Chapter 423: Veridian Bridge
Chapter 423: Chapter 423: Veridian Bridge
Nina Jacobs also saw the Veridian Bridge on her system map.
However, contrary to what Cecily Wells had said, the bridge was marked as impassable on the system map.
"When was the last time you all crossed the Veridian Bridge?"
Nina asked.
"Three days ago. Good thing I was on my period and didn’t go out,
but the incident didn’t happen on the Veridian Bridge anyway. It was when they were about to reach their destination."
Cecily Wells replied.
’Three days ago?’
’That means the Veridian Bridge was still passable three days ago.’
"So, about this Mr. Warner who’s with you... what exactly is your relationship?"
Cecily couldn’t help but ask.
Wayne Warner hadn’t said a single word the entire trip.
Yet he never left Nina’s side.
He was more loyal than any watchdog.
"We’re family."
Nina replied.
"Family? You don’t look alike."
After Cecily said that, she noticed Nina was no longer paying attention to her, instead staring intently out the window.
She pouted and went back to driving.
By the time it was past noon, after Nina had led the team out of the vehicles to eliminate several small groups of zombies, the Veridian Bridge was finally in sight.
The entire Veridian Bridge was over three kilometers long, with long stone pillars supporting the main span.
Upon closer inspection, some of the pillars were even encased in metal.
Not only that, but the bridge’s surface also reflected a metallic sheen from time to time. According to Cecily, all that metal had been laid down by General Hughes himself.
"Stop the car."
Nina said.
"Stop the car? Why? There aren’t many zombies around. Can’t we just charge across?"
Cecily asked, confused.
"I’m the captain now. When I tell you to stop, you stop."
As she spoke, Nina had already used the walkie-talkie to notify all the vehicles behind them.
"What’s going on?"
Drake Shaw got out of his car and rushed over, demanding to know.
"Yeah, if we don’t get a move on, we won’t make it before dark!"
The others also got out of their cars, grumbling in dissatisfaction.
The journey today had been anything but smooth.
They had been attacked by several small zombie hordes along the way.
Although there had been no major incidents with Nina and Wayne Warner leading the way, and the zombies were quickly eliminated, the trip had taken much longer than expected.
"Nina Jacobs, you’d better explain yourself."
Anselm Hughes had also walked over.
There had indeed been a few zombies near the bridge just now, but not enough to warrant stopping the entire convoy.
"There’s something strange about this bridge. We can’t cross it."
Nina said.
She had no intention of walking into a death trap.
"Why?"
Anselm asked.
"There are no zombies on the bridge."
Nina pointed at the bridge deck.
No zombies?
For a moment, no one understood what that meant.
"There are zombies at the far end of the bridge and over here, but none on the bridge itself."
After Nina finished, Anselm Hughes took a careful look and saw that she was right.
There were burnt-out car frames, sun-dried corpses, and even zombie carcasses on the bridge, but not a single moving zombie.
"It’s also possible they all ran over here from the bridge because we showed up."
Drake Shaw said, pointing to the dozen or so zombies that Nina and Wayne had just killed.
Nina shook her head. "I’ve been watching the bridge the whole time. I’m certain they didn’t come from there."
Anselm Hughes narrowed his eyes, gazing into the distance.
’This really is strange.’
He said coldly, "There’s one way to find out if there’s a problem. We’ll have someone test it."
With that, he waved his hand, and immediately, someone brought two people from the last vehicle, their hands and feet bound.
They had iron chains shackled to their ankles. Nina had heard from Wyatt Holden that the chains were to keep them from running too fast.
That way, when they were needed to lure zombies away, they would be more effective and the zombies wouldn’t lose them.
"You two, go take a walk up ahead."
Drake Shaw said, pointing at the Veridian Bridge.
The two were a man and a woman. They seemed to have been confined in the vehicle for so long that they could barely walk steadily.
Looking at the long expanse of the Veridian Bridge, fear filled their eyes.
"Hurry up!"
Drake Shaw kicked the man in the back.
The man stumbled and lost his footing, falling right at Nina’s feet.
Nina crouched down, helped the man up, and said,
"Let them go back. They won’t be able to test anything."
"Why not?"
Drake asked.
"How can the weight of two people possibly compare to the weight of an entire convoy?
Are you an idiot?"
Nina looked at Drake Shaw as if he were a moron.
"You..."
Drake wanted to curse back at her, but remembering Nina’s status, he could only swallow his anger.
"Then what do you suggest we do?"
Next to Drake, a Superpower User named Seraphina Chase asked with a raised eyebrow.
Nina remembered seeing her in that photo of the Shadow Legion.
"It’s simple. We’ll just have to trouble General Hughes."
Nina pointed to the abandoned vehicles around the bridge, her meaning obvious.
Anselm Hughes wanted to refuse to conserve his Superpower, but seeing everyone watching, he could only say, "Alright, let’s try it."
Under the control of Anselm Hughes’s Gold Element Superpower, five cars soon began to move slowly onto the bridge.
"See? It’s perfectly fine."
Drake Shaw said.
The five cars drove along the bridge deck, and nothing seemed to happen.
"Should I keep going?"
Anselm asked.
"Please continue, General Hughes."
Nina’s expression was calm.
’Since the system map says this bridge is impassable, then it’s definitely impassable.’
Anselm Hughes was already getting impatient. He had only advanced to the Intermediate level a few days ago, and his Superpower didn’t recover quickly.
It often took more than ten hours to fully recover after depleting it.
But seeing Nina’s absolute certainty, he continued to control the cars.
"Tch, I think she’s just being needlessly mysterious."
Drake Shaw said.
The cars had slowly moved another two hundred meters when, at that very moment, a strange phenomenon occurred.
First, a bright flash of light exploded above the bridge. Then, accompanied by a deafening peal of thunder, the lead car suddenly began to billow thick smoke as if it had been electrocuted.
Then the second, the third...
Before everyone’s shocked eyes, after a series of roaring explosions, all five cars were blown to smithereens.
"My God..."
Cecily had never seen anything like it.
’If we had just driven onto the bridge a moment ago, wouldn’t we have...’
She didn’t dare to think any further.
Anselm Hughes’s face also turned extremely grim.
He couldn’t help but look at Nina and ask, "What in the world just happened?"
Nina hadn’t expected this to happen either.
She originally thought that if enough weight was put on it, the bridge might collapse.
She never imagined there would be explosions.
"I think someone deliberately set a trap."
Nina answered.
"A trap?"
Everyone was stunned.
"The bridge wouldn’t be electrified for no reason. There’s probably an electrocution device set up on the deck.
Any metal vehicle that passes over it will trigger it."
"General Hughes, the zombie hordes on the road earlier probably didn’t appear for no reason either.
Someone arranged for them to be there beforehand."
As Nina spoke, she took a sealed bag from the car.
Inside were several uniformly cut chunks of meat and bone.
"I found these back there just now..."
Cecily was finally starting to believe it.
Anselm Hughes clenched his fists. Nina was most likely right.
"If that’s the case, we can’t cross the Veridian Bridge anymore. It’s too dangerous,"
Cecily said.
"Could it be that the trap has already been triggered, so there’s no more danger?"
Drake Shaw said.
"Why don’t you go try it?"
Nina asked.
"I... I’m a Superpower User.
If anyone’s going to test it, it should be them."
Drake Shaw said, pointing at the man and woman from before.