The baby dragon continued to bite his paw, as if oblivious to Zerra’s question.

Zerra raised her eyebrows. "How long are you going to keep this up?"

The potion was unexpectedly working so well. She had improved its properties. Originally, she could only retain at least 60% of the medicinal properties. Lately, she could do it above 70%.

She grabbed the baby dragon who was about to run away from the room and avoid her question.

The little dragon blinked at her, eyes held confusion. She flicked his forehead gently. An evil grin spread across her face. "Am I mistaken?"

She pinched his cheeks and suddenly thought of something. "You’re all dirty here. Do you want me to give you a bath?"

Immediately, she rummaged through her inner space to find soap and shampoo. The baby dragon had a stunned look on his face, very comical.

Even if she usually bathed him, she would just get a huge basin of water and let him play there like a duck. He could have done that himself, but now she wanted to wash him herself?

Zerra clicked her tongue when she saw the baby dragon disappearing again. In a few minutes, a familiar young man with an attractive appearance walked in.

Cassias coughed, meeting Zerra’s unimpressed expression. He struggled to keep a straight face. "So, where does the base send you for a mission?"

Ability users at the base needed to help to clean zombies near the area once a while. They were afraid that once the zombies gathered, they could form a united army and attack the base.

"I’ll have to confirm with them tomorrow." Zerra tilted her head.

Cassias nodded, making himself comfortable at the chair in her room. She only realized it after she finished making a bowl of potion.

"Here," she handed over the bowl to him, inexplicably feeling a bit flustered. He took the bowl, drinking the bitter potion without batting an eye.

"You can’t change back?" She stared at him strangely.

He let out a sigh, his face full of trouble. "Yes... you won’t kick me out, right? If that’s the case, then I have to sleep on the streets. Zombies would also attack me."

Her eyelids twitched. She had a feeling he was deliberately doing it. Waiting until the last moment where the people in charge of the room assignments left before reminding her. But... she had no proof. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Just sleep here then." She took a makeshift bed from her inner space. This time, she no longer brought up the earlier topic.

The man obediently laid down on the bed, on his stomach. His hands propped his chin. He watched her as she created a few more potions.

Zerra keenly aware of his intense gaze, however, she was focused on her current work even if his gaze did bring a slight nervousness. She didn’t like it when people watched her doing her activity, but Cassias was a familiar person, so he was more tolerable.

The two spent the night in a comfortable silence.

***

When the sun rose, Zerra went to report for her mission.

People here had more beast-like characteristics. Some of them even became almost unrecognizable, resembling a monster. Their strength was also explosive.

She met such people on the way.

"Are you called Zerra?" Someone suddenly approached her.

She smiled and nodded. Around her, there was Mateo and his people, Azir, and Cassias.

The person threw her a look of pity, making her confused. He shook his head, glancing at the surroundings before whispering. "You are in bad luck."

Her temples twitched. Azir questioned the man. "What do you mean?"

"You are in the same group as that spoiled girl, the base leader’s daughter..." The man had a look of horror on his face. "They have been waiting for you. You better hurry."

After he said that, he ran off as if afraid someone would hear his previous words.

They all stared at his back in confusion.

Before they headed to the administration office, they had gotten Cassias’ identity registered first. With a strict human base that required a registration, he couldn’t just suddenly appear like that.

"Let’s go." Zerra waved her hand and led them to the administration office.

There were a few ability users there with a woman in a glamorous dress. She wore a full make up, acting as if she was going on a picnic instead of a zombie extermination trip.

When her eyes landed on Cassias, they lit up. Zerra already sensed an ominous premonition from that gaze alone. She couldn’t help but cast a resentful look toward Cassias.

The man blinked at her, confused. She sighed. If the journey didn’t go smoothly, it was because of his face.

"Are you a new ability user who just came to the base?" She flashed him a flower-like smile. "I am Serena Davis. The base leader’s daughter." Her voice held a proud tone in the second sentence.

Her attention shifted from Cassias to Zerra. She smiled again. "I guess we will be on the same team."

She flashed a fire with her hand, showing off her power.

The men around her stayed quiet, acting like bodyguards. Seeing Cassias became quiet and didn’t answer her, she didn’t seem to mind, but her expression was still arrogant.

"Go report directly." She waved her hand at Zerra and others, scrunching her nose unhappily. "Don’t dawdle. Let’s depart soon."

Zerra took a deep breath and reported their names to the administration office. Once they came back from the zombie extermination mission, they didn’t need to go again for at least two more weeks.

However, with the so-called base leader’s daughter in their team, it was unknown whether the mission this time could go smoothly or not. Zerra was impatient to get it down.

She had planned to kill a few zombies quickly at the designated place, and gather the number of crystal cores they needed to hand over. Now, she couldn’t proceed according to this plan.

It was unknown whether the base leader was worried about his daughter, but they were assigned to an area with relatively few zombies. The place used to be a mine and the zombies there weren’t that many.

Even after scanning the place for a few hours, she still couldn’t find more than fifty.

About the base leader’s daughter , just as she guessed, she wasn’t that skilled at fighting. She constantly needed her bodyguards to save her. Unfortunately, she was also quite arrogant.

In order to catch Cassias’ attention, she always stood beside him. The zombies swarmed at her, yet she couldn’t even kill any of them.

"You haven’t told me your name yet." Serena grinned at him. "What’s your name?"

Cassias merely glanced at her before ignoring her again, utterly uninterested.

"You, why do you stand so close to him?" Serene glared at Zerra, who was confused she inexplicably received her dislike.

Only two bodyguards stayed with her while the rest went to look for more zombies. She was crossing her hands on her chest, her chin raised.

"We are engaged." Cassias suddenly told Serena, whose mouth was agape in shock.

She stuttered, "You... engaged?"

As such for the few hours after that, she often sent resentful glares at Zerra. The latter just ignored her. She whispered something to Cassias, and he nodded.

"We will find more zombies." Before others could respond, she and Cassias already walked away with quick steps.

When they came back a few hours later, they had brought enough crystal cores. The two of them truly went to hunt; they wanted to figure out the current extent of the zombie power. With Cassias guarding her, she could rest assured.

"There should be an intelligent zombie around here." Zerra muttered, her senses never ceased looking around. "I want to try to control it."

"Don’t worry, I will keep watch." He said gently, rubbing her hand before letting go. Zerra jumped away, separating from him. Her eyes locked on a thin figure in the distance.

The zombie looked inconspicuous, blending with other zombies and even gave off an impression it was weak. Zerra’s senses clashed with the zombies.

She nearly lost the target a few times. This particular zombie was very skilled at hiding, using fellow zombies as a cover.

Her power fought against the zombie, wrestling each other for control. This time, Zerra had to admit that the zombie was a formidable opponent.

It commanded other zombies to attack her. Fortunately, Cassias was there. She fought against the zombies for control over other zombies. As a result, a few followed her command and the others followed the zombie.

"Look, so many zombies!" A familiar shriek resounded in their ears. "Kill them!" She turned to look at Cassias and gave a disdainful expression at the quiet Zerra.

"You don’t need to worry, we come to help you!" Amidst the chaotic wrestling for control, the situation became more unfavorable. Because a bodyguard of Serena’s had approached her.

Then, he pretended to slip and pushed the quiet Zerra away, toward the flock of zombies coming toward them.

The intelligent zombie took this chance to grasp the control. In an instant, they were all surrounded by a lot of zombies beyond their previous estimation.

"Miss Serena, run!"