Chapter 436: Escape
Chapter 436: Chapter 436: Escape
Although Naomi Summers looked worried, she still nodded.
"I trust you, Nina. But you have to be careful, too."
"Mm."
Nina Jacobs nodded.
Five minutes later, Seraphina Chase emerged, holding Harlan hostage.
Beside her were Redmayne Spencer and five others.
A Strength Element Superpower User was carrying Evander Langdon on his back.
The group headed in the direction Nina Jacobs had indicated.
Screams and cries of agony echoed all around them.
A sharp blade was pressed to Harlan’s neck, held by Seraphina Chase.
This was all part of Nina Jacobs’s plan.
If anyone ran into them, they could claim they were being held hostage by Seraphina Chase’s group.
To Harlan and the others’ surprise, however, they didn’t encounter a single person along the way.
The lights in the corridor had been destroyed.
They saw people running in a panic in the distance, but in the darkness, no one paid their group any mind.
It looked like they were fleeing from something.
"Something’s not right here,"
Redmayne Spencer remarked, scanning their surroundings.
"It’s not just ’not right’—it’s very wrong. This path shouldn’t be empty, logically speaking,"
Harlan said. "This is a main thoroughfare."
Nina Jacobs, however, looked completely unfazed.
She had just released two of her Little Zombie Rats, which seemed to have frightened off a lot of people.
’This corridor should be clear for a while.’
Following Nina Jacobs’s directions, the group arrived at the entrance to the facility’s store corridor.
However, the entrance was sealed shut by a pair of electronic doors.
Seeing this, Redmayne Spencer approached the electronic door. A bolt of lightning crackled in his hand, and just like that, the door opened.
He turned and saw Nina Jacobs staring at the Thunder Element current in his hand.
’She remembered Zachary Sterling telling her this electronic door had an alarm. If forced, the alarm would echo through the entire facility.’
Yet after Redmayne Spencer broke the electronic door, the alarm remained silent.
"You get the hang of it after opening a few. You just have to destroy the alarm before you take out the electronic lock,"
Redmayne Spencer explained, seeing the curious look on Nina Jacobs’s face.
Nina Jacobs nodded thoughtfully, then asked,
"Could you destroy something for me in a little bit?"
’She was thinking of the underground warehouse’s facial recognition alarm system.’
’If Redmayne Spencer could do it, he might be able to solve a huge problem for her.’
"Of course. You’re my savior,"
Redmayne Spencer replied without a moment’s hesitation.
After the group passed through the doorway, Harlan used his Gold Element Superpower to seal the door shut again.
"No one would expect someone to come to the store at a time like this."
"But it looks like a dead end."
Naomi Summers said, looking ahead. They were at the end of the corridor; on one side was a high brick wall, and on the other, the closed doors of the shops.
"If there’s no path, we’ll make one."
Nina Jacobs placed her hand on the ground. The floor, which had looked perfectly solid, ripped apart like a sheet of fabric, revealing a fissure that gradually widened.
"Whoa, amazing!"
Naomi Summers had rarely seen other Superpowers. ’So an Earth Element Superpower can just tear a building apart out of nowhere?’
Yet even with such a wide passage opened up, the structural integrity of the floor seemed unaffected.
In the underground passage, more than a dozen bodies now lay on the ground near the bend by the warehouse door.
For secrecy’s sake, the underground passage hadn’t been heavily guarded to begin with. Redmayne Spencer and his people had caught the guards completely by surprise, killing them all as soon as they got down.
"That door has a facial recognition and alarm system. Can you disable it?"
Nina Jacobs said, pointing to the underground warehouse door not far behind them.
She had already resealed the passage in the floor above. Now, they stood behind a tall stack of wooden pallets.
This was the only blind spot her Little Zombie Rat had previously scouted out.
’All he needs to do is destroy that electrical system. I have other ways to handle the rest.’
"I should be able to. You guys go on ahead. I’ll catch up in a minute,"
Redmayne Spencer said.
"Don’t tell me you’re planning to..."
Seraphina Chase knew what that place was; it would be a lie to say she wasn’t shocked. ’Nina Jacobs is actually targeting *that* place?’
’Nina Jacobs isn’t a Space Superpower User, so she must be working with someone else...’
’If she actually pulls this off, General Hughes will probably have an aneurysm.’
’No, not just General Hughes, but the White Family, too...’
But this wasn’t the time for her to worry about that.
The transport vehicle drivers still in the tunnel stared in surprise at the group that had suddenly appeared.
"Captain Jacobs, what’s going on?"
The driver, Mr. Jameson, took two steps back, eyeing the newcomers warily.
From his perspective, it looked like Nina Jacobs and Wayne Warner were at a disadvantage, being led around by the nose by this new group.
"They’ve taken Commander Langdon and Doctor Harlan hostage,"
Nina Jacobs said, her Superpower at the ready as she cautiously followed Seraphina Chase and the others ahead of her.
Two of the men Redmayne Spencer had brought with him were large and looked particularly menacing.
One was carrying the unconscious Evander Langdon. Then there was Seraphina Chase, who held a sharp blade to Harlan’s neck and yelled,
"Nobody move, or I’ll kill them!"
Nina Jacobs took the opportunity to shout back,
"Don’t let them hurt the Commander! Everyone, fall back!"
"Right, back up, back up!"
Mr. Jameson, of course, listened to Nina Jacobs.
Nina Jacobs had saved his life during their last run-in with Speed Element zombies on an outing with General Hughes.
"Don’t do anything rash! I’ll arrange for your exit, just don’t hurt the Commander,"
Nina Jacobs called out deliberately.
"Then hurry it up! Any more delays, and everyone here will be accompanying us to the grave!"
The Space Superpower User, Silas Abbott, finished speaking and pulled a row of explosive packs from his dimensional space.
Seeing this, the drivers lining the tunnel quickly backed away.
"Everyone, clear a path,
These people just want to leave the base!
If this place blows up, forget about whether we’ll survive—General Hughes will never let us off the hook!"
Harlan cried out, feigning terror.
The ploy was remarkably effective. The group reached the exit without any resistance.
Redmayne Spencer caught up to them.
"It’s done,"
he whispered as he passed Nina Jacobs.
A glint appeared in Nina Jacobs’s eyes.
’Maybe she really could carry out that plan tonight...’
Redmayne Spencer opened the exit as well.
Outside the exit, two inconspicuous black vehicles were waiting.
Silas Crowley and Tobin were in the driver’s seats.
Nina Jacobs had just contacted them via her comms headset, telling them to find Reinhard Caldwell first, then drive here and wait.
But the problem now was that they still needed to get through the base’s side gate.
It was manned by guards from Lornwood Base.
However, to Nina Jacobs’s surprise, the guards opened the side gate for them without being prompted.
"Don’t be surprised. It was an order from Grim."
Just then, Reinhard Caldwell stepped out of one of the cars.
He waved at a battered silver sedan parked a short distance away.
That was Grim’s car.
Nina Jacobs understood immediately.
’Grim usually uses his gambling winnings to support these base guards, so they must all be his men.’
Reinhard Caldwell was clearly injured.
’But since Reinhard Caldwell made it out alive, that proved one thing.’
’Ambrose White was dead.’
Harlan couldn’t see the person inside the distant silver car.
But he knew Grim was bidding him farewell.
"Silas Crowley and Tobin will take you to Tomorrow Base. Be careful on the road,"
Nina Jacobs said to the group, gathered on a roadside outside the base.
"Tell Grim that Reinhard Caldwell and I will be waiting for him there," Harlan said to Nina Jacobs. "Tell him... not to die."
’Even though no one was waiting for him, maybe having someone to wait for wasn’t such a bad thing.’
"Okay."
Nina Jacobs nodded.
"Oh, right, Jacobs. This is for you."
Reinhard Caldwell handed something to Nina Jacobs.