Chapter 297: Chapter 285: Digging a Pit
Over the next few days, Flora Bloom would either go with Cynthia Grant to Villa 002 to secretly watch the fifty people clean the villa district, or she would take Cynthia Grant to the second floor of the Mission Hall to browse missions. And each time, Tianna Bloom was the one who attended to her.
One day.
Two days.
Three days.
For three days straight, Flora would just go to check out the missions, look around for a bit, chat with Tianna Bloom, and then leave.
When she returned to the villa that day, Chester Bell was in the courtyard, tilling the soil. Cynthia Grant came running back with Caleb, shouting Flora’s name as she entered the yard.
"Flora! Flora! Shelly’s looking for Joel for something. Where is he?"
Flora Bloom replied nonchalantly, "Oh, he went to train with Old Lynch."
The next day, back in the courtyard of Flora’s villa.
Cynthia Grant yelled at the top of her lungs, "Flora! Flora! Where did Joel go?"
"Why are you looking for him?"
"Shelly’s injured. She’s looking for Joel."
"Shelly is a nurse. Can’t she just bandage herself up if she’s hurt? What does she need Joel Bloom for?"
"Oh, come on, Flora, you’re no fun! You know how it is with young couples. Now, hurry up, where did he go?"
"Were you looking for me, Cynthia?" Joel Bloom asked, walking out of the villa just then.
Cynthia Grant gave an awkward laugh. "Oh, you’re here! Perfect timing. Come with me, quick! Shelly needs you for something!"
「The third day.」
"Flora..."
Cynthia Grant came running up, out of breath. She saw that Flora Bloom had leisurely set up a rocking chair in the courtyard and was dozing in it with her eyes closed. Cynthia was just about to speak when Flora cut her off.
"Alright, you can stop acting. He’s gone."
Cynthia Grant looked around. "Huh? He’s really gone? I couldn’t believe it when you first told me! That Chester Bell is so sneaky, pretending to be under Isla Preston’s spiritual control when he’d actually broken free long ago. And he was eavesdropping on us!"
Flora Bloom smiled faintly and nodded. A bunch of grapes, translucent and colored like amethysts, appeared in her hand. They were instantly fragrant and sweet, and each bite filled her with a refreshing, sugary coolness.
Cynthia Grant’s mouth watered at the sight. "Flora, grapes."
"Here." Flora casually tossed her a bunch. Perfectly content, Cynthia squeezed onto a corner of the rocking chair next to her.
"But Flora, why did we have to trick Chester Bell with all that? And are you sure it’s okay to just let him run off?"
Cynthia Grant casually spat the grape seeds onto the patch of soil Chester Bell had just tilled.
"You’ll find out whether it was useful soon enough."
Caleb and Lisa had been playing together often since moving to the new villa district. With the bee swarm watching over them, Flora didn’t have to worry much about the two kids. Just then, Dabai suddenly flapped over to Flora’s side, craning its neck to peck at the grapes in her hand.
Caleb and Lisa chased after it, panting, clearly no match for Dabai.
After its last deep slumber, Dabai had leveled up upon waking. Its level was now clearly a bit higher than Caleb’s, and it was no longer under his control.
This time, however, Dabai didn’t fly away after breaking free from Caleb’s control as it had before. Perhaps its intelligence had grown after leveling up, or maybe it had grown accustomed to the vegetables from Flora’s spatial storage and was reluctant to leave. After all, if it left, it would have to face the food crisis outside. Sometimes an animal’s instinct for self-preservation is far more advanced than a human’s.
Flora knew it was time for everyone else to start leveling up, too. ’If the whole team can break through to the Middle Level, they won’t be in mortal danger even if we run into trouble.’
The warm breeze was just as prevalent at night as it was during the day. This was all thanks to the Eye of the Earth’s Core, a volcano that had risen near the Bund, making the Fire Element Energy in the air abundant.
Over the past two days, Flora had tried calling Lex Cross several times, but she either got no signal or a busy tone. In a fit of pique, she simply tossed the satellite communicator back into her spatial storage to put it in time-out.
Night had fallen, and Jade, Caleb Bloom, and the others were already asleep. Flora summoned only Cynthia Grant, Neal Wallace, Ethan Monroe, and Shelly to the villa’s courtyard.
"Cynthia Grant has already told us the gist of the plan. Shelly, this is going to be tough on you," Flora said, patting Shelly’s shoulder. "Here, take this."
Flora Bloom took out a hair tie strung with aqua-blue pearls and put it on Shelly’s wrist.
Shelly’s eyes lit up as she looked at the pearls on the hair tie. "It’s beautiful!" But her expression quickly changed. "Ah, Flora, I can’t take this!"
Flora caught Shelly’s hand as she tried to take it off. "Don’t refuse. I can’t ask for your help and then let you walk into mortal danger. You have to keep this on you at all times, understand?"
Shelly nodded, her expression serious and earnest.
Flora reassured her, "Don’t feel pressured. If you run into any danger, just scream."
Shelly nodded and, with a look of someone marching to their doom, started walking toward Villa District 1.
Meanwhile, in another villa in the safe base, Zane Locke stared at Chester Bell, his face a mask of stern disbelief.
"You’re saying that Isla Preston, the one who controlled you, is very likely not human?"
Chester Bell nodded gravely. "That’s right! I couldn’t sense a single trace of a human aura in the residual energy she left in my spiritual power. But she can’t be a zombie, either—she clearly has a human face and body!"
"This is all very strange. We can’t make any rash moves."
Zane Locke’s words made Lucia bristle instantly.
"No! I’m dragging Shelly over here today. I’m going to torture that little bitch for stealing my man!"
Zane Locke shot Lucia a contemptuous look. "She’s in Flora’s villa. How are you going to grab her? Forcing your way in will only put them on their guard."
"Then what do we do?" Lucia clenched her fists tightly, her eyes blazing with fury.
"First, we let Tianna Bloom take care of our big problem, Flora. Then we make our move. The arrangements on her end should be almost complete. No one knows a younger sister better than her older sister, so let’s have them destroy each other. That way, you can frame Shelly for your miscarriage and make Joel Bloom feel eternally guilty toward you.
"If you’re smart, you’ll understand that a man’s guilt is more than enough to ensure you a comfortable life within their group."
Lucia narrowed her eyes and touched her now-flat abdomen, an inexplicable pang of bitterness welling up inside her. ’Flora is no easy target, and this Zane Locke in front of me is no good person either. I may be making a deal with the devil, but as long as I can successfully infiltrate the Bloom family, I can finally get away from Zane and his crew.’
But just then, as if he had read her mind, Zane Locke dismissed Chester Bell and a subordinate. After they had left, his eyes filled with a vile lust. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair from Lucia’s forehead.
Lucia saw the look in his eyes and shuddered inwardly, taking two steps back to avoid his hand. "I just had a miscarriage. I can’t..."
Zane Locke sneered. "Why the innocent act? You’re the one who came to me, aren’t you? That clueless oaf Seth Warren couldn’t handle you, and you took a liking to my power and my methods, right? Besides, the kid’s gone now. You have superpowers. Your body is perfectly fine, so don’t pull this crap with me!"
Only Lucia knew how weak she felt after losing the baby yesterday; it was a weakness she’d never experienced before. But as she looked at Zane Locke’s outstretched hand and remembered the pleasure they’d shared, she found herself unable to refuse him once again.
...
"That’s a good girl. What’s so great about Joel Bloom, anyway? He’s just got a pretty face. What use is a pretty face in the apocalypse?"
The villa district was silent in the dead of night, the tranquility broken only by the intermittent sounds coming from Zane Locke’s villa.
