Chapter 551: Things That Matter

Ian Chandler’s gaze cooled significantly when he saw Amelia Vance.

"Nina, it’s best to talk to people like him as little as possible," Ian said.

People like him? Nina Jacobs still had no idea why Amelia Vance was in City D Base to begin with.

"He wants to buy up the base’s Mystic Ice Cores," Ian whispered in her ear.

That explained it. Nina immediately understood. The news about City D Base having Mystic Ice Cores had been causing a massive uproar even before the extreme cold hit. Amelia Vance was a businessman, so he had likely sniffed out a lucrative opportunity. If he could become a supplier of Mystic Ice Cores, he would probably be able to throw his weight around among Superpower Users worldwide.

"Miss Jacobs is here too. What a coincidence. I wonder if you two are free tonight? Allow Mr. Vance to host a dinner so I can properly meet two of City D’s outstanding heroes," Amelia Vance said, looking at Nina.

"You’re too kind, Mr. Vance, but I have other plans later, so I won’t be able to join you." Nina had no interest in him. She had heard that he had sent people to the Stellarys Team over the past few days, but Chase Gallagher had turned them all away. He was most likely still worried about that photo.

"If tonight doesn’t work, then tomorrow night. I can wait, as long as Miss Jacobs is willing to grace me with her presence." Amelia Vance wasn’t angry, choosing to press the matter persistently.

Just then, a slightly displeased voice sounded from the side. "Amelia Vance, this isn’t a place you should be."

Adrian Paige seemed to have just returned from the outside, his body still carrying the biting chill of the extreme cold.

Amelia Vance was clearly a bit intimidated. He slowly backed away, waving his hand at the group. "Alright, it seems I won’t be able to treat Miss Jacobs today. Next time, then. Next time..."

Adrian had come in with Myra Lawson. Seeing Nina and her son, Ian, Myra immediately walked over with a happy smile. Nina then learned that the reason Myra and Adrian had gone out was because someone had been sabotaging the ice walls along several waterways.

Those were the ice walls that they, along with the rescue team members, had formed a few days ago when Nina was melting the river. It was precisely those ice walls that kept out the zombies wandering in from all directions.

"I don’t know who is damaging the ice walls, but if they aren’t repaired in time, our efforts from the past few days might all go down the drain," Myra said with a heavy expression.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t catch the culprits. For now, they could only patrol the various waterways every day and immediately patch up any anomalies they found.

"If the ice walls are destroyed, it will easily trigger a zombie horde," Nina said after hearing this. "Could that be their goal?"

"That’s what we suspect as well, but we don’t have a single clue at the moment." Adrian’s brows were furrowed into a tight knot.

This reminded Nina of what she had found out using the Truth-telling Talisman back in Tomorrow Base. The heavy losses that Oakhaven Base suffered during their zombie horde had also been secretly orchestrated by Veridians. Could City D Base be facing the same thing? Unfortunately, she currently had no way to explain this to anyone.

"For now, we can only take it one step at a time. Wherever there’s a problem, we’ll go there, until we fish these people out," Myra said.

"Nina, didn’t you just say you had something to bother me with later?" Ian blinked, looking entirely eager to be "bothered."

At this moment, Adrian was tasting the milk tea and pastries Nina had brought into the lounge. Nina hadn’t planned on hiding it from the others, so she said, "Yes, I’d like you to help me check the base’s entry and exit logs."

Every survivor had a record whenever they entered or left the base. These records were usually kept at the base for three months. However, they weren’t something just anyone could access, which was why she originally wanted Ian to help her pull them up.

"Why are you looking into that, Nina?" Ian asked curiously.

Seeing Myra and Adrian look over as well, Nina explained, "There’s something I’ve been rather concerned about. It’s regarding the base’s Psionics Unit, Soul Slayer, from a few days ago."

Caleb Carter and his team were still recovering in the base hospital these past few days, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something fishy about what they had gone through. How exactly did the Space Superpower User in Caleb’s team vanish? And what was the true background of that group of people asking for directions? She still wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Adrian had also heard about Soul Slayer being rescued a few days ago, but he merely thought of it as survivor teams helping each other out. He hadn’t expected Nina to investigate it further on her own.

"So, you suspect that someone ambushed Caleb and his team, and these people might be inside the base?" Myra said, catching on.

Nina’s suspicions weren’t without reason. After all, the other party seemed to know quite a bit about Soul Slayer.

"Yes, which is why I want to check the entry and exit logs on the day Caleb’s team was attacked, as well as the days immediately before and after," Nina replied.

"We’ll check, right away. I’ll have someone look into it this instant." With a grand wave of Myra’s hand, a man and a woman hurried in just a few minutes later.

The man, Luke Lucas, was carrying a laptop and a box of flash drives, while the woman, Evelyn Madden, held a thick stack of paper records in her arms. After listening to Nina’s description, Evelyn immediately and skillfully dug out several logs based on the dates.

"The number of people entering and leaving the base dropped significantly after the weather changed. It wasn’t hard to find. It’s all right here," Evelyn said.

Nina looked through them seriously. Everyone in City D Base had a points card, and their entries and exits were registered according to the names on those cards. Newcomers to the base would also have special notations, so it was highly unlikely for someone to register under a temporary fake name.

"Could you pull up the base addresses for these people?" Nina asked.

Around 400 people had entered and exited the base during those few days, so finding clues among them wouldn’t be easy.

"I’m on it." Luke opened his laptop and immediately started searching them one by one.

"Nina, what’s the purpose of checking their addresses?" Ian hadn’t noticed anything strange after looking over the list.

"There’s a high probability that the culprits are a team or accomplices, and such people usually live together," Nina explained.

Ian’s eyes lit up in sudden realization.

"Of course, it’s also possible that they live separately," Nina continued. "If we can’t find any suspicious points from their addresses, we might have to investigate their social connections next."

Nina actually already had her suspicions. But all suspicions needed to be backed by solid evidence.

Luke was very fast. The housing records of hundreds of people were quickly laid out clearly on the computer. People who lived together in the same villa or the same dormitory building were also categorized by him.

Nina only took one glance before circling her suspected targets.

"Why these?" Adrian asked as he walked over.

"The timing is the closest, and so is the group size." Nina casually drew on the paper while explaining. "The location where Caleb’s team was asked for directions was on Orilon Road in the North Suburbs. From that road back to City D Base, it takes at least a three-hour journey. Therefore, their return time couldn’t be less than three hours after asking for directions. This eliminates these people. Of course, it’s also possible that they didn’t come back until a few days later."

She then jotted down a date. "Next, I’ll need you two to help me check the outbound logs for these two days."

"The outbound logs from a few days ago?" Myra asked after looking at the date.

Nina nodded. "It’s the time right after Caleb’s team was rescued and brought back."

The news of Soul Slayer being saved had already spread throughout the base. If the culprits were inside the base, they were highly likely to have a guilty conscience and flee outside to lay low. She believed that if anyone met all these conditions simultaneously, they would definitely be the most suspicious.