"I can have Vert keep watch from the air. But I have a condition."
Donovan Yardley frowned. Although he had a certain appreciation for this young woman, that didn’t mean she could push her luck. "What condition?" he asked, a hint of displeasure in his voice.
"I’m going with you!"
"What?" Robin Grant was the first to object. "Flora, you can’t go. You’re pregnant!" As he spoke, Robin Grant glared at Titan Adler. "Titan Adler, I don’t care if you don’t like Lex, but he’s still your son, and the baby in Flora’s belly is your Adler family’s grandchild! Say something!"
Titan Adler’s face flushed at Robin Grant’s words. He looked toward Flora Bloom, only to find she was completely ignoring him. Simon frowned, looking at Flora Bloom’s resolute expression. "Flora, your Grandpa Grant is just looking out for you. Besides, the temporary hospital needs you and Grandpa Grant to work together to care for the injured. And that girl Cynthia still hasn’t woken up!"
Flora Bloom lowered her head in thought for three seconds. "The Crown Prince and Li Mao will stay here and look after Cynthia. Grandpa Grant, I have something for you."
The crowd dispersed. Donovan Yardley took a ten-man superpower user squad to observe the situation outside the base first.
A horde of tens of thousands of zombies—and not just zombies, but also other zombified lifeforms, like venomous black scorpions and swarms of black ants. The bodies of these insects had not only hardened, but they had also gained the ability to burrow underground.
They would often appear suddenly behind superpower users and drag them underground without warning.
For some unknown reason, however, they never entered the base. They only attacked people who were returning to the base from outside.
Flora Bloom arrived at the base’s main gate sometime after Donovan Yardley’s group. But the gate wasn’t the fiery battlefield she had imagined. In fact, the guards on alert inside the base weren’t fighting the zombie horde at all.
But as dusk began to fall, more and more teams returned from hunting zombies or scavenging for supplies.
It seemed as if the zombie horde had no intention of attacking the base. Instead, they captured all the returning people and lined them up in neat rows on the open ground facing the base.
Flora Bloom’s heart hammered as she watched the scene unfold.
’They aren’t attacking the base. They’re just capturing the superpower users returning to the base and putting them on the open ground. What are they trying to do?’
The captured superpower users were all injured to varying degrees. If they weren’t treated or isolated, once they turned, they would surely become part of the horde and join the standoff against the base.
Donovan Yardley was communicating with a captain in charge of the base’s defense.
"Weren’t there injured people? Have they all been brought into the base for treatment?"
The captain of the base guard was a Level 3 Metal Ability User. Seeing Donovan Yardley arrive with a squad of ten superpower users, he immediately went to greet him.
"Captain Yardley, we attempted several rescues just now and only managed to bring back a dozen or so superpower users. But the ones who went to rescue them were also trapped out there."
"What? You only rescued a dozen or so people?"
"There was nothing we could do. For some reason, the zombies won’t attack us. It’s like they’re toying with us on purpose! All the teams returning from outside have been captured. We organized a few rescue sorties earlier but only succeeded once, saving a dozen people at the cost of losing a dozen more.
"So, no matter what, we can’t make any rash moves!"
Donovan Yardley’s face was grim. "What on earth are these zombies trying to do? Why are they just gathering here instead of attacking?"
Flora Bloom had Vert fly over the other side of the zombie horde from the air. "Go find the leader."
After Vert flew off, Flora Bloom walked over to Donovan Yardley’s side.
"This behavior... it looks like they’re treating the captured people as... prisoners of war?"
Donovan Yardley’s expression was also heavy. ’Could the zombies’ intelligence have evolved to such a high level? Wouldn’t that mean future battles against these zombified lifeforms will only get harder and harder?’
"Prisoners of war?" Donovan Yardley and the guard captain beside him, Albert Lyon, exchanged a look of disbelief, but the reality before them was undeniable.
"If we don’t save them, they only have two possible fates. One is to turn and join the zombie horde. The other is to become zombie food, devoured right in front of us."
"We have to save them! Every day, around a thousand people go out from the base to hunt zombies. If they don’t come back, it’s a huge loss for the base! What’s more, if any of the superpower users among them turn into zombies—and zombies converted from superpower users are extremely formidable—then combined with this siege, if Argent has to constantly face this kind of offensive pressure, we probably won’t be able to hold out for long!"
While Donovan Yardley and Albert Lyon were agonizing over whether to attempt a rescue, Flora Bloom cut in, "Then let’s save them! I’ve found the leader!"
Donovan Yardley and Albert Lyon turned to Flora Bloom. "You found it? Where?"
Flora Bloom pointed to the southeast, behind the zombie horde. "The leader is hiding in that corner. It’s smart, disguised as a low-level zombie, but Vert still spotted it."
Donovan Yardley’s expression turned cold. "Since we’ve found it, let me go! As long as I take it down, this battle will be over quickly! The superpower users captured by the horde can be saved!"
Just as Donovan Yardley was about to leave with the ten superpower users, Flora Bloom stopped him.
"No."
"No!"
Flora Bloom and Albert Lyon spoke at the same time.
Albert Lyon grabbed Donovan Yardley before Flora Bloom could. "Captain Yardley, leaving aside the question of how you’d even cross a horde of tens of thousands of zombies to get to the leader, even if you did take it out, the horde wouldn’t just disperse.
"These aren’t ordinary Level 3 zombies. Those venomous insects and ants have far greater attack power than the zombies, and they’re skilled at burrowing. Whether it’s for offense, defense, or a surprise attack, they’re impossible to defend against!"
Flora Bloom nodded in agreement with Albert Lyon. "Captain Yardley, I don’t agree with you going either. Besides, I think this whole business of the horde taking humans as prisoners is highly suspicious. There has to be something strange going on.
"I think you should lead some Fire Ability Users to defend the base gate. You can take out some of the zombified lifeforms that get too close and, in doing so, draw some of their attention for me!"
"What? Draw their attention for you? You’re going?"
It wasn’t just Donovan Yardley; Albert Lyon looked even more stunned. He couldn’t understand why a perfectly fine young woman, and a pregnant one at that, would want to take such a risk. He didn’t trust it, and he had no hope for her success.
"I’m confident I can get them back."
Without waiting for their stunned reactions to fade, Flora Bloom added fuel to the fire. "Stop hesitating like a bunch of old women! If you keep dawdling like this, those people will all turn into zombie monsters before you even get around to saving them! Or worse, they’ll become food for the zombies.
"I only ask one thing: after the people are rescued, no matter what happens, you get them to Grandpa Grant for treatment first. Don’t worry about me!"
The two men exchanged a look. Donovan Yardley, in particular, was extremely reluctant as he handed over supreme command to Albert Lyon, then followed Flora Bloom to the main gate alone.
The gate opened, and Flora Bloom and Donovan Yardley, one behind the other, walked slowly toward the horde of tens of thousands of zombies.