Chapter 52: Preparing to Leave

The future base for City D would be established nearby. She had considered the possibility of just staying in the old house.

It wasn’t out of the question to wait here until the base was in its early stages of construction.

The shelter would definitely be safer, relatively speaking.

But Nina Jacobs remembered that in her past life, the shelter had also been hit by several zombie attacks.

With so many people, it was a daily occurrence for someone in the shelter to get infected with the zombie virus.

So Nina Jacobs’s impression of the shelter could be summed up in one word: chaos.

It was safer, but chaotic.

"What’s a shelter like? I’ve never seen one."

Leo Hale took a sip of milk. For the past few days, all their food had come from Ian Chandler’s space.

It was all from the truckload of supplies they’d found on the road.

If Ian Chandler left, they’d be in real trouble.

"You want to see it? I can take you guys for a look."

An abrupt voice came from outside the door.

Everyone stared in shock as Chester Pearson walked in.

He even grabbed an egg, sat down beside them, and started peeling it right there.

"How did you get in?"

Chelsea Walsh asked, frowning.

"Holt Tate is a Gold Element Superpower User, you know. He let me in."

Chester Pearson pointed at the innocent-looking Holt Tate behind him.

"I-I-I... I..."

Holt Tate pointed at himself, his face beet red.

’It really wasn’t my fault.’

Looking at Chester Pearson’s behavior, Chelsea Walsh finally asked the question that had been weighing on her for so long.

She wanted to ask about the whereabouts of her brother, Forrest Walsh.

"What? Forrest Walsh is your brother?!"

Chester Pearson’s reaction was so strong that even Nina Jacobs, who had been silent until now, couldn’t help but look up.

"You know Forrest Walsh?"

Leo Hale was excited too, and Chelsea Walsh’s eyes filled with hope.

"Don’t know him."

Chester Pearson said with a smile, holding his hands out.

He had a completely shameless expression on his face.

"Then why did you..."

Chelsea Walsh’s eyes instantly reddened with anger.

’How could someone like him even exist?’

"What’s wrong with you? Do you think it’s funny to mess with people like that?"

’Right then, all Leo Hale wanted was to beat Chester Pearson to a pulp.’

It wasn’t just Chelsea Walsh; he and Daniel Hale were also extremely worried about Forrest Walsh.

They’d thought Chester Pearson might know something, but they never expected he would joke about something so serious.

"U-u-um..."

Holt Tate stood behind Chester Pearson, looking like he wanted to say something but was holding back.

"What’s wrong, Holt Tate? Want an egg?"

As if he hadn’t seen their reactions, Chester Pearson casually reached for another boiled egg, but Chelsea Walsh snatched it away.

"Sir! If you’re talking about Commander Forrest Walsh of the third detachment, I saw him just a couple of days ago!"

Holt Tate finally managed to say.

"Yes, my brother is in the third detachment! You saw him? That means he’s still alive! How is he doing?"

Chelsea Walsh asked excitedly.

Holt Tate glanced at Chester Pearson. Seeing no reaction, he continued:

"I just know that he seemed to be injured... but not too seriously. The day we came out with Captain Sloan, I think he was leading a team on a rescue mission too..."

’He’s leading a team even though he’s injured.’

Hearing Holt Tate’s words only made Chelsea Walsh more anxious.

In the apocalypse, even a minor scrape posed the risk of infection.

"Hey, don’t cry. Commander Forrest Walsh is very experienced. H-h-he... he’ll probably be okay."

Holt Tate always stuttered when he was nervous, especially with a girl crying in front of him.

"That kid, Forrest Walsh... he always pushes himself too hard."

Daniel Hale sighed.

"Captain Pearson only just got back from a mission abroad, so it’s perfectly normal that he wouldn’t know Commander Walsh..."

Holt Tate explained carefully on Chester Pearson’s behalf.

"How many people are in the shelter now?"

The question occurred to Nina Jacobs.

"There’s no exact count. People are saved and people die every day. You should all go take a look. Oh, and about what I mentioned yesterday... have you reconsidered?"

Chester Pearson looked at Nina Jacobs with keen interest.

’He had to admit, now that she was cleaned up, Nina Jacobs was actually pretty good-looking.’

"Captain Pearson, what did you say to Nina?"

Ian Chandler was on high alert. He didn’t have a good feeling about this Chester Pearson.

"If you agree to come with me, I’ll tell you."

After Chester Pearson spoke, Ian Chandler’s feeling about him worsened.

"I’m not considering it."

Nina Jacobs replied bluntly.

"Well, if you’re going to say that, it just makes me want to try harder. How about giving me a chance?"

This only made Chester Pearson more interested.

He had saved a lot of people over the past few days, and most of the survivors were deeply grateful to him.

But Nina Jacobs was different. Even when he lowered himself and acted graciously... she just seemed to want to keep her distance.

"I just killed a few more zombies than most to survive. That’s all. Perhaps you should try it yourself."

’Nina Jacobs sincerely just wanted to get rid of Chester Pearson as quickly as possible.’

"Hmm, growing stronger through battle... there’s some truth to that. I’ll go give it a try right now."

Chester Pearson stood up, then paused as if he’d just remembered something.

"Oh, right. Speaking of that ex-boyfriend of yours, he’s one of Dawn Donovan’s people. I just wonder, between your two Fire Element Superpowers, who’s the stronger one?"

"..."

Watching Chester Pearson leave, Nina Jacobs was mostly just speechless.

’Was he trying to provoke me with Liam Grant?’

"He’s finally gone. What on earth did he want from you?"

Leo Hale got up and specifically double-locked the living room’s glass door, as if warding off a plague.

"It was nothing. He just wanted me to be his master."

Nina Jacobs breathed a sigh of relief.

"What did you say?"

Several of them asked in unison.

’He wanted Nina Jacobs to be his master?’

"Ian, who exactly is he? Do you know?"

Vera Coleman asked worriedly.

"Miss Coleman, I only know he’s the one my grandfather hired to find me. My mom sponsored him in the past. Later, he took on a mission and went abroad. I don’t know anything else."

Ian Chandler answered honestly.

"He seems like someone you don’t want to mess with. You all should be careful, especially you, Nina."

Daniel Hale nodded repeatedly in agreement with Vera Coleman.

In times like these, the law no longer held any sway. If you offended the wrong people, you could bring a world of trouble down on yourself.

"I want to go see my brother."

Chelsea Walsh said.

"If you want to go see him, we should. We can check out the situation at the shelter while we’re at it."

Nina Jacobs did not object.

The shelter wasn’t actually that far from their current location.

After everything she’d been through in her past life, she no longer wanted her decisions to influence the people around her.

How they chose to act, what decisions they made—she wouldn’t interfere anymore.

Besides, Ian Chandler couldn’t stay here forever. He had to reunite with his family sooner or later.

It was just that the last battle had been exhausting, and everyone needed to rest.

Besides, there was still something she needed to do.

After discussing it with the others, Nina Jacobs set their departure time for the shelter for the morning two days from now.

But on the afternoon of the next day, she went somewhere by herself.

Nina Jacobs arrived at a park that was under construction in the Western Suburbs.

But after the acid rain, the park was clearly ruined.

The vegetation and trees had all rotted.

Fortunately, there were hardly any zombies around.

Nina Jacobs had encountered a few zombies on the way, but she’d managed to lose them.

The reason she came here was that she’d heard Renee Strong mention the words ’park’ and ’temporary warehouse’ before leaving.

She suspected this was very likely one of the warehouses belonging to Liam Grant’s group.