CHAPTER 74: CHAPTER 74: CONFLICT ON THE RETURN TRIP

Henry still ended up working things to his favor. He now wore a triumphant and proud smile, unlike his previous brooding face when he received news about his people’s deaths.

Those people flocked to him, who was more proactive in offering to bring them to a safe place. Darren was practically ignored; the main reason was his stony face, which hid his anger.

Darren was impassive as he saw those people getting into the vehicles. Henry had settled the dispute; he would bring one third of them to the base first, then come back to fetch the rest.

After he suffered a lot, he was now better at manipulating people’s hearts.

"Only one of you has committed such an inhuman act, but it shouldn’t have implicated the rest. The evil man had been punished and met his demise..." He had said such words.

Even when his major targets were the ability users in this rural residential area, he was more patient to build his saintly image. The ordinary people would go first.

Most ability users had family members who were ordinary people. They were more worried if this group from the Moon Cloud city base wouldn’t accept those people, so they were even more relieved when they heard Henry’s words.

At least, the ability users had power to protect themselves. It was not a big deal to stay there for a while.

"Zerra, sorry about last night." Darren had come to her to apologize. His face filled with shame. "I didn’t know that you currently couldn’t use your space because of the injury and acted like that..."

Anyway, since he and Henry had conflicting views, he didn’t need to empty the supplies in the truck. He had left it to Henry to handle everything.

Darren had made his stance clear. He wasn’t in favor of just bringing anyone who could potentially bring harm to the people at the base.

The base had established its own rules now; people with criminal records weren’t accepted. But it was also difficult to check such a thing during the apocalypse. They could enforce the rules based on the individual’s reputation.

While Darren’s people took this rule seriously, Henry followed it on the surface to maintain his image. Unless someone’s criminal acts were exposed openly to the public, he wouldn’t abandon a valuable subordinate.

"It’s fine." Zerra was smiling, but her eyes held indifference. "You didn’t know."

After everything was settled, they set off.

The journey was a bit more difficult this time since they found out that the road had become more perilous. Mutated animals poured onto the road, occasionally blocking the team fearlessly.

Now, most of the zombies slowly progressed to level two. They were quicker, no longer dragging their bodies as they walked.

Although they were still no match for a normal human’s speed, their inability to feel pain made up for it. It was worse when they had to face massive numbers at once. After all, they also brought ordinary people along.

Slowly, the casualties began to rise among the ordinary people.

"Stay inside. Don’t ever go out alone." Henry’s triumphant expression had faded a lot, replaced by occasional frowns.

They were only halfway through the return trip.

"The zombies seem to have improved in power," Henry told them. It was something beyond their control, a variable in the plan. They hadn’t expected that a few days of fog would make the zombies stronger.

Some people were dissatisfied, but they kept silent. They didn’t want to be abandoned in the middle of nowhere. There were even some faint regrets in their hearts at the moment.

They didn’t expect that the world had become so dangerous. But they were also stuck. If they stayed in that residential area, they would run out of supplies soon.

In the end, it was a battle for survival.

Zerra scrutinized the situation with calm eyes. She was the only one in the car. Her elder siblings and Cassias were outside, killing some zombies.

A tree had fallen and blocked the road, but there were also zombies nearby. In order to clean the fallen tree, they simultaneously needed to deal with the zombies.

They went back to the car after they finished. Their task was to kill the zombies while others worked on clearing the road.

By the time they arrived at the Moon Cloud city base, it was the third day of the journey.

Zerra gained back her mobility. The pain had completely dissipated thanks to Cassias’ spring water. Thankfully, she hadn’t turned into a fox during the journey.

As she fell onto the familiar bed, she instantly drifted off to sleep again. People were still busy unloading the goods from the trucks at this time.

An hour later, she exited the room to find Darren.

"Where should I put the supplies?" She asked him.

"Oh, Zerra?" He was a little awkward when he faced her after the incident a few days before. "Follow me."

She let Darren lead her to the warehouse that had been prepared specifically for the supplies. With a single thought, she released all the supplies into the room, neatly packed.

Releasing supplies was easier than putting them in her space. They were inside her mind, and she didn’t need to touch them. After she was done, she excused herself.

She caught Darren looking at her before falling into a daze.

On the way back, she couldn’t help but ponder the plot. Nothing too significant happened during the first excursion that could cause misunderstanding in Cassias and Nyra’s non-existent relationship.

As cannon fodder, her original setting would be a sticky gum toward Cassias even if they had broken off their engagement. That was when the relationship between the male lead and the female lead began.

For the next few days, her life went quite smoothly. Henry brought his people to fetch the remaining survivors. This time, he brought more ability users with him.

It was unknown how his journey would go. Even if he didn’t want to go, he had to. Since the food was already in his mouth, it was too late to turn back.

She also heard that Eryx and his sister had recovered after a period of intensive treatment. Scott had starved them, keeping them weak. The five people survived, but the one with missing hands turned into a zombie in the end.

She decided to visit Eryx and Doctor Ashborn.

Doctor Ashborn was visibly surprised when she saw her. Her cheeks were a little sunken, but the rosy color had returned. Unlike the previous half-death state.

She also took the initiative to tell her the reason she and Eryx got captured.

Zerra glanced at the thin man on the bed beside Doctor Ashborn.

"You have a family in the neighbouring city?" She turned back to Doctor Ashborn and asked in surprise. They just came from neighboring city instead of already arriving in the Capital like the plot in the book. But this was normal.

"Yes. That demon was offering us to stay at his place after we got a flat tire. We just didn’t expect that he had such evil intentions." Doctor Ashborn tried to maintain a composure, but fear still crept into her voice.

After Doctor Ashborn finished her words, a familiar person burst into the room. It was Laziel.

He looked so surprised when he spotted her there. He couldn’t help but inquired. "What are you doing here, Zee? Do you know Eryx?"