This wasn’t the first time Flora Bloom had seen a zombie horde of this scale.
Back in Morhaven, outside the meteorological tower and the hospital, hordes of zombies just as large had completely choked the roads. But the roads there were narrow, limiting the number of zombies that could stand in any given spot.
Even when surrounded, a person would be swarmed by a dozen or two zombies at most. Any more than that simply had to wait in line behind them. There just wasn’t enough room; no matter how strong the zombies were, they couldn’t push their way to the front.
Besides, Flora Bloom had Juggernaut, an overpowered Divine Beast. The moment she summoned it, it was like a giant bulldozer. They could stand on its back, far out of the zombies’ reach. With just a few easy steps, Juggernaut could crush a huge swath of them.
It was no exaggeration to call Juggernaut a zombie-crushing machine.
What’s more, with the upgrade to Flora Bloom’s space, Juggernaut had also undergone a period of hibernation and evolution, growing even larger than before. To it, a horde of ten thousand zombies was nothing more than a short jog.
This power was the source of her confidence in volunteering for the rescue mission.
A vast, open field stretched out before the base, with a massive horde of zombies encircling it. In the center, the hostages were trapped. As the Superpower Users inside the base drew the zombies’ attention with their attacks, the horde shifted. Gaps began to form in their ranks, creating paths toward the clearing where the hostages were held. This made Flora Bloom suddenly decide to hold off on summoning Juggernaut, so as not to alert the enemy prematurely.
The hostages were Superpower Users, but most were only at the First or Second Level. Faced with such a massive horde, they had long since lost the will to fight back.
After leaving the base, Flora Bloom enveloped herself and Donovan Yardley in a fine mist. Donovan was startled by its sudden appearance and glanced around, only relaxing when he realized the misty energy was coming from Flora.
"You’re a Water Ability User?"
Flora Bloom kept her back to him, her eyes fixed on the horde. "Sort of."
Flora Bloom didn’t know how to explain her elemental affinities to others. She was indeed Water Element, but after collecting Crystal Stone fragments and upgrading her space, she had also awakened the Fire Element.
Plus, with the unbelievable existence of her space, she could also summon the little pets that had bonded with it. To avoid revealing her space, she could even pass herself off as a Summoning System user.
Her "sort of" was enough to deflect Donovan Yardley’s question.
"This Water Ability of yours is incredible. Inside your mist, I can feel the energy of my Fire Element superpower getting stronger. Isn’t water supposed to counter fire?"
Donovan Yardley could clearly feel his own superpower energy surging within Flora Bloom’s barrier-like mist. It was so active he could hardly believe it.
"Shh! Don’t talk. My mist can mask our human scent and block sound. But I’m worried there might be something powerful lurking nearby, so we need to be as quiet as possible. Walk softly."
Donovan Yardley nodded and fell silent.
’He was starting to see Flora Bloom in a new light. He’d just heard from Robin Grant that she was carrying Lex Adler’s child. At the time, he’d wondered why a man like Lex would choose such an ordinary woman. Now, he was beginning to see it wasn’t without reason.’
’The other Water Ability Users at the base worked day and night just to supply everyone with water. But this girl’s Water Ability could form a barrier that masked both sound and scent... It was anything but simple.’
The zombie horde didn’t rely on sight; they located humans through scent and sound. That was why they hadn’t been discovered.
The insectoid zombie creatures, however, were another matter. Some of them hunted by perception, others by sensing magnetic fields. The two of them had to be extremely careful not to touch anything—especially the creatures themselves—to avoid drawing their attention.
The pair moved through the horde with agonizing slowness; every step was a struggle. They had to be wary of the tightly packed zombies while also watching their feet for black scorpions or black ants that could appear at any moment.
After half an hour of painstaking movement, they finally neared the Superpower Users trapped in the center of the clearing.
Most of these Superpower Users had been scratched by zombies. A few had been stung by black scorpions, but that was enough to give Flora Bloom a major headache. ’My space and my spiritual water must remain a secret,’ she thought. ’But these people have been trapped here for so long.’ The scorpion stings on the arms and legs of a few had already turned into rotting flesh. It was clear they weren’t far from turning.
The thought of those new zombies—scorched black, indestructible, and terrifyingly fast—made Flora Bloom’s head ache. If these people turned and were released back into the horde, only to evolve further, who knew what kind of monsters they would become?
There were forty or fifty Superpower Users surrounded in the center, and just then, two more people stumbled over, clutching their injured arms. Five zombies shuffled along behind them.
Flora Bloom and Donovan Yardley didn’t dare move a muscle, terrified of drawing the horde’s attention. The other Superpower Users couldn’t see them; any creature that relied on sight would be unable to perceive the pair concealed within the mist.
The two people closest to Flora were a mother and daughter, sobbing in each other’s arms. One was Plant Element, the other Fire Element. As the strongest offensive type besides the Thunder Element, Fire Element users were prime candidates for teams that hunted and scavenged for supplies outside the base.
Unfortunately, the daughter’s Fire Element superpower was only at the Second Level. She might have been able to handle a one-on-one or even a one-on-two fight, but against this massive horde, she was trembling uncontrollably, too terrified to even make a sound as she cried.
To save them, Flora could simply extend the mist to cover them and lead them away. But having so many people leave all at once would create too much of a commotion. There was no way they could all walk in unison without making a single sound.
On top of that, there were the few who had been wounded by the black scorpions. Judging by their complexions and the state of their wounds, they were likely not far from turning.
Flora Bloom extended the mist, enveloping all of them.
But she didn’t have them all leave with her. Instead, she began to communicate with them in a voice that was audible to all but not loud enough to be conspicuous.
"If you want to live, don’t make a single sound or movement. If this horde of creatures discovers us, we’ll all be doomed."
At first, the group didn’t even notice they had been enveloped by the mist. When they heard Flora’s voice, it took them a moment to react, their expressions shifting from panic to shock, then to confusion, before they finally fell silent to listen.
"We’re from the base, sent to rescue you. But as you can see, there are too many zombies. We can’t get you all out at once. We can only take two at a time."
Hearing this, the group tensed. After exchanging glances, they started to move toward Flora, only to be stopped by a sharp glare from her.
"I said, don’t make any noise! Otherwise, no one will be able to save you! Don’t rush. Who goes first is not for you to decide!"
Flora Bloom’s expression was grim as she watched the group of people teetering on the edge of life and death. A crisis truly reveals a person’s nature. Everyone was desperate to survive, but under the threat in her words, they all froze and fell silent.
’Obeying her might give them a slim chance of survival. Defying her would almost certainly mean death.’
All the hostages watched her with a mixture of hope and apprehension, terrified she would pick someone else and overlook them. All except for one person, who stood aloof, completely out of place among the desperate crowd.