Chapter 545: Tunnel

Nina Jacobs expected those people to reject her words out of hand, but to her surprise, they actually waited by the roadside.

"Captain, do you think they’ll ambush us?" Alaric Fletcher couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something very strange about those people.

"Don’t worry. Just wait for my orders," Nina said, a faint smile playing on her lips. She looked at the metal plates blocking the way ahead and pointed at them. "Leo, Alaric, use your Superpowers to melt through it!"

"Understood!"

The two of them immediately stepped forward, while the others moved to the sides as Nina had instructed.

Soon, the blocked tunnel was forced open by their Superpowers. A blast of freezing air instantly rushed over them!

Nina immediately told the two to step aside, then erected a Diamond Sand Cover around everyone. Inside the Diamond Sand Cover was a thin layer of Flame Superpower, meant to ward off the biting cold.

ROAR!

The heavy, guttural roar of a zombie echoed from deep within the tunnel. The very next second, a figure charged out!

CRASH!

A Mutated Zombie, covered head to toe in frost, slammed toward Leo and Alaric. However, it was completely blocked by the Diamond Sand Cover.

Leo got a clear look at the towering Mutated Zombie. The freezing air spewing from its mouth lingered in the air. He suddenly realized something.

"There’s a high chance this freezing air carries the zombie virus!" Leo shouted.

If a human inhaled the frosty mist, they risked being infected. No wonder people said that Mutated Water Element Zombies could use poisonous gas!

"The Diamond Sand Cover can fend it off for now. Don’t worry." Nina peered into the tunnel.

It was pitch black inside, and it seemed the opposite end was also blocked off. Having activated her Five Senses Enhancement, however, she could see everything inside clearly. Just as she expected, this Mutated Water Element Zombie was the only thing trapped inside the tunnel.

Watching the massive wave of water the zombie conjured, everyone could practically confirm that this was an Intermediate Water Zombie.

The group waiting by the roadside suddenly panicked. The Water Element Zombie had temporarily given up on Nina and her team inside the Diamond Sand Cover, pivoting instead to attack the people waiting over there!

"Damn it! Ryan, hold it off for now!" Ianna Jacobs glared furiously at Nina’s group. But settling the score with them was impossible right now. The Water Element Zombie was attacking with ferocious momentum, and they had to use all their strength to fend it off.

Still inside the Diamond Sand Cover, Holden Shaw and the others couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. They finally understood why Nina hadn’t fought back earlier and had told them to hold their ground instead.

"Yvonne, store the vehicle in your spatial dimension first. We’re heading into the tunnel," Nina said to Yvonne Willow.

Yvonne nodded. Fortunately, she had been practicing the speed at which she stored supplies recently; the armored vehicle vanished under her palm in an instant.

Nina deactivated the Diamond Sand Cover, and they dashed into the tunnel while the other group was busy fending off the Water Element Zombie.

"Looks like someone trapped that zombie in here, then escaped through the other end of the tunnel," they discussed as they ran.

A Fire Dragon circled overhead, not only illuminating the passageway but also bringing warmth to the freezing tunnel.

"Do you see the mark on the wall?" Nina pointed at the metal plates sealing the end of the tunnel ahead, which indeed bore a large symbol.

"Is that the City D Base’s SOS mark?" Chase Gallagher asked.

The City D Base not only provided survivors with signal flares for emergencies but had also publicized its own unique SOS mark. Any stranded survivor could leave this mark, and if a rescue team spotted it, they would definitely initiate a rescue operation. Of course, if other survivors saw it, they could also choose to help depending on the situation. Once a rescue was successful, they could claim corresponding rewards upon returning to the base, and their team’s name would be publicly commended.

"Yeah, someone must have left it," Nina replied. They just didn’t know if the person was still alive.

Nina had a bad feeling about the situation, as her system map indicated that the road ahead was impassable.

Leo and Alaric quickly broke through the other metal barricade.

The Fire Dragon hovered in front of them, but the sight ahead left everyone stunned. At the end of the tunnel lay a stretch of road jutting outward, littered with the corpses of zombies and zombified animals. But the road ended abruptly just a hundred meters ahead, completely severed as if sliced cleanly through by the adjacent mountain.

"It looks like... a dead end?" Leo said in disappointment.

It was clearly a sheer cliff. The collapsed mountain rocks had crushed the narrow road entirely. It was impossible for anyone to still be alive in a place like this.

"Over there." Nina pointed at a metal signpost near the edge of the cliff. The metal sign was planted amidst the rubble, forged into the exact shape of the SOS signal.

"Could someone have left this mark before falling?" Warren Ramsey secured a Wood Element Vine to the adjacent rocks and peered over the edge.

Below was unmistakably a hundred-meter drop. The mountains on both sides had completely crumbled, having endured god knows what.

"Even if they were alive before they fell, it’s virtually impossible for them to survive now," Chase deduced. In this freezing weather, even a Superpower User would struggle to survive outdoors.

"But what if someone is still alive?" Elara Dolan whispered. Besides, she remembered that the base offered quite a generous reward for rescues.

"How could anyone still be alive—" Alaric started to argue, but stopped when he saw Nina gesture for them to be quiet.

On the silent road, a faint human voice, sounding as though it came from beneath the earth, called out something.

"Someone’s calling for help!" Warren exclaimed. The voice was coming from below the cliff! He immediately crouched by the edge and shouted down, "Where are you?"

Warren’s voice echoed through the ravine. Sensing something, Nina instantly ordered Wayne Warner to yank Warren back!

The voice below wasn’t crying for help—it was warning them to look out!

CLATTER CLATTER.

Loose rocks from the mountainsides began to tumble down. A loud tremor followed, and a massive creature with long antennae appeared on the hillside beside them.

"Is that... a cow?" they said, looking up.

The antennae on the creature’s head were like giant, sharp steel spikes. Its flesh was entirely rotted, but its silhouette vaguely resembled that of a zombified cow.

ROAR!

The giant zombified cow opened its maw, shooting out a barrage of Gold Spikes. Nina conjured a Diamond Sand Wall at the very first second, blocking the Gold Spikes.

Meanwhile, the zombified cow charged down the rocky slope directly toward them!

BOOM!

A Fire Dragon slammed into the Mutated Zombie Cow. Leo also reacted quickly, manifesting strands of golden silk threads that entangled the creature as it landed nearby.

"Wayne, use Control!" Nina ordered. Along with the golden silk threads, a blinding blue arc of Thunder Superpower instantly wrapped around the zombie cow.

CRACKLE!

The massive zombie cow struggled on the ground a few times, while the golden silk threads pierced through its pale, lifeless eyes.

"Don’t tell me this thing caused all this destruction," Leo said, looking at the devastated mountainside around them.

Fortunately, Nina had noticed it in time. If the Mutated Zombie Cow had managed to ram into them first, they would have had a hard time defending themselves.

Below the cliff, a man with a hoarse voice called out to his unconscious teammates. He was cradling a woman in his arms, her body already stiff.

The man wept, "Fern... Fern, wake up. Someone’s here to save us."