Chapter 313: Chapter 301: Disappearances at the Base
After hearing what Flora Bloom said, Shelly Jarvis suddenly went still on the examination bed, tears pouring from her eyes.
She saw Maeve Preston in a white lab coat, adjusting the equipment. The surrounding smell of disinfectant was just like getting a check-up at a hospital before the apocalypse. "You’re a doctor?"
Maeve Preston nodded. "To be precise, the chief of obstetrics and gynecology."
Shelly Jarvis mumbled, as if talking to herself, yet also pleading. "I don’t want it! I don’t want it!"
"Why?" Maeve Preston asked calmly.
But in the next second, Shelly Jarvis suddenly clutched her stomach, her body seizing. "AH!" she shrieked, her face turning as pale as a wretched spirit crawling from a grave. The pain seemed excruciating as her body convulsed, arching her back.
"Please, help me get it out! I don’t want it! It’s a demon! It has to be! They... they must have replaced my baby with a demon from hell!"
Flora Bloom frowned. "Who are ’they’? People from the laboratory?"
Shelly Jarvis looked at Flora Bloom in surprise, a trace of fear in her eyes. "You... you’re one of the Doctor’s people too?"
Flora Bloom gave a contemptuous sneer. "Me? I’m the one who’s going to destroy the Doctor!"
Shelly Jarvis breathed a sigh of relief. "If you’re not, then please help me! I don’t want this thing in my belly! I’m begging you, help me get it out!"
Flora Bloom said nothing. The color ultrasound machine was quickly calibrated. Since Shelly was unconscious, Flora Bloom assisted Maeve Preston in examining Shelly Jarvis.
Maeve Preston held the ultrasound image, her face pale. Flora Bloom took it and looked.
This wasn’t an image of an unformed three-month-old fetus at all; it was a clear image of a fully formed, miniature baby.
The baby in the image had tiny hands and feet, clear facial features, and even details like skin folds were visible. The most terrifying part was that a section of Shelly Jarvis’s intestine was missing, and the miniature baby had it in its mouth, having apparently eaten a large chunk.
Such a bizarre phenomenon was something neither Maeve Preston, the OB/GYN, nor the reborn Flora Bloom had ever seen before.
"Where is the laboratory?" Flora Bloom didn’t like to beat around the bush. She waited until Shelly Jarvis’s pain had eased slightly before asking, "Also, who in the base is connected to the lab? Or to put it another way, who here works for the Doctor?"
Shelly Jarvis took several deep breaths to calm her body after the wave of pain, and the spasms that shot from her lower abdomen to her spine eased considerably.
"If... if I tell you, can you help me get rid of the child?" Shelly Jarvis made a last-ditch effort, desperate for release—either she would die, or she would have the surgery to remove the child.
"Heh, you’re in no position to bargain with me. If you don’t talk, are you sure your companions won’t? I’m just giving you a chance." As Flora Bloom spoke, she exchanged a knowing glance with Maeve Preston, then grabbed Shelly Jarvis’s hand and pulled her off the examination bed.
Shelly Jarvis stood silently on the ground, barefoot, her eyes downcast. Flora Bloom was right. With her current power, handling her would be effortless. So, she nodded.
"If I tell you the lab’s location, will you help me abort the child?"
’I was afraid this Shelly Jarvis would be stubborn,’ Flora Bloom thought, sighing in relief. ’Then I’d have to waste more time dealing with her companions. That would be too much of a hassle.’
And time was exactly what Shelly lacked right now. Her situation was similar to when Ethan Monroe was unconscious; if she didn’t wake up soon, it could cause damage to her spiritual power and her body.
So they had to race against time.
Maeve Preston looked at Flora Bloom. All the examination and surgical equipment on this floor had been brought back from the hospital by Flora. Flora and her group had also saved her life, so she deferred to Flora’s decisions on everything.
"No! But if you take us there, I’ll consider your request."
Shelly Jarvis knew she had no room to negotiate, so she agreed.
Flora Bloom looked at Maeve Preston. "Maeve, I’ll have to trouble you. Please go take care of Shelly. Leave this one to me."
The people in her team knew she had a spatial ability and could store anything inside it. But they didn’t know about her space’s branding function. She could control not only evolved creatures but any living being, even humans.
But she had no intention of telling anyone about something so world-shattering. So, there were many things Flora Bloom wouldn’t do if others were present.
So, once Maeve Preston went upstairs to Shelly’s room, Flora Bloom quickly pulled Shelly Jarvis into her space. An instant later, they both reappeared.
But this time, Shelly Jarvis’s expression was completely different. Her face was full of reverence. "Master."
"You don’t have to worry about the fetus in your womb now. Tell me about the situation in the laboratory. Who is there?"
Shelly Jarvis thought hard, then paused. "There’s a Doctor in the lab, and he has two assistants. Oh, right, Master, you absolutely must not go there rashly. The lab is guarded by over twenty Middle Level superpower users. They’re extremely powerful fighters and very hard to deal with!"
"Have you seen a woman with a long snake tail in the lab?"
Shelly Jarvis nodded. "I have, but she’s not in the lab anymore."
"Where did she go? Or, is she dead?"
Shelly Jarvis shook her head. "No, the Doctor took her to a laboratory in another region. I don’t know where."
Flora Bloom’s eyes darkened. "What about Chester Bell? Where did he go? Is he in the lab too?"
Shelly Jarvis nodded. "Yes, he was captured and taken to the lab the day Zane Locke died."
Flora Bloom’s brow furrowed deeply as she finally grasped the meaning behind Shelly Jarvis’s words. "Captured *in the base*? Are you saying people from the lab have infiltrated the base? Is that right?"
Under Flora Bloom’s control, Shelly Jarvis was completely powerless. And because of the soul-deep obedience she felt towards her master, she could not lie to Flora Bloom.
"Yes. Among the companions who came with me just now, Riley Kendall and Herbert are from the lab. Their powers aren’t strong, but they’re loyal to the laboratory. The Doctor sent them to Boss Locke’s team to monitor him."
Flora Bloom had a sudden realization. But at the same time, she was shocked!
’What on earth is the lab thinking, daring to target our base?’
She immediately summoned everyone who was out searching the base for Chester Bell. At the same time, Sherman Lynch and the others brought Flora Bloom a piece of news: a rumor that had recently been spreading like wildfire through the base.
That Flora Bloom was randomly killing innocent young men in the base, carving up their flesh and blood, stewing their bones, and distributing the human meat to the people in the villa area as a substitute for regular meat.
The rumors grew more and more exaggerated, until someone even claimed to have seen Flora Bloom on a dark and stormy night, break into a high-rise apartment, abduct the couple inside on the spot, and cook them into a meal for the new recruits.
Flora Bloom wasn’t bothered by the rumors. She looked at the group. "You guys don’t actually believe this, do you?"
They all shook their heads, saying they didn’t. Cynthia Grant suddenly patted Flora Bloom on the shoulder. "I’m telling you, Flora, you’re always so low-key and non-confrontational. If you don’t refute the rumors, lies will eventually become truth!"
Caleb Bloom agreed. "Flora, a lot of people in the base have gone missing recently, and the rumor is that you brought them back to Villa 3 to be killed, cooked, and eaten."
Flora Bloom shrugged nonchalantly. "Dad, Cynthia, none of you worry. I don’t have time to pay attention to any of this." After speaking, she glanced at Shelly Jarvis, who was standing to the side. "I have to go out on business tomorrow, so I’m letting you all know now. No matter what, everyone remaining in the base must not leave the Villa 3 area, including your hunting team, Dad. The entire team takes a day off tomorrow. Also, I’ll need two people to come with me somewhere."
