Chapter 84: Is It Her?

"I didn’t kill them."

Nina Jacobs answered with a calm expression.

She had only locked those people in the metal shed.

"Hmph. You’re lying.

Your face tells me you’ve committed a great transgression today."

Nina Jacobs’s breath hitched.

Those words suddenly reminded her of someone she’d met in her past life.

When Nina Jacobs first met her, the woman had been on the verge of death.

So Nina Jacobs gave her a steamed bun and a bottle of water.

The next time she saw her, the woman had a bit more life in her, but she was still black and blue.

Taking the bun and water as payment, she performed a divination for Nina Jacobs.

The reading showed that Nina Jacobs would certainly die within a month.

But then she lamented that her own readings were becoming less and less accurate.

Nina Jacobs just thought the woman was a bit amusing and didn’t take it to heart.

But thinking back now, when Liam Grant had killed her, it had indeed been within that one-month timeframe from the reading.

And that voice... it was remarkably similar to the one she was hearing now.

"You should just get lost.

I hate liars more than anything."

The voice carried a hint of feigned arrogance.

"...Let me tell you,

I, Sherry Renner, hate liars more than anything...

But you’re different..."

The words from her memory echoed again.

’Sherry Renner.’

She was like a muddle-headed mystic.

Yet she had absolute faith in her own abilities, even when others called her out and said she was wrong.

But after she produced that dire reading for Nina, Sherry Renner had refused to believe herself.

"How could that be? Hahaha, anyone could have a terrible fate, but not you.

This useless reading of mine..."

The memories flooded back.

A slight tremor ran through Nina’s throat.

But she did her best to suppress it and said,

"I beat some people up, but I don’t know if they’re dead or not.

How could you tell?"

"You beat someone up?

You just got here and you’re already beating people up? Who was it?"

Seeing her admit to it, the other person seemed to become interested again.

"I don’t know them."

Nina Jacobs thought for a moment, then added,

"The woman’s surname seemed to be Quincy. I heard them call her Miss Quincy."

"You beat her up? HAHAHAHA!

You’re done for. You’ll definitely never get out of here."

The other person laughed, their voice laced with schadenfreude.

"Do you want to get out?"

Nina Jacobs asked.

She still wasn’t sure if this person was really Sherry Renner.

After all, when she met Sherry Renner in her past life, the woman only had one eye left.

And her body was always covered in bruises, her face black and blue.

It was impossible to see what she really looked like.

She could guess a few things about the situation of the person before her, too.

Living alone in this suite.

Even if she beat other Superpower Users to a pulp, no one kicked her out.

Why wouldn’t they kick her out?

It was more likely that someone didn’t want to let her leave.

"Why do you care if I want to leave or not?

You’re a little clever, but you’re too naive.

This place looks easy to get into, but it’s not so easy to leave."

The curtains were pulled open, and a beam of light shone in.

The first thing Nina Jacobs saw was a wheelchair.

Sitting in the wheelchair was a girl with short, messy hair.

This made Nina Jacobs even more uncertain.

In her past life, Sherry Renner’s legs had been fine.

"What’s your name?" Nina Jacobs asked.

"My name is Lily Lewis. And you?"

"I’m Summer Warner, and this is my brother, Wayne Warner."

Nina Jacobs was a little disappointed.

’Is it really not her?’

"What happened to your legs?"

Nina Jacobs couldn’t help but ask.

"They beat me up."

the girl named Lily Lewis said bitterly.

She hadn’t expected Summer Warner to walk right up and crouch down in front of her.

"Sorry, may I take a look?"

"There’s nothing to see..."

Lily Lewis cried out in surprise as Summer Warner gently lifted her pant leg.

"The damage doesn’t seem to be permanent. It can still be healed."

Nina Jacobs said as she stood up.

It was only when she got closer that she realized the Lily Lewis before her bore at least a fifty percent resemblance to Sherry Renner.

She herself was using the alias Summer Warner.

So it was possible the other girl was too.

However, Nina Jacobs didn’t expose her, instead starting to tidy up the adjacent room with Wayne Warner.

"Is he really your brother?"

Lily Lewis asked, wheeling herself in.

"No."

Nina Jacobs replied after a moment’s thought.

"Mm, that’s more like it.

The two of you have no ’sibling affinity’ in your charts."

"You can tell fortunes?"

Nina Jacobs asked as she made the bed.

"What’s it to you if I can or not?

And who said you could live here?

Especially this big guy, he’s an eyesore.

Both of you, get out!"

WHOOSH! A Water Needle shot toward the two of them.

This Water Needle was incredibly powerful; the tables and chairs in its path were instantly smashed to splinters.

Nina Jacobs didn’t dodge. In an instant, she conjured a Flame Shield.

There was a sharp SIZZLE as water and fire collided.

The Water Needle was blocked and dissipated.

A thick cloud of steam filled the room.

Meanwhile, Lily Lewis, still in her wheelchair, was already panting for breath.

"Your burst damage is impressive, but your legs are your downfall.

Want to keep going?"

Nina Jacobs retracted the still-burning Fire Shield in front of her. This was the first time she had used it after several days of research and practice.

’The results seem pretty good so far.’

But she remembered that in her past life, Sherry Renner hadn’t awakened a Superpower.

’Could I really have mistaken her for someone else?’

"Hmph. So you do have a few tricks up your sleeve.

But don’t think you can get out of here just because you have some talent."

Lily Lewis wasn’t actually angry. After leaving that parting shot, she turned and went into another room.

Nina Jacobs finished tidying up briefly, then went to find Lily Lewis again.

"This is Area A, number 78. Are there other areas?"

Nina Jacobs was focused on the area marking on the key card.

"You think the Superpower User Alliance only has this one base?"

Lily Lewis said.

It turned out that the location here at Breslin Park was just one of many bases, known as Area A.

There were several other bases in City D.

’So that’s how it is.’

Nina Jacobs had underestimated the Superpower User Alliance.

"Is it hard to get out of here?"

’Then what about the people who go out on missions?’

Lily Lewis said, amused,

"You really don’t know anything, do you?"

Listening to Lily Lewis’s explanation, Nina Jacobs finally understood.

Apparently, Superpower Users who entered this place first had to undergo seven days of training.

This training was, in reality, nothing more than constant brainwashing.

They magnified the terror of the apocalypse and the zombies, telling them that only The Alliance was their true home.

"It might not sound like much, but of all the people who have gone through the training, I’ve never seen a single one remain clear-headed."

Lily Lewis said.

Besides the brainwashing, there was also a complete social system designed to control people.

The Alliance’s points system.

The more points you had, the more honor and rewards you could obtain.

You could even be assigned a position to manage other Superpower Users.

And the way to earn points was for Superpower Users to team up and go out to find supplies, or to bring new Superpower Users back to The Alliance.

"Don’t underestimate this point system. Many people have died just fighting and scrambling to be the first to reach a supply point."

In Lily Lewis’s eyes, a system like this was nothing but psychological control.

But many people happily accepted it, believing that the more points they had, the more powerful they were.

"Every group that goes out is assigned a supervisor.

The supervisor’s job is to make sure team members don’t secretly keep any of the supplies they find. If a team member tries to run, the supervisor has the authority to deal with them."

"What about you, then?"

Nina Jacobs asked.

"What?"

"You don’t go out to find supplies, and you don’t have to bring in new recruits.

Why aren’t they willing to let you go?"

Nina Jacobs asked curiously,

"You beat people up, break things, and start trouble... is it all just a form of resistance? Are you trying to make them see you’re more trouble than you’re worth so they’ll let you go?"

"But they’d rather let you live here alone than let you leave.

Do you have some kind of information they need?"

Hearing this, Lily Lewis stared at Nina Jacobs for several seconds.

Then, her shoulders trembling, she began to laugh.

"You’re right, but what I have isn’t information.

It’s the six-line hexagrams and their readings."

She used to think the Superpower User Alliance was some kind of benevolent organization too.

Because back then, she hadn’t awakened her Superpower yet. In order to get into The Alliance, she had eagerly volunteered to divine the locations of several supply caches.