Chapter 589: Suffering a Loss in Silence

"Did we... actually shake off the Intermediate Zombie?" Leo Mason, a Gold Element Superpower User, still couldn’t quite believe it.

"I told you listening to my brother was the right move. We aren’t short on gas anyway, so we have plenty of time to drain its Superpower," Hannah Grant said, beaming with praise. "You’re amazing, Liam!"

"But we only shook it off. What if it shows up again when we head back?" Zachary Barron was still a bit worried.

"If it shows up again, I’ll fight it," Liam Grant replied.

He wasn’t entirely confident about taking on an Intermediate Mutant Zombie at full strength, but against an Intermediate Zombie with its Superpower nearly depleted, he might just be able to risk a battle.

"Alright, then let’s head back!" Zachary agreed.

"Will the people from Stella be angry? After all, we treated them pretty badly just now," Leo said, hesitating slightly.

"Her? I’m actually looking forward to seeing her angry," Liam said with a faint smirk.

Whenever he remembered how Nina Jacobs had rejected him, a stifling sense of frustration filled his chest. In his past life, she had been completely obedient and devoted to him.

Zachary shot him a strange look, wondering if Liam had lost his mind.

After shaking off the Wind Element Mutated Zombie, they quickly drove back to the abandoned cemetery. However, a large number of zombies had gathered there once again.

The members of Stella were still in their original positions, working together seamlessly to kill the horde. It seemed they had already finished resting.

Seeing this, Hannah couldn’t help but feel a surge of anger. "They clearly still have Superpower left, yet they didn’t help us earlier."

"Enough. Let’s just wait patiently," Liam said, restraining his temper.

He didn’t want the other party to know who was sitting in the car, so they had no choice but to bide their time where they were. An unknown amount of time passed before the zombie horde was finally cleared out. Liam didn’t drive back into the cemetery until the Stella team started digging for Crystal Cores.

However, when they arrived at the underground warehouse, they found it completely empty!

"How is this possible?!" Liam stared at the bare room. There was no way anyone could have easily discovered this place!

"Liam, could you have remembered wrong? Maybe there were never any supplies here to begin with," Zachary suggested. The place looked completely untouched. He had even inspected the area, finding the door lock intact and not a single footprint left behind.

"Impossible. I was just here last month," Liam said, his brows furrowed in a tight frown.

"Let’s go. It’ll be dark soon if we don’t head back." Zachary cursed inwardly, realizing the entire day had been a complete waste of time.

"Could it be the people from Stella?" Hannah asked. "They were the only ones who showed up here just now."

Liam didn’t say a word, but his expression had turned incredibly gloomy. There had been a massive amount of supplies here—enough for him and Hannah to live on for two years without any issues. Yet now, everything had vanished into thin air!

Outside the cemetery gates, Nina was sitting alone in her vehicle. She opened the glass bottle containing the Soul-Attracting Butterfly. Sure enough, a moment later, the creature—which looked just like a withered leaf—twitched and flew out.

Just like last time, the Soul-Attracting Butterfly fluttered over to her shoulder and landed.

Nina took out a small pinch of powder. This was the substance she had ground from the Divine Wood. She wanted to test if the Puppetry Technique could be used to control this Soul-Attracting Butterfly. This was also her secondary objective for coming here today.

Orion Thorne had told her that if the Soul-Attracting Butterfly flew out, the Ainsworth Family Head, who was far away, would sense it. He could even use Talisman Paper to determine its general direction. Although she could have attempted this back at the base, she believed doing it here was foolproof. Because Liam was nearby.

Using her Wind Element Superpower, Nina carefully guided the powder to sprinkle over the faintly visible Soul-Attracting Butterfly. Using her Wood Element Superpower as a conduit, she then attempted to infuse the Divine Wood powder into the creature’s gossamer-thin body.

Just when she thought she was about to fail, the wings of the Soul-Attracting Butterfly actually began to flutter under her command.

"It worked," she murmured.

Nina controlled the puppet butterfly, making it fly off her shoulder. No matter how she directed it, the butterfly smoothly followed the exact flight paths she dictated.

At this moment, someone seemed to be approaching from outside the car. Satisfied, Nina put away the puppet butterfly. As she stepped out of the vehicle, she happened to hear Leo Hale’s voice ringing out.

"So the coward who tried to ambush us earlier was you?"

The person standing opposite him was none other than Liam Grant.

"That wasn’t my intention either. Besides, we’ve already taken care of that Wind Zombie," Liam said, his tone self-righteous. "I just want to ask one question. Did you take the supplies from inside there just now?"

"What supplies? Are you blind? We’ve been here killing zombies this entire time. Plus, why would there be supplies in a place like that? You’re not trying to frame us, are you?" Leo Hale shot back, looking visibly irritated.

"You’re the only ones here. If we don’t ask you, who else are we supposed to ask?" Hannah chimed in.

"What’s going on?" Nina walked over at that moment. Her words were spoken lightly, but the imposing aura surrounding her made her impossible to ignore.

"Nina, they’re claiming we took the supplies they stashed inside," Ian Chandler reported.

Hearing this, Zachary and his group hurriedly explained, "That’s not what we meant. We just wanted to ask if any of you saw anyone else enter the cemetery earlier... or anytime today?"

"We did not," Nina replied, her expression unchanged.

"Captain, I think they’re just trying to scam us," Alaric Fletcher remarked.

"Exactly. Who would stash supplies in a graveyard? That’s so unlucky. They clearly aren’t afraid of cursing themselves," Warren Ramsey added.

Liam furrowed his brows, his gaze meeting Nina’s profound, dark eyes. For some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a hint of mockery hidden within them.

"Do you truly not know?" he pressed.

However, Nina merely cast a cold glance at him and spoke in a chilling tone. "Liam Grant, you tried to ambush us one second, and now you’re turning around to frame us the next. Do you really think Stella is that easy to bully?!"

The moment Nina’s words fell, all the members of Stella immediately moved to surround Liam’s group.

Zachary jumped in fright and frantically explained, "It’s a misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding. We didn’t mean to frame you."

They still needed to survive in the City D Base. Offending Stella would be nothing short of digging their own graves.

"Then get out," Holden Shaw said bluntly.

Zachary signaled Leo Mason and the others with his eyes, and they immediately retreated to their car. Only Liam and Hannah were left standing awkwardly in place.

Nina didn’t spare the siblings another glance. She turned back to her team and said, "It’s time to go."

"Understood, Captain." Wayne Abbott immediately drove their heavily armored, cool-looking modified vehicle over.

Watching the group swagger away right in front of him, Liam felt an inexplicable sense of having been utterly played.

Meanwhile, inside Stella’s vehicle, Leo Hale and the others were grinning from ear to ear, unable to contain their amusement.

"To think it was him! That makes taking those supplies even more satisfying, hahaha!"

"I really didn’t expect it to be his stash. Still, that was a massive amount of supplies," Jessica Vance said with a smile.

They had specifically waited for Ian and another teammate to collect the supplies before carefully sweeping away their footprints and traces. Afterward, they had even used their Wind Element Superpower to lay a fresh, even coat of dust back over the ground.

"I doubt they found any evidence," Nina said.

The sheer volume of supplies they had taken was equivalent to the rewards of a Four Stars task’s zero-cost haul from the system. Liam had no choice but to swallow this massive loss in silence.

"Today was incredibly fruitful. But can they really take down that Intermediate Dual-type Zombie?" Ian voiced the lingering doubt in his mind.