Chapter 255: Chapter 243: Astray
They had no boat to head out from the Bund to check on Cynthia Grant and the others. Suddenly, Flora Bloom pulled a satellite communicator out of her dimensional space. "I remember the yacht is supposed to have a communication device, right? Think this can get through?"
Lex Cross took the satellite communicator from Flora Bloom and keyed in a long string of numbers. Abruptly, the call connected with a CLICK.
"Hello? Cynthia? Irvin Holden, are you guys okay?"
"KSSSHH... KSSSHH. I... KSSSHH... Flora... lost... KSSSHH..."
"Hello? Hello? Hello?"
The signal was obviously being jammed, making it impossible to communicate clearly.
Lex Cross took back the communicator. "Holden Warren, are you lost? Repeat, are you lost?"
"KSSSHH... Yes... KSSSHH... We... KSSSHH... no..."
Suddenly, the satellite communicator beeped with a busy signal, and the connection died. The group frowned, staring at the device in Lex Cross’s hands.
"Lost?"
’They’re just on the other side of the volcano, so close. How could they be lost?’
"It seems this is no ordinary volcano. It’s producing a magnetic field that’s interfering with satellite signals. Holden Warren and his group must have lost their way, which is why they fired the flare for help."
The Eye of Earthly Fire volcano continued to rise, its peak already blotting out the sky and completely obscuring the morning sun. Without sunlight, the world was cast in a gloomy, overcast light. And with Morhaven having just entered winter, the regional temperature plummeted by more than ten degrees Celsius.
"Boss, if Holden Warren and the others are really lost, we’re in trouble!" Nolan Jennings said gravely. "Food and water will become an issue. What if the yacht loses power? The seas aren’t exactly calm these days, after all."
Flora Bloom fell silent for a moment, then her eyes suddenly lit up. "Don’t worry, they’re safe for now. The octopus monster and Ash told me they’ve been following the yacht this whole time. But now an illusion has formed all around them, and they’re lost inside it too."
"But my two little pets are sticking close to the yacht, and plenty of other sea creatures are trapped in the illusion with them, just swimming in circles. So food isn’t a problem. We still need to find a way to get them out quickly, though. I’m afraid that if this drags on, it could attract something powerful. The octopus monster’s instincts are never wrong."
Lex Cross and his team of special forces soldiers stood silently on the Bund. Flora Bloom and Shauna Wallace were quiet as well. They couldn’t risk heading into the sea rashly; if they all became trapped in the illusion, the situation would become even more dire.
There was no doubt the Eye of Earthly Fire was still rising. The part of its base emerging from the water was already half again as wide as it was ten minutes prior. The channel out from the Bund was only so wide to begin with, and the remaining gap was now just barely large enough for the yacht to squeeze through.
But if the volcano’s base hadn’t fully risen from the seabed yet—and considering volcanoes are wider at the bottom—its true base would be even larger. Once it completely blocked the channel from the Bund, the yacht wouldn’t be able to reach the shore even if it broke free from the illusion.
’Now they were in real trouble.’
"If only I’d known... we should have just abandoned the yacht and all returned together. Annelise Locke’s snake tail would have made it hard to get her on the plane, but we would’ve found a way!"
As Flora Bloom chided herself, Lex Cross gently stroked her hair.
"Don’t blame yourself. I have an idea."
Flora Bloom looked into Lex Cross’s eyes. "What is it?"
Lex Cross pointed to the sky. "We’ll get them back the same way we got back."
Flora paused, then her face lit up with understanding. "Of course! The plane! We can go to the airport and fly it over to get them!"
Lex Cross nodded, but as he gazed up at the sky, his expression didn’t relax one bit. ’They got lost at sea, and the marine life is trapped in an illusion... What about the sky? Could it be affected as well?’
Looking at Flora Bloom’s worried face beside him, his gaze swept over her abdomen. "We’ll head to the airport first. Flora, you..."
"I’m going with you! There are a lot of Middle Level zombies in Morhaven now, possibly even High-level ones. I’ll take Isla Preston and come along."
"Five, when you took Chelsea Todd back to Argent, did you notice any changes at the airport?"
Five shook his head. "I didn’t notice anything." But Nolan Jennings chimed in, "Boss, it’s true there was no change on the runway, but I did notice that the zombie horde in the terminal seemed smaller. They weren’t as agitated as before, either. In the past, whenever we were on the runway, even the slightest sound would make them go crazy!"
"Isn’t that a good thing? You’re probably overthinking it," Five said. He glanced at Flora Bloom, then gritted his teeth and turned to her. "Flora, I..."
Flora Bloom ignored Five as he tried to speak. ’He’s obviously about to apologize,’ she thought. ’But is it a sincere apology, or is it just because I’ve made up with Lex and am his leader’s partner again?’
’If it’s not sincere, I don’t want to hear it.’ So, she sidestepped the conversation with Five and turned to Saul Sterling. "Saul, can you use your superpower to check the situation inside the volcano?"
Saul Sterling had, of course, tried to probe the volcano immediately. But a strange magnetic field inside it was interfering with his superpower, making it impossible for him to see what was within, much less penetrate it to find Holden Warren and Cynthia Grant’s location.
So Saul Sterling shook his head. "That volcano is truly bizarre. My superpower can’t penetrate it, so there’s no way for me to determine their location. Flora, I’m sorry!"
Flora Bloom shook her head. "Don’t apologize. I expected as much. This volcano is called the Eye of Earthly Fire. Once it appears, other volcanoes will start to rise up around it, so this won’t be the only one. We have to rescue them before an entire volcanic range forms."
’The Eye of Earthly Fire?’ Hearing Flora Bloom suddenly name the volcano, a glint appeared in Lex Cross’s eyes as he glanced at her, but he didn’t voice his questions. ’From the second time they met, she had told him he needed to improve his strength within three years. Thinking about it now, she definitely knows something others don’t.’
Aside from Lex Cross, none of the others knew how Flora Bloom had this information. They just knew she wouldn’t invent such a story for no reason, as there was nothing in it for her.
Besides, Cynthia Grant and Flora Bloom were clearly very close, so Flora would undoubtedly do everything possible to rescue her. This was another reason they trusted what she said.
However, if a volcanic range was truly about to form in the waters around Morhaven, then these volcanoes were a ticking time bomb for the city’s safe zone. A single eruption would mean the death of its people and the destruction of the city. Everything would be lost.
Flora felt a knot of anxiety tighten in her stomach. ’The apocalypse wasn’t just about zombies and evolved creatures. There were also Secret Lands and world-destroying phenomena. The Eye of Earthly Fire, one of the phenomena corresponding to the nine great Secret Lands, has just appeared—four years earlier than I remember. Or maybe it was always here, just dormant on the ocean floor, waiting.’
"Are we going straight to the airport? Or should we head back to the base to discuss it first?"
"Straight to the airport," Flora said. "I won’t be able to relax until Cynthia and the others are back safely."
For some reason, the airport terminal was eerily quiet. Flora could even see the zombies inside, huddled together in clumps, standing motionless and all facing the same direction.
