Quincy scratched his head, his voice tinged with frustration. "We finally made it all the way to Frelia, and we haven’t even had a few peaceful days."
"If the leadership of The Base or Flumen had dealt with the survival issues in the refugee camp in time, the crisis we were just talking about wouldn’t be happening. But will they even take this problem seriously?"
Evelyn Ford’s hand paused as she held her teacup. She cleared her throat and said softly, "Everyone, I suddenly have a... half-baked idea."
Everyone looked at her expectantly. Evelyn took a sip of her tea and said in a calm, unhurried tone, "We don’t want a riot to break out, so let’s solve this problem at its source. The leadership of The Base and Flumen... what if we could *force* them to solve the refugee camp’s survival crisis?"
"Evelyn, stop keeping us in suspense and just tell us already. The suspense is killing me."
Evelyn tsked. "What’s the rush? Let me explain."
"Even though it’s the tenth year of the apocalypse, the base management are still officials. They have more weapons and more men than we do. Under normal circumstances, we could never make them do what we want. However, if we use some... unconventional methods, things become much simpler."
"You’re going to threaten them?" Quincy looked excited, practically itching to join Evelyn in her nefarious plot.
"Just giving them a little... advice. If the refugee camp’s survival issues are resolved, it’s a good thing for everyone. We wouldn’t have to move, either. After all, it’s the polar night. Fleeing is already hard enough, but doing it during the polar night is just throwing your life away."
"So tell us the specific plan. I’m so curious. Is there anything you need us to do?"
Evelyn chuckled lightly. "For this, Ronan Kendrick and I... plus Ethan Dawson, will handle it. The three of us. The rest of you can just wait for the good news. I’ll tell you the specifics of how we handled it afterward."
Ethan Dawson hadn’t expected to be included in this mission. A flicker of pleasant surprise crossed his otherwise calm eyes.
"Okay. I won’t hold you back."
"There’s no rush. I still need to work out a more detailed plan."
—
Over the next few days, Evelyn holed herself up in the laboratory inside her space. Not even Ronan Kendrick knew what she was researching. Everything at the cabin was normal. With the patrol guards gone, everyone’s lives returned to a state of peace.
The remaining black soil was to be planted with cotton, and Ronan Kendrick had already tilled the land. Planting cotton required dibbling, just like with corn. You had to dig a hole, place a maximum of three cotton seeds inside, cover it back up, and then water it. The seeds would sprout in about a week.
By the time Ronan Kendrick finished planting the five mu of cotton, Evelyn had emerged from her laboratory.
Over the past few days, she had created more than ten different poisons, as well as their antidotes. These concoctions would come in handy when they went to The Base.
But with a master hypnotist like Ronan Kendrick around, she might not even need to act.
After leaving the laboratory, Evelyn was ready to catch up on some sleep. She had been working tirelessly for the past two or three days, conducting experiments and concocting poisons without rest. The dark circles under her eyes were darker than a panda’s.
Evelyn felt a little jealous watching Ronan Kendrick, who was still full of energy after toiling in the cotton fields for days.
"Ronan, don’t you ever get tired?"
"This little bit of work is easy. Why would I be tired?"
Evelyn grew even more dejected. "And here I am, feeling half-dead after just doing some experiments."
"That’s because you were too focused. Over-concentrating is more tiring for the brain," Ronan Kendrick said, coming over to ruffle her hair. "Mental labor is different from physical labor. It’s more draining."
"Ronan, you’re so good to me."
’He supported her in whatever she wanted to do. He never threw cold water on her plans or just humored her.’
"Go to sleep. You can barely keep your eyes open," Ronan said, both exasperated and amused.
"Mhm, okay. I’m going to sleep then." And just like that, Evelyn was asleep.
Evelyn slept for nearly ten hours. She had more or less finalized the plan they had discussed earlier and intended to call Ethan Dawson over to go over the details.
Ronan Kendrick wasn’t in the bedroom. Evelyn yawned, and just as she got out of bed, the door opened.
Outside the cabin, Ronan Kendrick was making birdhouses. An increasing number of small birds had been visiting lately, and their current birdhouses were full, so Ronan was building several more. Quincy was beside him, helping out, while the others rested.
"You two seem to be in high spirits."
Seeing Evelyn, Quincy shone his flashlight on a row of newly made birdhouses and said smugly, "What do you think? We just made these."
"How many hours did it take?"
"Three hours."
Evelyn sat down in a chair and poured herself a cup of tea. "That should be enough. Most birds build their nests in trees. Not many come to rest on the veranda."
Quincy nodded. "This is the last one. By the way, when you and Ronan take Ethan Dawson to The Base, can you bring me along too?"
Evelyn looked him up and down. "Bringing you along might get us exposed."
Quincy was speechless. His daily dose of heartbreak, though sometimes late, always arrived.
Seeing the dejected look in Quincy’s eyes, Evelyn coughed. "Fine, you can come. You’ll be the driver."
"For real?"
"Of course. We leave in two days. We might be gone for several days this time."
Quincy rubbed his hands together. "So we’re going to do something big, huh?"
"Should we... acquire some supplies?"
Evelyn shook her head. "No need. If they had an airplane, though, I’d be tempted to ’acquire’ it. But The Base doesn’t have one of those."
Quincy’s eyes widened. "But no one in our group knows how to fly a plane."
"We can learn. Ronan is a fast learner; we could leave a task like that to him. It’s just a shame The Base doesn’t have any helicopters."
Quincy, however, took this to heart. ’The Second Base might not have one, but The First Base or The Third Base definitely would.’ "Wait a minute, Evelyn," he said. "Didn’t you say the management of The Second Base are military personnel? How could they not have any aircraft?"
"Then let’s take a good look next time we’re at The Base. If they have a spare, we’ll ’borrow’ one to leave with."
Quincy scoffed. "That’s just plain stealing, you just make it sound nice. It’s not ’borrowing’ if you never plan to return it."
"How can a civilized person use a word like ’steal’? Besides, I’m going to solve a major crisis for The Base. Taking one of their planes is my just reward."
’When she put it like that, it did make a certain kind of sense.’
Quincy was actually convinced.
After finishing the last birdhouse, Ronan Kendrick also sat down opposite Evelyn. He stared at her for a long moment.
"The dark circles are gone."
Evelyn shot him an exasperated look. "You looked so serious, I thought you were going to say something important."
"There’s sweet porridge simmering in the kitchen. You must be hungry, right?"
Evelyn was, in fact, quite hungry. While she was sleeping, Ronan had tried to wake her for a meal, but she had just thrown a pillow at him in her sleep.
"I am."
Ronan stood up. "I’ll go get the porridge."
There was plenty of cooked food in her space, so Evelyn took some out and placed it on the table.
"Want some?"
Quincy waved his hand. "I’m still stuffed."
Evelyn’s face lit up. "Oh yeah! All for me, then."