Novel23 Chapter 358: Water Shortage
Chapter 358: Water Shortage
Healers and medicine are both controlled resources at Lornwood Base.
They had come out here with nothing.
"...It’s okay, Cordelia. I’m not afraid of dying. I just regret that I couldn’t live up to everyone’s expectations," the woman on the bed said.
"It can’t be helped. Everyone did their best."
The man sitting in the center finished speaking, only to break into a violent coughing fit.
"Tobin, are you okay?" Reginald Sutton stepped forward, his voice full of concern.
’Tobin?’
Nina Jacobs remembered seeing that name in the diary.
’The diary mentioned Tobin went to find water and never came back. So this is where he ended up, injured?’
Nina Jacobs walked over.
The woman’s abdomen was wrapped in layers of gauze. Pus seeped out from within, discoloring the fabric.
"Rhonda and I were making warning signs before. That’s when she was accidentally injured by an Earth Element Zombie," Cordelia explained.
Seeing Nina Jacobs staring at her wound, the woman grew a little uncomfortable.
Just as she was about to cover it up, Nina Jacobs bent down and began to undo the filthy, stinking gauze.
Her face showed not a hint of disgust.
"You..." Cordelia didn’t understand what Nina Jacobs was doing, but Reginald Sutton signaled for her not to interfere.
"She can still be saved," Nina Jacobs said.
"Saved... Are you a Healer?"
A flash of joyful surprise appeared on the woman’s face.
Nina Jacobs’s hands paused for a moment. "No, but I brought some special medicine."
The wound on the woman’s abdomen was horrifying to look at.
Seeing the wound, Cordelia couldn’t help but squat down and begin to cry.
"Rhonda, no wonder you didn’t want to take off the bandages."
The pain she must have endured these past few days was likely far more severe than any of them had imagined.
The wound had festered beyond recognition, the rot spreading to the surrounding flesh.
Even Nina Jacobs had never seen such a severe injury.
It was hard to believe an ordinary person could endure such an injury.
She took out a bottle of diluted Healing Potion and poured it directly over the wound.
Rhonda Rowan had long gone numb to the wound, but now she felt a distinct, soothing coolness spread through it.
"Drink the rest. It should take effect in a few days," Nina Jacobs said.
A potion diluted to this degree would normally heal a wound in three days, but Rhonda Rowan’s was so severe it would likely take around five.
After Rhonda Rowan drank the rest of the potion, the system’s "Selfless Savior" title was triggered.
Nina Jacobs then took out two more bottles, giving one to Tobin and the other to a man who had been leaning against the wall without saying a word.
"Thank you. But why are you helping us?" Tobin asked, unable to stop himself, as he took the bottle while coughing.
"Your warning signs helped me, too."
’Besides, the diary mentioned Tobin. He must have been very important to Isabella Ramsey.’
’Even though Isabella Ramsey was dead, after reading her diary, Nina Jacobs felt compelled to do something for her.’
’As for the other guy, she was just helping him while she was at it.’
"Silas Crowley, how are you feeling?" Reginald Sutton asked.
After taking the potion, Silas Crowley treated his own wound and then drank the rest.
"Fine. Not dying anytime soon."
Silas Crowley propped himself up, staring at the empty brown bottle.
Normally, he would never have drunk something from a stranger so readily, but he knew he was dying.
If this medicine actually worked, then this woman had just saved his life.
Cordelia led Nina Jacobs to a relatively clean two-bedroom apartment.
Though the place had been completely looted, at least the beds and tables were still there.
From Cordelia, Nina Jacobs learned that the town was strange; all sorts of traps would appear out of nowhere. Yet, despite hiding here for nearly half a month, they had never once been attacked by zombies.
"We weren’t the only ones who came here for water. Before, people were constantly getting killed by the traps, so we decided to put up warnings for others," Cordelia explained.
At first, they had just planned to wait for Silas Crowley and Tobin’s injuries to heal, but then Rhonda Rowan was unfortunately injured as well.
That made it even more impossible for them to leave.
"But there’s no water left here anyway. We didn’t find anything..."
A look of despair and confusion filled Cordelia’s eyes.
After she left, Nina Jacobs began to think.
’The water shortage here is definitely a problem. A lack of water means a lack of Water Element Superpower Users.’
She took out a "First Superpower Card." She had twenty-one more Superpower cards like it.
’Should I use one on someone?’
Nina Jacobs hesitated.
Her past life had taught her to be more cautious about using Superpower cards.
Rhonda Rowan was the only ordinary person here, but Nina didn’t know her character.
Lexy licked its empty food bowl clean, then padded over to Nina Jacobs and looked up at her.
’What about... Lexy?’
Nina Jacobs activated the Superpower card and discovered she could actually use it on Lexy.
Awakening a superpower in a cat seemed a little risky.
Still, Nina Jacobs decided to give it a try.
MEOW—
After the First Superpower Card was used, Lexy showed no reaction at all.
It just saw Nina Jacobs add more food to its bowl and went right back to wolfing it down.
Nina Jacobs watched Lexy closely. It looked the same as before, with no physical changes.
’Could it have failed?’
With this question in her mind, Nina Jacobs sealed the entrance with a layer of Diamond Sand and went to sleep, feeling secure.
After driving all day, she was exhausted, even for a Superpower User.
It wasn’t a physical exhaustion, but a mental one.
’It would be nice if someone else could drive for a while...’
When Nina Jacobs woke up the next morning, she discovered the living room floor was covered in water.
Lexy’s food bowl was also filled to the brim with water.
Lexy, soaked to the bone, was perched on a high spot, surveying the "crime scene" below.
When it saw Nina Jacobs emerge, it tilted its round little head, as if to feign ignorance about the whole situation.
"Looks like your Water Element Superpower isn’t weak."
Nina Jacobs was surprised as she stepped into the water.
The water in the living room was already over the top of her feet.
’Lexy produced this much water on the very first day of awakening its Water Element Superpower?’
’And it was just a cat, after all.’
When Nina Jacobs opened the door, Cordelia and Reginald Sutton were already waiting outside.
They had resisted the urge to disturb her.
They were waiting because they had noticed water seeping out from under her door first thing in the morning.
"Sorry, my cat got a little carried away," Nina Jacobs said.
"The cat... is a Water Element Superpower User?"
Cordelia realized how absurd it sounded as soon as she said it.
’A Water Element Superpower cat?’
"It doesn’t seem to know how to Control its Superpower yet," Nina Jacobs said.
"Try this."
Cordelia pulled a plastic bucket from her spatial storage and placed it in front of Lexy.
But Lexy didn’t give the bucket a single glance, ignoring Cordelia completely no matter what she said.
"Lexy, make some water for everyone. Otherwise, no breakfast."
Nina Jacobs dangled the stainless steel food bowl in front of Lexy.
MEOW—
As if it understood, Lexy leaped onto the table and hesitantly extended a paw.
Cordelia quickly held the bucket underneath.
Cordelia and Reginald Sutton’s eyes widened as they watched a stream of water materialize beneath the cat’s paw.
In less than a few minutes, the entire bucket was full.
"Go ahead and use it," Nina Jacobs said.
"It’s... for us?"
Reginald Sutton could hardly believe it.
How long had it been since he’d seen this much water?