Chapter 603: Villagers

“Since they want to play, we’ll play along.”

Leo Langley looked into the distance.

He was very interested in those immensely powerful modern weapons.

South Riven Base was already extremely short on armaments. If he could get his hands on the weapons those people had…

“The message from Kane says they only have one Space Superpower User. As long as we get our hands on that person, wouldn’t that be enough?” a woman asked.

“Yes, Evelina is right. If the hard way doesn’t work, we’ll try the soft approach. People from these bases all have a savior complex anyway. As long as we get their Space Superpower User, it doesn’t matter if the rest of them die,” another person in the room said.

Leo Langley’s eyes flickered slightly upon hearing this.

This was exactly what he was thinking.

He had already lost some of his men setting up those traps.

“We want the items, but we can’t let the people go to waste either. Wouldn’t it be thrilling to capture a Three-Element Superpower User to guard our door?” Leo Langley chuckled, then flipped directly out the window of the high-rise building.

His Ice Element Superpower poured out from tens of meters in the air, and Leo’s figure slid swiftly down the smooth ice surface.

Meanwhile, Nina Jacobs had already repaired the entire section of the road alongside numerous Earth Element Superpower Users.

“Let’s go,” Nina said to the driver, Mr. Lewis, as she boarded the vehicle.

“Alright! You never cease to amaze, Jacobs.”

Mr. Lewis glanced at the time. Less than half an hour had passed since they started.

It was his first time seeing so many zombies incinerated by just a few weapons.

It was a pity he didn’t have a video camera; otherwise, he definitely would have recorded it to show the guys back at the base.

“Senior, is this the Liaoyuan Crystal? It’s amazing,” Sylvia Shawn couldn’t help but say.

“Yes, it’s a weapon developed by our base’s Weapons Research Institute specifically for the Fire Element Superpower,” Nina explained.

“The Weapons Research Institute… I heard we brought quite a few of their new inventions with us this time. I’d really love to see them if given the chance.”

Sylvia Shawn and the others had attended the mobilization meeting before their departure, and Chester Pearson had told them about this.

If they encountered an emergency, they could use those weapons to save their lives.

“Maybe you’ll get the chance very soon.”

Nina’s gaze drifted toward the distant high-rises.

After activating her Five Senses Enhancement, she could sense someone watching them from the shadows.

Coupled with the series of events over the past two days, she believed someone was trying every possible means to stop them from reaching South Riven Base.

And their methods were insidious.

“Nina, the creatures that dug through here should be the mutated moles we saw before.”

Hartley pulled out two tufts of brown fur.

He had just found them while inspecting the side of the road.

The color of this fur was exactly the same as the mutated moles they had seen earlier.

“Yeah, it definitely is.”

Nina examined the fur. Hartley was inherently a meticulous person, so he had undoubtedly grown suspicious of the events of the past two days as well.

Over a dozen buses continued navigating the pothole-riddled road.

Along the way, Nina had the drivers change routes twice.

It wasn’t until they reached a T-junction that Mr. Lewis finally stopped the vehicle at Nina’s command.

Hartley’s Spiritual Element Superpower had detected people here more than ten minutes ago.

At this moment, a group of people in tattered clothes were kneeling in front of the vehicles.

They were blocking the entire road.

Nina and Hartley exchanged a glance before stepping off the bus with Wayne Warner and a few others.

There appeared to be seventy or eighty of them, men and women alike.

Seeing people step out, they immediately began begging.

“Please, kind souls, give us some food. Save our village,” a woman pleaded, kowtowing repeatedly on the ground.

Seeing this, the others also chimed in with their pleas.

Hartley whispered from behind Nina, “There’s something wrong with these people.”

“Mhm.”

Nina had noticed it too.

Even though they were dressed so thinly and shivering from the cold, there wasn’t a single chilblain on their hands or bodies.

“Who are you?” Nina asked.

“We’re surviving villagers from Peldon. The zombies around here were all cleared out by the men of our village earlier. It’s just that the village is completely out of supplies now, and we’re all on the verge of starving to death. Please, help us!” a man kneeling on the ground said, sizing up the people around Nina as he spoke.

“Villagers? There’s a base in South Riven. Why are you living in a place like this instead of going to the base?” Sylvia Shawn asked as she stepped out of the vehicle.

“Our village still had some surplus grain before, and we had originally planned to go to the base. However, the weather suddenly turned like this. We don’t have vehicles, and we don’t dare venture into areas with a lot of zombies,” the woman from before explained.

“If you don’t believe us, you can come with us to Peldon and see for yourselves!”

“Yes, our village is just over there. There are no zombies inside, and you can come rest your feet for a bit.”

Several of them urged desperately.

“How many people are left in your village?” Nina asked.

“There are still… over two hundred people in the village. But without relief supplies, everyone might not make it!” an older woman said.

“Since that’s the case… Why don’t you lead the way, and we’ll go take a look?” Nina said after hearing Hartley’s earlier warning.

Hartley’s Spiritual Element Superpower had already detected an area of human activity nearby.

The number of detectable people was actually over four hundred.

Sure enough, the moment she said that, the people still kneeling on the ground were overjoyed. They quickly got up and prepared to lead the way.

The so-called Peldon was located behind a ring of low hills.

The outer perimeter of the hills was blocked by multiple walls, appearing to have already reached a certain scale.

After the dozen or so vehicles parked at the village entrance, the gates at the wall’s entryway were closed one by one.

“It really is a trap. What’s your plan?” Shirley Lucas asked.

On the way over, Nina had already warned everyone, and Shirley had agreed with Nina’s proposal.

They had been ambushed too many times along this journey. If they could fish out the people hiding in the dark sooner rather than later, the rest of their trip would likely be much safer.

Sure enough, as soon as Nina stepped off the vehicle, she was completely surrounded.

“It seems our stronghold has welcomed quite a few honored guests today,” a man said, walking out from the village entrance.

He looked to be in his twenties. His gaze was somewhat hollow, but it was also brimming with ruthlessness.

Nina could even smell the stench of blood emanating from him.

“You know we’re honored guests, yet you welcome us in such a crude manner? I suppose it’s true what they say—backwaters breed barbarians,” Julian Wells remarked.

He had also caught the unpleasant scent.

The scent was metallic and cloying, tinged with sour rot, as if it were seeping straight out of these people’s bodies.

Leo Langley burst into laughter. “My apologies, everyone! But since you’re already here, why don’t you come inside and have a seat?”

His eyes locked onto Nina.

Even though he had only caught a few distant glimpses of her, he knew she was the Three-Element Superpower User.

“So hospitable? Then it would be rude to refuse.”

With that, Nina waved her hand, conjuring a massive Diamond Sand Cover that fully enclosed the dozen or so vehicles and all the rescue team members inside.

“Senior!” Sylvia Shawn cried out anxiously from within the sand shield. She hadn’t expected Nina to charge in single-handedly.

Although the Stella members were by her side, the people in this village all looked extremely dangerous.

“I’ll have to ask everyone to rest here for a bit. We’ll be right back,” Nina said with a smile, turning back to the group.

Aside from an Advanced Superpower User whose strength exceeded hers, no one could break this Diamond Sand Cover.