Chapter 306: Chapter 294: Sepherdine’s Visit
While Flora Bloom and her team were in full swing cleaning up the villa areas, Sherman Lynch brought over five Earth Ability Users, insisting on adding them to the original forty-nine people.
These five Earth Ability Users had previously followed Morgan Sterling, and now they were hiding out in the base to avoid being recruited by the major factions.
It may have seemed like the addition of only five ability users, but all five Earth Ability Users were at the Second Level, their physical capabilities hundreds of times greater than an ordinary person’s. As a result, Villa Area Two was completely cleaned up in just a few days.
Sherman Lynch’s leadership and foresight were truly impressive. According to his plan, once Villa Area Two was cleared and cleaned, he left the five Earth Ability Users to reinforce the houses and fences, while the remaining ordinary people moved on to Villa Area Four to begin the cleanup. Naturally, during these few days, the original group of forty-nine had dwindled to thirty. Those who left were the daydreamers who had grown dissatisfied with their situation, wanting to do less work for more food.
In truth, Flora Bloom didn’t necessarily need every villa area to be completely cleaned out; she was just a firm believer in the saying that time reveals a person’s true character.
Her team had no need for the blindly greedy. Instead, as Ethan Monroe and the others took turns supervising the work, they came back with high praise for one person in particular: David Warren. He soon caught the attention of Flora Bloom and her inner circle.
"That David Warren also has a ten-year-old sister. She’s young, but very sensible. She helps him with his work every day and never complains about being tired. David Warren also has some monstrous strength. It’s strange—Old Monroe arm-wrestled him, and they were actually evenly matched."
"Oh?" Ethan Monroe was now a Level 3 Earth Ability User, and the Earth Element specialized in physical enhancement and defense. ’For someone to be his equal in an arm wrestle, they can’t be an ordinary person! Or maybe he hasn’t even realized it himself.’
"Interesting. Call him over. Tomorrow, he can join Dad’s team and try his hand at hunting zombies."
"Alright, I’ll go get him a weapon. I don’t know why, but I have a feeling the zombies’ skulls have gotten a lot harder recently." Caleb Bloom spoke casually, but his words filled Flora Bloom with deep concern.
’One of the signs of zombie evolution was the hardening of their entire skeleton. Widespread skeletal hardening signaled the large-scale evolution of the horde.’
’Could it be that because we’ve hunted so many zombies recently, we’ve upset some subtle balance, pushing the zombies in this area to the brink of evolution?’
’In my past life, every place that experienced a mass zombie evolution was eventually annihilated by the hordes. Is Morhaven doomed to the same fate?’
After dinner, Flora Bloom took out the satellite communicator from her storage space and dialed Lex Cross’s number.
A persistent busy signal rang in Flora Bloom’s ear; the call just wouldn’t go through.
Flora Bloom tried again, but the result was the same.
’It’s been two weeks. Why isn’t Lex Cross back yet? Don’t tell me he ran into some kind of danger... Is he trapped somewhere?’
’But with his skills and those of his special forces team, is there anything in this world that could possibly be a match for them? Unless... unless it’s a Zombie King. That’s something no ordinary class of zombie could ever compare to.’
「Another week passed.」
By now, all of Flora Bloom’s villa areas had been completely cleared, leaving only two shopping malls—one large and one small—that still needed to be cleaned out.
The area Sherman Lynch had originally mapped out was now completely devoid of zombies. Under Flora Bloom’s constant daily irrigation and nourishment, the roots of the spiritual plants had already spread across a third of Morhaven.
The nine villa areas were now empty, with people living only in Villa Areas One and Three. Within Flora Bloom’s team, every ability user had reached Level 3, and they were all steadily advancing toward the Middle Level.
One day, Sepherdine suddenly appeared alone outside the quarantine gate. He looked at the few bees circling in the air just inside the gate, then broke into a smile and spoke to them. "Tell her I’ve come to discuss something."
Sepherdine was a smart man. He had long ago figured that Flora Bloom must be the reason why such a large swarm of bees could exist in the villa area without ever attacking people.
He didn’t particularly care what other unknown superpowers she might have besides her known water and Fire Element abilities.
All he knew was that Flora Bloom’s large household—with its old, young, and even a pregnant woman—lived inside, along with a number of ordinary people they had reportedly recruited.
Although they were all part of the same base, he rarely saw anyone from her compound. Only occasionally would Flora Bloom and a few other women visit the mission hall to post some laughably simple quests, with rewards of food or water.
This led Sepherdine to suspect that Flora Bloom had a special source for food and water, allowing her to keep such a large group so well-supplied.
To be honest, he, the de facto leader of the base, was under immense daily pressure. He constantly worried about the brothers who went out to hunt zombies and the starving people within the base.
His burden would be even greater if not for the recent, sharp decrease in zombies outside the base. Even the small hordes they encountered were composed of pathetically weak first-level zombies; Second Level zombies had become a rare sight.
But there were simply too many people in the base. To develop it properly, population alone wasn’t enough—resources were the biggest hurdle.
Flora Bloom received a notification from a few bees via her spiritual power and learned that Sepherdine had come to see her. She laughed to herself. ’This Sepherdine is a sharp one, knowing to greet my bees. If he had just barged in, I wouldn’t care if he was a Middle Level ability user. If my swarm attacked to kill, even a Middle Level user wouldn’t stand a chance.’
Her bee swarms were simply that numerous. They occupied the branches of every large tree in the villa areas, and hives were even built inside climbing plants, in hidden patches of grass, and on the streetlights lining the main roads between the districts.
The hives, both large and small, now had a golden-yellow sheen like honey. From a distance, they resembled shimmering, golden light bulbs.
Sepherdine waited at the entrance for a moment before the quarantine gate suddenly opened. A tall, burly man in a short-sleeved shirt stepped out. The man’s face was resolute, yet his expression was pleasant as he looked at Sepherdine.
"You must be Captain Sepherdine, right? Our boss invites you in. Please, follow me."
Sepherdine nodded and stepped through the quarantine gate.
Those few enormous bees were still circling overhead, their BUZZING incessant. To him, the sound was jarring and stripped him of any sense of security.
As he walked, his initial apprehension turned to utter shock. ’What in the world did Flora Bloom do? How did this place become like this?’
The moment he stepped inside, he felt the air turn fresh and cool. A faint energy seemed to drift around him, making him feel unusually relaxed and comfortable in both body and soul.
The lawns on either side of the gravel path were lush, bursting with wildflowers of every color. The quarantine wall was completely overrun by some unknown vine, making it look as if it were carpeted in green turf. Several large, vibrant flowers bloomed from the greenery.
’If I’m not mistaken, those are roses. But I have no idea how roses could bloom in three different colors, all growing so vigorously together. Besides, apart from the dense thorns, the climbing vine itself doesn’t even look like a rose vine.’
These were two wild rose bushes that had been captured by the very same rose vine Flora Bloom had subdued when it attacked the base. Flora had transplanted them to the quarantine gate, allowing them to cover the wall—partly for defense, and partly as a contingency.
