Jingling University

Upgrading the softwares didn't take much time, a few minutes. The task of making the new sensors was left to the micro-factory. As well as the 3 internal security mini-turrets. They would shoot either rubber bullets, 9mm bullets, or taser needles with stun or kill modes.

However, before making the sensors and turrets, the factory would work on Xiaotian's outfit. Unlike Lu, who wanted to look the 'action woman' part, Xiaotian went for business casual. After all, she wasn't the fighting type.

The main part was a form-fitting, sleevless chinese minidress, green with golden linnings and floral paterns, with matching long fashion gloves. It was made of 2 layers, instead of 3: the inner layer made of polymers for comfort, the outer layer made of starskin fibers for basic protection. Then there was a dark green jacket for when she had to get out of the truck. Long sleeve, made the same way as Lu's bodysuit. Finally, black and green, knee-high, flat heel boots. Also made of polymers and starskin fibers.

Since he made an outfit for both of the Wen sisters, he guessed that Zhuying would want one as well. So he made one identical to Lu's, but with sapphire blue instead of crimson red. Since she acted a bit like a mob boss, he also made a black coat similar to the one worn by Nick Fury, with an electric blue storm dragon on the back.

Morning came soon enought, and the girls outfits were ready. Liushi used the Starseed as his own discreet morning alarm, and woke before most people. He left Xiaotian's new outfit on the table, and went to his sister room to leave her new outfit as a surprise. As expected, she was still asleep, so he placed it on a chair in front of the bathroom and swiftly left.

Instead of going back to the truck, he went to the double trailer to check the stock of materials, weapons and amnutions. He used a fair ammount of bullets on the way to and from the military camp. He would need to start producing amnutions soon after the coming upgrade. He refilled the turrets and brough more raw materials to the truck using the pallet mover.

"Good morning, brother Liushi" said Lu as he entered.

"Hello Lu. I didn't expect you to be up this early."

"I didn't do anything strenous yesterday, and I didn't sleep late. Xiaotian woke up when I got out of the bathroom, and she's in there now. Let me help you."

"Thanks."

She was already in her bodysuit, and Liushi spent a few seconds admiring her as she passed by to take the rest of the boxes. She could feel his eyes on her and held back a grin. Once done, they made breakfast. The table was empty, so he guessed Xiaotian had taken her outfit. She came out a few minutes later, and slowly walked up to them.

Liushi looked at her in amazement, and couldn't even think of greeting her. She stopped near him and shyly spun around to give him a good look. She had arranged her hairs into a neat side ponytail, and had used a hint of make up for her eyes and lips. The cheongsam brough her charms to light, without revealing as much as the bodysuits.

"Whoa... You're beautiful" he said, still amazed.

"Thank you" she answered while blushing. She couldn't look at him in the eyes.

"He's right sis. You look really good."

"Thanks Lu."

They were about to start breakfast when someone barged into the truck. Of course, the only one aside from them with unlimited access to the truck was Zhuying. She was in her new outfit, complete with the coat and her new sword strapped to her side. She made a sexy yet intimidating figure, at least if she didn't have such a big grin on her face. Xiaotian and Lu looked at her in shock, but she ignored them and went straight to her brother. She gave him a big hug and inkissed his cheeks while thanking him. It was only then that the Wen sisters recovered, and praised her.

With the 3 girls in front of his eyes in their custom outfits, he realised that they somehow had their own color theme, red, green and blue. When he called them the new power rangers as a joke, he was assaulted by the little sisters with near harmless slaps on the shoulders. Xiaotian pointed out that he too had an outfit, making him part of the ranger team. When the giggles and chukkles died down, they ate their breakfast and prepared to leave.

The day before, when they planned the expedition, it was decided that only the paranormals would go with Liushi and the sisters. It meant that, aside from the Doomsday Ride and the Doomtrooper with the double trailer, the only other vehicle would be the SUV carrying Qingping, Haizi and Sun Kun.

Since most of their attack force would leave, Liushi decided to give them his needlers. After showing the scavenger team how they worked, he gave them spare batteries and ammos. He also gave them some mutant meat to keep them healthy. That bought him more support and goodwill from the survivors, who really began to aknowledge him as the new boss, with Zhuying being his right hand.

For Qingping, it meant that to improve her lot in life, she would have to gain Liushi's favor. While her battle strenght wasn't bad, it couldn't be compared to his own arsenal. The eldest sister in his care already provided non-combat oriented services, similar to a live-in assistant. The only way she could catch his interest would be through seduction.

When Zhuying showed them her new clothes, explaining their characteristics and demonstrating their protective ability with a sharpened knife, she was about to turn green with envy. With such clothes she wouldn't fear zombies bites anymore. She had to put on a good show for him during that expedition. And it started with being a good guide for him.

With the Doomtrooper in the lead, the SUV with the machine-gun in the middle, and the Doomsday Ride at the rear, they went to Jingling University.

Zhuying was quite eager to test her new weapon. But as they got closer to the university, her mood grew melancholic. She hadn't gone near it since the outbreak, and she didn't want to see familiar faces turned into monsters. They drove slowly to make as little noise as possible. When they reached the campus, she had calmed down and entered the life-and-death mindset only true survivors had.

Near the campus door, they stopped. The once welcoming entrance was grim and bloody. Zhuying got out to take care of the closest ones, Liushi followed and supported her using his handgun equipped with a silencer. When dealing with former aquitances, Zhuying's only reaction was a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth. The turrets taking care of the farthest targets.

Liushi kept an eye on her. She was far from being a certified swordwoman, but at least she could decapitate them each time she targeted a neck. She aimed well enough and was careful with her footing, but she couldn't chain killing strikes without a small pause to reposition her arms and legs. When she couldn't strike with the sword, she pointed a finger to the threat and fried them. She had quick reactions, and was quite fast for an untrained person, probably due to her evolution.

'Damn, she's badass! She will be a very deadly opponent at close-to-medium range once properly trained. Especially when she learn to use her chain.'

The SUV stopped at their side, and Yang Qingping entered the battle with fervor, jumping to the zombies getting too close to Liushi and watching over the siblings. When she needed to avoid being swarmed she jumped back to his side. Sun Kun and Haizi also took care of their share of zombies. They didn't use the machine-gun to avoid attracting too much zombies. Lu had stuck half of her body out of the truck's window and used a submachine-gun with silencer to support them.

"I'll lead you to the labs" said Qingping once the zombies near the entrance got taken care of. "Do you mind if I join you in your car? The SUV would get damaged if we opened the path in a crowd of zombies."

"Sure" Liushi agreed, not seeing a reason to refuse. "Get in."

She gave him her best smile and got inside, taking the seat behind him. When giving the directions, she would lean forward and speak near his ear, her hand on the backrest of his seat with her fingers lightly touching his shoulder. She did give good directions. She knew where people tended to gather on the ground, and they avoided a few clusters of zombies.

Her change of attitude was noticed by both Liushi and Zhuying. For Zhuying, he friend finally realised that her brother was awesome and started treating him with the respect he was due. For Liushi, he saw someone who was sucking up to him to gain some benefit when she used to look down on him. As attractive as she was, he wouldn't fall for her charms that easily.

They moved at low speed to avoid zombies swarms, and soon reached the labs. There weren't many zombies around, and they stopped. Lu got out of the truck, in full gear, with 2 empty backpacks. She also took out the pallet mover from the trailer. They reloaded their weapons and took spare magazines. As for Xiaotian, she would stay in the truck, but not without anything to do.

She was tasked with trying one of the drones, by surveying the rest of the campus. The 3 paranormals stared at the drones when Liushi took it out, once more reminded that the young man in front of them was far from ordinary despite not being a paranormal.