CHAPTER 71: CHAPTER 71: CONFRONTATION

Jake was silent as people continued to hurl unpleasant words at him.

"Quiet. We need to hear his explanation." Darren thundered, narrowing his eyes at the noisy people. They all immediately shut their mouths, as quiet as a mouse.

It was Jake who proposed that they bring along people who were willing to relocate to the base, so it was natural that they demanded an explanation from him.

Jake exhaled, watching the people in front of him with trepidation. After a while, he let out a defeated sigh, his lips trembling. "I-I actually noticed some signs, but I didn’t expect such a thing to happen."

His eyes flickered, then his hand clutched his stomach uncomfortably as he thought of something. His face paled even further, and he went to the bushes to puke out all the contents of his stomach.

When he came back, Jake still appeared dazed. A disturbed look painted his face.

Others who saw it exchanged glances, their suspicion lessened by a notch.

He held his hands up in surrender. "Some people here might be unaware of what they actually ate."

His eyes lost focus again as he muttered, "No wonder... it’s no wonder people kept missing..." he trailed off, his murmur like a lost soul.

"As you can see, Scott possesses a barn, and he has some farm animals. We simply thought that all the meat came from his farm animals, but..." Jake once again exhaled, and he couldn’t say the next sentence.

"There are still some good people in this place." His eyes flashed as if recalling some memories. He finally lifted his eyes to look at Darren and Henry. "Please, Mr. Valez, Mr. Brown. Give us a chance."

He clasped his hands together, his face hopeful.

The eyes of the people in front of him softened slightly after they heard his words.

"We can discuss it..." It was Henry who spoke first, wanting to make a good impression. "You are right. The good people here shouldn’t be implicated because a few others committed evil deeds."

Thus, the few people plunged into a discussion among themselves. All of this had nothing to do with Zerra, who had fallen asleep because of exhaustion.

She had to endure the excruciating pain for a few days as a backlash of forcefully turning into a fox. She had guessed the reason she couldn’t change her form at will.

The human form had more than eighty percent human characteristics, while the fox form resembled a zombie more. So, they conflicted with each other. But she might have to figure out how to shift between the two forms without overdrawing her spiritual energy soon.

"How should we deal with that man-eating monster in human form?" Someone asked in indignation, referring to Scott.

Upon hearing that, they turned to Cassias.

The sound of Scott’s screams had died down some time ago. The voice, which was filled with infinite pain and fear, made their scalps numb. Yet, none dared to propose them to check the barn.

Until a brave soul brought it up.

Cassias raised his eyebrows. He said in an expressionless tone, "He was in the barn for so long with a zombie. You know what would happen to him, right?"

Scott was a fire ability user, possessing power at level three. He could have easily solved a zombie level two, but a moment of soft-heartedness had cost him his life.

He still regarded the zombie as his mother, holding on to a fantasy that she could be cured. By the time he realized what kind of inhuman creature he was facing, it was too late. He was bitten.

Even so, the man most likely hadn’t come to reality even after he was bitten, which gave the opening for the zombie to continue tearing his flesh.

When Zerra’s eyes fluttered open again, she was in a car.

Embarrassingly, her stomach growled. She surreptitiously glanced around, heaving a sigh of relief when she found no one was around.

"Are you hungry?"

She nearly jumped when Nyra opened the car door, bringing a bowl of porridge.

"Laziel said that you can’t eat heavy food yet, so I made porridge. Here, eat it." Without waiting for Zerra to respond, she shoved the food onto her lap. Then, she closed the door and left.

Zerra gazed at the porridge on her lap and sniffed it. With much difficulty, she began to eat it, albeit the excruciating pain on her hand. Even swallowing felt difficult.

The sky had turned dark, but there were shadows of people outside.

"Zerra?" Someone called out to her as they opened the car door. She hadn’t finished her porridge yet.

She closed her eyes. Her eyelashes were slightly wet because of the psychological tears from enduring the pain.

It was Darren.

She shifted her eyes to look at him, waiting for him to speak.

"We will depart as soon as possible." Darren began, "but we lack space for people to join in, so we planned to move some items around. Can you help store them?"

Zerra let out a sigh. How can she tell him that she had overdrawn her power and currently could not access her inner space?

Before she could answer, they heard footsteps. Soon, the figure revealed himself to be Cassias.

"What’s the matter, Darren?" His voice was nonchalant.

Darren repeated what he had said to Zerra. Cassias’ gaze swept over her for a split second.

"She can’t," he answered on her behalf.

"Zerra hadn’t said anything yet." Darren frowned and argued, narrowing his eyes. He turned to her. "Can you do it?"

"No." She forced out a word. Her throat was still a little sore. She didn’t want to speak, because speaking was also painful, especially after she ate the porridge.

Darren pursed his lips, then sighed. "Fine."

With that, he walked away, leaving her bewildered and stunned. What was with this guy?

"Don’t take it to heart." Cassias muttered softly. He entered the car and took the bowl from her lap. His eyes flickered when he glanced at Darren’s receding figure.

Of course, she wouldn’t.

"I am full," she told him, no longer wanting to eat.

An awkward silence hung in the air. Cassias exited the car and went back after a few minutes. Her throat had gotten better.

It was a rare chance for them to be alone. Judging from Darren’s words, they had decided to bring the people here to the base. Some people might join this car soon.

She decided to ask something that had been bothering her mind, "Your space can hold living things?"

Before Scott returned for the second time, Cassias had swept the farm animals into his space. She stared at him with scorching eyes.

She wanted to know what this liar would say!