Chapter 538: Extra - 1: Dream and Reality 2
Men die in pursuit of wealth, just as birds die in pursuit of food.
The announcement of rewards from The Dead City galvanized countless Superpower Users.
While Zombies represented danger, they also represented a great fortune.
With everyone working together, the number of nearby Zombies dwindled until they were nearly nonexistent.
And Shawn Monroe’s situation was becoming rather difficult.
The closer he got to The Dead City, the more Hunting Parties he encountered. Sometimes, he would even run into two different groups while making camp for the night.
Granted, Nora Lowell had been spending more time unconscious than awake recently, so he usually kept her locked and hidden away in the car where others were unlikely to see her.
But there are always unexpected incidents.
On one occasion, he ran into a Hunting Party that included a Superpower User with an olfactory Enhancement.
The man had obviously noticed something.
He kept stealing glances at Shawn Monroe, and his gaze toward the car was filled with suspicion and greed.
However, Shawn Monroe’s superpower had already Promoted to the Seventh Rank. In an era where Promotion was increasingly difficult, that rank held considerable deterrent power. This was especially true for the Superpower Users from The Dead City, whose harsher environment meant their power levels were generally lower than those from other major bases. So, right under his nose, the man ultimately didn’t dare try anything.
This incident made him realize he probably couldn’t proceed to The Dead City as planned.
On the very morning he was hesitating over a new destination, Nora Lowell woke up.
“Where are you going?” Having not spoken for a long time, her voice was dry and hoarse.
Shawn Monroe’s hands paused on the steering wheel, and he turned to look back.
Nora Lowell struggled to sit up from a pile of deliberately disheveled luggage. Her hands and feet were still bound, so she could only tilt her head back slowly, tossing aside the matted, weed-like hair that covered her eyes.
The moment Shawn Monroe got a clear look at her face, he was stunned.
He had actually grown used to this face, which wasn’t Nora Lowell’s true face.
Or, to be more precise, he thought all Zombies looked more or less the same: an ugly, ashen-gray pallor, bulging eyes, distorted features…
In fact, ever since Nora Lowell had eaten a raw Mutant Beast in front of him, he had been reluctant to look at her face. It was an instant reminder of her inhuman side.
It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
But now, he suddenly realized that Nora Lowell was different.
Yes, over this period, her face had undergone a significant change.
Most of the ashen color had faded. Her eyes still bulged slightly, but it was no longer as obvious, and her expression seemed to have softened considerably. While her current appearance couldn’t be called normal, it was infinitely better than before!
Shawn Monroe was shocked.
‘Could a Zombie just turn back into a human on its own? Obviously not! Then something must have caused this…’ He thought it over and over, and his suspicion fell on the bottle of medicine pills Paige Summers had given him when he left Bloodfall Base.
Unfortunately, he had already fed all the medicine pills to Nora Lowell, leaving not a single one behind to study.
‘In that case, should I tell Paige Summers about this?’
As he was mulling it over, Nora Lowell, seeing him remain silent, frowned impatiently. “What… are you going to do with me?”
Seeing her expression, Shawn Monroe was no longer just shocked—he was utterly dumbfounded!
‘She… she actually has facial expressions!’
Although the frown was incredibly faint, he had seen it. Her brows had definitely, undeniably furrowed for several seconds!
Zombies, even the most powerful ones, were expressionless, their faces completely blank.
‘Could it be? Is she really turning back into a human?!’
A storm of emotion erupted in Shawn Monroe’s heart. The development was so sudden, so unbelievable, that for a moment, he didn’t know how to react.
After a long moment, he finally gave a dry, slow reply, “We’re moving.”
Since he couldn’t go to The Dead City, he would just find a quiet place instead.
He was intimately familiar with the terrain in this area from his time as the Young City Lord, having traveled it back and forth countless times. Using this advantage, it didn’t take him long to find a perfectly concealed spot on the side of a small mountain northwest of The Dead City.
Nora Lowell remained conscious the entire time, but she simply leaned back quietly and didn’t speak again.
In truth, it wasn’t just Shawn Monroe whose mind was in turmoil; hers was in an even greater mess.
When Shawn Monroe had first taken her, she had fallen into despair, certain that she was going to die.
But the reality was the complete opposite of what she had imagined.
Shawn Monroe seemed to have no intention of killing her for revenge. Instead, he had hidden her away and then taken to the road with her, just the two of them…
But this brought her no sense of relief.
Without her superpower, her despair had reached its zenith.
‘If I were still human, even without a superpower, I would at least have my beautiful body as an asset. But as a Zombie, I have nothing left. My only fate is to be hunted by every Superpower User out there.’
‘What’s the point of living anymore…’
‘But I don’t have the courage to end it myself.’
And so she hoped Shawn Monroe would “come to his senses” soon. A clean death at his hands would be better than this constant torment.
‘Even though he’s no longer hiding behind the facade of Landon Howell, I’ll never forget the revenge he took on me. Besides, if he hadn’t locked me up, I never would have been captured by those people from Eldoria and used as a test subject. I never would have become a Zombie! None of this would have happened…’
‘Do I hate him?’
‘I used to, I suppose.’
‘But now, it doesn’t matter anymore.’
Nora Lowell gave a bitter smile. ‘Yes, none of it matters now. I already killed Gryphon Lowell and that mother-daughter pair, avenging my mother and myself. I even conquered Norgate for a time. Though… it was a beautiful dream that ended too soon. When I fell into the hands of those people from Eldoria again, I learned that my actions had been under their control all along, that I was just a pawn. But still, I did succeed, for a while.’
‘So, let this be the end.’
‘My life may have been short, but it was certainly eventful…’
“What are you spacing out for? Get out!” Shawn Monroe slapped the car door, calling to her.
Nora Lowell snapped out of her reminiscence. She glanced at Shawn Monroe outside the car, then lowered her gaze and climbed out.
“In there.”
Nora Lowell obediently turned and entered a small cave in the cliff face. Shawn Monroe let out a breath, grabbed some food, then used a Wind Blade to slice a thick tangle of vines from the cliff and cover the car completely.
It was a very small cave, barely large enough to fit four or five people.
With the two of them sitting inside and a small fire lit between them, they had to press up against the cave walls.
Shawn Monroe controlled the flames, skewering a few pieces of Mutant Beast meat on branches to roast.
Nora Lowell stared at the flickering firelight, so close to her, and suddenly realized something. She wasn’t afraid of it at all!
This was strange.
Ever since she turned into a Zombie, she had been terrified of fire. Even back when she had her superpower, she hadn’t dared to get too close. But now, she clearly had no superpower. Logically, she should be nothing more than a common, low-level Zombie, yet she was unexpectedly unafraid!
Puzzled, she lifted her hands and stared at them. After a long moment, she whipped her head toward Shawn Monroe. “Do you… have a mirror?”