Chapter 534: Ended Before It Began

"My master’s name is Xavier Page. I used to be an orphan, and my master adopted me from the orphanage. I lived with him for three years before he went elsewhere to work and earn money. As I grew up, we only saw each other occasionally..." Sherry Renner’s expression was full of nostalgia as she brought up her master.

"But with my master’s abilities, he must still be alive. Before the apocalypse, he even warned me about anomalies in the sky and told me to take precautions." Before the apocalypse, Sherry had worked part-time as a convenience store cashier. Thanks to her master’s warning, she took that day off entirely. She hadn’t expected the sudden acid rain that night.

"Your master sounds pretty amazing," Leo Hale said.

"Of course. He’s way more capable than I am." A proud smile appeared on Sherry’s face.

Nina Jacobs hadn’t heard of Sherry’s master in her past life. However, just to be safe, she still had Leo use his Gold Element Superpower to alter Magnus York’s compass. From the outside, the compass now looked completely different. This was to prevent the people from The Aegis Conclave from recognizing it.

"Did you offend someone out there? Don’t worry, though. Looking at your face, I can tell you’ll be free from illness and disaster in the near future," Sherry comforted her upon seeing Nina acting so cautious.

"I’ll take your word for it," Nina laughed.

Vera Coleman was also happy to hear this. With her daughter by her side, it had been a long time since she had felt so at ease.

Nina then asked Sherry for some "Truth-telling Talismans" to keep on hand for emergencies.

"No problem!" Hearing this, Sherry immediately ran upstairs—THUMP THUMP THUMP—to draw the talismans for Nina.

"By the way, Nina, you’ve been out and about for so long. Have you ever heard of something called ’Holy Water’?" Speaking of being free from illness and disaster, Daniel Hale recalled this matter out of nowhere.

Nina’s eyes flashed, and then she nodded. "I’ve heard a bit about it. Is someone selling it in the City D Base as well?"

Selling? Daniel was a little surprised to hear this. He lowered his head and said thoughtfully, "I heard this stuff is incredibly hard to come by—you can only get it through special channels. Can it actually be put up for sale?"

Nina knew that Daniel’s information was almost exclusively firsthand. Since even he didn’t know, it was highly likely that no one was selling Holy Water in the City D Base yet. Of course, it was also possible that the sellers simply didn’t dare bring it out in the open. After all, City D was an official Tier Three Base and maintained close ties with the command center.

"Previously, in the Meridia Base, there were indeed people selling Holy Water. Combined with some discoveries I made on the road, I plan to meet with Mr. Lawson once my missions for the next couple of days are over," Nina said.

She didn’t plan on investigating the matter of the Holy Water and Veridia on her own. After all, this was an international issue.

Over the next three days.

Good news emerged daily from the City D Base’s control room.

After several river surfaces were blocked, the source of the zombies was cut off. Although this was only a temporary fix, combined with the continuous clearing of the base’s perimeter by the rescue team over the past few days, the number of zombies had visibly decreased. The news that the zombie horde had been intercepted ahead of time spread throughout the entire base, causing many to cheer with joy.

However, there were also those who were exasperated.

Inside the base’s defense department, watching the temporary defense members and heavy weapons being withdrawn, Liam Grant felt that all his hard work over the past few days had gone down the drain. He had originally planned to use this zombie horde as an opportunity to make a name for himself, but unexpectedly, it had ended before it even began.

"Did you hear? This time it was all thanks to the Stellarys Team’s captain returning. She actually managed to melt all the river surfaces single-handedly!"

"As expected of someone who made her mark in the Superpower User Tournament. I hadn’t seen her around for a while."

"Didn’t they say a Fire Element Superpower User’s Attack Power weakens by at least thirty percent in this extreme cold?"

"Is it possible that this bit of damage has no effect on a true powerhouse?"

"That makes sense..."

Listening to the discussions of the people around him, Liam stood there motionless for a long time.

Nina was back.

He had been waiting for her return all along. Ideally, he wanted her to witness him leading the troops to repel the zombie horde with her own eyes. He had experience fighting off zombie hordes and knew the circumstances and trajectory of the City D zombie horde from his past life. He even knew that a few extremely powerful Water Element Zombies would cause their weapons to fail.

He would definitely have distinguished himself during this crisis. With the support of the command center, he could have even held a crucial position in the base... But to his dismay, everything had just ended like this.

Laughter and chatter drifted over from a distance. It was already evening, and due to the extreme cold, there were barely any people on the base’s roads. He fixed his gaze in that direction.

It was Nina. She wore a sleek black leather jacket, and the tall boots on her legs made her look exceptionally slender. The members of the Stellarys Team followed closely on both sides of her, drawing envious gazes from many bystanders.

"Thanks for what happened today," Adrian Paige said as he walked up to Nina.

"You’re welcome. It was no trouble at all," Nina gave a slight nod.

Today, they had encountered several Intermediate Mutant Zombies, particularly a Water Element Zombie capable of releasing a wide-range chill that could instantly cause frostbite. At the critical moment, she had used a Fire and Earth Element Superpower shield to block the attack for rescue team members like Chester Pearson, and two of Adrian’s trusted aides were also among them.

It was said that those two had been braving life and death with Adrian since the early days of the apocalypse. Currently, they had only suffered cold burns from the chill and were already sent to the base hospital for treatment; they were expected to make a full recovery soon.

Just as Nina and the Stellarys Team bid farewell to the rescue team, a figure appeared in front of her.

"It’s you? What do you want?" Leo demanded unceremoniously the moment he saw the newcomer.

Liam didn’t know why he had rushed forward either. Nina simply gave him a flat look, her eyes devoid of any ripples of emotion. This couldn’t help but send a chill through his heart. Could it be that Nina really didn’t have any feelings for him anymore?

"Nina, I’d like to speak with you alone." The moment the words left his mouth, Liam felt a pang of regret. He was certain Nina would take the opportunity to humiliate him in front of everyone.

Unexpectedly, Nina agreed. She turned to the crowd behind her and said, "You guys head back first. I’ll just be a minute."

"Be careful, then," Jessica Vance said. She had originally wanted to stay by Nina’s side, but it seemed Nina didn’t need her to.

Once everyone had left, Nina appraised Liam with a hint of amusement. Compared to the Liam from her past life, he looked like a completely different person. He was unshaven with slightly sunken eye sockets, and his smile carried a trace of strain.

"Renee Strong and I broke up," Liam said.

"You came just to tell me this?" Nina felt somewhat disappointed.

She had thought Liam might bring some intelligence she didn’t know about. However, she was also quite curious. In her past life, Renee had treated him like an absolute treasure. This was only the first year of the apocalypse; how could she bear to part ways with him?

"Of course not. I know you have no interest in the past. I only came to tell you one thing: be careful of Ianna Jacobs." Liam looked at Nina, his gaze carrying a hint of scrutiny and speculation.

"Who is Ianna Jacobs?" As if hearing this name for the very first time, Nina sounded both confused and somewhat impatient.

She naturally knew who Ianna was. However, in her previous life, Sterling Jacobs and Ianna had only shown up in the second year of the apocalypse. Sterling was her father and Vera’s ex-husband. And Ianna was Sterling’s second daughter.

In her past life, it wasn’t until she met Sterling that she learned she had a half-sister. At this point in time, she supposedly shouldn’t know who Ianna was yet.