According to Trevor and his group, the area near a county town close to Aethelgard was the most dangerous. They lost quite a few people there.

"And here I was thinking we could also grab some supplies for our base along the way."

Shirley Lucas zoomed in on the offline map on his tablet.

"Aethelgard is no smaller than City D, and it’s a major transportation hub. I imagine there should be plenty of supplies,"

Chase Gallagher said.

However, gathering supplies wasn’t the main goal of their trip. They wouldn’t take unnecessary risks just for that.

"We’ll play it by ear. Besides, I’ve got all this space, hehe."

Shirley Lucas was eager to put his infinite storage space to good use.

"Don’t worry. Based on my experience, we’ll definitely fill up your space on this trip."

Holden Shaw and the others didn’t know about Shirley Lucas’s infinite space yet. They only knew his storage space was huge, but they had no idea just how huge.

Shirley Lucas gave a mysterious smile and continued fiddling with a stone ball, making it appear and disappear in his hand.

This was a method Ian Chandler had taught him. Practicing retrieving items from his space in his free time would not only increase the speed at which he could collect supplies but also extend how long he could use his Superpower.

"Take the right fork up ahead," Nina Jacobs warned.

The map showed the left path was shorter, but it was marked as congested.

They had been away from the base for over two hours now, and the road conditions were gradually becoming more complex.

The leaders of the two vehicles behind them were Adrian Shaw and Joanne Page, respectively.

All Nina Jacobs knew about Joanne Page was that she was a Gold Element Superpower User who was rather quiet and reserved.

Shirley Lucas had mentioned that she was originally qualified to participate in the Superpower User tournament but had voluntarily given up her spot...

Adrian Shaw had heard before that Nina Jacobs was familiar with the roads in City D, but he never imagined she was *this* familiar.

After navigating a few small, unknown roads not even shown on the offline map, the path ahead suddenly cleared up.

Although their three-vehicle convoy had picked up a few "tails," things were going smoothly for now.

"What’s that?"

Leo Hale asked, pointing to a row of exclamation point signs on the side of the road.

The signs looked like they had been put up after the apocalypse began.

"It means the road ahead is potentially dangerous. It’s an area the rescue teams haven’t cleared yet."

The moment Shirley Lucas finished speaking, Nina Jacobs had Holden Shaw slam on the brakes.

"What’s wrong?" Adrian Shaw’s voice came through the walkie-talkie.

"Something’s not right with the road ahead," Nina Jacobs said.

"What’s not right about it?"

It wasn’t just Adrian Shaw who couldn’t see anything wrong; the drivers and team members in the two vehicles behind them couldn’t spot anything unusual either.

"We should get moving. More and more zombies are gathering behind us," Beckett Abbott shouted anxiously, watching the zombies in the rearview.

He had met Nina Jacobs before and remembered her finding a cache of free weapons at a golf course, which she’d had Shirley Lucas bring back to the base.

Since he and Shirley Lucas were old partners, he had signed up for this mission as well.

His companion beside him covered his mouth. "Did you forget what the Base Commander said?"

On this trip, they were to follow all orders from the woman named Nina Jacobs.

If Nina Jacobs said stop, they stopped.

Besides, Adrian Shaw hadn’t said anything.

"Nina, are you sure there’s a problem?" Adrian Shaw asked.

"Yeah. The color of the road is off," Nina Jacobs said, staring at the stretch of asphalt.

At first, she wasn’t certain, but it was a habit she had developed from her excursions in her past life.

She would always stop to investigate the slightest inconsistency and only proceed after confirming it was safe.

Besides, she had just glanced at her system map, and the section of road ahead had, at some point, turned orange.

"It does look a bit strange. Not just the color, the elevation seems off too," Holden Shaw commented.

"Should we get out and take a look?" Jessica Vance asked, eager for action.

By now, Joanne Page and her team were already at the rear, clearing out the zombies that had closed in behind them.

Other than the zombies trailing them, the surroundings seemed normal.

"Leo, you do it."

Nina Jacobs got out of the vehicle and pointed at the abandoned cars on the roadside.

"No problem."

Following Nina Jacobs’s instructions, Leo Hale used his Gold Element Superpower to control a van and move it forward.

The van drove forward normally at first, but a moment later, its body shuddered and it suddenly vanished from sight.

"What happened?!"

Shirley Lucas rubbed his eyes, thinking he must have seen things. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Nina Jacobs already understood. "It’s a trap set by an Earth Element Mutated Zombie."

An Earth Element zombie had dug a pitfall on this road and then covered the surface using its Earth Element Superpower to lure in passing travelers.

Once a vehicle fell into that trap, it would almost certainly become a meal for the zombies.

Sure enough, after the van disappeared, a chorus of zombie roars echoed from below!

Immediately after, zombies began clawing their way out of the ground one by one.

In the shimmering air distorted by the scorching sun, it was as if countless ghouls were crawling out of hell.

"There are a lot of zombies! At least 500 of them!"

Jessica Vance, hovering in the air above the car for a moment, got a clear view of the scene below.

Who would have thought that such a trap was hidden beneath a seemingly ordinary road surface?

Thank goodness Nina Jacobs was so cautious.

"All units, attention! Prepare for combat!"

A wave of fear washed over Adrian Shaw in hindsight.

"I can’t believe we ran into zombies like this before we’re even out of City D’s jurisdiction," Shirley Lucas added.

This type of Mutated Zombie was rare; they used to call them Sentient Zombies.

Watching the zombies still emerging from the ground, Leo Hale had already started controlling the abandoned cars at the roadside, smashing them into the horde all at once.

However, a Brute Zombie blocked the way.

ROAR!

The Brute Zombie lifted a car and hurled it at the group!

THUD!

Wayne Warner kicked the incoming car back, crushing a swath of zombies.

"Thanks."

Leo Hale didn’t dare to be reckless again; otherwise, it would be like he was just handing weapons to the zombies.

"There it is!"

Amidst the horde of zombies, Nina Jacobs spotted a Mutated Zombie hiding behind the Brute Zombie.

"A Sentient Zombie. It’s said they’ve awakened their predatory instincts," Shirley Lucas said. And what they preyed on... were humans.

"There are a lot of Mutated Zombies. Snipers Gareth Rowan and Cedric Coleman, prioritize taking them out."

In just two or three minutes, the team members were all in position, and Adrian Shaw quickly issued commands to the Superpower Users of each element.

As for the rear, Joanne Page was leading people to handle it, and it didn’t seem to be a major problem.

Trevor and his group couldn’t help but feel a sense of admiration as they watched the well-trained personnel from City D Base.

After a few consecutive gunshots, several Mutated Zombies fell to the ground.

The zombies at the front had already started clashing with the rescue team members.

"Captain, zombies are coming from the right, too!"

Jessica Vance’s Wind Element Superpower currently allowed her to hover in the air for over ten seconds.

Behind a fence taller than a person on the right side of the road, she could already see zombies swarming toward them.

"Then let’s just kill them all first."

A clear glint of excitement was in Nina Jacobs’s eyes.

Joanne Page pulled her long blade from a zombie’s head, just in time to see two Fire Serpents roaring toward the side.

"Joanne, do you think she’ll help?" Maxwell Ziegler asked from the side.

"I don’t know."

Joanne Page glanced at the powerful Fire Element attack in the distance before finally looking away.