Chapter 548: Idol

"Could they have been kidnapped by outsiders?" Leo Hale analyzed after hearing this.

Nina Jacobs, however, thought differently. "If they were the ones who kidnapped them, they aren’t necessarily outsiders. They accurately pinpointed Soul Slayer’s Space Superpower User."

Caleb Carter had mentioned that they only gave directions to the base and never even stepped out of the vehicle. This meant the other party already had some understanding of Soul Slayer. Asking for directions was just an excuse.

"It’s highly likely they took the opportunity while asking for directions to tamper with your vehicle," Chase Gallagher said, agreeing with Nina.

Nina even had a feeling that those people might still be inside the City D Base.

Caleb hammered his fist against the ground in frustration. "Out of fifteen people, only four of us are left. This is my fault." He shouldn’t have taken everyone out to search for supplies at a time like this.

"Speaking of supplies, what exactly did you find? And where did you find them?" Nina asked.

At the mention of supplies, Caleb felt that their sacrifices were even more worthless. Since the people of Stella had saved their lives, he answered without reservation, "I got the information from a dying man in the base hospital.

"His team had met with an accident outside. They were attacked by Intermediate Zombies in the North Suburbs, and he was the only survivor brought back.

"I thought that since I saved him, he wouldn’t lie to me."

Caleb had led the team to rescue him, so right before dying, the man told Caleb about the supplies. It turned out that before their team’s Space Superpower User froze to death, they had released all the supplies from their space in an abandoned factory in the North Suburbs... Later, that man also died not long after due to severe frostbite.

Caleb began planning after getting this information, and Fern Spencer joined in. However, when they rushed to the abandoned factory in the North Suburbs, they didn’t find the supplies the man had spoken of.

"So you found absolutely nothing after getting there?" Yvonne Willow asked.

Caleb’s chapped, frostbitten lips cracked further, revealing traces of blood as he offered a bitter smile. "There was something, but it wasn’t the supplies he mentioned. There were only two boxes of medical supplies."

He had actually gotten so many of his brothers killed for two measly boxes of medicine.

Although Nina still had questions in her heart, seeing Caleb’s guilt-ridden and remorseful state, she knew now wasn’t the time to press further.

"Ca...leb."

Just then, a weak voice spoke up.

Nina looked at the person who was slowly regaining consciousness. She remembered his name was Conor; he was one of the people Caleb had taken to the outpost outside Hugo Crawford’s base.

Seeing Conor wake up, Caleb shuffled over on his knees, anxious yet overjoyed. "Conor, how do you feel?"

"I’m fine... Besides, if it weren’t for you, we would’ve died a long time ago," Conor comforted him in halting breaths.

Most of the people in their team owed their lives to Caleb, which was why they followed him so fiercely and loyally. This time, they had ventured into danger precisely because Caleb wanted to secure more survival supplies for everyone.

Hearing Conor’s words only deepened Caleb’s guilt. "As long as you’re okay. It’s just that Mr. Coleman and the others..."

"Drink some ginger tea. It’ll help with the frostbite recovery." Just by looking at Conor’s pained expression, Nina knew he wasn’t perfectly fine. Recovering from frostbite was only the beginning.

The syringe dose was limited, containing only one-fifth of a bottle of Healing Potion. Although it had saved his life, his skin was now red, swollen, and ulcerated. He must be enduring agonizing pain and itchiness all over his body.

After Caleb fed Conor some ginger tea, Fern and the other two also gradually woke up.

Fern looked at Nina sitting nearby, a trace of confusion in her eyes. She muttered, "Are you... my great-grandma?"

Was her great-grandma really this young?

"..."

If the confusion in Fern’s eyes wasn’t so genuine, Nina would have started to suspect her brain had been damaged by the cold.

Seeing Fern wake up, Caleb quickly walked over. "Fern, you’re not dead. This is Captain Nina Jacobs."

"Nina... Jacobs? My idol? Did my idol save me?" Fern tried to grab Nina’s hand, only to find she couldn’t lift her arms at all. The sudden wave of pain and itching all over her body made her cry out. Only then did she realize that her skin was rotting terribly.

"Don’t move yet. I’ll feed you something to warm up your body," Nina said.

Never in her wildest dreams did Fern imagine that her idol would one day personally feed her ginger tea. Nina felt a bit uncomfortable being stared at so intensely by Fern. In the past, Fern did often mention Nina while chatting with Claire Warner at the commissary, but Nina had no idea when she had become the woman’s idol.

"Caleb, getting to see my idol makes it all worth it. You don’t owe me anything," Fern said to him, pretending not to notice the guilt in his eyes.

"Save those words for when your injuries are healed." Caleb knew how difficult it was to recover from severe frostbite. There were plenty of people who suffered sudden organ failure or required amputations during the recovery period. That was his biggest concern right now.

Fortunately, after the base hospital admitted them, examinations showed no major underlying issues. Aside from the shocking blisters on their skin, their internal organs hadn’t sustained any significant damage.

The remaining members of Soul Slayer rushed over upon hearing the news. Soon, word that the people of Stella had rescued Caleb spread throughout the base.

At home, Vera Coleman and Daniel Hale sighed in dismay after listening to Leo Hale describe the day’s events.

"So, if it weren’t for those two vehicles, you guys might not have even run into Caleb and his team," Vera said.

"Although my dearest mother’s perspective is quite unique, who’s to say it isn’t true?" Leo took a bite of his steamed bun. The whole incident was indeed quite a coincidence.

"Who exactly were the people in that car? Logically speaking, no one in the base should dare to provoke Stella like that," Sherry Renner found it very strange as well.

"Who knows? All we know is that their captain shares the same last name as Nina and is also a woman," Leo said, turning to Nina. "Do you know them?"

"I don’t," Nina replied without hesitation.

If possible, she didn’t want Vera to know about Ianna Jacobs and Sterling Jacobs. Vera and Daniel had always had a great relationship, and it had been over a decade since Vera last saw Sterling.

That night, Nina returned to her room and activated her Five Senses Enhancement.

After using it during the day, she still had over forty minutes left of her daily allowance. It should be more than enough to gather some information.

Chase had already told her where Ianna and the others lived, so she easily locked her focus onto a specific area. It was during her search of this area that she keenly picked up on a few sentences spoken in a strange language.

Nina couldn’t understand the language, but she was certain it was Veridian.

Were there Veridians in the base?

Nina listened for a moment before giving up, though she silently memorized the location where the voice came from.

Right after, a remarkably loud wailing made her frown slightly. The voice sounded like Ianna. Someone nearby was consoling her, but the more they tried to comfort her, the louder the wailing grew.

"...She hit me. She actually hit me! WAAAH... What kind of older sister... hits her younger sister? It was my first time meeting her, and she hit me! WAAAH..."

"Maybe she didn’t recognize you?" the person beside her tried to soothe.