Chapter 399: Chapter 399: A Seemingly Fair Trade

Only after watching them drink down the "Healing Potion" did Nina Jacobs accept the Crystal Cores.

[Host has completed a supply transaction. "The Doomsday Supplier" title has been triggered. 200 System Experience Points awarded.]

Along with the increase in System Experience Points, the "Selfless Savior" delivered a new batch of "Healing Potions."

"Can you tell me where you encountered the Zombie Lizard Swarm?"

Nina Jacobs asked.

According to Cassian Lynch, the road in question was quite far, and it had been relatively safe when they’d traveled it before.

But this time, they’d run into zombies and a Zombie Lizard Swarm on the very same path.

This anomaly concerned Nina Jacobs.

Cassian Lynch took out a map. "It should be right about here."

"Here?"

Nina Jacobs realized the spot Cassian Lynch pointed to was on the same route as where she had encountered the train.

She just hadn’t gone to that specific location before.

"In any case, be careful if you head out again."

Cassian Lynch assumed Nina Jacobs was just asking so she could avoid the dangerous route.

"It... it really doesn’t hurt as much as it did a moment ago."

One of the men, who had been groaning in pain just moments before, spoke up.

"Don’t worry, Fatty. Miss Jacobs’s Hemostatic Medicine is a wonder drug. As long as you can make it through the night, you’ll definitely survive."

Reginald Sutton and Fatty used to be good friends.

The man called Fatty was actually of average build.

Nina Jacobs later learned he’d gotten the nickname because he had weighed over two hundred pounds before the apocalypse.

"Really?"

A spark of hope lit up in Cassian Lynch’s eyes.

He had noticed that the wound on Killian Hayes’s abdomen had actually stopped bleeding.

"It’s true. Killian Hayes, just focus on resting. You’re going to be fine,"

Cordelia added.

"Nutrient Solution and water, 300 Crystal Cores for the lot. Interested?"

Nina Jacobs asked.

"Of course!"

Cassian Lynch immediately pulled another case of Crystal Cores out from under the plank bed.

"We’ll take as much as you have."

He didn’t know why someone would be selling water at a time like this, let alone at such a low price, but with his companions’ lives on the line, he couldn’t spare the time to ask questions.

"This is all the Nutrient Solution I have. As for the water..."

Nina Jacobs looked at Cordelia, who took the cue and produced a full bucket of water from her space.

Nina Jacobs noticed that ever since they’d arrived, the little girl in the corner had been watching them.

The girl looked like she had been cleaned up, but Nina could vaguely recognize her as Zoraida.

"These all belong to Miss Jacobs. I’m just holding them for her,"

Cordelia explained.

She had come to Lornwood Base with her space full of water, but it was all at Nina Jacobs’s instruction, and it all belonged to Nina Jacobs.

She had no right to take it out whenever she pleased.

Cassian Lynch and the others understood, of course; after all, they had often relied on Space Superpower Users in the same way in the past.

As Nina Jacobs accepted the 300 Crystal Cores, she once again triggered "The Doomsday Supplier" title and earned more System Experience.

After taking the Crystal Cores, Nina Jacobs left with Wayne Warner.

"She’s really just finding different ways to save people, isn’t she..."

Reginald Sutton mused.

"Yeah. After all this time with her, I’ve noticed she’s always doing things that look like fair trades but are actually her way of helping people."

Cordelia felt the same way as Reginald Sutton.

"Oh, Zoraida’s here too. She’s looking a lot more presentable today."

Killian Hayes had also spotted Zoraida in the corner.

Zoraida walked over, glanced at his wound, then reached out and touched his forehead.

"I’m fine now, don’t worry.

That lady’s medicine is very effective."

Killian Hayes said with a smile.

The sky was growing dark. Unfamiliar with the situation inside the base, Nina Jacobs decided against sending out the Little Zombie Rat to investigate, partly to avoid causing a commotion.

She activated her "Five Senses Enhancement," but all that reached her ears was a jumble of random noises. It seemed she couldn’t gather any useful information.

"Just where are Lornwood Base’s supplies?"

Nina Jacobs muttered to herself.

According to Cordelia and the others, Lornwood Base did have a warehouse for storing supplies, but no one knew where it was.

Nearby, Lexy was playing with a wind-up toy, and Wayne Warner would occasionally wind it up for the little creature and watch it play.

Meanwhile, the two large water tanks in the room had already been filled with water by Lexy.

Looking at the water, Nina Jacobs suddenly remembered something.

She said to Wayne Warner, "I’m going out for a bit."

"Mm."

Seeing that Nina Jacobs had no intention of taking him with her, Wayne Warner sat back down.

Nina Jacobs took out a letter of introduction.

It was addressed to Jared Crawford. She remembered Valerius Lucas saying that Jared Crawford was the man in charge of the Correctional Unit.

’Perhaps he knows something.’

The base was nearly deserted, with only the occasional sound of loud sobbing echoing through the area.

Nina Jacobs kept her head down as she walked, following the address on the letter to a door made of wooden planks.

She knocked softly on the door.

From inside came what sounded like something tipping over.

After a long while, the door opened with a CREAK.

The person who opened the door was a frail, middle-aged woman.

"Who are you looking for?" the woman asked.

"I’m looking for Jared Crawford. Is he here?"

Two months had passed, so Valerius Lucas and his group had no idea about Jared Crawford’s current circumstances.

The woman was silent for a long moment before saying, "He’s dead."

Nina Jacobs had already guessed as much. She sighed, pulled a bottle of water and a few packs of compressed biscuits from her backpack, and said, "I’m sorry for your loss."

Seeing the items in Nina Jacobs’s hands, the middle-aged woman covered her face and began to cry.

She refused Nina Jacobs’s kind gesture but said, "Please, come inside."

After a moment’s hesitation, Nina Jacobs followed her inside.

They were in a dilapidated five-story building, with about three households on each floor. Jared Crawford’s home was the one in the farthest corner.

The room was sparsely furnished. The round table in the center was covered with a white cloth, on top of which sat a wooden box.

"Tell me... who sent you to find him?"

The woman’s voice was somewhat hoarse.

Nina Jacobs held out the letter of introduction. "It was Valerius Lucas."

"So it was him...

If I had known back then, I would have made him leave with Valerius Lucas. It’s my fault! I’m the one who got him killed!"

The woman’s hands trembled as she took the letter and began to read.

"How did Mr. Crawford die?" Nina Jacobs asked.

The woman explained that she was Jared Crawford’s wife, Chrysanthe Abbott. Jared had protected her all the way from the time of the acid rain until they reached the base.

Chrysanthe Abbott clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. "He was... he was beaten to death."

It turned out that Jared Crawford had indeed been in charge of the Correctional Unit, but two months ago, a major reshuffling of positions began within the base.

The smart ones all requested to leave their posts voluntarily, but Jared Crawford couldn’t let go of his job. He wanted to change the system in the Correctional Unit and prevent it from becoming a killing field.

But then one day, he never came home.

The next time Chrysanthe Abbott saw him, he was already a cold corpse, his body covered in injuries, with even his bones shattered.

"They said he participated in a deathmatch. What a joke! Mr. Crawford hated fighting tournaments the most. How could he possibly have joined one?"

Chrysanthe Abbott replied.

’Two months ago?’

Nina Jacobs thought to herself.

’A lot of things seem to have happened two months ago.’

’Jenna said the aid society stopped distributing water.’

’Edmund Lawson said the base conducted a major registration drive.’

’Chrysanthe Abbott said the base went through a major personnel shake-up, and Jared Crawford died.’

’All of these things happened two months ago.’

’Could it all be a coincidence?’

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