Chapter 447: The Vehicle of Wooden Wheels
Chapter 447: Chapter 447: The Vehicle of Wooden Wheels
"Unrelated?
How could it be unrelated? The male line of our White Family is already dwindling, and your brother, Ambrose White, was the subject of great expectations.
Now, he is dead because of you and your husband. This is a grave transgression for your branch of the family."
Flynn White looked to be no older than his early twenties. His tone was casual, yet with every step he took toward Arcadia White, she trembled uncontrollably.
"Flynn White, this was my fault. It has nothing to do with Arcadia."
General Hughes stepped forward at the critical moment to shield Arcadia White.
"Your fault?
It’s good that you, Anselm Hughes, are admitting it. We will settle the score for Ambrose White’s death slowly once we get back."
Flynn White said with a cold snort.
Nina Jacobs could see that everyone seemed to treat Flynn White with the utmost deference.
’Looks like this Flynn White is the strongest fighter in the White Family.’
’A Wind Element Superpower User?’
Nina Jacobs watched them leave. Afterward, General Hughes and Mrs. White turned to give instructions to the others.
"Nina Jacobs and Wayne Warner will be coming with us this time.
The rest of you, wait here on standby."
General Hughes ordered.
Everyone was rather surprised.
Aside from Wyatt Holden and Ms. Carter from the base, and the deceased Drake Shaw, General Hughes had never brought any outsiders to Whittaker Town.
Still, no one dared to object.
"Be careful. I’ll wait here for you to come back."
Godfrey Thatcher said as Nina Jacobs was getting her backpack from the vehicle.
"Okay, you too."
Nina Jacobs took a gun and two boxes of ammunition from her backpack and handed them to Godfrey Thatcher.
The people from Whittaker Town, waiting a short distance away, all looked over when they saw that Arcadia White and her husband were bringing two strangers along.
"Who are they?"
Raymond White asked.
"Uncle, this is Nina Jacobs and Wayne Warner. They have been protecting us throughout our journey.
Evelina likes them too, so I wanted to bring them back for a visit."
After speaking, Arcadia White pulled Raymond White aside and whispered a few more words to him. Raymond White glanced at Nina Jacobs, then nodded.
"You’re a Dual Element Superpower User?"
Flynn White’s interest seemed to be piqued after hearing what Anselm Hughes said.
"Yes," Nina Jacobs replied.
’These people from Whittaker Town seem incredibly insular.’
She spotted a few vaguely familiar faces among the group; they must have been some of the people she’d seen near the train last time.
"Your Dual Element Superpower—what are the elements?"
Just then, one of the men walked over and asked.
"Earth and Fire Element."
Nina Jacobs’s heart skipped a beat.
’This man was one of the people who showed up outside the train last time.’
’Based on footprints and movement patterns alone, he had deduced that the person who took the supplies from the train was a lone woman.’
’Could it be that hearing about my Dual Element Superpower made him connect me to that incident?’
"Oh, Earth Element? Then never mind.
My name is Thane Trevor.
But you weren’t from Lornwood Base originally, were you?"
Thane Trevor continued to ask.
Dual Element Superpower Users were exceedingly rare. If Nina Jacobs had been at Lornwood Base before, it was impossible that Anselm Hughes wouldn’t have noticed her.
"We were in a safe camp near Mornfell before.
But the camp was destroyed by Mutated Animals.
We drifted for a while before eventually making our way here."
Nina Jacobs replied.
"I see."
Thane Trevor asked no more questions, but Flynn White, on the other hand, seemed very interested in Nina Jacobs’s Dual Element Superpower.
"I’d love to have a go against a Dual Element Superpower User,
but I’ll pass for today."
As Flynn White finished speaking, a car pulled up from a short distance away.
The driver was a woman.
She wore a red dress and, with a blank expression, got out to open the car door for Flynn White.
"Flynn, be careful on this training expedition."
Raymond White advised, his face full of affection.
’Training expedition?’
’Looks like Flynn White is heading out to kill zombies?’
Nina’s gaze was drawn to the woman in red. The woman acted as if she didn’t see any of them and returned directly to the car.
Seeing that The White Clansmen weren’t objecting, Arcadia White finally let out a sigh of relief.
Nina Jacobs and Wayne Warner followed behind, and Nina took the opportunity to survey the route.
To one side lay a set of corroded, rust-covered railroad tracks, which they appeared to be following.
After walking for another half hour, the tracks disappeared, and the people in the lead began climbing up a mountain path.
Once Nina was on the path, she discovered it was very strange. It seemed to be paved with wooden planks, which were then covered with a mixture of rock and soil to make it look like an inconspicuous little hill.
Finally, the group in front of her came to a stop.
Someone pressed a mechanism on a nearby wall, and a wooden track suddenly emerged from the ground ahead.
Immediately after, a CLICKETY-CLACK sound echoed from one direction.
Nina Jacobs looked over and saw a train, complete with carriages, approaching in the distance?!
’How could there be a train here?’
"You’ve never seen this before, have you, Miss Jacobs? This is our Whittaker Town’s very own Wooden-Wheel Train."
Julia Hughes said smugly from beside her.
"Wooden-Wheel Train?"
It was indeed the first Nina had ever heard of such a thing.
As the train drew closer, she saw that its undercarriage was constructed from a variety of wooden and metal gears.
It reminded her of the robots that worked in the underground warehouse.
"Get on. The Wooden-Wheel Train is quite safe, and you don’t have to worry about any zombies along the way."
Anselm Hughes said to Nina Jacobs after everyone else had boarded.
"The White Family inherited the techniques of Master Calloway. These are just a bunch of wooden perpetual motion mechanisms. Once you understand how they work, you’ll see they’re nothing all that special."
Nina Jacobs nodded and then led Wayne Warner into the train car.
The car’s interior looked no different from that of a normal train, and there were plenty of seats.
She picked a window seat and sat down.
Mrs. White and Julia Hughes were sitting in front of her.
"Miss Jacobs, the cockpit is up there. But Mr. White and the others won’t let me go in.
I hear it’s really cool inside. Don’t you want to take a look?"
Julia Hughes asked in a low voice.
Nina feigned a smile and shook her head.
’Even Julia Hughes isn’t allowed inside; I’m just an outsider.’
’This girl is trying to set another trap for me.’
Seeing that Nina was unmoved, Julia Hughes sat back down, looking a little disappointed.
The train gradually began to move. Nina found the ride to be quite bumpy, and she figured the clicking sound from earlier must be the noise of the train’s wheels on the tracks.
It seemed, however, that everyone else was already used to it.
’The cockpit?’
Nina looked toward the front of the train, genuinely curious as to whether someone was actually piloting it.
’But with so many people around, I can’t just let my Little Zombie Rat out.’
The train then entered a pitch-black tunnel.
The tunnel was lit by only a few dim, yellow lamps. Nina pulled up her system map and, after typing in "Whittaker Town," a planned route appeared as she’d hoped.
With the route displayed, Nina finally felt at ease.
This way, she wouldn’t have to worry about getting lost with Wayne Warner when they eventually left Whittaker Town.
The route didn’t look very long.
However, the train moved very slowly, and it wasn’t until more than two hours later that it finally ground to a halt.
The train had passed through more than twenty tunnels along the way, and even Nina couldn’t help but admire the person who had laid these wooden tracks.
The Whittaker Town before them looked like any ordinary small town.
It was just surrounded on all four sides by greyish-white mountains, and Nina could even see faint wisps of cooking smoke curling up in the distance...
"Miss Jacobs, from now on you can stay by my side forever!"
Julia Hughes had appeared in front of Nina at some point, and she turned to her with a smile.