Zerra nearly choked on her water. Her eyes went wide. "A man?"

She shot up to her feet. Worry etched on her face. There was only the baby dragon Cassias inside her tent. If Ashley saw a man coming out from there, it meant that the little dragon was in danger!

As she ran toward the tent, Azir followed behind.

Zerra zipped up the tent, colliding her head against a hard chest. She rubbed her forehead, glared at the person before her eyes went wide again.

Awkwardness decorated her face.

"Cassias?" The man with black shirt was a familiar figure.

"Zizi," he called out softly, frowning at the way she called him before his face returned to calmness.

"You can finally turn back into a human?" She circled him, inspecting his human figure. He hadn’t changed a little bit, still the same slender man with explosive strength hidden in his body.

At a first glance, he indeed didn’t look remarkable in his strength, truly deceiving.

Cassias’ hand reached out to Zerra’s head, rubbing her silky hair gently. His movement carried a hint of familiarity. Something felt stuck in her throat, but she didn’t push him away.

He nodded. "It seems to be temporary."

Because of Zerra’s potion, the recovery of his consciousness improved several times over. He could even take a human form although only briefly.

"Really?" She was quite excited initially, but his words dampened her mood slightly. It was only natural. "I will make more potion later."

When she requested for the group to stop, it was mainly because she needed to make the potions.

Not long after, Azir finally caught up with Zerra, panting. She was too fast! His eyes widened when he saw Cassias, instantly detecting him as a foreign man. He had never seen him before!

For the past two weeks, there wasn’t a lack of people who wanted to plot against them. He also suffered a lot from being too trusting. His skin now had scar marks from these people’s blades!

Azir instantly stood in front of Zerra, only slightly taller than her. His eyes scanned Cassias from head to toe with narrowed eyes, "Who are you?"

Cassias raised his eyebrows. He secretly glanced at Zerra, staying silent. Suddenly... he was curious how she would answer after she had seen those memories.

Zerra was stunned when she saw Cassias’ playful face. In an instant, she understood he was leaving it for her to handle...

For a moment, she was at a loss. "He..." The wheels in her head turned to find suitable words.

"Don’t be afraid, Miss Zerra. Was he threatening you?!" Azir asked indignantly and glared at Cassias, who was standing there quietly and acting innocent.

He seemed hell bent on staying silent.

She felt a headache coming. With Azir’s fragile heart who had just tasted recent betrayal and the true nature of people from the last days, if she didn’t give a convincing answer, it would invite future conflict.

Even Azir didn’t trust Mateo and others, believing they only followed Zerra because of her threats and the supplies she offered. He didn’t trust them, not to mention someone who suddenly just popped out of nowhere.

"Did you threaten her?!" Azir turned to Cassias when he didn’t receive an answer after a minute had passed.

Zerra bit her lip. She suddenly remembered their relationship before the apocalypse happened. It seemed that they hadn’t broken it off yet...

"Actually, you can trust him, Azir." She reassured him.

However, these words were obviously not enough. The teenager still had a doubtful look on his face, sending her a questioning look. "Why?"

"He is..." she paused. Her heart was pounding, and she swallowed. Her eyes caught the corners of his lips curling up. She took a deep breath. "He is my fiance." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Azir turned around, staring at her in shock. "What?!"

At this moment, Cassias finally opened his mouth. "We are really engaged."

With that, he held up his hand. On his finger, there was a familiar ring. Zerra had no choice but to take hers out of the inner space too.

Azir, like a lost kid, stared at the ring back and forth. He finally took a deep breath, looking like he had just received a shock of his life. However, soon, he recovered. His fingers pointed to Cassias’ figure.

"Then, how come I have never seen you at all?" He frowned.

Cassias easily explained, cooking up some tales on the spot. "We were separated before. Now, we finally met each other."

Azir already imagined some tragic love story about a couple being separated in his mind. He finally cast a look of pity on them. At least, their fate seemed to be better than his parents.

Zerra coughed. "You will see him often in the future."

He cast her an odd look. "What do you mean? Your fiance isn’t going with us?"

They didn’t explain much. "He has something to do."

Azir knew he shouldn’t pry into their stories too much and merely nodded.

Zerra decided it was better to introduce Cassias to Mateo and others too. It would make things easier if he showed up again in the future. Anyway, Ashley had seen him in her tent.

They had various expressions. Just like Azir, they were also shocked at the sudden foreign man who suddenly became Zerra’s fiance, but they were also more quick to accept it.

The four exchanged looks.

"He won’t go with us, but you will see him often in the future," Zerra told them the same thing she had told Azir.

After she introduced Cassias, they chatted for a bit. She and Cassias were back to the tent not long after. The atmosphere between them became a bit subtle.

Zerra scratched her head, feeling a bit embarrassed. As such, she just decided to shift into her fox form, pretending to be oblivious.

Thankfully, Cassias was also back to his dragon form a few minutes later. The innocent baby dragon came up to her and started acting mischievous, biting and dragging her tails.

Zerra instantly missed Cassias with his consciousness awake. The baby dragon was simply a menace, chasing her everywhere! Even after she changed to her human form, he targeted her hair!

As such, she was forced to stuff the baby dragon back to her inner space for the sake of peace.

Her parents’ condition also improved a lot. They could be awake for much longer now. Most importantly, her mom who didn’t awaken any elemental ability now possessed the fox clan’s illusion and charm skills!

Her fox life was now a little complete. They just needed to find her older siblings.

At night, Zerra often snuggled with her parents in her fox form. Cassias in his dragon form had never approached her when she was with her parents.

She thought it was a bit strange. Even when he regained his consciousness, it was never at the same time when her parents regained theirs. His conscious time was now longer, even better than her parents.

"Based on the map, we should arrive at the next base tomorrow, Miss Zerra." Norman muttered, studying the map cautiously. "I know this area a bit."

Handing over the map to the four was indeed the best decision. "Let’s not dawdle. We will move even at night."

There was a road ahead and they could drive the cars, so they didn’t need to walk again. Norman and Mateo took turns driving all night before they finally arrived.

This base was bigger than Tide Gate Base. Unlike them, this time the base asked for data registration.

The six exchanged meaningful looks; the five of them were surprised. Zerra had warned them to use fake names in case there was a registration needed. They didn’t expect that her prediction had come true.

Since she was the one paying for their accommodation, they followed her words.

The people in charge at the registration venue glanced at the registration form and shook their heads in disdain as soon as the group left.

"No one with high level power?"

"No. Look at this, only level five and four! But one of them seems to possess a spatial ability."

"They picked the cheapest rooms."

"Well, that’s true. They must be poor."

The discussions didn’t escape Zerra’s senses. She narrowed her eyes and put down the backpack she was carrying. In order not to be too conspicuous, she had the others carrying backpacks with supplies too.

It didn’t matter if the people at the registration venue could see they have a space ability users, the others didn’t know this.

She intended to stay here longer, focusing on her parents and Cassias’ recovery first.

The potion she gave to the tiger also had a miraculous effect. The tiger’s thoughts became more clear and she could communicate with her more effectively, almost as if she was conversing with a human.

Just as she was about to continue making more potions, there was a commotion outside. Some people were making trouble, demanding Mateo and others to hunt zombies.

"Our base has a rule. You are all newcomers, so you don’t know that. Since you all have enjoyed peace, what’s about contributing a little help?"

They had been there for almost a week.

At the end, Zerra just agreed. She didn’t want any unnecessary conflict.

She still had something to do.

When she went back inside her room, she suddenly pulled the little dragon out.

"Cassias."

He ignored her, biting his paw.

"Kaz."

He finally looked up.

Zerra narrowed her eyes. "Kaz... I know you have recovered your consciousness fully now, right?"

The baby dragon froze.