Poll World [LitRPG][Reader Polls]

(This chapter's polls are for paid Patreon subscribers!)

Gen was disoriented as Jasper zoomed along the quarantine wall, leaving devastation in his wake. She could hardly tell what was even happening around her until suddenly their forward momentum abruptly halted.

At first, Gen was grateful for a break before her eyes managed to focus on the situation.

Rather than halting of his own volition, Jasper was floating ten feet off the ground. He was thrashing his body and his limbs, waving at super speed, but with no traction, he remained exposed precariously in place, unable to retreat.

In front of them the source was immediately apparent. A group of protagonists had gathered and were glaring at the two of them as a unit.

In the lead was a level 4 woman, named Harper, but Gen's eyes focused on a level 2 woman, named Violet, beside her, who had her arms stretched out, sweating in concentration as she maintained whatever ability was making Jasper hover.

Not hesitating, Gen pointed all ten fingers at Violet and unleashed ten bolts of deafening lightning immediately.

Harper reacted immediately, materializing a glowing shield that drew the lightning to it, absorbing the energy and negating the attack.

Gen paused, her gloves were exhausted and wouldn't recharge unless they dodged more attacks. Jasper also stopped thrashing, turning to look at her as if asking if she had any ideas.

Harper spoke, "Anti-armor attackers commence. Everyone else, guard Violet until more anti speed specialists arrive."

Two men stepped forward, one level 2 and the other level 1. They both carefully stayed behind Harper as they warily stared at Jasper and stretched out their arms.

One fired an acidic green blob at Jasper, which started smoking and corroding his armor on contact. The other channeled a blue continuous laser at the same spot that started to melt its way through the weakend metal.

Jasper squirmed under the attacks writhing in midair preventing the laser from focusing on any single point. His body crackled with electricity, but his efforts amounted to nothing as he continued to dangle in open air.

Cursing, Gen tried to think of options and drew her boomerang. It flew primarily with its acceleration enchantment, so it only took a flick of her fingers to send it careening around at an angle to hit Violet from the side.

The move was immediately countered however as Harper twitched and a ghostly copy separated from herself with an identical shield and blocked the boomerang effortlessly.

She glanced at Gen, "Eliminate the generated."

The remaining protagonists on standby drew firearms and opened fire on Gen. Gen braced for impact, unable to dodge, only for a rush of air to fly past her.

Jasper's tail flicked in front, moving at super speed as it deflected one bullet after another, shielding Gen for the moment.

Gen was glad to have the mystery solved of how she hadn't died previously while Jasper was crashing through things like a maniac, but they were still cornered.

Jasper's efforts were only delaying the inevitable as more acid globs began to coat his armor, and gradually holes began to melt their way through.

Miraculously, at that moment, a colossal explosion rocked the whole wall. Half the protagonists were knocked off their feet, and Jasper fell a few feet as Violet staggered before regaining control of her ability.

The protagonists watched in wide-eyed horror as a large section of the wall collapsed entirely. Gen could see from the corner of her eye Hon's UFO rushing past at the same time.

Knowing this was her last chance, she summoned her minefield scepter from her inventory and targeted the space directly underneath Violet, bypassing Harper's protection.

The mine exploded with a satisfying pop compared to the previous giant explosion, but it was more than sufficient to blow off both of Violet's feet and break her concentration.

Jasper fell like the giant metal lizard that he was and cracked the concrete beneath them. The second he made contact with the earth, he rushed forward with renewed bloodlust.

The laser-wielding protagonist was crushed immediately, but before he could proceed, Harper was again blocking his path.

Her glowing shield slammed into Jasper's head, letting out a gong sound and instantly halting his momentum.

Jasper reeled back, shaking his head in irritation before preparing himself for another attack. Gen's eyes widened as she saw Violet's eyes refocusing despite the pain of her missing feet.

"Retreat, Jasper! She's not dead!"

Jasper paused for only an instant, casting a nightmare-inducing glare at Violet before his body rippled with red lightning once again, and he shot over the wall's edge, escaping back to the relative safety of the ground.

Gen breathed a sigh of relief before realizing that instead of returning to zone 98, Jasper had descended to the opposite side of the wall, effectively breaking quarantine.

They weren't alone, as hundreds of zombie iguanas were pouring through the gap in the wall and invading the new zone.

The chaotic site was disrupted as the quarantine wall flared red around the damaged section before instantly being reconstructed with shiny metal plates instead of the original concrete.

Gen gritted her teeth, she hoped the protagonists had paid dearly in contribution points for however much it had cost them for an instant repair to the massive wall.

Jasper was still staring at the wall and Violet above as if he was considering climbing back up and finishing the job.

Gen yelled, "Retreat, Jasper! We've got to regroup! If someone else has an ability to negate your speed, then we'll be powerless just like before!"

He flicked his head to the side in irritation before bolting away, leaving the quarantine zone in the dust.

Several minutes later, they had moved through three zones and were in an area that looked relatively peaceful, or at least it was before Jasper had smashed through the wall of a nearby Italian restaurant and started helping himself to both the NPC customers as well as the spaghetti.

Gen was on her phone, checking notifications, and she smiled as she saw her viewer count had gone up to 16. She didn't have time to dwell on her growing popularity, however, as she focused on orienting herself on the map as well as touching base with her allies.

Morna was highly upset as no one had ended up attacking the hatchery, and in her words, she'd once again missed an epic fight.

G2n seemed pleased with how things went, but he expressed some irritation that Gen hadn't forewarned him exactly how Jasper's "distraction" would play out. Gen didn't feel bad, especially as she hadn't expected Jasper to do that either, but resolved to try communicating plans a bit more thoroughly with Jasper in the future, even if it was a tedious process.

Overall, she was happy with their cooperation in the battle. Finding out how vulnerable Jasper was to certain kinds of attacks was also valuable information.

With the nature of people's abilities, regardless of whether someone was high or low level, they could potentially be dangerous if their ability happened to be a direct counter.

Restrained as she was while using the demonic saddle, her options were severely limited already, and she also couldn't use weapons like her blowpipe.

Thinking of her blowpipe, she pulled it out and shot an NPC hiding in a corner. Her zombie amulet still had an hour and a half, so she wasn't worried about it being aggressive as it transformed into a fusioncrack zombie.

Jasper eyed the transforming NPC with annoyance as its limbs lengthened and its stomach expanded, glowing red. Dark black veins and metal plates spread across its skin, completing the transformation.

The zombie's rotten eyes looked around before spotting another group of NPCs hiding in the opposite corner of the restaurant.

It shot a glowing red dart that detonated on impact, blasting one NPC to pieces and exploding glowing shrapnel out in all directions.

Gen gulped as a shrapnel piece narrowly missed her head.

Any NPC that was hit with the fragments didn't explode, but instead began to transform into new fusioncrack zombies.

Gen quickly moved to Jasper, taking cover before any more explosions inadvertently infected her. She was just in time as multiple explosions happened around her and the chaos began spreading outside the restaurant.

She had some antidotes in her inventory that G2n had provided her. They'd been looted from slain protagonists, and he had advised to always have them on hand in case of an accident.

Double checking they were accessible, she addressed Jasper. "There's a small antagonist base near here. Let's go check it out while the zombies spread. I've got…" her eyes widened, "I've got 38,590 contribution points now and I'm itching to spend them!"

Jasper glanced at her before looking longingly back at the half-finished meals in the restaurant.

Sighing, she said, "I'll use the saddle so you can eat faster and then we'll go…"

Jasper lowered his head excitedly, and she reentered the saddle. The next few minutes were full-on dissociation as Jasper cleaned out the restaurant.

Shortly later, they arrived at the headquarters. It was a coffee shop and looked unremarkable except for a level 2 man, named Barney, outside drinking a coffee.

He sputtered at their arrival and rose to attention.

Gen gave him a wave as Jasper released her from the saddle. If he were a protagonist, she assumed Jasper would've eaten him already.

"I'm just passing through to recharge my amulet and use the shop."

He was still stammering while staring wide-eyed at Jasper, so she headed inside and accessed the event shop.

She had been initially excited about the shops, but after being stuck at negative points for so long, she had avoided even looking at the options until now.

The setup was simple with a tablet listing options for purchase, all divided by category. Prioritizing things, she first went to the food section and bought herself a chicken sandwich for 5 contribution and bought Jasper a barrel of queso for a hundred more.

Rolling the barrel outside, she pointedly avoided watching the ensuing feast and hurried back inside to look through the rest of the shop options.

They were neatly divided into

Headquarters Upgrades

Offensive

Defensive

Food

Unique

She immediately clicked the unique section because that was obviously the most interesting.

Inside were things like the zombie control rods, leashes, a standard zombie nest, infection fog emitters, and utility items like broadcasters or radios, which allowed communication on event-specific frequencies.

Many of them she'd seen before, and the communication ones she didn't see a need for, as anyone she wanted to chat with was already a contact in her phone.

One that caught her eye was "NPC radar - map augment" for 20,000 contribution points. Its description explained that it would update her phone to display NPCs within one mile of her location.

She paused to think, her strategy this far had be iguana focused, but using her ability to make iguanas was too slow if she wanted to build up an army large enough to take down a whole zone this far into the event.

With the radar, her blowgun, and Jasper's speed, she could pull off a strategy similar to the original UFO team and start a fusioncrack horde in a densely populated area and then run away to another zone before protagonists could stop them.

Special Zombie Incubation Started in Zone 60! Time Remaining: 20:43:51

She glanced at the notification, Hon's plan was already starting. Zone 60 was where Paul's group was based, but once the mutagens were dispersed, more zones would follow soon. A lot of antagonists would be stuck defending the incubating special zombies, so her role of being a distraction wasn't over yet.

Feeling decisive, she purchased the map augment.

Looking back at the console, she tried to find something to help protect Jasper. If they ran into someone like Violet again, their rampage could end in an instant. She needed an option that would get them out of sticky situations.

Her eyes lit up as she saw a promising option called a "zombie launchpad" for 5000 contribution points. Its description was ambiguous, just saying: You've got zombies here and want zombies there? Buy a zombie launchpad today!

If it worked like she hoped, it might be able to catapult Jasper out of a trap. It still wouldn't help if he were floating in midair, though.

Coming up with an idea, she searched and eventually found what she was looking for under headquarters upgrades.

"Chained harpoon"

Reading the description, she found it was similar to a giant grappling hook with a thick steel chain. It was motorized, so once it punctured something, it could be reeled back in to draw the unfortunate victim into the headquarters.

Selecting the headquarters upgrade, her mental view shifted to see an overlay of the coffeeshop and a glowing outline of the mounted harpoon weapon. Mentally, she shifted it around and saw it change from red to green, marking valid placement locations.

Moving her mental view out front, she positioned it on a smooth metal plate on Jasper's back. The outline chaotically flickered between red and green as if unsure the placement was valid.

She mentally spammed the accept button, and the harpoon gun materialized on Jasper's back, solidly bolting in place.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Jasper was licking queso off his lips and stared at the new protrusion with annoyance before returning to eating.

Taking it as acceptance, Gen bought thirteen more of the guns, mounting them all over Jasper's body. They were a thousand points each, so she quickly exhausted her remaining supply of contribution points. She felt like it was a necessary investment. Jasper was so heavy, she figured she'd need a lot of them to grapple his way back to the ground if someone tried levitating him again.

The only issue was firing the weapons, as she couldn't operate the weapons while confined to the saddle.

Stepping back outside, she saw Barney still staring wide-eyed as Jasper finished licking the barrel clean.

Giving him her best business smile, she said, "How would you like to go on an adventure?"

Barney looked uncertain, but after a moment's hesitation, he nodded enthusiastically.

Ding~!

Turning away from him, she looked at the updated description of her gloves.

Recycle: 10 charged fingers can be exhausted to recycle the charges into a lightning gremlin.

Her eyebrows knit together, a lightning gremlin? Her gloves weren't charged yet, so she couldn't test it, but maybe they could operate the harpoons without needing to recruit random antagonists like Barney.

Barney was hyping himself up and looked between Jasper and Gen. "What should I do?"

Gen smiled weakly at him and gestured at Jasper, "Climb up and man a harpoon. From there, uhh play it by ear and try to help if we get trapped."

…Special Zombie Incubation Started in Zone 60! x5 Special Zombie Incubation Started in Zone 70! x4 Special Zombie Incubation Started in Zone 50! x4 Special Zombie Incubation Started in Zone 69! x3 Special Zombie Incubation Started in Zone 49! x3 Special Zombie Incubation Started in Zone 91! x3 Special Zombie Incubation Started in Zone 10! x3 Special Zombie Incubation Started in Zone 10! x3 Special Zombie Incubation Started in Zone 10! x3 Special Zombie Incubation Started in Zone 10! x3 Special Zombie Incubation Started in Zone 10! x3…

Gen ignored the incubation messages that had be becoming increasingly frequent over the past few hours as she yelled "JASPER RUUUUUN!"

Her voice was barely audible over the chittering of the lightning gremlins, but Jasper was on the same page as he attempted to skitter up the side of an apartment building, only to slip back down as another blast of slippery oil doused the concrete.

Barney called out, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" as he and three gremlins shot their harpoons into the ground on Jasper's left side. The sharp hooks dug into the road before the motors activated and began to haul Jasper along the oily surface, just in time as the whole area ignited, leaving a fireball in their wake.

Gunfire and explosions echoed on all sides as the protagonists launched a dizzying array of attacks. Jasper deflected what he could with his armored tail, but his defenses had seen better days, and black blood was pouring on the street.

Gen cursed and clenched her fists, summoning another gremlin as soon as her gloves recharged. The gremlin cackled into existence and immediately shot a bolt of lightning at the closest protagonist, only to perish in an electric explosion as a sniper shot tore through its electric body.

Things had been going well at first. With Gen's radar, she had quickly found dozens of secret shelters that the protagonists had been funneling NPCs into by using evacuation event items. Each location had some guards and stationary defenses, but Jasper had torn them open easily like a tin can, and with a single shot of her blowpipe, the fusioncrack zombies had spread like wildfire. The process had given her tens of thousands of contribution points and left infection hotspots in her wake.

Jasper's quick speed had enabled them to escape each time before defenders could respond, and they had even managed to take out several protagonist squads that they'd stumbled upon. These small skirmishes had been a good way to safely charge up her gloves and summon around a hundred lightning gremlins.

Each gremlin was about the fourth the size of a human and made from crackling electricity. They could shoot lightning and seemed to delight in carnage and destruction. They were intelligent and followed her commands thankfully, but didn't seem to have any planning or strategic abilities. They eagerly volunteered to use the remaining harpoon guns and found it hilarious to puncture protagonists with the harpoons before channeling electricity through the chain and frying them. Their main downside was how fragile they were, as even stray shots could cause them to destabilize and explode into localized blasts of electricity. Of the ones she had summoned, over half had died already.

Barney and the gremlins made an odd pairing, but Barney was adaptive. The gremlins were partially incorporeal and seemed entirely unaffected by Jasper's sudden shifts in momentum, Gen herself was protected by the saddle as it dampened any g-forces she would normally experience, Barney… He was not so lucky. After losing him off of Jasper's side several times, he was sporting numerous scrapes and minor injuries, but they'd determined a system where he would be chained to his harpoon gun, and it seemed to at least keep him on the ride.

His two abilities were pain resistance, which was immensely useful in ignoring his injuries, especially as he had an augment that increased his blood regeneration. His second ability allowed him to override the surrounding scent to that of fresh pine… It was rather niche, but Gen had grown to appreciate it, considering Jasper was a giant rotting zombie, even if the bulk of his smell was contained beneath his armored scales.

They evidently had been too successful and predictable in their strategy of raiding NPC shelters, as the eighth place they hit ended up being an ambush that they were still struggling to escape. Protagonists kept appearing with oil slicks that would prevent Jasper from gaining any traction, and he'd be stuck frantically running in place like a cartoon until Barney or a gremlin managed to use the harpoons to haul him to safety.

Under the smoky cover of the burning oil, they had a brief second to weigh their options.

Barney's harpoon finished resetting, and he eyed the smoke with a nervous expression. "Shouldn't we be running?"

Gen was upside down in the saddle as usual, and a helpful gremlin was holding her phone for her as she stared at the map.

She cursed again, "We should be, but everywhere we go is just more protags. We need to find a gap to escape their encirclement, or we'll be cornered eventually."

They'd escaped more than ten times in fifteen minutes, but each was a little more narrow, and they'd only be free for a few seconds before another batch of protags would come rushing out and start the whole mess over again.

Gen had a sinking feeling that if they didn't find a way out immediately then a big hitter like Harper or even worse Susan might appear.

Frantically, she directed the gremlin to send an SOS to G2n to see if any allies were nearby. They'd carved a haphazard route through protagonist territory, and they were on the opposite side of the event map in zone 22, so she doubted that any allies were available, but she was out of options.

The gremlin cackled as it hit send on the typo-riddled text message. She assumed G2n would understand, as it wasn't the first speech-to-gremlin message she'd sent over the last few hours.

Before she could plan further, something emerged from the smoke, and her heart dropped. From CJ's memories, she immediately recognized the P7 mech that appeared and leveled its twin Gatling guns on Jasper.

Jasper reared up, prepared to swipe at the mech that was almost as big as him, when another giant figure slammed into the mech's side, smashing it to the ground.

Gen did a double-take as she recognized Trank, or rather what remained of him. She'd last seen him after he fell out of the UFO with a leaper iguana tearing into him. He still was clearly a zombie, but he now had glowing green implants over his body and looked like a cyborg. On his back, standing on a steel platform while holding a zombie leash attached to Trank's neck, was the only survivor of the UFO trio, the level 5 Solomon, whom she'd last seen fleeing protagonists while Gen and Hon stole his UFO.

Trank was going mad, slamming his giant fists into the mech repeatedly, the steel crumpling beneath his blows. Gen knew that the P series of mechs were specialized for mass population extermination, so while it likely was highly effective against zombie hordes, she was unsurprised it was overwhelmed by Trank's bulk.

Solomon wasn't idle as Trank destroyed the mech. He whipped his head around, sending bursts of lasers along the rooftops and into alleyways.

Many bullets and even a rocket hit him, but they were all blocked by a prismatic forcefield that bubbled around him. He focused on the attack's trajectories and sent retaliatory laser shots at each one in rapid succession.

Eventually, Trank's pummeling stopped, and the gunfire died down, leaving only the sound of the lightning gremlins chittering.

Gen looked nervously at Solomon before inspecting the clearing smoke around them. The nearby buildings had been devastated by Solomon's laser, and she saw numerous dead bodies. She couldn't see any survivors, but she was sure some were still hiding nearby.

"We should retreat before they regroup."

Solomon shot her a glare. "Help me loot everything first."

Confused, she looked at him. She knew she could loot slain protagonists and steal their event items, but she'd been so focused on escape before any high-level enemies appeared that she hadn't had time to loot the protagonists she'd killed so far.

Seeing her look, he rolled his eyes, "Yes, we've got to loot them! Events like this aren't decided by people! They're decided by equipment. Even low-level actors can be deadly if they get the right poll reward." He gestured to her dismissively, "Someone like you who's been handed success by LEO wouldn't understand how much work goes into trying to build yourself up in an event like this."

She frowned, not liking his tone.

"What do you mean people like me, yeah I've gotten poll rewards, but everybody does it depends on how you use them!"

His face contorted between angry expressions before suddenly bursting into tears.

"You don't get it! I've been doing events and scenarios for thirty years, and that UFO was the coolest thing I've ever gotten! This was my chance to finally make it onto the leaderboard! You and your friends killed my team and stole my one shot! You've already got a special zombie, a unique hatchery, and whatever those lightning things are! Why'd you have to rob me!?"

Gen flinched back, she was used to pissing people off at this point, but she was weak to tears.

Stammering, she quickly ordered her forty or so remaining lightning gremlins to loot any protagonists they could find.

Signalling for Jasper to release her from the saddle, she stood and tried her best to look sincere. "I am sorry about your friends and the whole UFO thing… we didn't initially intend to rob you, we just wanted a leaper zombie, but things kind of got away from us… Two of my friends died as well, you know..."

He snorted a big glob of snot back into his nose, and she could see he was gripping the safety bar in front of him white knuckled.

"Can I have it back then?"

Not expecting the request, she fumbled for her phone, "Let me ask Hon, he's using it at the moment. I think he'll be fine giving it back if you let him keep piloting it… He's got an ability to help and was really excited about it."

Solomon sniffed again, "He's the one who upgraded it to be giant? I knew I was on the verge of a poll upgrade when you all took it! It's not what I was hoping for, but it's cool. I'm just glad he didn't wreck the thing. As long as I'm the captain, I don't care who pilots it!"

Gen sent the text and nodded. Hon didn't take long to reply, and they had a quick back and forth where she tried to assure him Solomon wouldn't try to murder him, and that he could keep flying the UFO.

Hon himself was at a bit of a loss of what to do next anyway. He'd delivered his payload of biomass and mutagens and had been stuck on standby ever since. The UFO was valuable, but it also was a big target, and everyone was too busy defending the headquarters to accompany him on raids.

"He said he'd come meet us, I sent him the location of a headquarters a few miles from here. The UFO can shrink down, so he should be able to avoid fights and reach quickly."

Solomon's face lit up and then lit up again.

"It happened! I've got another poll to upgrade the UFO! It's really happening!" He slapped zombie-Trank on the back, "You hear that? You big dumb bastard! I'm getting in the big leagues!"

Gen glanced at zombie-Trank, who hadn't reacted to the hit or insult. She wasn't sure on the exact mechanics as she hadn't seen any other high-level actors turned zombies, but Trank, having been originally level 5 combined with the leaper mutagen and his original physical abilities, likely meant that as a zombie, he was almost on par with a normal boss zombie.

She looked at Solomon questioningly, "How did you show up here anyway? I appreciate the assist."

He waved her question away, still distracted by his upgrade poll. "I got a grudge poll when you all robbed me. I was hoping for the voodoo doll, but instead they gave me a tracker that shows your and the other guy's location at all times."

Gen shivered, she hadn't known something like that could happen. Luckily, Solomon seemed somewhat reasonable, even if he was a little obsessed.

Her gremlins started scrambling back onto Jasper, they were holding all sorts of gear and equipment. They didn't have inventories, so she quickly collected everything, transferring it to her own. Luckily, event equipment had no storage limitations, so she could freely store all the equipment from the dozen or so people Solomon had killed in an instant.

She glanced over it and wasn't impressed, there were mainly antidotes, guns, and types of body armor. Notably, they had quite a few "oil-slick" launchers, which were the source of the oily patches that had been annoying her so much.

She quickly equipped the best body armor amongst the lot and tossed another one to Barney, who had been silent throughout the exchange.

She didn't know if the armor had been purchased from the protagonist shop or was a poll reward, but either way, it would provide them some much needed protection.

The one she gave Barney had an effect which would regenerate injuries over time, and the one she kept for herself could generate a powerful one-time shield once per hour. The effect was inactive at the moment, having failed to save its previous owner, but it would reactivate soon enough.

The gremlins who had delivered the gear looked at her expectantly. Glancing at her inventory, she ruled out the armor as it was much too large for them. The firearms were likewise giant, but technically feasible…

Shrugging, she had them line up and distributed a submachine gun to each gremlin that wasn't already stationed on a harpoon gun. They could shoot lightning, but each bolt had a long cool down, so the guns would give them some much needed versatility.

The gremlins lost their minds and began to cackle while shooting their guns into the sky, nearby windows, and really anything that looked breakable. Barney got caught up in the moment and also pulled out a gun and started shooting while hollering.

Gen covered her ears and silently thanked the fact that guns around here typically regenerated ammo by default.

Solomon seemed unperturbed by the gremlins as he was still grinning widely, staring at the space in front of him that likely displayed the poll options for his current poll.

Sighing, she concluded she missed G2n as being the responsible one didn't suit her.

Bringing Solomon back to reality, she pointed at the mech. "Was that a poll reward or can protagonists buy them?"

Solomon leaned over and looked at the mech and grumbled. "This really is your first zombie event, isn't it? Mechs are common as the event progresses, they're out a bit earlier than normal, but they always show up eventually. Antagonists get nests that spawn zombies, and protagonists get factories that can construct weapons, tools, and mechs. This is probably only the first of many."

Sighing, she pulled out her phone, seeing that G2n had sent multiple messages in response to her earlier SOS, which she'd failed to respond to.

Gen: I'm fine. Solomon saved me. He took out a mech so those are apparently a thing of you didn't know already.

G2n: The guy you robbed…? Actually I don't care. Yes, we are aware of mechs, they've launched several attacks already and destroyed three incubating special zombies.

Gen: Why didn't you tell me about the mechs…?

G2n: I didn't think you'd care. You haven't exactly been paying attention to intel or strategy meetings so far.

Gen huffed.

Gen: I'm not Morna! I do care and I am deep thinker thank you very much I've just been busy so keeping up with chats is hard…

G2n: I'm not insulting you, just explaining why I haven't been sending you intel. Your efforts have done more than you might realize two zones are on the verge of collapse after being overwhelmed by fusioncrack zombies thanks to you and Jasper. The protagonists are adapting of course, but they're much more powerful than normal mutated zombies. As for intel, do not enter the center six zones, the protagonist factories and primary headquarters are there. Susan hasn't left that area all day. As for roving threats there's four notable ones.

He sent four images, each labeled with which zone they were last sighted in.

The first was a literal dragon with cyborg enhancements and a man riding on its back.

The second was a colossal tank the size of a barn and completely covered in cannons.

The third was what looked like a Gundam, as LEO apparently had very little respect for copyright.

The fourth just showed a plastic flamingo that looked indistinguishable from a yard decoration.

Gen: The first three make sense, but what's up with the flamingo?

G2n: I have no idea. Everyone who has witnessed it has been eliminated, we don't even know if it's a protagonist weapon or just some quirk LEO put in the event. Either way, do not approach it.

Gen shrugged and started a custom poll as it had been a while, and she felt like she should reward her new viewers with a choice. Once Hon and Solomon met up, they'd presumably be doing UFO things, and Jasper's current speed would be wasted if they were stuck inside a vehicle.

Finished looting Solomon and her set off toward the headquarters she'd indicated to Hon. She didn't use the saddle for now as Trank wouldn't be able to keep up even with his impressive leaping ability.

They didn't quite make it before LEO's voice boomed, and they all froze for the nightly break.

"Day 3 is done, and wow! What a show! Here's a fun fact we've learned! The most important part of a successful quarantine isn't wearing a mask, it's making sure you don't get eaten by a giant lizard! We're heading for a record number of special zombies and also a record number of failed incubations! Antagonists, I'm really loving the spunky attitude you've all been showing while dying horribly! Was the dragon a touch too much? Regardless, enjoy the break because tomorrow is going to be make or break!"

Gen reappeared in her room as usual. She eyed the door before shrugging and laying down. Jasper nodded in approval as he lay down next to her.

It had been a long day, and the next day was going to be even longer regardless of what her viewers picked.