Chapter 128: Eavesdropping

"Tyson Hughes is certainly no slouch," Nina Jacobs said.

"He’s not in charge of everything," Shirley Lucas continued. "Didn’t I tell you before that The Alliance’s influence isn’t limited to just City D? There must be people above Tyson Hughes, and Dylan Quinn’s power is not to be underestimated. Anyway, that’s all the intel I could gather."

Shirley Lucas was worried she could be assigned a mission at any moment.

Then Nina Jacobs would be left here all alone.

She had come to see Nina Jacobs today to share the intelligence she had gathered.

"If I have to leave early, there are a few brothers who’ll be staying behind. I’ve already talked to them. If you need anything, you can go to them for help anytime."

Shirley Lucas’s words moved Nina Jacobs.

"Since you mentioned it, I actually do need a favor," Nina Jacobs said, recalling something.

"One of the Healers here... is my friend. If it’s possible, I’d like to ask your brothers to look out for her a little."

’No need for special treatment.’

’If Melanie Lawson runs into trouble, at least she won’t be completely isolated and helpless.’

’She’s so young, after all.’

"What did you say? You know a Healer here?" Shirley Lucas was taken aback.

"I just happened to run into her. She was made to stay and work here."

Nina Jacobs didn’t plan on telling her the reason Melanie Lawson stayed behind just yet.

After Shirley Lucas left, Nina Jacobs practiced controlling the Little Zombie Rats in her dorm room.

Among the Zombie Rat corpses she had collected near the bridge two days ago, over thirty were usable.

She had already planted seeds in each of them.

But she still needed to slowly nurture the seeds.

She was running out of time.

Even while copying The Alliance’s declaration that afternoon, Nina Jacobs was secretly nurturing the seeds.

"I heard some people from the shelter came over yesterday. This morning, some people were already making a fuss about leaving."

Yvette Lowe and the others had gotten to know each other, so they chatted quietly while they copied.

No one noticed anything strange about Nina Jacobs’s pocket.

Inside was the corpse of a Little Zombie Rat, and a root system was slowly growing within its body.

Nina Jacobs could feel the water in the small puddle inside her slowly evaporating, diminishing...

When the water in the puddle was halfway gone, she switched to using a Superpower Energy Stone to continue the process.

That small puddle was her Superpower. Keeping half of it would allow her to handle emergencies, and she could wait for the used portion of her Superpower to slowly recover.

"Why? Didn’t they say that place, the shelter, isn’t providing food anymore?" the man with the crew cut next to Yvette Lowe asked.

"They have food here, but it’s way more dangerous. You dare refuse a mandatory mission? If you don’t go, you don’t eat when you get back. If you run into a mutated zombie, you’ll be the first one they push out front, unless you’re a Superior Team Member."

Yvette Lowe said, shaking her head.

"Even the Crystal Cores you dig up after a mission have to be handed over completely. And the Quinn Group forbids internal trading of Crystal Cores."

"But the shelter has no such restrictions. Even normal people can go out to find supplies and dig for Crystal Cores. Whatever supplies they find are their own. And they can use the Crystal Cores they find to buy things."

"Besides, the shelter is essentially a government military encampment. Medical treatment for injuries is free. That’s the main point," Yvette Lowe said with envy.

She couldn’t understand why those people would leave a perfectly good shelter to come here.

"They probably saw the flyers," a long-haired girl beside them whispered.

"Those flyers are a scam. Someone even tried to escape by hiding in one of the supply trucks as it was leaving..."

Yvette Lowe was about to say more, but Nina Jacobs, who was behind her, poked her with a pen.

"I think someone’s coming," Nina Jacobs warned.

It wasn’t a matter of thinking—someone was definitely outside.

Yvette Lowe jumped and immediately shut her mouth.

Sure enough, a figure appeared outside the door.

The figure stared at them through the glass window for a good ten minutes before leaving.

"Thanks for saving my life," Yvette Lowe said, incredibly grateful.

The man who had been taken away yesterday still hadn’t reappeared.

No one knew where he had been taken.

She never imagined that the ever-silent Nina Jacobs had just saved her.

"The supply trucks you just mentioned, what are they?" Nina asked.

If Yvette Lowe had been taken away, Nina wouldn’t have been able to ask her about the supply trucks.

"You don’t know? The most common vehicles you see coming and going every day are the supply trucks. With so many supplies, they can’t possibly store them all with a Space Superpower User, right? Besides, they don’t trust Space Superpower Users. Usually, any supplies found outside have to be brought back by truck."

Because of what just happened, Yvette Lowe answered patiently.

"So that’s how it is."

Nina Jacobs was lost in thought.

This matched the information Shirley Lucas had gathered before.

A Space Superpower was convenient in the apocalypse, but no one could guarantee a person’s character.

There were far too many cases of Space Superpower Users running off with all the supplies.

This problem remained unsolved even years later.

Some Space Superpower Users would take all the supplies their team had risked their lives to gather, ultimately causing the team to fall apart.

That’s why many people preferred to store their supplies in a relatively safe place rather than entrusting them to a Space Superpower User.

Besides, this was only the second month of the apocalypse.

No Space Superpower User could hold that many supplies.

Just then, the Little Zombie Rat in her pocket twitched.

Nina Jacobs knew this meant she had successfully completed the nurturing process.

The entire afternoon passed.

In total, she had nurtured four Little Zombie Rats.

Considering the unexpected incident from the previous night, she planned to have the Little Zombie Rats scout the path for her after nightfall.

However, with her current Superpower strength, she could only control two Little Zombie Rats at most at one time.

"...The main family wants you to hurry back to Liam Grant’s side. When are you planning to leave?"

At dusk, Nina Jacobs was standing by her dorm window.

She wanted to use her Five Senses Enhancement to scout for a safe route when she overheard a name that caught her attention.

’Someone here would mention Liam Grant?’

And the voice sounded faintly familiar.

"Let’s wait a bit longer. At least until these next two days have passed."

The voice made Nina Jacobs raise an eyebrow.

’Isn’t that Simon Abbott’s voice?’

"Did he really say I’m going to die? And that I’ll be killed by Dylan Quinn?"

The other voice spoke again, and Nina Jacobs became more certain.

It was Tyson Hughes.

He was talking to Simon Abbott.

"I did hear him say that, but I can’t be sure if it’s true or not."

Simon Abbott’s reply made Nina Jacobs’s eyes widen.

"Right. The acid rain, the zombie virus, the shelter... Liam Grant was right about all of it. It seems his dreams really are precognitive dreams. It’s just..."

"The part I can’t figure out is why he would dream about you. But dreams are usually fragmented. Maybe he just happened to see you once, and that’s why he dreamed about you being killed by Dylan Quinn," Simon Abbott replied.

"You have a point. But I was originally planning to report this matter—that Dylan Quinn wants to kill me—to the main family."

The Thunder Element Superpower in Tyson Hughes’s hand crackled.

Simon Abbott had said Dylan Quinn would kill him, and it would happen within the next two days.

"That’s precisely why I came," Simon Abbott said pointedly. "I thought you were a smart man."

"The root of this matter isn’t whether Dylan Quinn will kill you, but why he wants to kill you."

"Are you saying... someone ordered him to do it? Someone from the main family? But I thought it was Faye Quinn."

Tyson Hughes frowned.