Chapter 29: Trouble

"Why should we?" Nyra frowned in disapproval.

"Anyone who wants to pass should hand over their mission items to us," One of them said, lifting his chin rather arrogantly.

She raised her eyebrows. "We are only required to hand over one third of the supplies we found. It's the shelter's rule."

Since they were offered better accommodation, the ability users needed to pick a mission once a while to gather supplies. The shelter did it out of a sense of urgency.

Because they found out that zombies became noticeably stronger in just half a month. Not to mention the appearance of several mutated animals, which were stronger than zombies or humans, were giving them a sense of crisis.

Thus, they rolled out several missions to gather the most important thing: supplies.

"What shelter rule? You guys don't know that the rule has changed when you all went outside. You need to hand over two-thirds of the supplies now." They scrutinized the car that was filled with a lot of items inside.

Zerra blinked, knowing that those people were another small group of cannon fodders. Their existence was to create a conflict. Still, she also wouldn't succumb to their tyranny just like that.

Clearing her throat, she asked in surprise, "Why did the rule change all of a sudden?"

At the same time, as if fate hated her, a whoosh of wind pulled her hoodie down, showing her fair skin and tender face. Her pair of dark eyes blinked innocently, occasionally with a hint of a fox's cunning. The guards instantly gawked at her.

Compared to the fierce and dirty looking Nyra, who was smeared in mud, weak chicken Zerra's appearance was the complete opposite.

"The situation has changed." They shrugged. "The shelter has more people, and it means more mouths to feed."

However, their eyes flashed when their eyes once again landed on Zerra. Cassias' face, who was beside her, darkened when he saw the look on their faces. He pulled Zerra's hoodie back up, nearly making her stumble in surprise.

She puffed out her cheeks in disapproval and was about to stomp her feet on his when she heard their next words.

"Hey, beauty. How about this? You accompany us brothers for one night and your team doesn't need to hand over the supplies? Sounds good, right?" They openly eyed her lecherously, and then let out a boisterous laughter.

"Although you look dirty, the other lady's figure also isn't bad. You should join too. How is it?"

Zerra's face flushed red in anger. She opened the car door and pulled her pitchfork, wanting to stab them. Yet, before she could do it, Nyra and Cassias had already moved first.

They punched anyone they could get their hands on. Nyra was using her fire ability to burn their clothes to crisp, showing the excellent control of her ability. Cassias didn't fall behind.

Once he touched someone, they would be electrocuted. Their faces became black and all their hair stood up.

"You guys have awakened superpowers!" They muttered before dashing away, frightened.

Zerra was a bit disappointed when she didn't even get the chance to use her pitchfork. So, she chased after the person who had opened his dirty mouth and stabbed his butt.

The man yelped and hissed in pain, but he didn't stop, realizing that they had stepped into a landmine this time. Two people with superpowers in one group. It was usually only one ability user or none at all.

Nyra and Cassias didn't actually hurt them much with their power. They only humiliated them. As she saw those people running away, Nyra's eyes flashed. "Those people are the Brown family's lackeys."

The other family who was lucky enough to gain some control of the military power, nearly on a par with Valez family.

After they went back, they confirmed with Darren. The man looked a bit confused. "The rule is still the same, one third of the supplies. Nothing changed. Where do you hear it from?"

They handed over all the supplies to Darren, not taking any for themselves. Zerra had also worked hard when they were outside, putting supplies they couldn't carry to her space. The supplies they gave to Darren were nothing.

Darren looked touched when he received the supplies, repeatedly thanking them. He cleared his throat and told Nyra while scratching his hair, "If you want to take another mission, you can just invite me."

Nyra smiled and nodded, making no promise.

They went back to their rooms, finding Laziel, who had a displeased look on his face. He pointed to Zerra bitterly. "She could come with you, but why can't I?"

Hearing that, Zerra sneered, "You will just be a burden."

"You think with your strength, you are also not a burden?" Laziel shot back.

"I have my space. I am useful." Zerra proudly lifted her chin. When it came to making fun of Laziel, she wouldn't hold back. Because when their parents weren't looking, Laziel often played malicious pranks on her since they were little.

He'd put hair dye or glue in her shampoo, or use fake insect toys to scare her. Even if he ended up being punished by their parents, he never learned. Zerra, however, understood that it was his way of attracting their dad, Alaric's attention.

He had resentment towards her because their parents only cared about her the most.

Laziel's expression visibly deflated when he heard Zerra's words. There was a hint of envy there. Even after Laziel had suffered from fever, he hadn't awakened any power.

He needed outside stimulation, like a life and death situation, to awaken it.

"I also have my pitchfork." Zerra once again proudly showed off her weapon. None noticed that Cassias let out a small cough when he heard that, looking away.

Darren knocked on the door, interrupting them. He cleared his throat when he entered and saw that everyone's eyes were on him.

"I have some important discoveries to share with all of you." He began. "The Research Institute just announced that they had found some strange items in the zombie's brain."

He held out his hand, showing a red crystal. "They have tried it on some ability users and it's proven to be useful to increase their power. They just need to adjust the properties of the crystal according to the ability user's power."

Zerra took a peek at everyone's expressions. Cassias and Nyra had surprised looks on their faces. Hmph, they were really good at pretending!

"You all might want to gather those things when you go out in the future." Darren finished his words.

Laziel raised his eyebrows, looking at the small, colored bead on Darren's hand with wonder. "Can it be used to awaken people's powers too?"

Darren frowned. "I am not sure. I only received such info from the higher ups. They are telling us to gather the crystal cores and strengthen ourselves if we can."

Laziel looked visibly disappointed after hearing that.

"Does the pitchfork girl live here? Also, the lightning and fire ability users?"

Just as Zerra was about to pretend to ask how they could use the crystal cores, they heard a commotion.

When they opened the door, there were already some people aggressively standing there. Along with Daniel, who was fidgeting nervously and avoiding anyone's eyes.