Free Web NovelChapter 249: Chapter 237: Where’s the Water? Why Is It Salty?
As he watched his subordinates leave, Sepherdine took a deep breath. From the looks of it, this woman named Flora Bloom was truly something else. It was best not to make an enemy of her if he could avoid it. While he still had some time, he decided to take a walk around the base to familiarize himself with its facilities and layout.
Morgan Sterling was dead, but his many subordinates were still around.
Managing a base was actually quite similar to managing a company. If the big boss of a large corporation died, other shareholders or executives would surely step in to take over.
The employees below would continue to work as they had before. Even if the boss’s death caused temporary chaos, once a new leader was in place and had reorganized things, operations would return to their original track.
The same was true for the base.
Morgan Sterling’s subordinates would surely become disorganized or panic after learning of their leader’s death. If he appeared at this moment, reorganized the base, and gathered them together, this force that originally belonged to Morgan Sterling might even become his to command.
This would not only help him quickly take control of the base but also expand his own team. There could be no better plan.
Inside the quarantine wall, Flora Bloom had stationed a portion of her bee swarm at the wall, mainly to prevent Lex Cross and his group from entering. Another portion was busy gathering pollen from the Rose vines to make honey.
After returning, Flora Bloom had Isla Preston bring Ethan Monroe back to her villa. She had him drink two bottles of spiritual water, but it was completely useless. This deepened the worry in Flora’s heart.
When attacked by a Spiritual Ability, if the blow exceeded the victim’s tolerance limit, their spiritual power could be easily damaged. Fortunately, this Chester Bell was only a Level 2 Spiritual Ability User, so the damage to Ethan Monroe was limited. Otherwise, Ethan might have been turned into an idiot.
Her spiritual water was miraculously effective at healing physical injuries, but it was completely useless against damaged spiritual power.
"What should I do?" Flora Bloom frowned anxiously as she looked at Ethan Monroe. ’If he doesn’t wake up and his spiritual power doesn’t recover, he’ll eventually become an idiot even if he isn’t one now.’
"Your spiritual water is useless for restoring spiritual power. But a Healing System user who has reached the Middle Level can repair damaged spiritual power."
Flora Bloom’s heart leaped with joy when she heard this news. But upon realizing who was speaking, her expression immediately hardened. She glanced at Lex Cross’s tall figure emerging suddenly from the shadows, then pretended not to see him and strode toward the two lawns.
’If a Middle Level Healing System user could heal spiritual power, then all Shauna Wallace had to do was reach the Middle Level to treat Ethan Monroe.’
The first batch of honey from the Rose flowers was ready. There wasn’t much, but it was enough to give a little to each of the unconscious people to counteract the stupefying fragrance of the Rose vines.
In her anger, how could Flora Bloom have remembered that her swarms of bees were no match for Lex Cross? At that moment, Lex Cross followed behind Flora with his long strides. A distance that required Flora to jog to cover quickly, he crossed in just a few steps, as if taking a leisurely stroll.
He didn’t say a word, just followed Flora and watched her bustling about with a serious expression, feeding the honey to the few unconscious people on the lawn.
Before long, the first person to wake up was, surprisingly, the one who seemed weakest: Shauna Wallace. Shauna Wallace opened her eyes, suddenly sat up, and looked at Flora Bloom before her with a trace of confusion.
"Flora? I... what happened?"
"Shauna, you just passed out. I don’t have time to explain anything else right now. These are for you!" Flora Bloom took all the Crystal Cores from her space and placed them in front of Shauna Wallace, leaving her stunned.
"Th-this... Flora, why are you giving me so many Crystal Cores? I..."
Seeing Shauna Wallace’s bewildered expression, Flora Bloom quickly explained, "Shauna, listen to me. Old Monroe was attacked by a Spiritual Ability User. His spiritual power is damaged, and I can’t wake him up. You’re a Healing System user, and Lex Cross said that once you reach the Middle Level, you can repair his spiritual power and wake him! So, there’s no time to lose. Take all of these. Absorb them quickly and see if it’s enough for you to break through to the Middle Level. If it’s not, I’ll go get you some more."
In truth, Flora Bloom didn’t have many Crystal Cores at the moment. During her trip to Area 009 to save her father, she had been so pressed for time that she hadn’t harvested all the Zombie Crystal Cores along the way, only a small portion. Later, on her way back, she hadn’t even seen any zombie corpses.
’They must have all ended up in the belly of the Rose vines, turned into fertilizer.’
Shauna Wallace’s Healing System was only at Level 2. To break through to the Middle Level, she would need several thousand cores. The amount of energy in a Crystal Core depended entirely on the zombie’s level; a Level 1 Crystal Core had less energy than a Second Level one, which in turn had less than a Level 3 Crystal Core, and so on.
Most of the Crystal Cores Flora Bloom had on hand were Level 1, which definitely wouldn’t be enough even if Shauna absorbed them all. If they were Second Level or Level 3 Crystal Cores, however, it would certainly be sufficient.
So, Flora Bloom stood up and called over to Caleb and Lisa, who were in the villa’s courtyard holding a large white goose. For some reason, the great white goose, Big White, still hadn’t woken up, but Caleb said he could communicate with it mentally and that it wouldn’t be long before it awoke.
"Caleb, please look after everyone for me. If Uncle Bloom wakes up, can you tell him that I’ll be back soon?"
Caleb nodded obediently. "Be careful, big sister!"
The busy day drew to a close, and the sky was darkening rapidly. Winter had arrived in Morhaven, and the days grew dark much faster than in summer. Just as Flora Bloom turned to leave, Lex Cross grabbed her arm.
"It’s almost dark. Where are you going?"
Flora Bloom shook off his hand. "Can’t you tell? I’m going to kill zombies, dig for Crystal Cores, and save someone."
"You stay here and look after them. I’ll go." Without waiting for Flora Bloom to refuse, Lex Cross turned and vanished into the deepening dusk.
Flora Bloom’s hand, which had been about to grab his arm, froze in mid-air. Her heart stirred, and with a slight frown, she slowly lowered her hand.
"Sister-in-law, let me in!"
Lynx’s voice came from outside the quarantine wall. At Flora Bloom’s thought, the bee swarm automatically parted, creating a gap for Lynx, but blocked Five, who was behind him.
"Sister-in-law, Five is here to apologize to you," Lynx said, looking at Flora Bloom sheepishly.
"Apologize? Lynx, you, The Crown Prince, and Saul Sterling have helped me before, so I can let you in. But after this, I really don’t want to have anything to do with any of you ever again. Do you understand?"
She remembered the scene just now at the entrance of Morgan Sterling’s villa, when Tianna Bloom had been clutching Lex Cross’s arm and leaning against him. The memory made her feel as restless as if thousands of ants were crawling on a hot pan.
She didn’t know when it started, this feeling she had for Lex Cross. It was as if she couldn’t stand any other woman getting close to him or touching him. Especially not Tianna Bloom, with her ulterior motives, and even more so because he didn’t seem to refuse her advances.
The scene had pierced her deeply. Not only did it hurt, but it also made her slam shut the door to her heart, which she had only just begun to open for Lex Cross. freёweɓnovel.com
’Give him and myself another chance?! What a joke! Reborn into this life, I’m clearly not suited for relationships. People are all the same. When everyone stood against me, accusing me, slandering me, and spreading rumors, didn’t even Lex Cross fail to say a single word in my defense? Didn’t he just tacitly agree?’
’I’m such an idiot!’
Meanwhile, the villa area outside had grown even livelier than before. Not for any good reason, though. A crowd of superpower users and ordinary people had brought water containers to Morgan Sterling’s basement to collect water. After lining up excitedly for a long time, filling their containers, and carrying them back, they had been eager to drink their fill. But after just a few mouthfuls, their faces turned red as they spat the water out, hacking and sputtering.
"BLECH, BLECH, BLECH! Why is this water salty?"
"Seawater?"
