Laziel grabbed Zerra’s arms, who was now pacing back and forth in anxiety. Was this the effect of giving her parents some supplies for living through the apocalypse?
"Calm down, munchkin. Maybe they stayed in a hotel or something..." the more Laziel talked, the quieter he became.
Right. This was no longer the modern time, where there were no zombies or mutated animals rampaging. This was the apocalypse; the world full of ruins.
However, they were also in the capital. His explanation could have made sense, considering that this place was more organized and safer than other cities.
Zerra swept her gaze across the surroundings. In the dim light, even Nyra’s expression lacked any feelings. She didn’t care.
Then, her gaze moved to the gradually disappearing orange hue in the distance.
"I will go ask the neighbor." Zerra decided. She ran toward the neighbor’s lawn before any of them could respond to her.
She knocked on the door. "Excuse me. I am Zerra, Mr. and Mrs. Sylvaris’ daughter. May I have a little of your time?"
There was a little movement inside, followed by complete silence. She continued to knock, yet the people inside never responded to her. As if they were afraid of opening the door.
Frustrated, she left their front porch and moved to another house. She did the same — knocking, introducing herself, and waiting. After that, she went to four to five houses in total on the left and right sides of her parents’ house.
No one had opened the door.
She collapsed in front of the door of the last house, exhaling. With the increasing crime rate after the apocalypse started, everyone was cautious.
The government wouldn’t bother too much with one or two ordinary people. So, everyone naturally didn’t want to risk their lives to answer her call; after all, most crimes happened when the sky turned dark.
She was about to turn around when the door squeaked open. A woman in her fifties peeked through the small opening.
Her voice was hoarse. "Is what you said true? You are offering some supplies for the information about Mr. and Mrs. Sylvaris?"
Under the illumination of the portable lamp she brought, Zerra nodded frantically. She took a few steps forward, but stopped when she noticed the woman’s increasingly wary face.
She suppressed her impulse. "Yes, Ma’am. Do you know about their whereabouts or where they were last seen? I have some supplies here. Canned food, biscuits, and water."
In order to make herself look convincing, she held up the plastic package and showed what was inside. She guessed that one of those people would be enticed by supplies, and thankfully, she was right.
She had told Cassias, who had come to follow her, to step aside, fearing they would mistake him for a robber if they brought too many people. A girl like her, who was seemingly defenseless, was enough.
"Do you have some medicine...?" The middle-aged woman asked hesitantly. "I exchanged greeting with Mr. and Mrs. Sylvaris before they went out."
Seeing Zerra, a thin and weak girl, easily brought out supplies and the rare portable lamp like that, even if the middle-aged woman had doubts, she was forced to cast those feelings aside for now. She was a little desperate.
"Medicine?" Zerra took a deep breath. "What sort of medicine do you need?"
"Do you have medicine for fever and wounds?" Her face was hopeful after she saw Zerra’s expression. The girl looked like she would have it, no hesitation at all.
"Can you wait for a bit? I will come back." Zerra enthusiastically said, a little afraid that the woman would change her mind.
She saw as the middle-aged man slowly nodded. With that, she turned around and dashed away. Even though she was really worried sick about her parents, she still had some rationality left not to show her space power in front of random people.
Not long after, she came back, bringing her backpack. She rummaged through it, pretending to find medicine when she was actually taking things out of her space.
"Medicine for fever and wounds..." she trailed off. After she found some ibuprofen, paracetamol, and antibiotics... she also added some bandages.
After she was done putting the medicine into the plastic bags, she approached the door and knocked again. Her soft voice rang out, "Hi, Ma’am. I am here."
The woman slowly opened the door. This time, her wariness had decreased.
"Here, take it. I have all the medicine you need. You can also check."
The woman took Zerra’s plastic package with trembling hands, in slight disbelief. The light from Zerra’s portable lamp helped her to check the items inside.
"Miss, I am only requesting the medicine... this is... this is too much." She thought about it and finally gritted her teeth.
"No, just take it, Ma’am. Please tell me about my parents." Seeing that Zerra’s face didn’t even have the slightest hint of reluctance, the woman finally accepted the supplies with a more relieved heart.
She didn’t want to look greedy or take another person’s last bit of supplies. This girl, who was looking for her parents, reminded her of her own children...
"Mr. and Mrs. Sylvaris told me they were going to the main base. They seemed to be looking for someone. Maybe they are looking for you, Miss. They regularly went there to find information," the woman told her.
She tried to recall more specific information about Zerra’s parents, like the color of the car and its type. "They are like the rest of us, never go out once it’s dark. So, they haven’t returned? Indeed, it’s quite unusual?"
At last, the middle-aged woman gave her a look of pity before they ended the conversation. She seemed a bit anxious about something. Most likely, one of her family members had gotten sick considering that she had asked for medicine.
Zerra returned to the car. There were only the Sylvaris siblings and Cassias who had come there. Isryn and Eryx followed Sally, one of Sean’s companions, to find their relatives.
"They had gone to the base..." Zerra muttered. "Maybe we should go find them."
She looked up, coincidentally to meet Nyra’s displeased face. "If they are at the main base, they should be safe. It’s nighttime now, best not to travel at such a time."
Laziel pursed his lips, as if he wanted to say something, but he ultimately held back. Zerra could see that he was secretly agreeing with Nyra.
Her throat felt slightly blocked. Her lips parted, yet no words came out.
"Take a rest first. You have been running around." Cassias spoke.
Seeing Zerra’s reluctant expression, Nyra rolled her eyes. She took out a few ingredients from her space after she broke the lock on the house’s gate.
"Bring the car inside," she said, taking charge of tonight’s dinner. Cassias was silent for a moment, but he did as she requested.
Nyra roasted some meat on the fire she had just lit up, sprinkling it with seasoning in relish. She had a contented look on her face.
Once dinner was finished, they built two tents in the front yard.
Zerra struggled to sleep throughout the entire night. It was still dark outside when she walked out of the tent that had Nyra inside. Her elder sister was still sleeping soundly; of course she should... she had sprinkled the mutated mushroom powder on her.
Next, she turned to Cassias and Laziel’s tent and did the same. Everyone fell asleep deeper.
Cassias had handed over the mutated mushroom to Zerra once she found out her space can now store living plants. Although she couldn’t use it to farm yet, the plants would remain stagnant and wouldn’t grow.
After she was done, she stared at the scarlet moon in the sky and couldn’t help but mutter, "Since you all don’t want to go, then I will go by myself."
With that, she turned around. She didn’t know whether it was because she was a bit too overwhelmed by emotions, but she turned into a fox.
However, it would make things easier.
She climbed into the tree. No need to open that gate, which would let out clanking noises on this deadly still night.
With the familiarity of her own small frame in fox form, she jumped toward the higher branch, then jumped down, heading toward the road. Ah, here it came, the downside of her own tiny figure.
She wouldn’t be able to drive a car.
Sending one last look toward the tents in the distance, she raced into the darkness. It had been too stupid of her to rely on the main protagonists to help her find her parents.
It was better to go by herself. Her emotions were indeed too unstable... but many things in this round of reincarnation made her emotions out of control. Including her parents.
Anyway, if she was the cause of her parents’ misfortune, then she should be responsible for it.
At some point in time, she arrived at some kind of riverbank. She had turned into a human.
Her pupils constricted, and she turned around. Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest.
"What are you doing–"
She wanted to turn around and ran. Her emotions were too chaotic, but...
To her horror, she found everything became gigantic fast in her eyes.
She had transformed into a fox right in front of Cassias!