Chapter 530: Only She Has This Strength

On the way back, Myra Lawson told her about Adrian Paige’s identity.

Adrian Paige was someone who already held real power in the command center and was even in line to succeed Warren Rhodes.

Myra Lawson, thinking she didn’t know who Warren Rhodes was, explained it all in detail.

Still, Nina Jacobs was curious why such a powerful figure would come to City D Base.

"Because of the extreme cold."

When speaking of Adrian, Daniel Hale’s tone was full of admiration.

It turned out that before the apocalypse, Ian Chandler’s father, Heath Chandler, had been Adrian’s first instructor. The two were as close as master and apprentice and had stayed in touch ever since.

Apparently, Adrian had only come to visit after hearing that Heath Chandler was here.

Then, when the extreme cold hit, he simply stayed on, citing the need to provide operational support.

"Come to think of it, he was the one who found you," Daniel Hale said.

Adrian Paige was indeed conscientious and responsible in his work.

He was even the first to discover the potential for a zombie horde to form.

As an Intermediate Wind Element Superpower User, he patrolled the base’s perimeter every day, braving the severe cold without ever letting his guard down.

"I see."

Nina Jacobs understood after hearing the explanation.

’In my past life, Heath Chandler wasn’t at City D Base, so Adrian Paige never showed up.’

But just as Daniel Hale had predicted, Myra Lawson paid a personal visit to their courtyard after dinner.

Of course, Ian Chandler was with her.

Ian sat quietly to one side, not interrupting their conversation.

Myra first asked about how Nina had been these past few months, then gave a rough overview of the base’s current situation.

"I imagine you’ve already guessed why I was in such a hurry to find you tonight," she said with a wry smile. She felt a pang of guilt, as if she were swooping in to exploit Nina the moment she returned.

But looking at the entire base, only Nina had this kind of strength.

Nina Jacobs nodded. "When do we leave tomorrow?"

"Six in the morning. We’re on a tight schedule," Myra Lawson replied.

"No problem, but I plan on bringing some people with me," Nina said.

Holden Shaw and the others from next door had come to see her earlier, but they left, knowing she had just been reunited with her family.

"Bringing your team members? No problem. We’d be more than happy to have them."

Seeing Nina agree so readily, Myra waved to Ian.

Ian brought over all the Crystal Cores the base owed Nina. Crates upon crates of them filled the entire tea room.

"Nina, Shirley Lucas has more. He said he’d hold onto them for you and give them to you personally when you got back," Ian said.

"Is he doing okay?" Nina asked.

Shirley Lucas was the owner of the "Infinite Space" Superpower. City D Base was still keeping this a secret for him to ensure his safety.

"He’s doing great. The Weapons Research Institute is temporarily relocating to the base, and he’s been helping with the move these past few days," Ian answered earnestly.

It had been a long time since he’d had a proper conversation with Nina.

But he also knew Nina needed to rest, so he left early with Myra.

Before resting, Nina didn’t forget about Treasure and Lexy.

Treasure the Golden Retriever’s dog bed had been moved into a large, separate room behind the living room. It was warm and clean inside.

And Lexy, having just arrived, had taken a liking to the place as well. When Nina came in, she found Lexy had shamelessly taken over the warm dog bed.

As a thank-you, it had even filled Treasure’s food bowls with water.

Treasure, meanwhile, looked at Nina with a mournful expression.

Nina didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

"Treasure, long time no see."

Nina ruffled Treasure’s smooth fur, then took out a few cans of the dog food it used to love.

As for Lexy, Nina used her Earth Element Superpower to create a custom cat tree on the other side of the room, perfect for climbing and lounging.

Daniel Hale even brought over a warm cat bed and some cloth ropes to furnish it for Lexy.

Lexy seemed to understand what was happening and immediately jumped onto its new cat tree to investigate.

"You go rest. Leo and I will take care of this," Daniel Hale urged her.

"Okay."

Nina gave Lexy a few instructions before returning to her room.

’I’m finally back.’

Nina looked at her spotless bedroom. It was a suite, complete with its own bathroom and a sealed walk-in closet.

Her personal belongings were kept in the closet, and her family didn’t go in there.

She thought of her unfinished Skill, "Teleportation Gate."

The first gate had already been set up in Crestfall in Keldorn, and she planned to place the other one in her bedroom.

Nina got up and walked into the closet. The Teleportation Gate could only be used by her; even if someone broke in, no one would be able to discover its existence.

She applied the Skill to the closet door, and just as expected, a system notification sound chimed:

[Congratulations, Host. Teleportation Gate point 2 has been selected. Would you like to use the "Teleportation Gate" Skill now?

If you select "Yes," the system will automatically consume 10,000 Crystal Cores from your storage.]

Nina checked the time, then threw on some clothes and selected "Yes."

The teleportation time was ten seconds.

During those ten seconds, Nina didn’t see anything unusual; even the door in front of her didn’t change at all. Only a feeling of pressure from the surrounding air made her feel like she was rapidly passing through some kind of tunnel.

When the air around her became intensely cold, Nina knew she had arrived.

It was also nighttime in Crestfall. Nina took out a soft night light, and the scene before her was indeed the staff lounge at the top of the tower.

The city was teeming with countless zombies.

Just then, a few Mutated Zombies clearly sensed a scent, and they climbed or leaped onto the rooftops.

But the scent appeared for only an instant before vanishing completely.

Nina deployed her safe house inside the lounge and finally let out a sigh of relief.

’My first time using "Teleportation Gate." Luckily, it went smoothly.’

Watching her experience bar, which was steadily increasing by single digits, Nina knew her Puppet Zombie was still slowly killing zombies.

However, its speed was clearly much slower than before.

Using the Silver Whistle to summon the Puppet Zombie to the front of the safe house, Nina discovered it was missing a foot.

Its body was tilted, and at its rotting, frozen ankle were purplish-black ice crystals.

’No wonder it was so much slower.’

Nina simply summoned it inside and used her Wood Element Superpower to grow it a new foot.

Although the wooden foot looked a bit strange, it at least restored its balance.

"Go on, keep taking these little guys to gather zombies."

Nina released the four Little Zombie Rats.

Besides wanting to test the teleportation function, she also wanted to use up her four daily uses of "Instant Detonation."

Nina yawned, pulled out a simple cot, and decided to sleep in the safe house for the night.

A little over half an hour later, the sound of explosions echoed through the silent Crestfall.

[System has detected that the Host has used the "Instant Detonation" Skill 4 times, killing 14,232 zombies and gaining 14,232 System Experience points!]

Listening to the system’s notification, Nina drifted off to sleep, satisfied.

It wasn’t until her alarm clock rang the next day that she retracted the safe house and used the Teleportation Gate to return to the walk-in closet in her bedroom.

’This trip was definitely worth it.’

Nina discovered that no Crystal Cores were deducted for the return trip, which meant the 10,000 Crystal Cores was the price for a round trip.

And by sleeping in the safe house all night, plus using "Instant Detonation" four times, she had gained 17,000 System Experience and the corresponding Crystal Cores.