Chapter 543: Missing

Nina Jacobs remembered that the team Caleb Carter represented was called "Soul Slayer." In the subsequent Superpower User Tournament, they had achieved quite impressive results.

"Caleb Carter has gone missing recently," Daniel Hale said in a deep voice.

"Missing?" several people asked in unison.

"He and some members of Soul Slayer went out five days ago and never came back. The remaining team members reported this to the base, and the base dispatched rescue teams from various units to search the surrounding areas, but they found no trace of them," Daniel said, heaving a sigh.

If Caleb and his team had truly met with an accident, it would be a significant loss for the City D Base. Soul Slayer was one of the more outstanding Superpower units in the base.

Sherry Renner took a bite of braised tofu skin and nodded. "I’ve heard about this too. Rumor has it that he received a tip about a batch of supplies. The location was quite dangerous, but he still led his people there."

Even before the extreme cold hit, the survivors at the base had gradually begun exploring toward downtown City D. Though the urban area was still teeming with hordes of zombies, it also held endless opportunities. If they happened to encounter a Spatial Zombie, it might even drop a substantial amount of supplies.

Nina remained silent after hearing this. Caleb was indeed the type of person willing to risk his life for supplies.

"I heard you guys are heading out tomorrow too. Please be careful and don’t get too close to the downtown area," Vera Coleman urged.

She had also heard that a recent type of Water Element Zombie could condense toxic mist using the extreme cold weather. This mist didn’t contain actual poison, but rather an ultra-cold vapor that could destroy human lungs. Once inhaled, it caused severe organ frostbite and could even lead to immediate death by suffocation.

"Got it, don’t worry. We have Nina leading us, what’s there to be afraid of?" Leo Hale replied.

As soon as he finished speaking, Daniel whacked him on the head with his chopsticks.

"I’m telling you to be careful for your own good!" Daniel scolded in exasperation. "And don’t cause trouble for Nina when you’re out there. You’re never reliable for a single day."

Nina quickly smoothed things over. "We’ve already reported our destination to the base for tomorrow. It’s not anywhere near downtown."

"That’s good. Although wearing thick clothes makes you much safer, it restricts your movement. I’ll prepare some ginger tea for you all tomorrow..." Vera was still a bit worried, but she knew that everyone in the Stellarys Team cherished every opportunity to go out and hone their skills.

Early the next morning, Wayne Abbott and the others waited eagerly at the door. Their anticipation stemmed from an extra reward the base had given the Stellarys Team for fending off the zombie tide last time: an armored vehicle.

The vehicle looked incredibly sturdy, with sharp, angular lines across its body. Its surface was covered in rivets and reinforced weld marks, while the cold, hard alloy shell gleamed with a dark, matte iron-gray finish. Anti-piercing vertical steel plates had been added to the sides, which also prevented zombies from climbing onto it. Just sitting there quietly, it drew the attention of many passersby.

"This car looks solid. It’ll definitely be a blast driving it out to ram zombies!"

"When will the base reward our team with one?"

"Forget it, let’s put the pressure on our captain. I heard this was all thanks to their captain, Nina Jacobs."

"Hey, you little brats, are you talking smack about me behind my back?"

A string of cursing, mingled with roars of laughter, rang out from a short distance away.

A modified off-road vehicle was parked by the curb. Inside, someone was staring intently at the armored vehicle, not looking away until she saw a black-haired woman walk out and get into it.

"Is that Nina Jacobs?" a short-haired woman in the car asked, gazing in that direction. Her scrutinizing gaze carried a trace of complexity and hostility.

A teammate beside her answered, "According to our investigation over the past few days, that’s her. An Intermediate Fire and Earth Superpower User. I heard her strength is highly formidable within the base."

"I thought she’d be a pushover," the short-haired woman sneered. "But we’ve seen our fair share of Intermediate Dual Element Superpower Users. The City D Base has so many survivors, yet only a handful of Intermediate Superpower Users. I bet she isn’t all that impressive."

Being considered strong in the City D Base didn’t mean she was truly powerful out in the real world.

"Miss Jacobs, everyone is ready," a man said as he tapped on the car window. Several gun-like weapons were tucked into his waistband.

"Then let’s head out. We’ve been here for days; it’s time for everyone to stretch their legs."

After the short-haired woman spoke, a scar-faced driver immediately started the engine, closely following the armored vehicle ahead...

At the wheel, Wayne noticed that the armored vehicle was indeed much more stable to drive than their previously modified bus. Not only was it easy to handle, but the heating inside was also more than adequate.

Aside from gifting them the vehicle, the base had also arranged for Ian Chandler to deliver several barrels of gasoline. Combined with the gas they had saved up previously, their team currently faced no energy crisis.

Ethan Young, a new addition to the team, had also come along for the trip. He had applied to join the Stellarys Team on his own accord. Over the past few days, he had gotten well acquainted with everyone. Furthermore, Nina had checked his system favorability score—it was a solid 79 points.

Ethan was a Dual Element Superpower User wielding both Water and Earth Elements. Given his solid Superpower performance along their journey thus far, Nina had approved his application.

"Captain, it seems like someone’s following us," Wayne remarked from the driver’s seat. Two cars had been tailing them ever since they left the base.

Nina had noticed this earlier as well. However, she wasn’t sure who was in those two vehicles; she couldn’t rule out the possibility that they were other Superpower units from the base who just happened to be going the same way.

"Ignore them for now. Take a right at the intersection ahead," Nina instructed. The system map indicated that the road to the right was less congested.

Once the armored vehicle made the right turn, the two trailing cars didn’t follow. Wayne finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The Stellarys Team’s destination for the day was near an overpass about fifteen kilometers from the base. Over the past few days, the base’s rescue teams had been actively clearing out zombies outside. Since the overpass was far from the river, it fell outside their primary clearing zone.

Nina wanted to find a relatively safe spot that still had zombies for everyone to train, which was why she chose this location. Driving the armored vehicle, they weren’t afraid of the zombies on the road, and the group quickly arrived at a four-way intersection.

"The overpass is right ahead. Let’s start here," Nina said, looking at a horde of zombies swarming toward their vehicle. Intersections had plenty of zombies, but they also offered great visibility, eliminating the worry of falling into any ambushes.

"Here they come." Holden Shaw stretched his back and became the first to charge out.

"He’s so fast!" Ethan stared in astonishment at Holden, who was wielding sharp blades in both hands and vanished from sight in the blink of an eye. In just a few seconds, he had already chopped off the heads of five or six zombies.

Meanwhile, Jessica Vance launched several Wind Blades at a nearby utility pole. The pole instantly collapsed, and two Mutated Zombies perched on top immediately lunged into the group!

"Careful!"

Down below, Alaric Fletcher and Theodore Thorne were already prepared. Wayne ran while simultaneously conjuring a Stone Shield. In an instant, Stone Spikes jutted out from the shield, impaling one of the leaping Mutated Zombies until it resembled a pincushion.

Nina stood on the sidelines, watching the team’s seamless coordination. She didn’t make a move herself; instead, she closely observed areas where everyone could improve.

"Wayne, the Earth Element can be used for both offense and defense. The speed of your Superpower condensation has improved significantly, but your methods can be a bit more flexible..."

Right then, Nina heard the sounds of fighting coming from not too far away. It seemed someone else had come here as well.

"It’s the two cars that were following us earlier," Jessica called out, hovering in mid-air with her Wind Element Superpower.