Chapter 323: Chapter 311: Sentient Gophers?
Overnight, more than half of the residents in the base who were growing crops were hit by a thief. And this thief was very strange—they didn’t just steal the seeds, they ate them. Flora Bloom had seen the proof herself: crushed seed fragments in the yard of a villa in Villa Area One, looking as if they’d been chewed up.
’This little thief is so bizarre,’ she thought. It would have been understandable if they were stealing seeds to plant themselves. ’But eating them? That’s as short-sighted as killing the chicken for the egg. Who would do such a thing?’
So many seeds disappearing overnight couldn’t possibly be the work of a single person. So, Sherman Lynch came up with a plan. He had a large plot of land cleared for farming within Villa Area One, and once again, they sowed seeds and covered them with soil.
But after just one night, the seeds in the ground had vanished again! And this little thief was audacious. They had ignored the smaller, scattered gardens and gone straight for the large, freshly cleared field in Villa Area One to dig up seeds.
Flora Bloom and her group hid on the lawn, the long blades of grass gently concealing their forms. They were lying in wait. When they heard the sound of digging, they all rushed out at once—only to find a boy and a girl, two small children with large, sparkling eyes.
The two little ones’ chubby cheeks were bulging. Through their parted lips, you could see they were stuffed with green and brown seeds of various sizes. Their cheeks were so full they couldn’t even close their mouths.
The two children looked to be less than a year old; they could only crawl, not walk. But as the large group of people approached and surrounded them, their bodies shook, and they suddenly transformed into two pure white... gophers?
Everyone thought their eyes were playing tricks on them. But when they blinked, the two gophers, each bigger than a dog, suddenly burrowed into the dirt. In the next second, they vanished, leaving two large holes in their wake.
The group looked at each other, speechless, unsure how to react. And so, all eyes turned to Flora Bloom.
At that moment, Flora Bloom felt like she was losing her mind. ’Seeing two babies transform into gophers with my own eyes...’ she thought. ’Am I in a hardcore apocalypse or some kind of cultivation fantasy world?’
And yet, what had just happened was undeniably real.
But this explained everything. The two little ones were transformed gophers. They’d gotten hungry, gone foraging, and discovered the seeds in the ground. And that was the whole story behind the mysterious seed thief.
Looking at the two large holes, Flora Bloom thought for a moment and decided not to pursue them for the time being. ’The identity of these two gopher-children can’t be simple.’ It reminded her of the clans from beneath the sea, like the Thunderbird and Great Crow clans—races not of this Earth.
’They might look like gophers, but anything that can shapeshift is far from simple.’
Thankfully, everyone on watch tonight was one of her own. If a story this bizarre got out, it would only cause widespread panic.
Back in Villa Area Three, Flora Bloom called Caleb and Lisa over. She took out some snacks, nuts, peas, and cabbages that she had gathered from a supermarket before the apocalypse and handed them over.
The Space Bracelet she had given her mother had been lost long ago during a supply run after it was discovered by Morgan Sterling. So now, besides Flora Bloom and her mother, Jade, who had their own spatial storage, it was a hassle to carry a large number of items. And especially with most people in the base not having enough to eat, it wouldn’t be right to let two children carry too much out in the open.
"Caleb," she said, leaning in to whisper in both his and Lisa’s ears, "I have a very important mission for you and Lisa!"
Caleb’s face lit up with understanding. "Don’t worry, Flora!" he said with a grin. "I can do it!"
Seeing Flora Bloom’s serious expression, Lisa nodded with the maturity of an adult. "Flora, you can count on us. We’ll definitely complete the mission! And I’ll take good care of Caleb!"
As long as the base remained without a leader, the people would be anxious. Everyone did their own thing, and the community was like a pile of loose sand, lacking cohesion.
It was at this critical juncture that Sepherdine stepped up, declaring himself leader and taking the highly coveted position. On the second day of his leadership, he began distributing free food to everyone at the main gate of Villa Area One.
Like an official from ancient times performing a charity by distributing congee, he had three large pots set up at the entrance to Villa Area One, simmering with thick vegetable and tomato porridge.
This move instantly sent Sepherdine’s popularity soaring. From early in the morning, the line of people at the gate of Villa Area One stretched all the way back to the main entrance of the base.
Of course, the rice and vegetables for the porridge had all been purchased from Flora Bloom by Sepherdine, using Crystal Cores. The quantity was enough for him to continue the distribution for three days.
With their bellies full, the people were deeply grateful for Sepherdine’s gesture and began joining his faction in droves.
And so, in just three days, most of the people in the base, aside from the original teams led by Seth Warren and Quinn, had chosen to join Sepherdine’s faction.
It had to be said that Sepherdine was a master organizer. In just three days, the atmosphere in the base had been completely transformed, the former listlessness and panic swept away. Every day, people were divided into nine teams to patrol the seven villa areas and the perimeters of the two shopping malls.
Many ordinary people still lived in the area with the mid-rise apartment buildings, and they began to form their own groups, voluntarily cleaning up the streets and alleys.
Furthermore, inspired by Sepherdine’s new physical fitness initiative, many ordinary people began gathering early in the morning at what was once Villa Eight, but had since been converted into a training ground by Sherman Lynch. Sherman himself was there, leading training sessions tailored to the general fitness level of the crowd.
For a time, everything in the base seemed to be heading in the right direction. The only exceptions were a few superpower users who didn’t know what was good for them and tried to spread rumors and panic. They were quietly taken back to Villa Three by Moonface, The Crown Prince, and Raccoon.
Unexpectedly, the captured rumor-mongers turned out to be old acquaintances of Yan Yan and the others from the laboratory. They were some of the earliest spies the lab had planted in the base.
People from the laboratory were either genetically modified or fanatical followers of the Doctor. Flora Bloom chose to absorb them into her personal space for her own use—a permanent solution.
Ever since the night Flora Bloom’s group discovered the two gophers that could take human form, there were no more seed thefts in the base.
Meanwhile, Caleb and Lisa had started running off to Villa Area One every day at eight o’clock sharp. At first, Flora Bloom assumed they were just being diligent about the mission she had given them.
But one evening, feeling bored before bed, Flora Bloom decided to go check on the farmland in Villa Area One. When she got there, she found two new holes in the ground, but Caleb and Lisa were nowhere in sight.
This time, Flora Bloom panicked. She released Xiao Jia from her personal space and had it burrow into the two holes to investigate. A short while later, a cry for help came from Xiao Jia through their mental link.
Flora Bloom anxiously tried to recall Xiao Jia, but found that their mental link had been suddenly severed. It felt as if some signal was being jammed. She could sense the link was still there, but she couldn’t connect.
Late into the night, a crawling sound echoed from the two holes. The first to emerge was the pair of gopher-babies, their faces full of a vibrant, spiritual aura. Before they could even react, Flora Bloom had snatched them up, one in each hand.
She had been about to toss both of them into her personal space to interrogate them about the whereabouts of Caleb, Lisa, and Xiao Jia. But in the very next second, Caleb and Lisa crawled out of the hole themselves, covered in mud. And right behind them was Xiao Jia.
