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

He was thin, almost skeletal.

The hands holding the Wood Carving were just dry skin wrapped around bone, but you could still see the thick calluses on his fingertips.

”No one told me. I guessed,”

Nina Jacobs said.

”The Wooden Wheel Car... It’s true, those bastards tricked me into making it.”

Ethan Chase pounded his numb legs and spoke with hatred.

”Quick, tell me, what happened outside?

Those stinking men who got locked in here were all like dead fish with bloodshot eyes.

I bet they didn’t do anything good when they got out.”

”Chase...”

”Almost everyone outside is dead.”

Irwing answered.

”What?!”

Startled, Ethan Chase began to cough violently.

”The Whites are all dead.”

Nina Jacobs added.

Ethan Chase’s expression grew complex once more.

”You reap what you sow. You reap what you sow!”

He sighed deeply.

”Can you get me out of here?

I don’t want to die in Whittaker Town. Even if I have to die, I want to die outside!”

Ethan Chase asked, his voice trembling.

He knew it would be difficult. The outside world was not safe, and he was a cripple.

But leaving Whittaker Town was all he ever dreamed of.

”Back then, Lincoln White promised to let me leave. That was the only reason I built the Wooden Wheel Car and all the mechanisms and hidden weapons for them...”

Listening to Ethan Chase, the group finally understood that he had been born and raised in Whittaker Town.

The town hadn’t always belonged to just the White Family; it was once an ancient village with many different families.

The White Family used to make a living selling Wood Carvings. When he was very young, he became an apprentice to one of the Whites. The old master who taught him the art of woodworking was already in his seventies and often sighed that his surname wasn’t White.

It was because among the White Family’s descendants, not a single one was willing to devote themselves to mastering the craft of woodworking.

But Ethan Chase, though just an apprentice, had far more talent than any of the Whites.

”Old Master White taught me everything he knew. He hoped the White Family would walk a righteous path in the future,

but the things they did... they are not worthy of being his descendants!”

Ethan Chase said angrily.

The ancient town couldn’t escape the acid rain and the zombie apocalypse, but many survivors had managed to hang on.

But when the Whites from outside fled here, everything changed.

They found ways to kill everyone else, which was why he was so conflicted.

On one hand, he felt an unrepayable debt to his master. On the other, he was furious for the townspeople who had been murdered.

Later, he agreed to use the woodworking skills Old Master White had taught him to build a safe passage for the White Family, but only on the condition that they would let him leave Whittaker Town after everything was finished.

The Whites agreed verbally, but in the end, they sawed off both of his legs and locked him in this cellar.

”Does that include the Puppetry Technique?” Nina Jacobs asked.

”The Puppetry Technique?”

Ethan Chase looked up, his expression more serious than ever.

”I learned traditional woodworking techniques, craftsmanship, Mechanical Techniques, and various exotic device crafts, but never the Puppetry Technique.”

”My master once said that if the White Family ever used the Puppetry Technique again, it would be the beginning of their destruction. The Puppetry Technique is a forbidden art. It was the one thing he never taught.”

Recalling his master’s words now, a chill still ran down his spine.

Because he knew that the Whites had, indeed, used the Puppetry Technique.

After listening, Nina Jacobs thought for a moment and said, ”I can get you out and guarantee your safety, but from now on, you will have to work for me.”

’She wanted the Wooden Wheel Car and those ingenious Mechanical Techniques.’

’But only if Ethan Chase agreed willingly.’

’If he refused, she would just pretend she had never met him today.’

”Work for you?

Young lady, do you think I’m still useful?”

”Hahahaha, I’d love to work for you, but Superpowers are so convenient these days. My skills can’t help you kill zombies or find supplies. Even if I agreed, I’d just be deceiving you.”

Ethan Chase laughed until tears streamed down his face.

He used to want to be a carpenter so he could earn money and support a family.

But now, all these skills had become useless.

”If I say you’re useful, you’re useful.”

Nina Jacobs didn’t explain further, her tone firm and certain.

Ethan Chase looked slightly taken aback.

He seemed to remember something, then replied, ”As long as you’re willing to get me out of Whittaker Town, I, Ethan Chase, am willing to work for you.”

Nina Jacobs nodded. She had Wayne Warner carry Ethan Chase, wooden chair and all, directly out of the cellar.

Feeling the blinding light from outside and the foul, reeking air, tears welled up in Ethan Chase’s clear eyes.

His master had once told him that if he could one day use his skills to help the world, it would be considered settling a karmic debt on behalf of the White Family.

It would also fulfill the original purpose of the White Family’s woodworking craft—for craftsmanship to embody principle.

”Chase built the Wooden Wheel Car, so maybe we can actually start it and get out of here?

But even if we get out, it’ll be even more dangerous, won’t it? It’s all zombies out there.”

Irwing said worriedly. If they went back to Lornwood Base, General Hughes would surely not let them off the hook.

”Zombies? We just have to kill them all.”

Holly Morgan said from the side.

”Holly Morgan is right. But we’re not going to Lornwood Base. We’re going to Tomorrow Base.”

Nina Jacobs replied.

Irwing’s words had also reminded her of something.

”Chase, how many keys are there for the Wooden Wheel Car that goes to the outside world? Are any of them here?”

Nina Jacobs asked, pulling out a ring of keys.

Ethan Chase, of course, remembered the keys he had forged. He picked one from the ring. ”This is it. There are three keys to the Wooden Wheel Car in total.”

’Three keys.’

’Besides the one Chuck Willow destroyed, there should be one more.’

”I think I know where Han Lewis went.”

Nina Jacobs strode off quickly in one direction.

She just hoped they could still make it in time.

’Han Lewis?’

The others hurried to follow.

Wayne Warner moved to lift Ethan Chase’s wooden chair, but was stopped by him.

”I can manage myself.”

He had built the wooden wheelchair for himself. Although it was made from scraps of wood pieced together from various places, it could move over all sorts of terrain.

Irwing realized that Nina Jacobs had led them to the entrance of Whittaker Town, which was where the Wooden Wheel Car was parked.

What shocked her even more was that the Wooden Wheel Car was slowly starting to move.

”There’s someone on it!”

Irwing saw a figure on the vehicle—or rather, two figures.

Seeing that the Wooden Wheel Car was about to leave, she couldn’t help but grow anxious.

”Chase, how do we break the Wooden Wheel Car to make it stop?”

Nina Jacobs asked as she ran.

The Wooden Wheel Car had already started moving and would only get faster.

”Destroy the third white wooden gear from the bottom! Quickly!”

As soon as Ethan Chase finished speaking, a Diamond Sand Spike shot out with a BANG and pierced a spot on the car.

The Wooden Wheel Car lurched to a sudden halt, and its doors swung open.

”Wendell Lynch, you can leave if you want. But first, let Han Lewis go.”

Nina Jacobs said, staring at the two figures on the vehicle.

Wendell Lynch was pressing a gun to Han Lewis’s temple, his expression a mixture of fury and panic.

Han Lewis wasn’t in good shape either. Blood was streaming from the back of his head.

”Impossible! Don’t think I’ll believe you! If I die, none of you will ever touch the supplies in Han Lewis’s pocket dimension!”

Veins bulged on Wendell Lynch’s face.

He had gone to great lengths to capture Han Lewis and force him to load up his private stash of supplies for his escape, only to find he was one step too late.