Chapter 365: Pyralia
Chapter 365: Chapter 365: Pyralia
No one objected.
Including Nina Jacobs.
The place was only a little over ten kilometers from Griston. She could easily use this as a chance to visit Griston.
The rest of the journey went smoothly enough.
Although they frequently encountered zombies, the RV was exceptionally durable and handled the collisions well.
"We’ve now officially entered the Keldorn region."
Tobin said after they passed a derelict signpost.
They had chatted with Nina Jacobs a bit along the way. They noticed that her companion, Wayne Warner, never spoke except when he got out of the car to eat or stretch his legs.
Nina Jacobs wasn’t very talkative either. Lexy, on the other hand, was the most active one throughout the trip.
It would produce a bucket of water from time to time.
Fortunately, Cordelia had plenty of water containers in her dimensional space.
"Lexy is amazing. It’s produced dozens of buckets of water on this trip alone."
Cordelia and the others believed that even though Lexy couldn’t use its Water Element Superpower for combat, its Condensation Amount was on par with any Water Element Superpower User.
Nina Jacobs didn’t mention that Lexy had only awakened its Superpower the night before last.
Furthermore, it was obvious the amount of water Lexy produced that day was much greater than the day before.
By the time they set out again on the second day, Lexy had already filled the large white water tank, which stood taller than a person.
"A true master cat!"
Cordelia praised.
Tobin was happy too. ’This way, I can buy more water,’ he thought. ’Maybe in the future, I can even leave the base and secretly bring some back for Isabella Ramsey and her daughter...’
Early the next morning, Nina Jacobs got back in the RV.
The Friendship levels of Cordelia and the others had risen steadily, all surpassing 50. Cordelia’s Friendship, in particular, had reached 68.
Meanwhile, Rhonda Rowan’s Friendship had plummeted to 0.
Nina Jacobs guessed this was because Wayne Warner had killed Corin.
After all, when they woke up that morning, they found Rhonda Rowan’s eyes were swollen red and puffy.
Cordelia kept trying to console her, but Rhonda Rowan mostly ignored her.
"We should be there in about three hours."
Tobin was a walking map of Keldorn.
His estimate was nearly identical to the time displayed on her system’s map.
Seeing Tobin continuously give directions to the driver, Reginald Sutton, Nina Jacobs relaxed in her seat.
She gazed out the window, noticing that Keldorn’s landscape was completely different from that of City D.
The surface temperature was much higher here; an ordinary person would feel faint after just twenty minutes outside.
The roadsides were typically flanked by endless sandy slopes. Tobin explained that beneath them lay a Gobi-style desert, now buried by windblown sand.
’In an environment like this, people’s dependence on water would be drastically higher. And yet, Lornwood Base has a monopoly on all the Water Element Superpower Users...’
"Are we just going to storm Pyralia?"
After Cordelia spoke, everyone in the RV turned to look at Nina Jacobs.
Although Nina Jacobs spoke the least and was the last to join, they always sought her opinion first when it was time to make a decision.
"No need," Nina Jacobs replied. "I imagine that once we get there, someone will escort us inside, whether we want to go or not."
And she was right. Before the RV even reached Pyralia, their path was blocked by several other vehicles.
"Looks like they’re running the same racket as Ethan Cole. What do we do now?" Silas Crowley asked.
"Nothing. First, we need to confirm whether the people you’re looking for are here."
Following Nina Jacobs’s advice, the group got out of the vehicle without any resistance.
In fact, they were remarkably cooperative.
"Ms. Ulrich, these people are pretty reasonable. And they’re all Superpower Users, except for that one woman. We probably won’t have to make a move."
A scrawny, stubble-faced man said from the side.
Virgil Ulrich looked at the young people before him, tilted his head, and whispered to the stubble-faced man at his side,
"Take a look at them. There’s only a handful. Do they dare to refuse?"
He then walked up to the group and asked, "So, you just found this RV? I’d say your luck is pretty good.
Forget about going to some base. There’s nothing good for you there.
Why not join us?"
Reginald Sutton, standing at the front of their group, glanced back at the others and said hesitantly,
"We’re just looking for a safe place to stay."
"Then you’ve come to the right place. Our place is perfectly safe. Come on, brother, we’ll show you."
A man named Emrys Young smiled and clapped Reginald Sutton on the shoulder, seeming very enthusiastic.
"Hold on. If we join you, can you guarantee you won’t take advantage of our people?"
Silas Crowley had just demonstrated his Thunder Element Superpower, and Virgil Ulrich seemed to take him more seriously. He said,
"Don’t worry. We’re a respectable organization."
"Fine. We’ll go check it out and see if it’s a good fit for us."
Tobin and the other two men casually positioned themselves so that Nina Jacobs and the other two women were walking in the center of the group.
Her expression unchanging, Nina Jacobs followed them in, holding Lexy in her arms.
"You keep a cat, pretty lady?"
The stubble-faced man, Marcellus, couldn’t resist asking, even with Silas Crowley between them.
"Yeah," Nina Jacobs replied. "He kills Zombie Rats. He’s helped me out before."
"Really? That’s amazing."
Marcellus gave Lexy a few more looks. As they rounded a corner inside the tower, he even reached out to grab the cat, but Lexy’s paw shot out and left several deep, bloody scratches on his hand.
"OW, that hurts!"
Marcellus recoiled with a yelp. The scratches were quite long and deep, and he grimaced in pain.
Nina Jacobs frowned, but Marcellus didn’t fly into a rage from the embarrassment.
Instead, he just tucked his injured hand inside his jacket.
That surprised her.
The reason Dragonpeak Pagoda was also known as Pyralia was because it had two tower bodies.
The two towers, each nine stories high, were connected by a skywalk.
Virgil Ulrich led them up the tower.
Tobin tried to observe the conditions on each floor as they passed, but Emrys Young stopped him.
"Pick up the pace, brother," Emrys Young said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "The boss is waiting and he’ll get antsy."
"Alright, alright. I was just wondering if there’s any drinking water around here."
Tobin said, fabricating an excuse.
To his surprise, Emrys Young just smiled confidently. "Don’t you worry. The best thing about this place is we’re never short on water.
You’ve come at the perfect time, we’re in desperate need of more hands."
’Not short on water?’
’It seems they have a Water Element Superpower User.’
Nina Jacobs listened quietly. ’These people just had a firefight with another group, and both sides took heavy casualties. That’s why I figured they were short-handed.’
Sure enough, when they met the so-called "captain," he immediately agreed to let them join.
"The rest of you are fine, but she’s just an ordinary person. We don’t support idlers here."
The captain in the tower, a middle-aged man named Thaddeus Wren, said, pointing at Rhonda Rowan.
The color drained from Rhonda Rowan’s face.
"Just let her stay," Tobin stepped forward and said. "We guarantee she won’t use any of the tower’s resources. Can that work?"
"Well, look at that. A man of principle."
Thaddeus Wren had seen this situation before, but without fail, no one had ever been willing to stand up for an ordinary person.
In fact, most would take the opportunity to kick them while they were down.
"Fine," Thaddeus Wren said. "As long as she doesn’t touch the tower’s resources, I’ll allow her to stay for now."
"So, what will our duties be?"
Silas Crowley and the others felt this man wasn’t quite what they had expected.
Then again, he could just be putting on an act.
"Normally, we just scavenge for supplies nearby and kill zombies so everyone can eat," Virgil Ulrich said with a smile. "You all just got here, so take a couple of days to rest and recover your strength."