Chapter 290: Delivering a Message

Adrian Shaw glanced at the group and said, "Don’t even think about it. No alcohol during the mission."

"Yes!"

Beaumont Wallace and the others immediately stood up straight.

"Once we get to the tribe, we have some aged pear blossom wine waiting. We’ll make sure you warriors get to drink your fill,"

Trevor said.

As night fell, several figures slipped away, hugging the wall behind the bungalows.

’I don’t know if this risk is worth it.

As expected, neither of them listens to a word of advice.’

Adrian Shaw shook his head.

To him, scouting Aethelgard at night was a complete shot in the dark.

"Nina Jacobs doesn’t do things she isn’t sure of, but man, I wish I could’ve gone too..."

Leo Hale looked out the window with envy.

Shirley Lucas, Wayne Warner, and Joanne Page all got to go, but Nina specifically told him he couldn’t.

"Tell me about it..."

Adrian Shaw really wanted to say he wished he could go too.

But he was also worried that Conrad Hawthorne and his people might show up unexpectedly with no one here to handle them.

Meanwhile, Nina Jacobs and the others, riding a small electric scooter that Shirley Lucas had pulled from his spatial storage, reached the fork in the road Holden Shaw had described.

"If we go any further that way, we’ll be at the gates of Aethelgard,

but they’ve really sealed this place up tight,"

Shirley Lucas said.

The fork was completely blocked by an earthen wall and a wall of Gold Spikes. An ordinary person would never be able to get over it.

"If only we could contact the people inside."

Seeing Nina Jacobs remain silent for so long, Joanne Page felt she had been far too naive before.

They probably couldn’t even get through the main gate of Aethelgard.

"Should we just go back?" Shirley Lucas asked.

Although there were no zombies on this road, it was his first time out at night. The absolute silence all around gave him the creeps.

"Get out your drone,"

Nina Jacobs said suddenly.

"A drone? If we fly it in now, won’t it attract zombies?"

Shirley Lucas knew Nina Jacobs wanted to send a message to the people inside.

But they weren’t even sure if there were any survivors left inside. What if it stirred up the zombies and they broke through the gate?

"Let’s try. What if it works?"

But Nina Jacobs wasn’t just betting on a one-in-a-million shot.

The reason she had been silent was that she had been sensing through her Little Zombie Rats.

After they reached the fork, she had taken the opportunity to release seven or eight Little Zombie Rats.

By now, the Little Zombie Rats had already sent back key information.

There were, indeed, living people inside Aethelgard.

If she used the drone in coordination with the positional data from the rats, she might be able to get the attention of the people inside.

Shirley Lucas nervously took out the drone.

Nina Jacobs had Joanne Page write a short note, then placed the paper inside the drone. She then began to pilot it toward the Aethelgard city gate.

Half an hour passed. Just as they were all starting to lose hope, Nina Jacobs suddenly stopped piloting the drone.

"Did we lose the signal?"

Shirley Lucas asked nervously.

If the drone lost its connection, it was very likely destroyed by zombies.

Nina Jacobs shook her head. "Not sure. The signal’s still there."

In the darkness, a faint smile touched her lips. She knew. The people inside had found the drone.

「Inside Aethelgard.」

In a dim room on the third basement level, a group of people held their breath, their eyes glinting with excitement.

"It’s Joanne! Joanne came looking for me!

The distress message we managed to get out worked!"

a woman with a grime-streaked face said in a hushed voice.

In her hand was the very note written by Joanne Page.

It was only two sentences, but she knew: someone outside was trying to save them!

"Aiden, if that’s the case, you all need to find a way out. You have to escape this place,"

said a woman in her fifties who was standing nearby.

"There must be people waiting outside. We have to get a message back to them as soon as possible,"

a tall man reminded them.

Aidan Keaton nodded. A moment later, she stuffed the message she had written into the drone. Accompanied by her companions, she carefully approached the basement entrance.

"It sounds like... there are no zombies outside?"

Their long time spent in the Zombie City had honed the survivors’ hearing to an incredible degree.

On previous nights, they could always hear the sound of zombies dragging their feet across the floor above.

But now, it was completely silent outside.

"There really aren’t any zombies. Don’t you think it could be a trap set by a Sentient Zombie?"

a woman’s voice warned in a whisper.

"I don’t care. This is our only chance."

The exit to the surface was sealed shut by a combination of three different Superpowers.

Aidan Keaton and the others each used their different Superpowers to carefully open the exit just enough to release the drone through the gap.

A foul stench wafted down from the manhole cover above. After sealing it again, the group decided to wait there in silence.

She had already briefly explained their current situation to Joanne Page in the note.

Getting into Aethelgard was nearly impossible.

But there was, in fact, one opening—a breach they had created at the cost of many of their companions’ lives.

Aidan Keaton guessed that the reason Joanne Page had brought people here in the middle of the night was also to avoid the guards stationed outside.

It seemed she had already noticed that something was wrong with those people.

But this was the most dangerous time—the dead of night. Aidan was worried for Joanne Page, but also overjoyed that she was still alive.

She’d had a dream before that her good friend Joanne Page had died. It seemed dreams really were the opposite of reality.

"It’s too dangerous in here. We should find a way to make them go back. We can’t drag anyone else into this,"

Frederick Langdon, who was beside Aidan Keaton, said.

"Mhm, I already said that in the note."

After Aidan Keaton spoke, they all fell silent.

After some time had passed, the woman with the buzz cut who had been squatting by the wall stood up and said:

"Let’s go. We should head back."

It seemed the drone wasn’t coming back.

"You guys go back first. I want to wait a little longer."

Aidan Keaton gave a bitter smile, then her expression turned resentful as she said:

"Even if we can’t get out, we have to tell people about that bastard’s crimes."

"And what good would that do?

In the apocalypse, everyone only looks out for themselves."

the woman with the buzz cut said coldly.

"My friend isn’t like that,"

Aidan Keaton said insistently.

Seeing that Vivian Sloan was about to argue again, Frederick Langdon gestured for her to quiet down. "That’s enough, Vivian. Be careful you don’t attract zombies."

He knew that no one here was the type of person who would only look out for themselves and disregard the lives of others.

It was just that this endless underground life made people desperate and irritable.

Vivian Sloan didn’t argue back. But just as she was about to turn and leave, Lena Driscoll, who had been silent the whole time, shot to her feet.

Her expression was one of utter shock.

"What’s wrong, Lena?"

Frederick Langdon asked.

Lena Driscoll was a Spiritual Element Superpower User. Seeing her expression, could it be another zombie riot?

"Someone... someone’s coming!"

Lena Driscoll grabbed Aidan Keaton’s arm, her voice filled with excitement.

"What did you say?"

Aidan Keaton thought she must have misheard.

How could anyone be coming at a time like this?

"Could it be Joanne? How many of them are there?" Aidan Keaton asked immediately.

"F-Four... four people."

Lena Driscoll held up four trembling fingers.

"There might be more people behind them,"

Frederick Langdon said after a moment of thought.

The range of Lena Driscoll’s Spiritual Element Superpower only covered the area immediately around their basement.

Four people infiltrating Aethelgard at night... how was that possible?

"Aidan Keaton, what are you doing?"

Vivian Sloan asked hurriedly when she saw Aidan Keaton moving to open the exit.