After I Fully Prepared for the Apocalypse, the Ungrateful Cried with Regret-Chapter 96: The Past Life’s Tragedy
As night fell, Nina Jacobs received a thoughtful gift from Joy Thompson.
Joy Thompson gave her a fully charged small fan and a brand-new bedsheet.
Of the several rooms on the second floor, only two had beds.
One room was given to Nina Jacobs.
The other belonged to Joy Thompson and Simon Coleman.
Gabriel Leighton and Evan Crawford had no objections.
"This place is reasonably clean, but I thought you might need these."
Joy Thompson set the items down.
Nina Jacobs looked so clean and put-together; Joy figured she was the type of person who appreciated cleanliness and would sleep better on a fresh sheet.
"Thank you, I really do need this."
Joy Thompson beamed when Nina Jacobs said that.
Having her gift be so appreciated was its own kind of reward, an emotional affirmation from Nina.
"We should be able to reach the shelter tomorrow, right? I heard the military is there protecting civilians. It sounds so safe."
Joy Thompson said, her face full of anticipation.
"It’s one of the safer places for now, but you’re a Space Superpower User. You’ll still need to be careful after you get there."
Nina didn’t have the heart to be too blunt.
The shelter wasn’t a hundred percent safe. Without someone to protect them, Space Superpower Users were the most likely to be exploited.
"Thank you for telling me this.
Simon is always telling me not to be so naive. You both really do have my best interests at heart."
Joy Thompson said with a smile.
"You remind me of an old roommate of mine."
Nina had specifically looked for her old roommate, Joanna Lynn, and the others in the shelter before, but she never found them.
Joy Thompson was somewhat similar to the understanding and meticulous Joanna Lynn.
After chatting for a little while, Joy Thompson went back to her room.
Nina spread the sheet on her bed, then leaned back and flipped through her Skill Book for a while.
But when she thought of Wayne Warner in the next room, she pulled some food from her storage space, put it in her backpack, and prepared to take it to him.
The outer hall and the corridor were unlit, and the sound of Evan Crawford’s snoring drifted through the darkness.
She was just about to knock on Wayne Warner’s door.
But just then, she heard something topple over in a nearby room.
It was immediately followed by a shrill cry.
The cry wasn’t loud, more like the TWANG of a snapped string, and it set one’s teeth on edge.
"What happened?"
Joy Thompson asked, opening her door from across the hall and rubbing her eyes.
Even Evan Crawford, a heavy sleeper, emerged with a wary expression.
It had become their habit over the past several days; even the faintest sound at night would wake them.
"The sound came from that room,"
Nina said, pointing to the room of the man with glasses.
"I’ll go check," Evan Crawford said, stepping forward to knock. Nina, however, warned him to be extremely careful.
’Did he turn into a zombie?’
But he dismissed the thought; Gabriel Leighton had shaken his head, which meant there were no zombies inside.
The door opened a moment later.
In the beam of a flashlight, the man with the glasses peeked out through a narrow crack, his forehead beaded with sweat.
"What happened? What was that noise?"
Evan Crawford relaxed, seeing that the man seemed to be fine.
"It’s nothing. I had a nightmare
and knocked something over by accident."
the man with glasses explained apologetically.
He kept glancing over his shoulder, and even Evan Crawford found his behavior odd.
Suddenly, another sharp cry rang out, and the color drained from everyone’s faces.
"What are you hiding in there?"
Evan Crawford’s tone turned harsh.
"I told you, it’s nothing, noth—"
Before the man could finish, another cry echoed from behind him.
It sounded like a small animal and was accompanied by the sound of something striking metal.
The others might not have recognized the sound, but Nina was already certain.
"It’s a Zombie Rat."
Nina kicked the door wide open. Her expression darkened the moment she saw the iron cage on the floor.
In her past life, she had heard of a tragedy that occurred in one of the shelters.
Apparently, a Zombie Rat had suddenly appeared.
Even though it was just one, no one had been prepared for it, and it led directly to the deaths of hundreds.
Anyone bitten or scratched by a Zombie Rat would turn into a zombie.
Because the shelter was so crowded, the newly turned zombies then attacked survivors who couldn’t get away in time.
The tragedy snowballed.
A later investigation revealed that someone had brought a Zombie Rat into the shelter...
Nina strongly suspected that this man with the glasses was the very culprit from her past life.
"Why would you bring something like this here?
Are you trying to get us all killed?!"
Simon Coleman demanded, his tone hostile.
"It’s fine! It can’t get out.
I’m a researcher.
This little Zombie Rat might just be the key to cracking the mystery of the zombie virus!"
"You ordinary people have no idea what research entails!
I risked my life to capture it, all so I could bring it back and study the zombie virus!" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
The man grew more agitated as he spoke. To prove his point, he held the iron cage up to the flashlight beam.
"See? It’s just a tiny thing. As long as I don’t open the cage, it can’t possibly get out.
You’re Superpower Users. What are you so afraid of?"
The Zombie Rat inside the cage was covered in rotting flesh. The cage itself was wrapped in a tightly sealed bag.
That must have been why they hadn’t smelled anything before—the bag had contained the stench.
But Nina could still detect a faint, putrid smell.
"I don’t think I can detect any danger from the Zombie Rat,"
Gabriel Leighton said.
Even facing the Zombie Rat directly, his Spiritual Element Superpower wasn’t picking up on anything.
’Could it be that this Zombie Rat isn’t actually that dangerous?’
"Don’t underestimate Zombie Rats. We’ve run into one before,
and it was extremely aggressive."
’The reason Gabriel’s Spiritual Element Superpower can’t sense it is probably because his level isn’t high enough.’
"That’s right. No zombie-type creature is ever safe.
If you don’t get rid of it,
we’re telling you to leave this place right now."
Evan Crawford thought Nina’s words made perfect sense.
They were so close to the shelter; this was the worst possible time for something to go wrong.
"On what grounds can you tell me to leave?
I was here first. And it’s even more impossible for you to ask me to dispose of my little mouse."
The man refused to listen and tried to slam the door shut.
Evan Crawford jammed his foot in the doorway, refusing to let him.
In the ensuing struggle, the iron cage slipped from the man’s hands and fell to the floor.
He whipped his head around in terror, only to be met by the sight of a massive, rotting Zombie Rat lunging at his face.
"AHHH!!"
The man reached up to grab the Zombie Rat on his face, but it had already torn off a chunk of his flesh.
In the next instant, it leaped toward Joy Thompson, who was standing to the side!
"Joy, look out!"
None of them had expected the Zombie Rat to be so fast.
Joy reflexively stumbled back a few steps, but she couldn’t see a trace of the Zombie Rat on the dimly lit corridor floor!
Just then, a blinding curtain of fire erupted in front of her.
SQUEAK! The Zombie Rat slammed into the wall of fire and was thrown back to the ground.
SHINK!
A Gold Spike shot out, piercing the Zombie Rat just as it tried to scramble to its feet.
The Zombie Rat was pinned to the floor by the Gold Spike. It twitched a few times, then went still.
"Joy, are you okay?!"
Simon Coleman had nearly been scared to death.
"I’m okay, I’m okay..."
Joy was terrified.
A moment ago, she had seen the jagged teeth in the Zombie Rat’s mouth.
"No, no!
I was bitten by the little mouse!
Quick, give me the maximum dose of antibiotics!
The viral load from a small mouse isn’t that high. I can be saved, I can still be saved..."
The man with the glasses crawled toward them like a madman, his face and hands covered in blood.
