After I Fully Prepared for the Apocalypse, the Ungrateful Cried with Regret

Chapter 26: Chapter 26: All to Her Benefit

For a moment, the family didn’t know how to react.

”Nina, we still have enough supplies at home to last a few more days. If things get really bad, we can just eat a little less. You don’t have to go out and risk your life right now.”

Vera Coleman and Daniel Hale were both extremely worried, but no matter how much they tried to persuade her, it was no use.

”Fine, you can go.”

Daniel Hale finally relented.

It wasn’t that he had been convinced, but rather that he was recalling what Nina Jacobs had said.

’If a greater disaster truly is coming after this one, how are ordinary people like us supposed to survive? It’s better to let the kids get some training in now.’

”Thanks for earlier.”

Leo Hale sat in Nina Jacobs’s car, his heart filled with gratitude.

This was the first time he had been outside in days, and the scene was far more desolate and bleak than he had imagined.

The once-luxurious community had become a wasteland in just a few short days.

The brand-new, European-style architecture now looked like gloomy old buildings from a bygone century.

He kept feeling like many pairs of eyes were watching them from within the villa community.

The feeling of being stared at didn’t disappear until they drove out of the Prosperity Gardens Community.

Leo Hale guessed they must have been the people who had come here seeking refuge.

”Don’t mention it. I was planning on going out anyway.”

”But if your destination isn’t on my way, you’ll have to walk the rest of the way yourself.”

Nina Jacobs admitted frankly.

”I knew you weren’t that nice.”

”Stop, stop, stop! There’s a person there—AHHH!!”

Leo Hale saw what looked like a figure lying on the rain-soaked ground, but Nina Jacobs just drove right over it.

The car jolted noticeably.

He looked at Nina Jacobs in horror.

”Did you just run over that person? That was a person!”

”It’s just a dead body. It was there last time I came through.”

Nina Jacobs couldn’t help it. The route she’d chosen was a narrow side road, and every time she passed this way, she ran over the same corpse.

”But...”

When Nina Jacobs said no more, Leo Hale thought he had made her angry.

”By the way, I opened that lock you gave me.”

Leo Hale took out the metal lock. It was a little warped, but he could now open it with ease.

”Good. Come with me to a place first.”

”If you can do what I need, I might give you a ride the rest of the way.”

As soon as Nina Jacobs finished speaking, Leo Hale’s eyes lit up, and he agreed without a moment’s hesitation.

Nina Jacobs soon brought him to an abandoned garage.

”What’s in here?”

Leo Hale asked curiously, wondering why Nina Jacobs was being so secretive.

”I stored some things in here a while ago, but I lost the keys. See if you can open it.”

Nina Jacobs didn’t have high hopes. After all, Leo Hale had only just awakened his Superpower, and the metal locks on this garage were much larger than the small one she had given him.

To her surprise, however, Leo Hale opened all the locks in under five minutes.

Only an electronic keypad lock remained. Nina Jacobs summoned her Fire Element Superpower, smashed it with a Fireball, and the lock instantly short-circuited.

”Holy crap! Your Special Ability is so damn cool!”

Leo Hale had heard from Daniel Hale that Nina Jacobs also had a Special Ability, but he never expected it to look so much more powerful than his own.

While he was still trying to process what he’d just seen, Nina Jacobs had already gone into the garage, telling him to wait outside.

A few moments later, Leo Hale noticed smoke starting to pour out of the garage.

Just as he was about to go inside, Nina Jacobs came out.

”It’s on fire?”

Leo Hale asked, astonished.

’Don’t tell me Nina started this fire.’

”That’s right. I did it.”

”Now I need you to put these locks back the way they were.”

Nina Jacobs said, pointing to the locks that Leo Hale had just opened.

She had taken all of the supplies, then doused the place with diesel fuel to stage it as an accident.

”Are you crazy?”

Leo Hale had no idea what Nina Jacobs was doing, but he did as he was told.

Leo Hale restored the garage’s large locks one by one.

Aside from the destroyed keypad lock, it looked as if no one had ever entered the place.

The fire in the garage was growing, and it would soon engulf the keypad lock on the door. Satisfied, Nina Jacobs got back in the car.

’She hadn’t expected Liam Grant and his people to have stored so many supplies in this garage.’

’Most of it was food and drink, along with plenty of rice, flour, and other grains. The total amount was comparable to the large supermarket she’d looted before.’

The thought of their frustrated and furious faces made Nina Jacobs laugh out loud.

’All of it was hers now.’

”What’s wrong with you?”

Nina Jacobs noticed that Leo Hale, sitting beside her, looked very tense.

Meanwhile, the road ahead was becoming increasingly difficult to navigate.

The road, which had been cleared just days ago, was now blocked again with cars strewn about haphazardly.

Not only that, but a section of her route on the system map had turned blue.

That meant it was flooded.

”Actually...”

”The situation with my friend... it might be pretty bad...”

The reason Leo Hale hadn’t mentioned it at home was that he didn’t want Daniel Hale and Vera Coleman to worry about him.

”More zombies like Ben Stone showed up?”

”How did you know?”

Nina Jacobs was still focused on driving. Leo Hale looked over at her, astonished.

”A guess.”

”By the way, we’ll probably have to get out and walk soon.”

Nina Jacobs was already looking for a place to park.

’She didn’t want her car to get wrecked on the road.’

She wasn’t surprised about the zombies Leo Hale mentioned.

’The timing was about right. The appearance of these few zombies was just the initial omen. The place Leo mentioned wasn’t flooded, so his hurry to go save someone today must mean something else had happened. Right now, besides the acid rain, the most dangerous threat was zombies. So it wasn’t a difficult guess to make.’

Nina Jacobs parked the car in the backyard of a roadside restaurant, then took a waterproof backpack from the trunk.

The acid rain continued to fall as Leo Hale followed behind Nina Jacobs.

It was only after getting out of the car that he realized the roads were littered with corpses.

No wonder Nina Jacobs had seemed so unfazed earlier.

The bodies were in gruesome states; some had been corroded down to nothing but blackened bones...

After staring for just a moment, Leo Hale grew dizzy, feeling as if he had stepped into a grotesque, dreamlike world.

Nina Jacobs seemed to notice his distress and stopped to pat him on the shoulder.

Leo Hale wanted to say something to Nina Jacobs, but the sound of the rain drumming against their raincoats was too loud for them to talk.

Nina Jacobs seemed to realize this as well.

When they reached an empty storefront, Nina Jacobs pulled him inside and handed him a headset.

”What’s this...?”

”An intercom headset. As long as we’re within range, I’ll be able to hear you.”

It was something Nina Jacobs had picked up from the electronics market next door; the signal was excellent.

”Nina, do you think... we’re not living through the end of the world, are we?”

”Is the whole planet just going to end like this?”

As they continued on their way, Leo Hale couldn’t hold back the questions any longer. Ever since leaving the house, he’d had a terrible feeling. He had never imagined so many people would die because of this acid rain.

’If the rain ever stops,’ he wondered, ’can the world really go back to the way it was?’