Chapter 42: Not an Illusion

That day, Daniel Hale decided to stay home and protect Vera Coleman.

After hearing Nina Jacobs’s plan, Leo Hale and the other two decided to join her in clearing out the zombies from the neighboring houses.

Most of the houses in the nearby alleys had old-fashioned iron gates.

With Leo Hale around, they could open the gates without making a sound.

After entering the neighboring yard, Leo Hale remembered to use his Superpower to close the main gate behind them.

It would be a disaster if they were cornered by the zombies outside the gate.

"Doesn’t seem like anyone’s home?"

Chelsea Walsh whispered.

"There’s always someone home, and an elderly woman lives here."

Nina Jacobs had seen most of the neighbors around.

But only enough to exchange the occasional greeting.

She used her Five Senses Enhancement to listen carefully and could tell there were at least two zombies inside the house.

But when they cautiously entered the house, they were instantly stunned by the scene before them.

"GROAN... GROAN... GROAN..."

Granny Stone, whom Nina Jacobs recognized, had already turned. She stretched her arms out, trying to grab them, but her feet were tied to a table leg.

On the floor lay two more zombies, a man and a woman, their limbs similarly bound.

Having caught the scent of the living, they were desperately trying to crawl forward.

"What’s going on?"

Ian Chandler wondered what had happened here.

"They tied themselves up."

Nina Jacobs spotted a note on the table, spattered with black blood.

The note indicated the location of the family’s remaining supplies.

There was also a photo of a young man.

"Are you saying they knew they were going to turn, so they tied themselves up beforehand?"

Leo Hale finally realized.

Nina Jacobs nodded. "That’s right. To keep themselves from hurting other people. People like us."

’Granny Stone and her family were always such kind people.’

Chelsea Walsh’s eyes welled up with tears as she read the note.

"I get it now," she said. "My grandpa used to say that truly kind people are the ones who never cause trouble for anyone else."

Ian Chandler crouched in front of the two zombies, watching them up close.

He suddenly felt that zombies weren’t so terrifying after all.

’At least, these two in front of him weren’t.’

Nina Jacobs nodded and tucked the photograph into her pocket.

The photograph was of Granny Stone’s grandson, the son of the middle-aged couple. Nina remembered that he was away at college.

After they killed the three zombies, Ian Chandler used his Space Superpower to arrange their bodies together.

He could now use his Space Superpower to control objects, and that included corpses.

To prevent the small amount of supplies mentioned in the note from expiring or going to waste, Nina Jacobs had Ian Chandler store them away as well.

When the group stepped back outside, they found they had attracted a few zombies, no matter how quiet they had been.

"Didn’t we just clear this area yesterday afternoon?

Their sense of smell is way too good."

Leo Hale said.

Not only that, but he also noticed that today’s zombies were tougher to deal with.

"They’re getting faster. Everyone, be careful,"

Nina Jacobs warned.

Some of the zombies that had previously been shambling along were now starting to run.

"She’s right."

A chill went down Chelsea Walsh’s spine.

They had never considered the possibility that the zombies would grow more ferocious.

"We evolve, and so do the zombies.

Plus, zombies aren’t afraid of infection. Doesn’t that make them seem better suited to be the masters of this planet?"

Ian Chandler watched several zombies in the distance whose pace had clearly quickened. ’Can humanity really defeat a new species like this?’ he wondered.

The answer to his question was the swift, precise, and ruthless swing of Nina Jacobs’s cleaver.

Zombies like these were nothing to Nina Jacobs.

A smile touched the corners of Ian Chandler’s lips. "Looks like I was wrong."

Nina Jacobs had fallen into the habit of using her cleaver on these ordinary zombies.

Although her Speed Element Superpower was still only at the Basic Level, she was much faster than an ordinary person.

The only difference from her past life was that after she finished off the zombies, the other three were looking at her with pure admiration.

"..."

She still wasn’t quite used to their stares.

"That was awesome!"

Chelsea Walsh, who had felt a pang of despair just moments before, was now fired up.

She raised her cleaver and charged straight into the next house.

But less than two seconds later, she came running back out in a panic.

"It’s terrifying! The living room in there is packed with zombies!"

Behind the living room’s sliding glass doors, zombies were fighting to be the first to pound on the glass, which was already stained crimson.

"Who told you to charge in first? It’s a good thing they’re trapped in there."

Leo Hale was speechless. He’d only just used his Superpower to open the gate when Chelsea Walsh had rushed in.

’So much for looking cool for more than two seconds.’

The words had barely left Leo Hale’s mouth when, with a heavy THUD, a zombie dropped from the second floor.

Or more accurately, it jumped.

"There are more upstairs?"

"And not just one."

Nina Jacobs left the lone zombie in the yard to the other three and watched from the side.

"Don’t kill me...

Why? I’m the one who saved you."

Just then, an unfamiliar voice came from nearby. It sounded like a woman begging for her life.

"Heh, I’m not killing you.

I’m just sending you to be reunited with your family..."

Another female voice replied, and Nina Jacobs froze for a moment.

’Why does that voice sound so familiar?’

"Nina, watch out!"

A hand pulled Nina Jacobs back, and she snapped out of her daze.

It turned out that all the zombies from the second floor had jumped down.

Two of them had broken their legs but still rose to their feet in grotesquely twisted positions.

"Thanks."

Nina Jacobs joined the fight.

The group’s arrival made the zombies trapped inside even more agitated. With a loud SHATTER, a zombie was the first to crawl out through the broken glass door.

Before it could stand up, a Fireball landed on its head. Within seconds, the zombie collapsed and stopped moving.

"How are there so many of them in this one house? It’s endless."

The webbing of Leo Hale’s right hand ached from the impact of his axe. The zombies that fell from the second floor alone were more than they could handle.

"This must be a guesthouse. Many of them were probably renters."

Nina Jacobs remembered that a few places in the alleys near the old houses had been converted into guesthouses, but she wasn’t sure which one this was.

Meanwhile, Nina Jacobs had the strange feeling that a pair of eyes had been watching her for some time now.

’Is it another survivor?’

She wasn’t sure, so she held back a little, doing her best to coordinate with the others.

"How awful. Not a single person here made it out alive."

More than an hour later, the group had finally wiped out all the zombies from behind the glass doors.

The scene inside was even more gruesome, with blood and chunks of flesh everywhere.

It was clear that many of the victims had struggled desperately before they died.

But without exception, all of them had turned into zombies.

"That’s enough for today. Let’s head back for now."

Nina Jacobs could tell the other three were exhausted. Leo Hale, in particular, looked completely drained, which was likely a sign of his Superpower being depleted.

As she was closing the gate, Nina Jacobs glanced in a certain direction.

Thanks to her Five Senses Enhancement, she quickly locked onto one particular window.

Behind the thick curtains, there seemed to be a fleeting silhouette.

’Was it just my imagination?’

Still, Nina Jacobs memorized its location.