Chapter 490: Just Scraps
Chapter 490: Chapter 490: Just Scraps
Nina Jacobs told Silas Crowley and the others to wait here while she walked out of the Diamond Sand Cover.
’Tristan Lynch should still be in the house.’
But the moment she pushed the door open and stepped inside, she froze.
Corisande and Tristan Lynch were covered in blood.
Corisande lay on the ground, hovering between life and death.
On the floor nearby was a pile of furniture, dismantled appliances, and other supplies, all looking strangely out of place.
Tristan Lynch’s legs dangled limply. When he saw Nina Jacobs, he couldn’t help but burst into tears.
"They killed Lachlan and Shane Shepherd!
They killed Lachlan and Shane Shepherd!
Damn it... They..."
Hearing what Tristan Lynch said, Nina Jacobs ran to the backyard and, just as he’d said, saw the bodies of Lachlan and Shane Shepherd on the ground.
They weren’t breathing anymore.
"What about Damian?"
Nina Jacobs asked.
"They forced Damian to take out the supplies from his space..."
Tristan Lynch said through his tears.
After Damian took out a pile of useless junk, he was dragged into another room. Tristan had no idea if he was dead or alive.
When Nina Jacobs came back out, she was supporting a man who was barely breathing. It was Damian.
’The furniture and appliances on the floor must have come from Damian’s space.’
’Damian and the others had indeed been helping Tomorrow Base gather supplies these past few days.’
At this thought, a complicated mix of emotions welled up inside Nina Jacobs.
Corisande was still breathing, but her face had been slashed into a bloody mess by someone, and she was still unconscious.
"I’ll get someone to save you."
It wouldn’t be right to use a Healing Potion in front of Tristan Lynch. Nina Jacobs had just stood up when he stopped her.
The tendons in Tristan Lynch’s legs had been severed, undoubtedly the handiwork of Dylan Stone and his men.
"Don’t bother. Our mission was a failure,
and we didn’t report it in time. The Conclave won’t let any of us live...
The only reason Dylan Stone kept me alive was to take me back to report on the mission.
Once that’s done, I’ll just become another test subject in their lab. I’d rather die here."
Tristan Lynch said.
"I know you’re not with The Aegis Conclave. Kill me."
It was as if Tristan Lynch had become a different person. His tone was unprecedentedly calm.
"When?" Nina Jacobs asked. She hadn’t even realized that Tristan Lynch knew she wasn’t part of The Aegis Conclave.
"Back when you killed Achilles Renner."
Tristan Lynch replied.
Achilles Renner said you were too exceptional, that the Conclave would never send someone so talented to a backwater like Keldorn.
Although it was just a ploy by Achilles Renner to stall for time, Tristan had thought about it a lot later and decided he was right.
Just like him, Corisande, and the others—they were just expendable members of the Conclave, given the worst resources and the most remote assignments.
Why would an Intermediate Superpower User with a Fire and Earth Dual System like Nina Jacobs be assigned to work with them?
"So you knew back then but just pretended you didn’t."
Nina Jacobs was silent for a moment. Just now, Peter Whitman had said that Tristan Lynch, Corisande, and their group hadn’t revealed anything.
That was why they had been brutally tortured by Dylan Stone.
"Why didn’t you tell Dylan Stone and his men about me?"
Nina Jacobs asked.
Tristan Lynch gave a bitter smile and pulled a blood-drenched Wind Vortex Dart from behind his back. It was the weapon Nina Jacobs had given him for self-defense.
"Because this Wind Vortex Dart... it works like a charm."
Only Nina Jacobs ever told them to protect themselves.
Even when they slacked off and goofed around, she had never been harsh with them.
"Besides, you came to save us, didn’t you?"
Tristan Lynch choked up.
In the past, he, Lachlan, and the others had always envied the people who followed Nina Jacobs.
It had nothing to do with power or rewards; they were simply envious of those she considered friends.
The moment he saw Dylan Stone kill Shane Shepherd and Lachlan without a shred of hesitation, he knew he could never betray Nina Jacobs.
Because men like that didn’t deserve it.
"..."
Looking at Tristan Lynch, Nina Jacobs would be lying if she said she wasn’t shaken.
She had always thought Tristan Lynch and his group were nothing more than opportunists who went wherever the wind blew.
"I came too late.
From this day forward, I’ll make sure they can never find you again."
Nina Jacobs declared.
She would kill those she wanted dead.
And she could protect those she wanted to keep safe.
Peter Whitman never in his wildest dreams imagined he would get out of this alive.
When he woke up again, it was the next morning.
He only remembered those people taking Veronica Ziegler and the others from the house, and then someone knocking him out with a single chop to the neck.
He found himself lying on a wooden plank bed inside the house.
The courtyard was filled with nothing but a patch of scorched black ash, as if Dylan Stone and his men had never been there at all...
’Summer Warner...?
So terrifying. But she’s a hundred times better than the Ziegler Family. At least she spared my life.
...I’d better get out of Keldorn as fast as I can.’
Peter Whitman scrambled into the house, wolfed down some leftovers he found, then opened the door and headed for the Lornwood Base exit...
「Inside Tomorrow Base.」
There were three new patients in the base hospital.
The moment Corisande opened her eyes, she began to curse furiously. After a while, her curses turned to sobs.
"Shane Shepherd used to say we five buffoons should just stay here and muddle through. It’s not like we’d gain anything by going back to the Conclave.
I never thought the two of them would be gone so soon..."
Corisande held back her tears. Her face was wrapped in gauze, her wounds still fresh.
"From now on, we take new names.
It’s the only way to survive. Nina Jacobs is already risking the Conclave’s wrath by taking us in."
Tristan Lynch said, his eyes also red-rimmed.
"I know. You don’t have to tell me.
She actually came to save us... In this whole world, she’s the only one who would..."
Aside from Lachlan and Shane Shepherd, who were killed on the spot by Dylan Stone, she and Damian had only just learned from Tristan Lynch that Nina Jacobs wasn’t from the Conclave.
"Zephyra" was just a fake codename.
Along with Tristan Lynch, they had chosen to keep silent about it.
It now seemed that their choice had been the right one.
"To be honest, whether we had spoken up or not, it wouldn’t have made much difference to her,"
Tristan Lynch said with a bitter smile.
Because Dylan Stone and his men had already been silenced.
He had also been making a gamble—betting that all Nina Jacobs wanted was to see where their loyalties lay.
Meanwhile, Nina Jacobs was walking through Tomorrow Base with Felix Finch and others.
Everywhere in the base, things were thriving.
Water Element Superpower Users could choose to take up a post within the base or go out freely to kill zombies, exchanging Crystal Cores for supplies to get by.
Many people greeted the pair warmly, their faces filled with hope.
"That Evander Langdon fellow chose to form his own squad. He’s out killing zombies every day,"
Felix Finch said.
He had invited Evander Langdon to take up a position within Tomorrow Base, but he refused.
He said he wants to live freely from now on and also wants to atone for his sins.
"Mm, that’s good."
Nina Jacobs smiled.
After she had Evander Langdon drink the Healing Potion, she had indeed triggered the "Selfless Savior" title. Judging by the numbers, his survival would lead to others being saved as well.
Just then, Cordelia came running over in a flurry, her face a mixture of panic and pleasant surprise.
"That... that Veronica Ziegler! She has tons and tons of Crystal Cores!"
Cordelia said in a hushed, excited voice.
Veronica Ziegler was a Space Superpower User, and the reason Nina Jacobs had kept her alive was to get the supplies from her dimensional space.
She had originally wanted to see if there were any treasures from the Mystic Sect, but she never expected it to be Crystal Cores.