Chapter 309: Chapter 297: Food and Lodging, Excellent Benefits
The Morhaven Safety Base recently had cause for a grand celebration.
The isolation wall that separated the villa district had vanished. In its place were two fields of foxtail grass. No one in the safety base had ever known such a beautiful place existed within its walls.
Dense rose bushes now grew where the isolation wall once stood, covered in enormous blooming roses. You could smell their cloying, sweet fragrance from far away. Up close, even the air tasted sweet.
Most people in the base knew that a swarm of bees had guarded the area behind the isolation wall. Any outsider who entered without permission would be attacked by them.
But once the wall disappeared, the wariness that had served as a boundary began to fade from people’s minds as well.
Some even grew bold enough to curiously wander onto the stone path between the two grassy fields. The bees dancing in the air didn’t pay them any mind. Instead, they drew near the wildflowers and the adjacent roses, starting to collect nectar with a gentle BUZZ.
The bees from behind the wall weren’t attacking people anymore!
As soon as the news spread, a huge crowd of people rushed over. By the time they arrived, Sepherdine and his subordinates were already waiting at the entrance. He was sitting at a makeshift table, a fully charged laptop open before him.
"What’s going on? Why are you blocking the way? Let us in!"
"Yeah, Captain Sepherdine! Just because you’re superpower users doesn’t mean you can block our way!"
"The base doesn’t even have a leader right now. What right do you have to block the path? This base belongs to everyone!"
"Yeah!"
The crowd, blocked by Sepherdine and his men, was stopped outside the villa district.
With the original wall gone, a small sign bearing the number "1" now hung outside the villa district.
"Everyone, halt! Hear me out first."
Sepherdine’s voice suddenly boomed, his spiritual power as a superpower user rippling through the area, jolting the minds of all the ordinary, unawakened people.
Seeing that most of the crowd had fallen silent, Sepherdine continued, "I’m sure you all know that ever since our former leader, Morgan Sterling, died, the base has been in a state of chaos, with no one in charge. The superpower users are all looking out for themselves, and the rest of you are struggling just to find enough food to eat."
Sepherdine had barely finished speaking when someone in the crowd piped up, "He’s right! Ever since the base lost its leader, we regular people have to go to that mall just outside the base every day to scrounge for food! But the food there was gone long ago. All that’s left is expired, moldy junk. We can eat it and maybe just get an upset stomach for a few days, but our children can’t! You superpower users are only concerned with your own comfortable lives, you don’t give a damn if we live or die! What kind of justice is that?!"
"Yeah! And another thing! There are perfectly good houses here for people to live in, so why won’t you let us move in? It’s not like you own them! You have no right to restrict our freedom!"
Filled with righteous indignation, two ordinary men stepped forward, loudly decrying the "tyranny" of all superpower users, positioning themselves on the moral high ground to look down on everyone else.
This type of person just so happened to make up the majority of the common folk. Now that someone had stepped up to be the mouthpiece, a wave of accusations and complaints erupted from the crowd.
Only a handful of people remained silent, quietly moving off to one side. They didn’t believe anyone was obligated to be responsible for anyone else’s survival.
It wasn’t that they were cold-hearted. This wasn’t an era of peace anymore. They had seen firsthand what happened to those who sympathized with the weak: families destroyed, lives lost.
"No one has the right to demand anything from anyone else. But these days, might makes right. I don’t think anyone here would disagree with that, would they?"
Sepherdine suddenly smiled and looked at the crowd, his gaze landing on the two men who had spoken up. "If I recall correctly, you two were kicked out of this very area by Captain Flora Bloom, weren’t you? Captain Bloom gave you a chance to work for three meals a day. But instead of being grateful, you were lazy, did nothing but eat, and disrupted everyone else’s work. And now you have the nerve to stand here and shout? What, are we superpower users supposed to be your personal slaves?"
As Sepherdine spoke, he manipulated the Wind Element in the air, sending two Wind Blades slicing toward the men. They grazed both of their cheeks, leaving behind shallow cuts. Blood instantly trickled from the wounds.
"Aaaah! Murder! Sepherdine is using his superpower to kill us!"
"Help! Help me! A superpower user is trying to kill us!"
Unfortunately for them, their desperate performance failed to stir up the crowd this time, because everyone was focused on the meaning behind Sepherdine’s words.
’They were kicked out for being lazy?’
’Work in exchange for three meals a day?’
’In times like these, who would dare to make that kind of offer to their subordinates? Especially to ordinary people?’
Though their faces were filled with doubt, their hearts were filled with yearning. It was so hard to get a full meal these days. If someone really could provide three meals a day, they’d be willing to do any work, no matter how hard! Who would dare to be lazy then?
When your very survival was in question, everything besides food—including laziness—was a luxury.
"Captain Sepherdine, is... is that Captain Flora Bloom still recruiting? Do we have a chance to join?"
"Yeah! We’re not afraid of hard work or getting tired, as long as we’re guaranteed three meals! No, even two meals would be fine!"
The crowd’s mood shifted, and most people now sided with Sepherdine, asking questions with eager anticipation.
"Everyone, please, don’t be hasty. Captain Flora Bloom has entered into a strategic partnership with me to provide food for my team. Of course, my team is only recruiting confirmed superpower users."
"What? Then what about us ordinary people? Without food, and unable to fight the zombies outside, we’ll starve to death sooner or later!"
Just then, Ethan Monroe, sporting a messy bird’s-nest hairstyle, walked out with Neal Wallace. He pulled up a chair and sat down beside Sepherdine.
"Non-superpower users can sign up with us. All superpower users, go register with Captain Sepherdine."
The crowd was likely unfamiliar with Neal Wallace, as he rarely left the villa district. Even when he did go out, he would head straight to the main street from the gate of Villa District 3. He’d never had any contact with these people from the base, so it was natural they didn’t recognize each other.
But Ethan Monroe was a different story. He and Cynthia Grant often went to the Mission Hall on Flora Bloom’s behalf to post or accept missions, often carrying the reward items that would be distributed upon completion.
Many people recognized Ethan Monroe by sight. Seeing him emerge from the villa district, they finally realized that the person who had been posting all those easy-to-complete missions on the first floor of the Mission Hall—the ones that always rewarded food—was actually one of Flora Bloom’s own people.
The man who had quietly moved to the side earlier was especially taken aback. His eyes lit up when he saw Ethan Monroe. To him, Ethan Monroe was practically a savior. It was only because of those simple missions on the first floor of the Mission Hall—the ones with generous food rewards that even ordinary people could complete—that he had managed to survive after losing his entire family.
"Big Mr. Monroe! I want to join you!" the man shouted, ignoring the rest of the crowd who were still hesitating. He was the first to run forward.
Seeing someone rush to sign up the moment he appeared—and call him "Big Mr. Monroe" to boot—Ethan Monroe’s mood soared. He let out a hearty laugh. "Come on over, young man! We offer room and board, with excellent benefits!"
Ethan Monroe’s words sent a shockwave through the crowd. Even the few superpower users hiding among the people didn’t go over to Sepherdine to register. Instead, they all flocked to Ethan Monroe’s side.
The registration forms on Ethan Monroe’s side were snatched up in an instant, while not a single person had been registered on Sepherdine’s laptop. He felt the blow keenly.
’Room and board is just too tempting,’ he thought. ’It almost makes me want to join Flora Bloom’s team, too.’
