Chapter 422: Unwitting Disclosure
Chapter 422: Chapter 422: Unwitting Disclosure
At the front of the convoy, Anselm Hughes had already conjured a huge Metal Shield, bringing it down to trap a group of zombies.
"Damn it, that one got away!"
Drake Shaw shouted.
Anselm Hughes’s primary target had been the Speed Element Mutated Zombie.
But it had managed to escape at the critical moment.
"Protect the vehicles and supplies!"
Anselm Hughes shouted from the roof of a vehicle after confirming that the cars in the middle were safe.
"Aargh!"
Another person was killed in a single strike by the Speed Element zombie.
"Help me, General Hughes..."
The man clutched his neck and collapsed. Just two minutes later, his entire body began to convulse uncontrollably.
A Gold Spike put an end to his transformation.
"I’ve kept you all around for this long, not for you to be useless trash!"
Anselm Hughes continued to unleash a rain of Gold Spikes, and several zombies fell one after another.
"General Hughes is so incredible."
Cecily Wells watched the scene ahead, her face full of admiration.
Nina Jacobs observed for a moment and gained a preliminary understanding of their strength.
An Intermediate Gold Element Superpower User was indeed much stronger.
However, Anselm Hughes was protecting the supply vehicles, not the escort team members.
The number of casualties continued to rise.
The Speed Element zombie, in particular, weaved through the crowd unpredictably, like a phantom.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Several Gold Spikes shot toward the Speed Element zombie from different directions.
But only one managed to hit the zombie’s arm.
"Damn it."
Anselm Hughes cursed.
"It looks like it circled around to the back!"
"General Hughes, should we use the ’bait’?"
someone shouted.
Although the "bait" were ordinary people, they could often be highly effective.
However, because the "bait" was so effective, they were usually saved for life-or-death situations.
"It’s not time for that yet."
Anselm Hughes said.
Nina Jacobs and Cecily Wells were still guarding the rear. He glanced toward the back of the convoy, only to freeze the next second.
In the distance, an enormous spike had shot up from the ground, impaling a pale gray zombie.
It was the Speed Element zombie.
And not far away stood Nina Jacobs, with a trembling driver behind her.
"Thank you, thank you, Captain Jacobs."
The driver, Singer, stared at the earth spike, which was over three meters tall, and praised her silently.
Just now, the Speed Element zombie had suddenly appeared and shattered the passenger-side window. The person in the passenger seat was killed instantly, and he had scrambled out of the car in terror.
If that earth spike hadn’t shot up at the critical moment, he would have definitely been bitten!
"You’re welcome. It was just a lucky shot."
With a calm expression, Nina Jacobs casually finished off the passenger who was in the middle of turning.
’A lucky shot...’
Singer wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
’Thank goodness for Nina Jacobs’s lucky shot. Otherwise, my old life would have ended right here.’
Anselm Hughes couldn’t hear their conversation. Though he was puzzled, the crisis wasn’t over yet. Many more Mutated Zombies were still attacking.
"That was amazing! You got it in one hit!"
Cecily Wells had gotten out of the car.
"It’s an advantage of the Earth Element Superpower. Besides, it was momentarily stuck in the window."
Nina Jacobs replied nonchalantly.
’So that’s how it was.’
Cecily Wells glanced ahead and added, "There are quite a few zombies. I’m going to the front to help out. You should be fine holding the rear, Captain Jacobs, right?"
"Mm."
Nina was more than happy for the peace and quiet.
For killing the Speed Element zombie just now, the system had already gifted her over eighty bottles of Healing Potions.
「Over an hour later」
The zombies on the road ahead were finally all killed.
A headcount was quickly done. Over 60 people had died in that battle.
"Thank goodness General Hughes was here. Our casualties are at a new low."
One of the men said fawningly as he approached Anselm Hughes.
"Yeah, yeah, General Hughes is amazing."
Many others chimed in with agreement.
"Dig out the Crystal Cores and let’s get back on the road."
Anselm Hughes seemed accustomed to it. He got into a car, took out a handful of Gold Crystal Cores, and began to absorb them.
The last battle had used up nearly eighty percent of his Superpower Energy.
Although an Intermediate Superpower greatly increased Attack Power, it also demanded more Superpower Energy.
"General Hughes, I don’t think that Nina Jacobs is anything special. She’s a far cry from you."
Cecily Wells reported as she opened the car door and sat down.
"She did just kill that Speed Element one," Anselm Hughes reminded her.
’Of course, that’s a good thing.’
’What bothered him was that he hadn’t been able to kill it himself.’
"That’s only because you had to protect the supplies and kill other zombies at the same time. Naturally, you couldn’t spare the focus."
Cecily Wells said.
"Mm. Go back and tell her she’ll be responsible for security on the next stretch of road for a while."
Anselm Hughes heard her and thought it made sense, but he was tired now.
When Cecily Wells returned, Nina Jacobs seemed to be looking at something nearby.
"What are you doing?"
Seeing Nina Jacobs crouching by the side of the road, Cecily Wells couldn’t help but walk over.
Nina Jacobs pointed to a piece of flesh on the roadside and said, "This isn’t from a zombie."
"Then what is it?"
Cecily Wells asked casually.
"A piece of a human corpse," Nina Jacobs replied.
"It’s possible a zombie just dragged it over."
Cecily Wells said dismissively.
And after learning that she would need to lead the team for a while, Nina Jacobs nodded in agreement.
She glanced at the piece of flesh again. The edges were clearly not from a zombie’s bite, but a smooth, clean cut.
It was as if someone had deliberately scattered it here.
But she didn’t say anything more.
Because she was now leading, Cecily drove the car to the very front of the convoy.
She glanced at Nina Jacobs and saw her simply looking out the window, without a trace of worry on her face.
"Captain Jacobs, we ought to be careful. I’ve driven for thirteen captains before you. Do you know what happened to them in the end?"
Cecily’s tone held a hint of schadenfreude, as if she were talking about something amusing.
"They all died. I remember one of them was a woman, too. She died on her very first mission. But you’re lucky. You’ve got General Hughes with you on your first mission."
Cecily Wells continued.
But Nina Jacobs just looked curious. "What about the other captains? How many missions did they lead on average?"
’They’ve already gone through thirteen captains.’
’If I know the average number of missions each one led, I can roughly calculate how many times the base has shipped out supplies.’
’This Cecily Wells is probably trying to scare me, but she’s unwittingly giving me information.’
"On average, each one lasts about three or four missions, I guess. Anyway, none of them were any good besides our General Hughes."
Cecily Wells thought for a moment before answering.
But Nina Jacobs continued, "That does sound dangerous. Your driving is pretty good, though. You must have been driving these routes for a long time, haven’t you?"
Hearing this, Cecily Wells continued smugly:
"You bet. I’ve been with General Hughes for five months now. I’ve been driving these routes for at least three and a half of them. I was the one driving the General way back at the beginning. Ah, the good old days..."
Seeing Cecily Wells lost in her memories, Nina Jacobs smiled.
’Three and a half months.’
’That means Lornwood Base most likely started shipping out supplies three and a half months ago.’
’At that time, Mrs. White hadn’t yet arrived at Lornwood Base with her daughter.’
’In three and a half months, they’ve shipped out supplies around 40 times.’
’40 times...’
’Nina knew the real number would only be higher.’
"We’ll be at Veridian Bridge soon. That bridge was about to collapse, but General Hughes spent seven days repairing it."
Cecily Wells added.