Meanwhile, outside Argent Base, a horde of over ten thousand zombies had assembled less than five hundred meters away.
A tall, fair-skinned man whose every move exuded an air of nobility, dressed in a white tracksuit, strolled casually amidst the horde of over ten thousand zombies.
A palm-sized black ant rested quietly in his hand, completely motionless.
"Shadow, don’t you think this is utterly boring? This stinking horde isn’t any fun at all, is it?"
The black ant, whom he called Shadow, wiggled the antennae on its head as if in reply.
"What? Stay out of trouble?"
He flicked the ant’s head with a fingertip so fair it was almost translucent. "After all the trouble I went through to escape that terrifying man, of course I have to find something fun to do!"
He waved a hand at the horde, and gray rays of light radiated out from him. The light acted as a stimulant on the zombies. At the man’s command, they resumed their advance on Argent Base.
He reached out and stroked the ant’s head.
"Don’t worry. I’ve trapped them over there. It’ll take them ten days, maybe even half a month, to get out. By then, this Argent Base will be long gone. Even if he does show up, it’ll be too late."
Inside Argent Secure Base, the Adler family’s team arrived. Though the superpower users in the team were of mixed skill levels, it was clear they had all received standardized training. Faced with the sudden crisis, they not only gradually adapted but also became more adept at dealing with the black scorpions’ attacks.
It was a slow process, but eventually, the black scorpions seemed to realize they were outmatched and began to retreat into the cracks in the ground.
Once the danger had passed, Flora Bloom rushed to Gavin Todd’s side to examine his wound.
"This is..." Flora Bloom examined Gavin Todd’s calf. It was a black pincer wound, shaped like two opposing, curved sets of gears. Not only that, but the wound itself was turning black, and the putrid stench emanating from it was extremely pungent—even more nauseating than the smell of rotting flesh from a zombie scratch.
Holding her breath, Flora Bloom pressed on the flesh of Gavin Todd’s calf, which was beginning to rot.
She took out her dagger and, tracing the wound, sliced away a piece of rotten flesh the size of an orange segment.
’It’s no use, it’s completely necrotic.’ From the decaying wound, Flora Bloom deduced that these black scorpions weren’t evolved creatures, but zombified lifeforms. The combination of the zombie virus and the scorpions’ potent venom was the only way to create such a powerful, flesh-rotting toxin.
’Curing this would be like scraping the poison from the bone itself!’
And that wasn’t her only concern.
Though Gavin Todd’s voice was quiet before he passed out, her hearing was so sharp that she had caught every word.
’The base warehouse has been overrun by rats...’
Scorpions and now rats in the base... It gave her a terrible feeling. Vermin and pests were a dreaded nuisance in any era, let alone during the apocalypse.
’Besides, snakes, bugs, rats, ants... snakes, bugs, rats, and ants...’
’If we have bugs and rats, does that mean snakes and ants are next?’ The thought sent goosebumps erupting across Flora Bloom’s skin. She desperately missed the comfortable and safe environment of Morhaven and wished she could return there immediately.
But, when the nest is overturned, how can any eggs remain intact?
’If all the bases across the country are weakened one by one for various reasons, or even destroyed entirely, once everyone in the wider world loses hope, how long could Morhaven possibly last, even if I went back?’
Robin Grant hurried over to take a look. After a brief examination, his old face wrinkled up like a dried chrysanthemum.
"Sigh, what a pity! A real pity! This black scorpion’s poison is too strong. He’s a lost cause! I’ll go see if there are any other... Ugh, never mind. If a superpower user like Gavin Todd ended up like this, the others have no chance of survival!"
Flora Bloom could see the helplessness of a doctor faced with a disaster he couldn’t stop. In his eyes, she saw struggle, longing, and a hint of surrender.
Flora Bloom stood up and had Neal Wallace come over to help Gavin Todd.
She looked at Robin Grant, who was about to leave, and called out, "Dr. Grant, please wait!"
Robin Grant, who had already stood up to leave, froze at her words and turned back with a questioning expression.
"Dr. Grant, I need a quiet place, somewhere I won’t be disturbed. Can you arrange that for me?"
Robin Grant’s confusion deepened. He watched as Neal Wallace obediently hoisted Gavin Todd onto his back and fell in line behind Flora Bloom, who was so much smaller than him.