The burly man gave them no time to react. He pressed the fire button before he’d even finished speaking.

BOOM!

The rocket’s power was immense, blasting a hole straight through the entire factory building.

Tyson Hughes had already used his Speed Element Superpower to dodge at the first possible moment.

Amid the swirling smoke, he looked toward Nina Jacobs in the distance.

A shield half a man’s height stood before her. Her position had clearly been hit by the blast, but thanks to the shield, she appeared completely unscathed.

Inside the factory, thick with the smell of gunpowder.

Facing the others’ impending attacks, Nina Jacobs’s expression remained unchanged as the Vajra Shield before her dissolved into particles of sand and stone that floated around her body.

A Fire Serpent roared to life and charged the burly man, who was just about to launch another attack!

"Zhao the Fourth, look out!"

But it was too late. The Fire Serpent had already coiled around the burly man’s body.

With a WHOOSH, Zhao the Fourth was engulfed in flames.

A scream rang out, but within seconds, the towering, flaming figure had melted into a pile of sludge.

"How dare you kill someone!"

The others were horrified. It was the first time they had met Nina Jacobs, and they never imagined she would be so ruthless.

Even more shocking was the fact that the rocket blast had failed to harm either of them.

"So you’re allowed to kill me, but I’m not allowed to kill you back?" Nina Jacobs retorted.

’After killing Zhao the Fourth, the system triggered my "Justifiable Self-Defense" title.’

’Including Icarus Golding, that leaves nine of them.’

"I think you’re looking to die! Everyone, attack!" Vance yelled, condensing several Wind Blades.

At the same time, a storm of Gold Spikes, accompanied by Wood Element Vines and a Thunder Element Superpower, all hurtled toward Nina Jacobs!

"You guys are making me look bad,"

Seeing everyone ganging up on Nina Jacobs, Tyson Hughes quickly used his Thunder Element Superpower to intercept two of the Gold Element Superpower Users.

The Gold Spikes in mid-air suddenly fizzled out. The two Gold Element Superpower Users were shocked to find that Tyson Hughes could actually use his Thunder Element Superpower to stop their Gold Spikes!

CRACK!

A flash of lightning lit up the factory.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Icarus Golding had already slipped out through the hole blasted in the factory wall.

He was the only one who knew just how dire the situation was.

Because he had witnessed their power firsthand.

The car they had arrived in was parked just outside the abandoned factory’s courtyard wall.

But as he ran, he had no idea that his every move was already within Nina Jacobs’s field of perception.

Meanwhile, Nina Jacobs had already dispatched another person with a Vajra Needle.

Hearing a scream from outside, the corners of her mouth curled into a barely perceptible smile.

Icarus Golding stared in disbelief at the wound on his hand, which had begun to turn black.

The creature that had just bitten him was not a rat.

It was a Zombie Rat!

He had been infected with the zombie virus!

"Impossible, how could this be?"

Icarus Golding watched the purplish-black veins spread rapidly across his skin. An unbearable wave of nausea overcame him, and he couldn’t help but vomit a mouthful of blood tainted with rotting flesh...

Back in the factory, only the woman named Amy Lynch remained.

Tyson Hughes was fiddling with some instruments and an assortment of jars and bottles.

"So this is your registration?

So what exactly does your organization do?"

Tyson Hughes asked.

Coils of blue lightning from the Thunder Superpower were still wrapped around Amy Lynch, numbing her body and rendering her immobile.

She glared at Tyson Hughes, but what infuriated her more was watching that Nina Jacobs woman rummaging through the corpses of Vance and the others.

She was even pocketing the occasional Crystal Core and weapon.

Even the Mystic Ice Core they had gone to great lengths to find had been pocketed by Nina Jacobs.

"You... you’ve gone too far!"

Amy Lynch gritted her teeth, her hands, bound behind her back, seeming to fumble for something.

Nina Jacobs, who had gone back to counting the Crystal Cores in a wooden box, spoke without looking up. "Be careful. She’s a Space Superpower User."

Hearing this, Tyson Hughes instantly appeared behind Amy Lynch and saw, just as expected, a grenade clutched in her hand.

She was about to take them all down with her.

"If you’re that eager to die, I’ll grant your wish."

With a cold glint in his eyes, Tyson Hughes grabbed Amy Lynch with one hand and vanished from the factory in a flash.

A moment later, the sound of an explosion echoed from the distance.

Nina Jacobs pulled an envelope from Leon Young’s body. The handwriting inside was flamboyant, but all it said was a single address.

It was for Tamberly, the place they had just mentioned.

’She remembered them saying it was a supply pickup point, right?’

A flicker of interest lit up in Nina Jacobs’s eyes.

She put the envelope away before Tyson Hughes got back.

When Tyson Hughes returned, he saw that Nina Jacobs had tied up Icarus Golding.

It was clear, however, that Icarus Golding had already turned into a zombie.

’Why is she tying up a zombie?’

Tyson Hughes couldn’t help but ask the question out loud.

"When a Mutated Zombie confronts a human, it reacts by attacking or defending with its Superpower.

And Icarus Golding was a Space Element Superpower User before he died."

Nina Jacobs answered.

Tyson Hughes burst out laughing. "Don’t tell me you’re trying to get the stuff out of its pocket dimension?"

It was the first time he had ever seen someone try to loot a zombie’s pocket dimension.

But his laughter died down quickly.

Nina Jacobs had only restrained the zombie’s body.

Enraged, Zombie Icarus Golding opened its maw wide and swung its arms at Nina Jacobs, throwing several heavy-looking bags at her.

Nina Jacobs, meanwhile, had produced two inflatable cushions from somewhere and used them to neatly catch the bags.

They turned out to be several bags of rice.

Seeing this, Nina Jacobs began to gleefully provoke Zombie Icarus Golding.

In just a few minutes, she had acquired more than ten bags of food supplies.

And they were all the largest size available—25-kilogram sacks.

"..."

Tyson Hughes watched from the sidelines, dumbfounded.

’He couldn’t believe this was actually working.’

Zombie Icarus Golding even tossed out an entire iron cabinet. It hit the ground with a loud CRASH, and gold jewelry spilled out everywhere.

Nina Jacobs shot Tyson Hughes a wary glance.

"Need my help?"

Tyson Hughes asked, clearing his throat.

Nina Jacobs thought for a moment. "Why don’t you go get some people for me?" she asked.

"Get people?"

Tyson Hughes was surprised that Nina Jacobs wasn’t being polite with him at all.

Not only that, she was turning him into an errand boy.

"I can, but I deserve to know what this is all about.

You’re investigating The Aegis Conclave too, right?"

Tyson Hughes said, gesturing toward the wrecked factory behind them.

Nina Jacobs nodded. "I wouldn’t call it an investigation. They picked a fight with me first."

’Looks like the Superpower User Alliance has nothing to do with The Aegis Conclave,’ she thought.

After Tyson Hughes left, Zombie Icarus Golding continued to throw things at Nina Jacobs relentlessly.

The items included rice, flour, drinking water, cases of compressed biscuits, canned meat, metal drums full of petroleum, and various safes both large and small.

There were even weapons.

By the time Chase Gallagher, Yvonne Willow, and the others arrived, the courtyard of the abandoned factory was already piled high with supplies.

Heath Chandler had come with them as well.

Nina Jacobs took out a voice recorder, which contained her conversation with Icarus Golding and his group.

As for her deliberate questioning about Wyatt Jacobs, that was just a pretense to make her investigation into The Aegis Conclave seem more legitimate.

"What exactly is The Aegis Conclave up to?

Why do they want this information?"

Heath Chandler said as he looked at the registration form in his hand. He was somewhat regretful that Nina Jacobs and her companion hadn’t left any survivors.

But then again, if it hadn’t been for Nina Jacobs, he wouldn’t have discovered any of this in the first place.