Chapter 317: Chapter 317: Different Identity

Several others near it also recoiled as if struck by a painful frequency.

Dante and Talia exchanged confused glances.

Bella stared at her own hands, trembling violently.

Suddenly, she was reminded of the words her sister had once told her... words that resurfaced at the most unexpected moment.

In fact, shortly before her sister had died, she had told Bella that her origin was not simple at all and that Bella’s true identity was different from what she believed.

She had even promised to reveal everything once Bella turned twenty-three.

Back then, Bella had not understood what her sister meant.

And after her sister died, so unnaturally, so abruptly, Bella never got the chance to learn what those final cryptic words truly meant.

Now, watching those zombies flee in terror, Bella clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

Instead of feeling even the slightest joy... something she should have felt... she only felt remorse and a deep, clawing pain.

’Why did my power awaken only now?’ she wondered, her heartbeat pounding in her ears.

’Why didn’t it awaken earlier? If it had... I could’ve saved her. What’s the point of these powers when she’s already gone?’

Her fists trembled as another memory flashed before her eyes: the foggy, indistinct figures she had seen once before... figures she now suspected were not hallucinations at all.

Her mother and father had been researchers at a very unusual and extremely confidential institute.

Despite their mysterious work, they used to visit Bella frequently.

But when Bella turned three, her mother and father were killed in some strange accident.

From that moment on, she no longer remembered how they looked; the memories faded slowly until even her sister avoided speaking about them.

Her sister behaved as if their parents were some forbidden code that triggered something painful within her.

Because of that, Bella had never dared to ask about them again.

But now... she was suddenly curious. These powers... whatever they were... did not resemble sonic abilities.

If they had been sonic, she would have understood.

But instead, they felt foreign and eerie, as though they were connected to her mind and activated only when she desperately needed them.

These weren’t typical superpowers, because from what she knew, even sonic superpower had clear limits and worked in predictable ways.

If she had used sonic force, the glass windows of the car and truck should have shattered instantly.

But they hadn’t budged at all. Moreover, sonic powers were famously useless against zombies, yet the force she released had clearly worked.

She wasn’t even sure if this strange ability could be categorized as a new power.

Bella watched silently as Dante and Talia dealt with the remaining zombies.

This time, not a single zombie dared to use a sneaky attack on them.

It was as if Bella’s ability had drawn an invisible boundary, preventing those creatures from exploiting their usual tricks.

Because of that, it took only a few tens of minutes for Dante and Talia to finish off all the zombies.

When they returned to the car, neither of them said much, and the journey resumed in tense silence.

Soon, they bypassed a large base with a long line of people waiting outside. For a brief moment, Bella thought they had reached their destination.

She leaned closer to the window, her eyes widening as she observed how clean the base looked and how the people inside moved freely, unfazed by the scorching heat or the chaos of the apocalypse.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and watched as the pristine base drifted farther and farther behind them.

Unable to hold back her curiosity, she turned toward Talia and asked softly, "Isn’t that our destination?"

Talia followed her gaze and let out a small chuckle.

"That base? No, it’s unaffiliated. We’re heading to the military base. My father, Dante, and I... we all belong to that one. We’ll reach it in about twenty minutes."

Bella nodded slowly, her curiosity only growing.

’If a normal base could look that good... the military base must be even better,’ she thought.

But upon arrival, after the security checks ensured none of them were zombies, Bella stepped inside and felt her expectations crumble within seconds.

She regretted her earlier optimism almost instantly.

The military base was not even half as good as the one she had seen from afar.

The buildings were worn, the air heavy, and even though it was significantly better than the filthy base she had lived in before, filled with the pungent odor of human waste... this one still fell short of her imagined standard.

Taking a deep breath, she suppressed the rising judgment in her heart.

’At least it’s cleaner than the last place... I should be grateful,’ she reminded herself.

After entering the central area, Dante and Talia helped Bella and the other rescued survivors settle into a temporary building.

It had once been an administrative office, but for now, it had been hastily converted into a shelter.

When Bella walked inside, she felt dozens of unfamiliar gazes latch onto her. Her heart stuttered painfully.

For a second, she felt as if multiple venomous snakes were staring at her all at once, their cold eyes slithering over her skin.

Her heart trembled violently. She shut her eyes and whispered under her breath,

"It’s alright... it’s alright," before finding a corner and lowering her presence as much as she could.

She hoped, prayed, that no one would try anything dangerous with her.

Meanwhile, Dante and Talia stood a short distance away, exchanging uneasy glances.

"Do you think that woman has a sonic superpower?" Talia asked in a hushed voice.

Dante shook his head with a troubled expression.

"That’s exactly what confuses me. If it were sonic, the car windows would have shattered. But they didn’t. That means her power is... something else. Something special. It feels like she can somehow suppress certain zombie behaviors. A power like that could be incredibly useful."

Talia nodded slowly, then hesitantly asked, "Should we tell Mom? Maybe ask her to let Bella participate in experiments? We can make more military contributions in that way..."