good thing zombies can’t use firearms, otherwise humans would be doomed, Lin Jiayao thought, looking at the rifles.
Other bone spikes could help reload and chamber rounds. With practice, she could maintain continuous suppressive fire until she ran out of ammunition.
Securing her weapons, Lin Jiayao used bone spikes to lift Mask’s head, found a burlap sack in the ancestral hall, filled it with magazines, and then, carrying the sack and the rifles, left.
From the front, Mask no longer resembled a Christmas tree.
The eight rifles, angled downwards, looked like wings.
A strange and unsettling sight.
Especially with the burlap sack hanging behind her; it looked like the head-zombie was moving house.
It took Lin Jiayao almost half an hour to cross the mountainous area.
On the other side, she saw a highway and a small town in the distance.
The extraction point was now 14km away, and she had three and a half hours left. If she went in a straight line, she could reach it quickly.
After a moment of thought, Lin Jiayao decided there was no need to detour with Bone Spike Lurker and headed straight for the town.
Under the cover of darkness, she quickly crawled towards it.
As she neared the town, she veered to the right and hid in the bushes beside the highway.
The town… were there people there?
Unlikely.
Places like this small town, with extremely limited resources, were rarely inhabited for five years.
Were they just passing through?
Lin Jiayao moved closer, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation and decide whether to detour.
If they were just passing through and staying for the night, she could probably just pass by quickly.
She picked up a conversation from the outskirts of the town.
“Those lunatics shouldn’t be chasing us anymore… Son, check the map. How much further to Yangzhou City?”
“Soon. About 2km down this road to the S1 highway entrance.”
“We can’t take the highway. Let’s stick to the county roads…”
“What if there’s a roadblock…”
“Then we’ll walk. We should reach Yangzhou City’s camp before nightfall. Do we have to go to Yangzhou City? It’s quite populated…”
“They blocked the northbound roads, and Yu City is out of supplies. We can only try our luck in Yangzhou City…”
It seemed to be a conversation between a father and son, with a woman and a child murmuring in agreement.
It sounded like a family from Xin City, lacking supplies, trying to migrate north.
But the northbound roads were blocked, forcing them south.
Blocked by what?
This family didn’t seem threatening. Lin Jiayao moved slightly to the side, preparing to quickly pass through the town.
Just as she got a little closer, she heard a sharp shout.
“Who’s there?!”
“Whoosh—”
A dart flew towards her at incredible speed. She only had time to raise ten bone spikes to protect her face before it struck.
“Crack—”
The diamond-shaped dart lodged itself in one of the bone spikes, vibrating intensely. Then, it inexplicably flew back in the opposite direction, returning to the person who threw it.
An Awakened?!
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