Chapter 598: Chester Pearson’s Request
Chapter 598: Chapter 598: Chester Pearson’s Request
"Aren’t you afraid that too many of them will show up and you won’t be able to handle it?" Kevin Nash asked.
"Don’t worry, I have my ways." A confident smile appeared on the man’s face.
"What ways? Do you need my men to help?" Kevin Nash opened a can of eight-treasure porridge, tilted his head back, and poured more than half of it into his mouth.
The man pretended not to see this and said, "Forget about your men. Sending them out would just be sending them to their deaths. It’s funny that they still think they’re executing some special mission, hahaha..."
"Then what are you going to do?" Kevin Nash asked while chewing.
"The more people there are, the easier it is for chaos to erupt. That road alone will be enough to give them a world of trouble. If they lose a few people at every stop, I won’t care how many of them there are. By the time they reach us, they’ll probably be nothing more than beaten dogs. This is going to be so much fun!" The man clapped his hands as he spoke, his face filled with excitement as he lost himself in his fantasies.
"I have no objections to that. In short, I only have one demand: the reinforcements from City D must never arrive," Kevin Nash said, standing up. "If things fail when the time comes, I’ll deal with them my own way. You just need to follow my arrangements."
"I know, I know. Did you forget how capable those helpers I raised are? Failure is impossible," the man replied impatiently, waving his hand.
That evening, in an abandoned housing development outside City D.
The group of over five hundred people had found a place to settle down for the night. They were in the sales center at the base of the abandoned buildings. The interior was relatively clean. Since the development was only half-finished and surrounded by a desolate wasteland, Adrian Paige judged that this was likely the safest spot in the vicinity.
When a sand shield enveloped the entire sales center, a collective sigh of relief washed over everyone’s faces. It was Nina Jacobs’s Earth Element Sand Shield.
"Is this... an Earth Element defense?" Aaron Lynch’s eyes widened in shock. He had never seen a defensive shield with such a massive range.
"But keeping it up means constantly draining Superpowers. Is that really okay?" Sylvia Shawn asked, seemingly a bit worried. They were going to rest here for the entire night, which meant they would have to rely solely on Nina Jacobs’s Earth Element Superpower to maintain the shield the whole time.
"It’s fine," Nina Jacobs simply replied. This little bit of Superpower consumption was nothing to her.
Adrian Paige knew how formidable this sand shield was, but he still arranged for a night watch. If any sudden emergencies arose, they would be able to respond immediately. Taking advantage of everyone being gathered together, he also wanted them to understand the situation in South Riven.
When speaking of South Riven, Ivan Young’s tone grew heavy. "Recently, the number of zombies in South Riven has been unusually high.
"There is a road you must pass through to get from here to South Riven. For the past six months, the zombie horde on that road has been endless. When we set out, we had over a hundred people, but we lost nearly half of them just traversing that route."
The men they brought were considered elites within the base, yet in the face of such a massive zombie horde, their skills were ultimately futile.
At the mention of that road, Spiritual Element Superpower User Aaron Lynch’s face grew a few shades paler. "That road is terrifying. Even though we knew there were countless zombies gathering there, we still had to push forward..." He truly dreaded ever taking that road again.
"Over a month ago, many of the quarantine zones in South Riven gradually collapsed. Large numbers of mutated animals and zombies broke out from those zones. General Nash, the most powerful figure in our base, once led a force of over a thousand troops to exterminate them, but no one survived.
"A Four-element Zombie even appeared. I’m afraid General Nash and his men are already... sigh!" Ivan Young said.
"Didn’t anyone send a search party?" Hartley couldn’t help but ask. A force of over a thousand troops wiped out without a single survivor—this was somewhat unimaginable.
"We looked, but we found nothing," Jude Stone answered with a frown. "South Riven is located in a geologically fragile area. During our search, we discovered many sinkholes and collapsed terrain. Therefore, many suspect that Kevin Nash and his men might have been buried underneath..."
"Where exactly is this road?" Nina Jacobs asked, pulling out a map. A dangerous, unavoidable road? She definitely needed to study it carefully.
Aaron Lynch immediately took the map and marked the location. After retrieving it, Nina Jacobs sat to the side and scrutinized it closely.
"Do you think there’s a problem?" Seeing Nina Jacobs’s unreadable expression, Adrian Paige couldn’t help but sit down next to her and ask.
"Yeah, I just find it strange. If it’s a natural zombie horde blocking the way, the zombies would normally wander off in all directions. They wouldn’t obediently stand guard on a single road," Nina Jacobs said, pointing at the map. The marked route was quite long—a pre-apocalyptic highway with relatively empty surroundings on both sides. Yet, Aaron Lynch and the others claimed that for the past six months, the zombies on this road had been endless.
"True. Perhaps there’s something on this road attracting them?" Adrian Paige had originally found it odd as well. Zombies were transient creatures by nature; unless they were confined, they rarely gathered on a road with little foot traffic.
"We’ll arrive there tomorrow afternoon. Once we do, I suggest we investigate the area first before proceeding," Nina Jacobs said.
Yesterday, before they departed, Chester Pearson had specially sought her out. He asked for nothing more than for her to minimize the casualty rate of the reinforcement team.
"They all volunteered to support South Riven. Every single one of them is a good soldier," Chester Pearson had said, before handing her all the Crystal Cores he had saved up thus far.
However, Nina Jacobs hadn’t accepted his Crystal Cores this time. For matters she couldn’t guarantee, she wouldn’t casually accept payment. Besides, protecting them was what she was supposed to do on this trip anyway.
"Alright, we’ll listen to you," Adrian Paige said, noticing that Nina Jacobs seemed lost in thought. He had placed his complete trust in her abilities.
Throughout their entire day of travel, not a single person had died. Although a few had sustained injuries, none were serious. Naturally, part of this was due to the City D Base diligently clearing the roads, but the main reason was Nina Jacobs. Moreover, the few people traveling alongside her were all forces to be reckoned with.
As night fell, the once desolate and freezing abandoned sales center gradually warmed up.
It turned out that while everyone was talking, Shirley Lucas had taken out various heating devices from her spatial storage. A ring of smokeless heaters was set up along the walls; with the help of a few Gold Element and Earth Element Superpower Users to create ventilation shafts, they functioned perfectly. In the very center sat a large fire-powered heating system. This setup was specifically designed for Fire Element Superpower Users; by simply channeling their Fire Element Superpowers into it, it would release maximum heat...
Dozens of steamers were placed atop the heaters, containing dinner for the over five hundred people.
"Well, how’s my logistics work?" Shirley Lucas said proudly, her hands on her hips.
"Absolutely stellar," Heath Chandler replied, giving her a thumbs-up.
In addition to the food and heat, Shirley Lucas had already laid out folding beds and sleeping bags for everyone. The combat personnel didn’t have to worry about a thing.
Late that night, a large number of zombies unsurprisingly gathered outside the sales center. However, they were completely blocked by the sand shield, allowing the night watchmen to breathe a slight sigh of relief after their initial tension.
"I’ll go report this," Vail said. Mutated Zombies were constantly attacking the sand shield.
But just as he turned around, one of the Mutated Zombies had its head pierced by a sharp spike that suddenly erupted from the outside of the sand shield. The night watchmen stared at this scene in astonishment.
"Can an Intermediate Superpower User really kill zombies just through perception?" Vail muttered. Nina Jacobs wasn’t even present, yet she could accurately kill a Mutated Zombie.