Chapter 581: Aurelius Marshall’s Information
Chapter 581: Chapter 581: Aurelius Marshall’s Information
Seeing the other party agree so readily, Nina Jacobs suddenly felt she had asked for too little. Fortunately, Kael Dolan handed it over without much fuss.
"A Three-Element Intermediate Superpower User..." Wyatt Vance remarked as he watched Chester Pearson and his group walk away. Today had truly been an eye-opener for them, having finally seen a Three-Element Superpower User in the flesh.
"Is she really just an Intermediate?" Percival Miller muttered. Even among other Intermediates they had encountered, the gap in power between them and her was astronomical.
"I heard that the Intermediate stage is further divided into early, middle, and late phases. There’s a gap between each phase. Maybe she’s in the middle phase... or even the late phase?" Wyatt Vance had only heard rumors about this. Since none of them were Intermediate Superpower Users yet, they hadn’t looked into the specifics.
"Our base really took a massive loss this time. We lost money and face." Percival Miller didn’t sympathize with Kael Dolan in the slightest. From the very beginning, he had been against forcibly bringing those outsiders to the base. Or rather, he had always opposed the idea of poaching people from other bases.
"He won’t let this go easily," Wyatt Vance noted.
By evening, Chester Pearson and his group had returned to the base.
Excited smiles still lingered on the faces of everyone in the rescue team.
"Three elements?!" Myra Lawson’s eyes widened as she shot to her feet. When did Nina Jacobs awaken a Wind Element Superpower?!
"Are you saying she also taught Kael Dolan a lesson? And she has the Military Hub Pass?" Justin Lawson asked, walking over briskly. The Military Hub Pass—Kael Dolan likely had no idea what that even was.
"I can’t believe he would give her something so important." The "he" Myra Lawson referred to was Adrian Paige. Others might not know what the Military Hub Pass represented, but the three of them did.
"Yeah, it seems the higher-ups really value Adrian Paige." To think that Nina Jacobs was actually a Three-Element Superpower User. Could it be that Adrian Paige knew this as well, which was why... Justin Lawson realized something, his expression turning pensive.
"Back at the city gates, Nina Jacobs mentioned that he had already figured it out," Chester Pearson replied. He had gotten Nina’s permission before sharing all of this with the siblings. Right now, she was likely busy entertaining her guests and didn’t have the time to report the incident herself.
"That makes sense. If it’s him, he definitely would have noticed," Myra Lawson said. After all, Adrian Paige was also an outstanding Wind Element Superpower User.
"Nina also said that Falken Base probably won’t just let this go. She wants us to be on high alert for the time being," Chester Pearson added.
"She really did a beautiful job this time. Even if Kael Dolan wants to plot something, he’ll have to weigh the consequences first." Just listening to Chester’s description made Myra feel incredibly vindicated. Not to mention, Nina had publicly earned 100,000 Crystal Cores for their base, which was essentially rubbing Kael’s face in the dirt.
Taking over Falken Base directly... sounded pretty good, didn’t it?
Meanwhile, Harlan and his group had been settled into the vacant Building 73.
Nina Jacobs was listening to Hartley recount their journey. Originally, Hartley hadn’t been on the travel roster, but Felix Finch felt that having someone as meticulous as him acting as captain would be much more reassuring. And indeed, that proved to be true.
As a Spiritual Element Superpower User, combined with Evander Langdon who shared the same ability, Hartley had helped the group avoid numerous dangers along the way. He was also the first to notice that something was off about those people. Unfortunately, they still couldn’t escape being surrounded by over a hundred people the very next morning.
"Are you saying Aurelius Marshall is now the Base Commander of Riventon Base?" Nina Jacobs was quite surprised to hear this. Back when she, Wayne Warner, and Nia visited Riventon Base, Aurelius had merely been a lieutenant there.
"Yes. After reading the letter of recommendation, he asked us to bring a letter back to you." Hartley pulled out an unopened envelope.
After Nina Jacobs finished reading the letter, several of her previous doubts were instantly cleared up. It turned out that following Justin Stone’s disappearance, Riventon Base had been left without a Base Commander. Since Aurelius Marshall had been a local military officer before the apocalypse and was highly familiar with the base’s operations, the command center had elected him as the new Base Commander.
The letter also mentioned Justin Stone’s female secretary, Chloe Ainsworth. Reportedly, her death had drawn a lot of investigation, with the most relentless pursuers being the Ainsworth Family. Aurelius Marshall suspected that these people possessed some sort of supernatural ability, as they had managed to deduce—using merely a Talisman Paper—that Chloe’s killer was hiding in City D Base.
Although he didn’t know how Chloe had died, he had heard that Nina was at City D Base, which was why he brought it up in the letter.
"Supernatural abilities... the Ainsworth Family... Chloe Ainsworth," Nina Jacobs muttered to herself. The book on Drakonia Ancient Martial Families had indeed mentioned the Ainsworth clan. It seemed Chloe was a member of this family. But what exactly was their supernatural ability?
The intel Aurelius Marshall provided was highly useful to her. Chloe Ainsworth had indeed died by her hand. At the time, Chloe had already harbored murderous intent toward her. Moreover, if Nina hadn’t struck first, Justin Stone would have died at Chloe’s hands, which would have meant all the supplies in Justin’s spatial storage would have gone to waste. Additionally, she could tell from the letter that the command center officials present that day hadn’t leaked her identity.
She recalled the words of the man named Zoey Rhodes after she had killed Chloe Ainsworth. He had said, "If you kill her, you won’t live either." At the time, she hadn’t understood what he meant, but in hindsight, Zoey must have known Chloe’s true identity. And he was certain that the Ainsworth Family would track her down.
"So... the people here still don’t know that you single-handedly founded Tomorrow Base?" Harlan’s voice interrupted Nina’s thoughts.
"Right, they don’t know," Nina Jacobs replied. She had never intended to broadcast that fact anyway.
"Tomorrow Base’s Base Commander is Felix Finch, and that won’t change," Nina added. It was fine for Felix to stand in the spotlight while she operated from the shadows. She had already experienced the allure of absolute base authority in her past life.
"Understood. None of us will blab about it," Mirelle Keller said with a smile. "But I really didn’t expect you to become this powerful."
No wonder Nina didn’t care about the Base Commander position. With strength like hers, she would be highly sought after no matter where she went.
"You guys aren’t too shabby yourselves. Reginald even leveled up on the way here." On the journey back, Nina had already checked everyone’s Superpower Value, as well as their Friendship levels. From his Superpower Value, she could tell that the Thunder Element user, Redmayne Spencer, was also on the verge of leveling up.
"Then what about the matter with Oakhaven Base... and Lornwood Base? When are we setting off for City A?" Hartley asked.
"Soon. For now, you all need to rest here for a few days." Nina could see that the group had suffered varying degrees of frostbite from their arduous journey. Their energy had also been pushed to the absolute limit.
Along the way, they had lost two people: a Fire Element Superpower User and a Strength Element Superpower User. This outcome was much better than she had anticipated. Now, it was time to let everyone get a proper rest.
"Did Claire Warner come here too?" Harlan still wanted to buy some things from Claire, and he was curious about her current whereabouts. He guessed that she had probably braved a helicopter ride to Keldorn earlier.
"Yes, but she has her own matters to attend to and isn’t in City D right now. Furthermore, her whereabouts can’t be disclosed casually," Nina said.
"Okay, I understand. But today... you only used your Wind Element Superpower because of us, right?" Harlan was deeply moved. As expected, no matter where they were, Nina Jacobs would always be their greatest pillar of support.