Free Web NovelChapter 174: Chapter 174: The Stupid One Turned Out to Be Himself
Nathan Thorne looked at Dominic Crawford, completely speechless.
He had always heard that love made people stupid.
’But for Dominic Crawford, isn’t this taking it a little too far?!’
’Was he really just talking to a mutated bird?’
’Even if a mutated bird has gotten a little fiercer, a little smarter, it’s still not a person!’
’What’s the point of saying so much to a bird?!’
Just as Nathan Thorne was about to speak, he heard Joy Warren’s voice.
"Captain Crawford, thank you."
The moment he heard this, Dominic Crawford’s tightly furrowed brow completely relaxed.
His previously careworn face even blossomed into a radiant smile.
Seeing this, Nathan Thorne decisively snapped his mouth shut.
The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them back down.
’Nothing needs to be said!’
’Nothing at all!’
’He understood everything!’
’Just a moment ago, he thought Dominic Crawford was the one who wasn’t thinking straight.’
’Now he realized he was the one who was slow on the uptake.’
’Dominic Crawford’s words seemed to be directed at the mutated bird, but they were actually meant for Joy Warren!’
’He could only blame himself for being too naive, for not understanding the subtleties of the situation.’
Nathan Thorne sighed and decisively averted his gaze. "Sierra Sullivan, is there something different about this bird? Why did you bring it back?"
Sierra Sullivan had been watching the scene unfold with great amusement.
Even though she was in a relationship herself, it was a completely different feeling to watch someone else’s romance up close.
Especially with two people who weren’t officially together yet, caring for and testing the waters with each other—that feeling was incredibly subtle, whether you were part of it or just watching from the sidelines.
In this dangerous yet tedious apocalypse, it was a rare and interesting diversion.
However, now that Nathan Thorne was asking about serious matters, Sierra Sullivan immediately refocused, her expression turning serious as well.
"You all saw it. This bird isn’t normal. It has two beaks, and they’re incredibly hard and sharp. I suspect they’re what broke the window—they pecked right through it."
Her suspicion was reasonable and well-founded, and it immediately earned everyone’s agreement.
"Not only that," Sierra Sullivan continued, "it’s also extremely fast. If I hadn’t reacted quickly enough just now, its beak would have been in my eye."
Even though Sierra Sullivan’s voice wasn’t grave when she said this, her tone even a bit relaxed...
...everyone who heard her still sucked in a sharp breath.
They all knew what Sierra Sullivan was capable of.
For a mutated bird that didn’t look very large or even particularly strong to have nearly inflicted such serious harm on Sierra Sullivan...
Nathan Thorne hadn’t paid the mutated bird much mind before.
’So what if it has two beaks? What kind of mutation is that?’
Since the apocalypse began, he had seen his fair share of bizarrely shaped mutated animals.
A bird with two beaks really wasn’t anything special.
But for it to have almost injured Sierra Sullivan—that changed everything!
’If I had faced it, what would my chances have been?’
’One or two might be manageable, but what if a whole flock appeared at once?’
’You could block one, but you’d be defenseless against the next.’
He hadn’t even experienced it firsthand, but just the thought of it made a fine, dense layer of cold sweat break out on Nathan Thorne’s back.
It wasn’t just Nathan Thorne; everyone else present had a similar reaction.
Dominic Crawford might look like a brute and act impulsively at times, but that didn’t mean he was brainless.
"The sandstorm outside is still raging, so it’s not a good time to go out. We can wait until visibility improves. That way, even if we do run into a lot of those birds, we can coordinate our efforts and should be able to avoid getting hurt."
His words met with everyone’s unanimous approval.
Trapped for now and in the middle of the night, the most sensible thing to do was get some proper rest.
But after what had just happened, everyone had complicated feelings and was unavoidably tense.
Furthermore, although the room was now tightly sealed, they also couldn’t see what was happening outside.
The unknown is what truly causes the most anxiety.
In a situation like this, sleep was even further away.
Seeing everyone’s restless anxiety, Sierra Sullivan raised her voice. "I know what you’re all thinking, but now is precisely the time we need to rest well and let our energy and stamina fully recover. You don’t want to be the one holding the team back when we go out, do you?"
Her words struck a chord with everyone’s sense of pride.
As fellow Superpower Users, no one wanted to admit they were weak, much less be the one to drag everyone down. freёwebnoѵel.com
"Captain Sullivan, don’t you worry. I’m going to rest up right now. I definitely won’t be the one holding us back!"
"Me too! I’ll get some proper rest!"
"Same here!"
After chattering out their assurances, everyone found a corner, closed their eyes, and began to rest.
Hearing their breathing gradually even out, Sierra Sullivan and Jayce exchanged a silent, smiling glance before finding their own spots to sit down and rest with their eyes closed.
As for the mutated bird?
Sierra Sullivan had already casually taken care of it.
Unsurprisingly, she found a mung bean-sized Crystal Core in its brain.
The Crystal Core was tiny and transparent, with no distinguishing features.
It seemed the bird wasn’t special after all; at most, it was just a bit faster than usual.
The room fell completely silent, and time seemed to pass a little faster.
When Sierra Sullivan woke up and checked the time, she saw it was already seven in the morning.
If the sandstorm weren’t so severe, the sky should have been starting to brighten by now.
Worried she might wake the others, Sierra Sullivan was about to get up carefully when she was met by pairs of smiling eyes.
It turned out everyone was already awake.
And they all had roughly the same idea.
Nobody wanted to disturb anyone else, so even though they were awake, they had all remained still.
It wasn’t until they heard Sierra Sullivan’s extremely faint movements that they all looked over.
Meeting all those eyes, Sierra Sullivan couldn’t help but smile.
She stood up crisply and stretched her arms.
Sleeping curled up all night without moving much had left her body stiff.
Stretching now felt wonderful.
Jayce also stretched and said, "I’ll go check on the situation outside."
They couldn’t just stay cooped up in this small master bedroom.
Nathan Thorne immediately sidled up to him. "I’ll go with you!"
Jayce only needed one look at Nathan Thorne to guess why he wanted to go with him.
With so many of them cooped up in one room all night, most things were manageable, but certain... private matters were difficult to take care of. They could only hold it in.
And after holding it in all night, they really couldn’t hold it in any longer.
