HPDBC Chapter 355: Harmed a Lot of People
Chapter 355: Harmed a Lot of People
On the shelves near the warehouse entrance, there were still fully-packaged boxes of candy, chocolate, and white sugar.
"I almost missed these."
Nina Jacobs’s eyes lit up when she saw them.
These were all high-calorie supplies with long shelf lives.
They were perfectly sealed and clean. Even though it was just a Three Stars Mission, they were definitely worth keeping.
Nina Jacobs swept them all into her system’s storage space.
Just as expected, a new "free shopping" mission, 47, immediately started.
It was another Three Stars Mission within Veridia.
The location was a remote church warehouse.
’A church has a warehouse?’
Nina Jacobs thought that such a place would indeed be easily overlooked.
However, the sky outside was gradually growing dark.
Just as she was preparing to leave with Wayne Warner, she sensed that something was wrong.
The warehouse exit was a large stainless steel door with a rubber seal around its edges.
She clearly remembered using her Gold Element Superpower to lock the bolt when she came in.
But now, the bolt was unlocked from the inside.
Sealing entrances was a habit of hers; she couldn’t have misremembered.
That left only one possibility: something was behind the door.
Wayne Warner looked at her, confused, seemingly wondering why she wasn’t leaving.
When he saw Nina Jacobs make a hand signal, he understood instantly.
The two of them slowly retreated to a safe area.
This warehouse was completely sealed, leaving no gaps for any Little Zombie Rats to squeeze through, so Nina Jacobs decided to use her Gold Element Superpower to open the door from a distance.
SCREEE—
The old metal door made a loud, grating sound as it opened.
The moment the door swung open,
Nina Jacobs saw a slender yet deformed figure standing silently outside.
The zombie had a short torso and long limbs. It was hunched over, looking almost identical to the figure from the security camera footage!
"Be careful. It should be an Intermediate Gold Element."
Nina Jacobs said to Wayne Warner.
Apparently not expecting the people behind the door to be so far away, the zombie’s outstretched arm grabbed at empty air.
Nina Jacobs couldn’t help but feel relieved. If they had pushed the door open directly just moments ago, they would have likely been snatched by this zombie.
BANG!
The metal door was instantly ripped from its hinges and hurled toward the two of them inside the warehouse!
Nina Jacobs had already deployed her Diamond Sand Cover before opening the door. The metal door smashed against the sand shield, then fell to the ground with a tremendous CLANG.
"It really does have a Gold Element Superpower."
Seeing the zombie crawl inside on its long limbs, Nina Jacobs formed a Fireball and viciously hurled it forward!
’It’s trying to corner us!’
Despite its large size, the zombie was incredibly agile. The Fireball shot through the gap between its limbs, and then it swung a palm, slamming it violently against the sand shield!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
After several consecutive attacks, Nina Jacobs decided she wasn’t going to just wait inside the sand shield.
This was definitely an Intermediate Zombie. Although her sand shield didn’t look like it had broken, she could already feel the pressure from the outside.
Nina Jacobs counted down from three. The moment the sand shield was withdrawn, both of them charged forward to attack!
THUD!
Wayne Warner landed a kick square in its abdomen, sending it flying out of the warehouse door!
At the same time, Nina Jacobs’s Fire Serpent, wrapped in Diamond Sand Spikes, shot toward its head!
The Alloyed Zombie, having crashed into a distant wall, immediately deployed a Defense Shield in front of itself.
Although the Diamond Sand Spikes pierced the Defense Shield, the damage was significantly reduced.
"Such fast reactions."
After a fierce struggle, Nina Jacobs noticed that the zombie was actually trying to escape.
"I’ll be taking your Gold Element Crystal Core."
Nina Jacobs quickly formed a Diamond Sand Wall to block its path, then simply trapped it inside a sand shield.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The Alloyed Zombie struggled to break through the sand shield, even conjuring various Gold Element Attacks, but it was all in vain.
"Like a turtle in a jar."
Several Diamond Sand Spikes formed within the Diamond Sand Cover and stabbed in unison at the Alloyed Zombie inside!
[Detected that Host’s action will save 446 human lives in a few days. "Selfless Savior" title triggered. Reward: 446 bottles of "Healing Potion"!]
When the system notification sounded, Nina Jacobs knew the Alloyed Zombie inside the sand shield must be dead.
She dismissed the sand shield, walked over, and dug out a massive Gold Element Crystal Core.
An Intermediate Zombie’s Mutated Crystal Core was extremely valuable at this stage. Nina Jacobs immediately stored it in her inventory, then burned the corpse.
"Looks like it’s harmed a lot of people."
After all that, Nina Jacobs felt a pang of hunger.
Wayne Warner had eaten some snacks earlier while they were collecting supplies from the supermarket, but that was probably barely enough to tide him over.
The two found a clean, empty theater room. After reinforcing the door lock with both Gold and Earth Element Superpowers, Nina Jacobs took out her safe house.
It had the appearance of a two-story villa, a "skin" that Nina Jacobs had never used before.
Although the interior was just a bare shell, once she put out a bed, table, and chairs, it started to look like a proper lounge.
She still had plenty of hot pot sets she’d stockpiled before the apocalypse. Adding in the frozen meat rolls and meatballs she’d collected from the cold storage warehouse in City J, the large rectangular table was soon filled with food.
Nina Jacobs chose a "Yuanyang" hot pot set, and the broth soon began to bubble and boil.
Millet peppers and Sichuan peppercorns danced wildly in the red chili oil, while scallion segments and tomato slices floated in the mild "three-delicacy" broth on the other side. Nina Jacobs could even hear Wayne Warner swallowing his saliva.
While the pot heated up, she had already mixed dipping sauces for both of them.
After putting in a large amount of freshly sliced beef sirloin and lamb rolls, Nina Jacobs had only to say, "Let’s eat," before Wayne Warner was already quickly ladling some into her bowl.
Then he served himself.
"Eat as much as you want today. No one will disturb us here."
The slices of meat, coated in rich sauce, melted in their mouths. The flavor made both of their appetites surge...
By the time Nina Jacobs had finished bathing upstairs in a simple wooden tub, Wayne Warner seemed to still be downstairs, endlessly fishing things out of the hot pot.
Nina Jacobs didn’t rush him. Instead, she took out the diary she had found and continued reading.
The diary recorded nearly the entire history of Lornwood Base, from its beginning to the present day.
It was supposed to be the story of a base’s development, but when viewed through the lens of one individual’s experience, it just seemed absurd and infuriating to her.
The diary’s owner was named Isabella Ramsey.
More than once in her diary, she expressed regret for believing the base’s promises.
It turned out that Isabella Ramsey had two daughters. Their father had turned into a zombie at the beginning of the apocalypse.
At that time, the base had been established by a formal military unit. Although countless people had died in the disaster, the survivors in Lornwood at least had a place to catch their breath.
But later, the leader of this military unit suddenly turned into a zombie. The base couldn’t be left leaderless, so they elected a Dual Element Superpower User named Evander Langdon as the new base commander.
He was chosen not only because he was a Dual Element Superpower User, but also because he had been a deputy to the deceased leader.
Not even half a month later, the base began recruiting Water Element Superpower Users in large numbers under the pretext of unified water resource management.
Isabella Ramsey’s older daughter had awakened a Water Element Superpower, while her younger daughter and she herself were ordinary people with no Superpowers.
Originally thinking it would be a safe job that didn’t require going out to kill zombies, Isabella Ramsey persuaded her older daughter to apply.
The base accepted all Water Element Superpower Users who applied, without exception.
Until one day, all the Water Element Superpower Users were conscripted, and Isabella Ramsey’s older daughter never came back.
The official story was that to ensure their safety, all Water Element Superpower Users were moved into unified dormitories and were not allowed to go out without a valid reason.