Chapter 382: Chapter 382: Unprincipled Ronan
"I don’t believe you," Ethan Dawson said. "I haven’t even started, and you’re already predicting I’ll fail?"
Quincy nodded. "That’s right. Don’t think setting this up is simple. I suggest you drop all these fancy, useless ideas. If you built a training room, at least someone would be interested."
"A training room is only suitable for men. What about the women?" Ethan Dawson did a quick mental calculation. His farm now had eleven women. ’They should have their own recreational activities besides just washing clothes and cooking.’
"Speaking of which, I discovered something." The smile vanished from Quincy’s face. "Isn’t there a man on your farm named Frank Fletcher?"
Ethan Dawson nodded. "What about him?"
"I think taking in those female refugees was a good deed, but before you pair them up with the men on your farm, couldn’t you vet their character first? Or do you just not care about that sort of thing?"
Ethan Dawson was dumbfounded. "What do you mean? I don’t understand."
"I mean that man, Frank Fletcher, is an abuser. A female refugee who had just escaped one hell was paired by you with this Frank Fletcher, only to fall into another."
"How do you know?"
Quincy rolled his eyes. "You don’t need to worry about how I know. Instead of hypocritically arranging ’stress-relief activities’ for them, you should be guaranteeing their physical safety."
Quincy had gone to Fairgate Farm a couple of days ago to get a saw and a hand plane and happened to see Frank Fletcher hitting someone. He’d stuck his nose in, but as he was leaving, he asked for Frank Fletcher’s name.
Ethan Dawson was silent for a few seconds. Quincy continued, "Your motives weren’t pure to begin with. You actually wanted to use women as a tool to win people over. Still, since you gave them a roof over their heads, I’ll say you get neither credit nor blame for it."
"I’ll handle it." With that, Ethan Dawson left. Later, someone from Fairgate Farm came to Quincy for a fortune-telling. When Quincy asked about the situation, he learned that Frank Fletcher had been punished. The woman was free again and had even been given her own room.
"Just a punishment? He didn’t even kick the guy out. That Ethan Dawson... unless the fist lands on him, he’ll never understand how horrifying domestic abuse is."
When Quincy complained to Evelyn about the incident, he criticized Ethan Dawson from head to toe.
"You’re holding such a grudge against him. Is it because he called you a charlatan and you can’t get over it?"
Quincy shook his head, his expression dead serious. "No. I just feel he isn’t cut out to be a leader. A true leader should be like you—all-knowing, all-powerful."
Evelyn rolled her eyes and gave him a two-word reply.
"Oh, please."
"But seriously," Quincy said, "Ethan Dawson is an ambitious man, but he’s definitely not a good person. Of course, how many good people are left these days? Still, using women as bargaining chips to win favor... that kind of person deserves to be despised, no matter the era."
Evelyn nodded. "That makes sense. It’s rare for you to say something that actually sounds reasonable."
Quincy coughed. "That was a low blow."
Although Evelyn was willing to cooperate with Fairgate Farm, she wasn’t particularly fond of Ethan Dawson. As long as she could maximize her own benefits, she wouldn’t pass judgment on his character.
"Ronan Kendrick hasn’t been around at all lately. He isn’t injured, is he?"
"No, he’s just too lazy to move." Evelyn took a stroll over to where Taylor Vance was teaching. The few children there were still learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Back at the cabin, Ronan Kendrick was grooming Mina’s fur. Evelyn hurried inside and quickly took off her hat and scarf.
"It’s freezing."
"I told you not to go out. Go soak your feet, quickly."
Evelyn waved him off. "My feet aren’t cold. The wind snuck in down the back of my neck. My back’s a little chilly."
Evelyn took off her coat and sat beside him. Ronan pulled her into his embrace. "You haven’t spent any time with me these last few days."
Evelyn ruffled his hair. "You’ve seemed preoccupied ever since we got back from Mount Lumin. I thought you might want some space to be alone."
"I’m not exactly preoccupied. I was just wondering why all the ’failed products’ that were supposed to have been disposed of are still alive. If they had just restrained themselves the first time they felt the urge to drink blood, they could have delayed their aging and death. But every single one of them failed."
Evelyn smiled. "They’re called ’failed products’ for a reason. They probably lack self-control. Even with normal people, the successful ones tend to be more hardworking, restrained, and self-disciplined. That’s not surprising. What’s surprising are the motives of whoever let them go free. Without the apocalypse, these ’failed products’ would have caused social panic and instability. Maybe that was their goal all along."
"It doesn’t matter. Whenever I find them, I’ll clean them up."
’Even in an apocalypse, the secret of genetically-edited humans cannot be allowed to spread.’
"How’s your mood now?" Evelyn asked, leaning into his embrace and gently pinching his earlobe.
"My mood is great. And I’ve been researching some things... How about we put them into practice?"
Evelyn watched as he pulled out an erotic art book, flipping it open and placing it in front of her. "This position looks a little difficult. What do you think?"
Evelyn struggled out of his embrace and tried to flee, but Ronan’s arm snaked around her slim waist, holding her fast. "Let’s give it a try, hm?"
’Where did this lecher suddenly come from?’ Evelyn wanted to cry but had no tears.
"Ronan Kendrick, where’s your sense of decency?"
"What’s that? I don’t have one."
’He’s even more terrifying than that fiend in the tomb,’ Evelyn thought. ’I really shouldn’t have run my mouth back then.’
He was able to admire the pictures without batting an eye, even offering a critique of each one.
He tormented Evelyn so thoroughly that she didn’t leave the cabin for the next three days.
---
Christina Thorne had mostly recovered, so Evelyn began her acupuncture treatments.
"Have you never had your period before? Even just a little bit of spotting would count."
Christina Thorne thought back for a long time. "I bled once, a few years ago. My parents were still alive then. I didn’t think much of it. It was during the drought, and we had no water or food. There was only a tiny bit of blood, but I was in pain for days."
"It’s likely that after that one time, you were constantly starving. Your body was always running on empty, so your period stopped." Evelyn had actually discovered something else as well.
"Did you experience any heavy bleeding about a year ago?"
Claudia Schultz and Christina Thorne had known each other for a year by then, so Claudia was well aware of Christina’s circumstances.
"I think there was," Claudia said. "I remember Titus Joyce beat Christina, and she was covered in blood. She was unconscious for two days. Evelyn, did that beating leave her with any permanent damage?"
A pained expression crossed Christina Thorne’s face. The incident had clearly left her with deep psychological trauma.
Evelyn held back what she was about to say. She waited for Christina to compose herself, then poured her a cup of hot water. "You were actually pregnant at the time. The baby was probably around three months along. After the beating, you lost the baby, but it remained in your uterus. It still hasn’t been expelled."
Christina Thorne was completely stunned. Her hands trembled as she stared at Evelyn in disbelief.
"There’s a... a dead fetus inside me?"
