"Zee," Nerith’s acting was quite convincing. She hugged her daughter and sobbed.

In Mateo’s eyes, he would see that Zerra’s parents were filled with scratches, dirt, and blood. However, it was the illusion she had cast on them.

Nerith’s mastery over illusion was better than Zerra.

Even if in the illusion Mateo saw they had light injuries, they weren’t severe and the two could still walk and move normally. Hence, after the parents and daughter reunited, they followed them moving around for the mission.

"Let’s check this building." Cassias suddenly stopped.

"Did you sense something?" Zerra asked.

The man hummed in response. His mental power was more powerful than her. Most likely, he also had enhanced his ability using the spiritual energy to spread his senses further. As such, he already found the place and people beforehand.

"Then, let’s go in," Mateo said, frowning deeply.

The building no longer had roofs. One side of the wall was also gone. It was unknown what kind of building it once was.

Despite its abandoned state, the place was quite wide, filled with some rooms inside. Mateo was the first to enter the place.

"Be careful." Zerra warned, clutching her mom’s hand.

They all followed Mateo, pretending to search around the rooms. There were zombies coming out from them, and they solved the zombies quickly.

She sniffed, sensing a rotten smell that was different from zombies, somewhat fresh with the hint of metallic scent of blood. She and Cassias exchanged glances before they headed in a particular direction.

Since her parents also joined them, Mateo didn’t want to be separated. He stopped opening the rooms and followed the group. They arrived in front of a room.

"The rotten smell is quite different." Mateo commented.

Once they opened the door, the group took a few steps back. The scene inside looked as if the zombies had dug bodies out of a cemetery.

Everyone dealt with the zombies at once. Although Nerith’s illusion ability wasn’t as potent when it was used on the humans, she could still stall the zombies a little, which gave her a chance to stab them.

Not long after, they all finished dealing with the zombies.

"Already all bones, yet still twitching..." Mateo trailed off.

Indeed, it was such a strange sight. There was a zombie with its hands and feet consisting only of all the bones. The intact places were the skull and chest, where its heart lies.

The zombie was still twitching madly, even intending to get up and attack them. Alas, its movement wasn’t that fast. The zombie could only drag itself slowly toward them, lacking the ferocity due to its slow speed.

"This should be one of the fallen team members," Zerra muttered.

Mateo watched worriedly as Zerra approached the crawling zombie. Meanwhile, her family members were a lot more calm.

Her whip struck the zombie’s bones, then its head. The zombie let out a broken beast-like roar, and yet it soon was rendered immobile. The bones turned into dust.

Zerra picked up something from the ground and put it in the inner space.

"I already retrieved the item. Let’s go back." She bit her lip solemnly. Besides the zombie, there were also other skeletons, which were most likely the dead zombie’s previous teammates.

The people who received her small team’s report were shocked. Not only Zerra and others retrieved the important item the base had been looking for; she even found her parents.

It was too much of a coincidence, wasn’t it? Yet, no matter what, as long as it didn’t concern things that would harm the base, the higher-ups wouldn’t care too much about it.

On the way back, they met Anita, whose complexion was still so haggard.

"You finally found your parents?" After they exchanged a simple greeting, Anita sized up Nerith and Alaric before offering them a smile. "Hello, Auntie, Uncle. I am glad that you two are safe."

Zerra’s parents greeted her back, exchanging some pleasantries before they parted ways. From the angle they could see, Anita’s eyes flashed with coldness and her hands clenched before she stomped away.

Azir came to find her when he heard they had finally returned. His eyes widened when he noticed the resemblance between Nerith and Alaric’s looks to Zerra. She inherited their combined features.

"Auntie, Uncle, are you...?" He trailed off, not wanting to make wild assumptions.

Nerith smiled. Azir somewhat reminded her of a certain rebellious son. She had known about his presence, but it was the first time they had met each other.

She nodded. "We are Zee’s parents."

Azir smiled and enthusiastically led them to their room. There were Ashley and others inside; they already exited the hospital room. The doctors had declared them only needing time to recover.

The rest also introduced themselves to Zerra’s parents. They spent the rest of the time getting along with each other.

When the night became deeper and everyone had gone to sleep, the four celestial beasts formed a barrier to block others from eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Mom, Dad, we haven’t told you yet." Zerra took a deep breath, her face solemn.

The other three also became more serious. Nerith and Alaric exchanged glances with each other before their discreet gaze turned to Cassias.

They didn’t seem to be that pleased. Cassias was a little bewildered, but he also was filled with some anticipation about what she would say next. Was she going to talk about their relationship?

After what he did hundred years ago, he didn’t expect that the next time he met Zerra’s parents again was in the mortal realm. Hence, he became more restrained... In this place, a dragon like him couldn’t show off his wealth.

All the gemstones he had accumulated were still in the dragon cave. Without showing them his possessions, would they even agree...?

Zerra blinked, noticing the sudden solemn atmosphere. Were they also worried about this matter? Cassias must have secretly told them.

However, Cassias’ face cracked slightly when he heard Zerra’s next words. It wasn’t what he had expected at all. His expression was a little unnatural.

"We found some traces of high-level spiritual beasts in this place. Do you think there are more people who had come here from the Celestial Realm?"