Chapter 292: Chapter 280: Shed Skin
After Three-Eyes destroyed most of its buildings, the safe zone was slowly being rebuilt.
Amidst the ruined streets and commercial district, the building that had originally served as the mission hall was the first to be rebuilt.
This was the result of a joint agreement among the four major factions. The mission hall not only facilitated the survival and growth of the base’s various teams, large and small, but also gave most ordinary people a fighting chance.
Now, the enforcement team that maintained the mission hall was composed of members dispatched jointly by the four major factions.
Sepherdine had dispatched Jed Holden, a Level 3 Earth Ability User. Zane Locke sent Quincy Joyce, a Second-level Fire Element user. Seth Warren sent Tianna Bloom, a Second-level Ice Ability User. Quinn sent Yvonne Lynch, who possessed both a Fire Element and a Power Type Mutated Superpower. With the exception of Yvonne, all of them brought a team of first-level superpower users. In terms of sheer power, they were more than capable of resolving any emergency that might arise in the mission hall.
Flora was a little surprised when she first heard that Tianna Bloom had become a member of the mission hall’s enforcement team. As far as she knew, after Stephen Bloom died, that awful aunt of hers, Sharon Caldwell, had also disappeared. Tianna, who was quite the social butterfly, had essentially lost both her parents overnight, yet she hadn’t shown any emotional outbursts or particularly strange behavior.
’This doesn’t sound like the Tianna I know.’
Early in the morning, everyone gathered at Flora’s house. Sherman Lynch, who was in the middle of writing up an announcement, posed a question.
"When the four major factions recruit, they all list their team’s strengths and include the leader’s superpowers and so on."
Everyone looked at Flora. "Flora, what about your abilities? Should we list some of them?"
Flora, munching on a pan-fried dumpling, greasy-handed, took the announcement to have a look. She nodded. "Just put down Middle Level Water Element and Level 3 Fire Element. Nothing else."
Aside from the original group of nine who first came to Morhaven, no one else present—not even Flora’s own younger brother, Joel Bloom—had a complete understanding of the full extent of her powers.
However, it was common knowledge that Flora had a space where she could store many things. Everyone assumed it was a Space Ability.
Jade had thought so too, until she awakened her own Space Ability and realized the difference.
Her Space Ability provided only a small storage area. Even after reaching the Second Level, it had only expanded to a mere ten square meters, which was currently filled with the Crystal Cores and food Flora had entrusted to her.
Besides, Space Ability Users didn’t just have storage capabilities. They could also use spatial rifts to attack their enemies. She herself had unleashed this power when she was trapped in a water prison by Morgan Sterling, desperate to save her son, Joel.
Yet Flora didn’t seem to have this ability, or at least, she had never displayed it.
As her mother, Jade would never press her daughter about things she chose not to share. She knew her daughter must have her reasons, secrets she couldn’t speak of or things she couldn’t let her mother know.
Besides, she knew her daughter’s space could store living things and was immense. The seemingly inexhaustible supply of spiritual water also appeared to come from within it.
Furthermore, the vegetables and grains in her daughter’s space were as fresh as if they had just been harvested, all of which pointed to its unique nature.
She had personally experienced the dark side of human nature in this post-apocalyptic world; people’s hearts were treacherous. So, even if she knew there was something special about her daughter’s space, as long as Flora didn’t bring it up, she wouldn’t ask. She would just silently pretend not to know.
’Everyone else here probably feels the same way.’
After the announcement was posted on the wall outside the quarantine gate, a table, a chair, and a stack of handwritten application forms were set up inside the quarantine wall, on the stone path that ran between two lawns.
Caleb Bloom continued to lead his team to clear out zombies in their assigned sector. Meanwhile, Selina, Maeve Preston, and Shelly returned to the villa area to prepare vegetables and other food for everyone’s lunch and dinner.
Flora, however, didn’t join Caleb’s hunting party today. Instead, she asked Cynthia Grant to go with her to check on Jack Locke, whom The Crown Prince and Polly had set up in another villa.
Flora hadn’t used the spiritual water from her space to heal his wounds. For some reason, Jack Locke gave her a strange feeling. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she had a nagging suspicion that he was hiding something important from her.
Thankfully, Lex Cross had stopped her from immediately going to find Annelise. The calmer she became, the more Flora felt that the whole situation was fraught with suspicion.
Ever since Jack Locke had moved into the villa, Flora had a nearby swarm of bees keeping an eye on him. They weren’t to attack, just to watch. No matter what he did or where he went, the bees would report his movements to her through their mental link.
And yet, since entering the villa, Jack Locke had done nothing but sleep, eat, and stare blankly into the yard. He hadn’t left the premises once.
As Flora and Cynthia Grant approached the villa, they both frowned. A strange, foul odor filled the air around the entire building, and the moment they opened the door, the stench assaulted their nostrils.
"Jack Locke, are you in there?"
"..." No response.
"It’s Flora. We’re coming in."
"..." Still no response.
Flora and Cynthia Grant exchanged a look and decided to head inside to investigate.
But as soon as they opened the door to the first room off the ground-floor living room, a bizarre, bloody stench hit them. Inside was a shed snakeskin.
The shed skin was enormous. The arrangement of every scale and the intricate texture upon them were all clearly visible at a glance.
Covering their noses, the two approached the shed skin, the smell growing heavier. Flora held her breath, examining it closely. Suddenly, Cynthia reached out to touch it, but Flora slapped her hand away.
"Don’t touch it. It’s poisonous."
Cynthia sheepishly withdrew her hand. Still shaken, she gave Flora a curious look. "How do you know it’s poisonous?"
Flora shook her head. "I don’t. It’s a guess. This stench isn’t like the normal smell of a shedding snake. There’s another strange odor mixed in, and besides, the skin has a faint green glow. It’s better to be cautious."
Cynthia nodded. The two of them backed out of the room and continued opening the doors to the other guest rooms on the ground floor.
Finally, in the guest room at the very end of the hall, they found Jack Locke. No, more accurately, they found Jack Locke in the middle of shedding his skin.
Shauna Wallace had told her after treating him that day that her Healing System superpower had little effect on his injuries. It could only temporarily staunch the bleeding, so she had simply disinfected his wounds.
But now, Jack Locke’s body had completely recovered, even without treatment from her spiritual water.
From the navel up, he had the torso of a man, though dense patches of snake scales covered his shoulders and back. A few scales on his face also shimmered with a faint light.
Below his navel, his snake body was immense and long, much larger than Annelise Locke’s serpentine tail.
As far as Flora knew, Beast-type Adepts with snake abilities didn’t shed their skin! But not only was Jack Locke shedding like a real snake, his wounds were healing on their own as the old skin came off.
This went completely beyond her understanding of Beast-type Adepts with snake abilities.
’The laboratory... Mirefall... the Doctor!’
’What in the world did those people do to a Beast-type Adept to make a perfectly normal human being endure such agony?’
