Chapter 287: Chapter 275: A Strange Phenomenon
The villa districts in Morhaven were all laid out in a very similar fashion. Green grass, shady trees, and lush flowers and plants grew in abundance.
A swarm of bees led by Vert and Pike flew into Villa District No. 4, a dense black cloud in the sky. They circled and scouted the entire area over and over for a long time before returning. Flora Bloom stood pondering for a long while, unsure how to describe the situation inside Villa District No. 4 to the others.
Because Vert and Little Bee couldn’t find the two Level 3 zombies, nor could they sense even a trace of the energy such zombies should possess.
She found it strange. Just as Sherman Lynch had said, Saul Sterling had already scouted the area for them in detail. If there were indeed two Level 3 zombies and a small horde of Level 1 and Second Level zombies in the villa district, it was impossible for those two Level 3 zombies to have simply vanished into thin air.
Furthermore, the small horde of Level 1 and Second Level zombies currently within Villa District No. 4 was completely scattered. Since it was daytime, they were all hiding in dark places, moving sluggishly and unwilling to come out.
"Old Lynch, are you sure Saul Sterling said there were two Level 3 zombies?"
"Of course, I’m sure! I may be old, but I’m not senile yet!" Faced with Flora Bloom’s doubt, Sherman Lynch’s eyebrows shot up, and his face flushed with indignation.
"Flora, there’s no mistake. We were all there when Saul Sterling told us," Caleb Bloom said, patting Sherman Lynch’s shoulder. "Old Lynch, don’t be upset. Flora isn’t doubting your word. She might have discovered something!"
Flora Bloom nodded. "I did find a problem." She frowned, her expression serious. "There are no Level 3 zombies in there at all, just a small horde of Level 1 and Second Level zombies. Where would any Level 3 zombies have come from?"
"None? Saul Sterling shouldn’t have made a mistake."
To be safe, Flora Bloom sent out Gold Cicada this time as well. "The three of you, take the swarm and scout again. Be thorough."
The three small pets took their orders and flew back into Villa District No. 4. This time, they were gone for much longer, but when they returned, the answer was still the same.
Just then, two figures appeared out of thin air behind Flora Bloom. After greeting everyone amicably, they lowered their heads, stifling laughs as they spoke.
"Sister-in-law, you can stop scouting. There are no more Level 3 zombies inside."
Flora Bloom asked in surprise, "No more? How do you know?"
The Crown Prince and Puma glanced at each other. "Sister-in-law, just trust us. There are no Level 3 zombies left in Villa District No. 4. You can go in and clear out the rest."
Flora Bloom’s gaze swept over The Crown Prince and Puma, full of doubt. ’These two shouldn’t be lying to me, though.’
"Old Lynch, Dad, let’s go in. Since The Crown Prince and Puma said there are no more Level 3 zombies, it must be true! I’ll have Vert take the lead. Everyone, follow me."
As she spoke, Flora Bloom habitually moved to walk in front, but Caleb Bloom pulled her back.
"You’re a girl, and you’re pregnant! Stop rushing to the front for everything! Vert is up ahead, so you will walk in the middle!" Caleb Bloom turned to look at Old Monroe. "Old Monroe, you take point!"
Holding an axe, Ethan Monroe walked at the very front, exuding the air of a single man holding a pass against ten thousand. Caleb Bloom and Sherman Lynch flanked the group on the left and right. Neal Wallace and Cynthia Grant were in front of Flora Bloom, while Shauna Wallace walked right beside her.
The Crown Prince and Puma’s figures vanished again. By the time Flora Bloom’s group approached the interior of Villa District No. 4, they discovered that The Crown Prince and Puma were already working with Vert and Little Bee, effortlessly weaving in and out of a horde of several hundred zombies. They weren’t even breaking a sweat.
With the addition of versatile superpower users like Sherman Lynch and Caleb Bloom, who could handle both offense and defense, plus Neal Wallace’s now Level 3 Fire Element superpower, the speed at which they killed zombies increased significantly. Ethan Monroe then used his Earth Element superpower to divide the zombie horde into several smaller sections, greatly increasing the team’s safety.
Meanwhile, Shauna Wallace stood behind Ethan Monroe, her eyes fixed on the group, watching intently. The moment someone was injured, she would release her Healing System superpower on them.
Cynthia Grant stood boredly in front of Flora Bloom, occasionally taking a potshot to bind any zombies that got too close to the group and flinging them against the earthen walls raised by Ethan Monroe’s superpower.
Looking at the hundreds of zombie corpses on the ground, Flora Bloom stood in place, suddenly feeling like she had no role to play.
Ethan Monroe looked at Flora Bloom standing there in a daze and laughed. "I’m telling you, Grandma Flora, we’re not the same team we used to be. See? Even without you, these little zombies are a piece of cake for us!"
Annoyed, Flora Bloom took out her dagger and started poking at the zombies’ skulls on the ground. Then, encasing her hand in a membrane of water, she began digging out the Crystal Cores from their heads one by one.
Just as she finished digging out the Crystal Cores from the hundreds of zombies at her feet, another few hundred zombie corpses lay scattered a short distance ahead.
Far from feeling like she had come for nothing, Flora Bloom felt that the worried, mother-hen heart she’d been carrying had finally been put at ease.
She didn’t know when it started, but her father, Caleb Bloom, Sherman Lynch, Cynthia Grant, Neal Wallace, Ethan Monroe, and even the non-combatant Shauna Wallace, were no longer the people who needed her protection.
With their coordination, even facing hordes of hundreds or thousands of zombies was no longer a challenge. Their teamwork was seamless, and they trusted each other enough to watch each other’s backs.
It wasn’t that they didn’t need her anymore; instead, they were protecting her in a different way. This was a feeling she had never experienced in her past life.
A district like Villa District No. 4, filled with large, detached villas, hadn’t been densely populated to begin with. Working together, the group managed to clear out basically all the zombies in the entire district in a single morning.
With Vert, Gold Cicada, and Little Bee’s pervasive scouting, every blind spot in Villa District No. 4 was checked. After confirming there were no stray zombies, the others who had been fighting in the horde also began to squat down and join Flora Bloom in poking zombie skulls.
Finding it too troublesome, Ethan Monroe forcefully stomped on a zombie’s head, causing its brains to splatter everywhere, including onto the others.
Flora Bloom, in particular, had been happily collecting Crystal Cores, but Ethan Monroe’s stomp not only ruined her good mood, but the foul-smelling brain matter that splattered onto her made her stomach churn. She immediately used her superpower to rinse off the affected areas and drank a few sips of spiritual water, but this only suppressed the nausea for a moment.
Flora Bloom clutched her stomach. "Polly Bloom, let’s talk this out. Can you please not make your mom nauseous for no reason? Your dad’s not here, so you think I can’t handle you, is that it?"
Strangely enough, after Flora Bloom finished speaking, her morning sickness and nausea actually became less intense. She rinsed her mouth with water and then glared at Ethan Monroe.
"Old Monroe, you did that on purpose, didn’t you!"
But Ethan Monroe had no time to pay attention to Flora Bloom. He was solicitously hovering around Shauna Wallace, using his bare hands to brush the splattered zombie brains off her, his face full of concern.
Shauna Wallace didn’t seem to mind Ethan Monroe’s overly familiar proximity. As they looked at each other, a faint smile remained on her face. The sight left Flora Bloom completely dumbfounded.
’Ethan Monroe is big and burly, while Shauna Wallace is the very image of a beautiful office professional. If those two really got together, it would be a classic case of Beauty and the Beast! I guess this is what they mean by ’to each their own,’ huh?’
