Free Web NovelChapter 233: Chapter 221: A Strange Pregnant Woman?
The number of zombies on the shopping mall’s ground floor was comparable to the number of zombie corpses already littering the ground. As soon as Xiao Bai entered, it let out a gleeful roar and plunged into the horde, crushing the skulls of a dozen zombies with just a few swipes of its claws.
Its long, barbed tongue flicked across a zombie’s shattered skull, plucking out a sparkling Crystal Core before swallowing it whole.
"Flora, let’s head for the escalators," Neal Wallace said. "It’s an exposed position, but it gives us a clear line of sight. The Middle Level zombies by the emergency stairwell seem to be afraid of something; they’re hiding inside and won’t come out. I wonder how The Crown Prince and Civet are doing with their scouting."
Neal Wallace, Flora Bloom, and Sherman Lynch formed a triangle on the outer perimeter, with Saul Sterling and Shauna Wallace in the center. This formation protected the two with the lowest Combat Power as they made their way toward the ground-floor escalators.
Astonishingly, the moment they stepped onto the escalator, it whirred to life and began moving upward.
Startled, the group quickly ran up the rest of the way to the second floor.
They had expected the mall to be a bloody nightmare, incredibly difficult to navigate. But for some unknown reason, the zombies here were acting like morons. They didn’t attack or flee upon seeing the group; they just stood there dumbly, allowing themselves to be slaughtered.
The group reached the entrance to the second-floor supermarket with uncanny ease. It was a grocery store located inside the mall, its lights flickering erratically. But right now, apart from a few dozen zombie corpses, there were no living people inside—not even a single living zombie.
"How strange. Our scans on the way here showed countless zombies and an extremely high danger level. Why has it been so easy?"
Flora Bloom couldn’t help but be on high alert. In the apocalypse, anything bizarre could happen. Her greatest fear was being caught completely off guard when it finally did.
Just then, something even more baffling occurred. When The Crown Prince and Civet reached the second-floor security room, they were shocked to find Caleb Bloom chatting and laughing with two other men and a woman, just about to walk out.
The Crown Prince and Civet materialized, startling the three people with Caleb. Quinn and his two companions were about to attack when Caleb Bloom stopped them.
"Don’t attack! They’re friendly!"
Quinn and the other two reluctantly lowered their hands and looked at Caleb Bloom.
"The Crown Prince? Civet? What are you two doing here?"
The Crown Prince and Civet were just as confused. "Flora brought us to rescue you. Uncle Caleb, what are you...?" They found it strange; Uncle Caleb and the others seemed completely unaware that they were in a dangerous place.
"Oh, this is Captain Quinn, and these are his two teammates. Captain Lawson, these are my daughter’s friends; they’re here to find me."
Utterly bewildered, The Crown Prince and Civet led Caleb Bloom, Quinn, and the other two out of the security room, where they came face to face with Flora and her group.
"Dad!" Flora Bloom cried out when she saw him. She rushed over to inspect him from head to toe, only relaxing after confirming he was completely unharmed.
"Dad, how did you all just walk out like that?" freewёbnoνel.com
Caleb Bloom chuckled. "There’s no danger here. Besides, after Captain Lawson rescued me, we just holed up in the security room. We were perfectly safe."
When Quinn saw Flora Bloom, a faint smile touched his otherwise impassive face. "Flora Bloom, we meet again."
"So Captain Lawson remembers me. I’m curious, what are your plans for returning to the base, now that... Morgan Sterling is dead?" As Flora spoke, she carefully observed Quinn’s expression, only to find him looking completely relaxed and self-assured. He didn’t show the slightest hint of tension or confusion upon hearing about Morgan Sterling’s death.
’This man is so strange.’
Flora then looked at the man and woman standing behind Quinn. She noticed all three shared a common trait: they were impassive, self-satisfied, and remarkably relaxed.
This wasn’t the demeanor one would expect from a superpower user who had survived for nearly two months in the apocalypse.
But Flora couldn’t quite put her finger on what was wrong. It seemed that everyone, including her father, was uninjured and healthy. They had rosy complexions, a clear sign they hadn’t been starving for the past few days.
Flora released her spiritual power, scanning the group again and again, but she couldn’t sense anything out of the ordinary. ’Maybe I’m just overthinking this,’ she thought. ’The apocalypse is full of strange occurrences, but perhaps my father and his group were just incredibly lucky?’
But just then, a faint cry of "Help me" entered their minds, making the still-uneasy group tense up once more.
"Saul Sterling, did your scans pick up any other survivors here?"
Saul Sterling shook his head. "No! I’ve been scanning ever since we arrived in Area 005 last night. I’ve run multiple sweeps since we entered the mall. Besides our group and Uncle Caleb’s party of four, there are no other survivors."
"But it really sounded like someone was crying for help!" Shauna Wallace looked around, and after pinpointing the source of the voice, she pointed toward a high-end boutique on the second floor.
"Flora, the voice is coming from that boutique."
Quinn, his two companions, and Caleb Bloom started to walk over but were stopped by Flora Bloom.
"Dad, Captain Lawson, don’t—" Before she could finish, Caleb Bloom cut her off anxiously. "Flora, someone is crying for help! We have to save them!" fгeewebnovёl.com
Quinn and his two companions had already rushed into the boutique. A moment later, they emerged, supporting a pale, pregnant woman.
The woman’s belly was enormous; she looked to be eight or nine months pregnant and on the verge of giving birth. Though her face was pale, she didn’t look like Selina had, who had been starved to the point of being emaciated.
Aside from her pallor, the pregnant woman was dressed in clean clothes. Even though she was barefoot, it didn’t detract from the delicate, almost morbidly beautiful aura she projected, despite not being conventionally attractive.
Shauna Wallace was about to step forward to treat the woman but was stopped by Flora Bloom. "Not so fast."
Neal Wallace, who was always by Flora Bloom’s side, didn’t say much but unfailingly followed her lead. He frowned at the pregnant woman, making no move to help.
"The apocalypse has been going on for a while," Flora said. "You’re perfectly clean and heavily pregnant. How have you survived?"
The pregnant woman, her face pale, clutched her stomach in apparent pain. When she opened her eyes and looked at Flora Bloom, her nose twitched almost imperceptibly, and a sudden glint appeared in her eyes. Her gaze upon Flora was intensely eager.
Flora felt her skin crawl under the woman’s stare, especially when she noticed the woman’s gaze drifting—intentionally or not—toward her own lower abdomen. Flora subconsciously backed away several steps.
"I asked you a question. If you don’t answer, don’t blame me for being ruthless!" With perfect coordination, The Crown Prince and Civet vanished. When they reappeared, two cold daggers were pressed against the pregnant woman’s neck.
"I... I just wanted to find a clean set of clothes... so I came into the mall."
"Flora, what danger could a pregnant woman possibly pose? Let her go, now!" Caleb Bloom frowned at Flora, his tone severe.
"Yes, Miss Bloom," Quinn chimed in. "I agree. A pregnant woman like her is hardly a threat. Don’t you think this is... a bit excessive?"
"Exactly. She’s just a pregnant woman. There’s no need to be this cautious," the man behind Quinn added.
Flora watched the frantic look in her father’s eyes as he worried she would harm the pregnant woman, and her brow furrowed deeply.
’Something feels off about Dad, too.’ "Dad," she asked, "do you remember those infant zombies we ran into at the hospital?"
Caleb Bloom hesitated for a few seconds, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.
"Dad?"
"WOOF WOOF WOOF!"
"WOOF WOOF WOOF!"
Suddenly, the sound of a dog barking grew closer.
Amos Rooney’s face suddenly lit up with excitement. "Lucky! My Lucky is alive?"
