The man seemed unconcerned about his own safety. He sat toward the back of the group of forty or fifty people, dressed in a white tracksuit. His proud, aloof, and otherworldly demeanor made him look like someone who didn’t belong in this apocalyptic crisis.
If not for his pale face, the gash on his arm that looked like a claw mark, and his generally disheveled state, Flora Bloom would have thought he was some pampered young master from a sheltered nation, here to "experience" the apocalypse.
Seeing Flora Bloom looking at him, his eyes suddenly met hers. In that glance, it was as if a clear, bottomless lake had suddenly rippled, so pure it was dizzying.
’Could such pure, flawless, and crystal-clear eyes possibly belong to someone who had survived in the apocalypse for two or three months?’
What Flora Bloom found strangest was that she couldn’t sense what type of superpower this man had. It was just like how she couldn’t sense the superpower energy fluctuations from Lex Cross and his group of thirteen.
It was the same feeling, as if it were being shielded. This forced her to be vigilant, yet she had to pretend she was completely unaware.
Although she didn’t know what this man’s deal was, the rescue had to continue. She started with the mother and daughter pair closest to her.
As the water mist gradually closed in, enveloping only Flora Bloom, Donovan Yardley, and the mother-daughter duo, the four of them slowly left the central area. They weaved through the zombie horde, nearly touching the surrounding zombies and zombified creatures several times but narrowly avoiding them each time.
After more than half an hour, the four of them reached the outer wall of the base’s main gate. Flora Bloom saw the mother and daughter inside the base before heading back toward the center of the clearing with Donovan Yardley.
With practice comes skill. Flora Bloom and Donovan Yardley, leading two people at a time, shuttled back and forth through the horde, the entire process going exceptionally smoothly.
The ability to weave through such a massive horde of zombies repeatedly without being discovered left Donovan Yardley’s face flushed with a mixture of nervousness and excitement.
But then a problem arose.
This group of hostages surrounded by the zombie horde numbered sixty at most. As the two acted like diligent porters, ferrying people back to the base, the number of humans in the central clearing dwindled.
Starting from Level 3, zombies possess the intelligence to recognize humans. When the number of hostages changed too drastically, as it had now, a Level 3 zombie among those surrounding the hostages noticed.
It suddenly leaped into the middle of the hostages and began to wander around in a very human-like manner. Then, it threw its head back and roared. The surrounding zombie horde reacted as if they had heard a command, instantly erupting into a frenzy.
The zombies that had been standing around blankly, as well as the ones that had been lured away by the base’s superpower users, all whipped around and surged toward the group of hostages.
Flora Bloom and Donovan Yardley were in the middle of escorting a man and a woman through the horde when the zombies around them suddenly stirred. Soon, another Level 3 zombie spotted them.
"CHIRP CHIRP!" Vert sounded the alarm from the air, communicating through its mental link with Flora Bloom. "Master, fall back! Five Level 3 zombies are approaching! The leader zombie has also noticed something is wrong here!"
Flora Bloom’s heart clenched. She immediately formed a thick water shield bubble around herself and the other three. A Middle Level water shield bubble was far more resilient and durable than one from the Initial Stage.
Just then, the five Level 3 zombies arrived behind Flora Bloom’s group of four.
Including the two Level 3 zombies among the hostages, there were now seven Level 3 zombies in this horde, plus a leader zombie whose level she couldn’t discern. Being unable to read its level meant it was at least High-level.
A High-level zombie... with their current group of wounded and weak, even with two able-bodied superpower users like herself and Donovan Yardley, it was useless, no matter how strong they were.
Flora Bloom pushed Donovan Yardley and the man and woman enveloped in her water mist. "While those Level 3 zombies haven’t arrived yet, Captain Donovan, you take these two and go first."
Donovan Yardley frowned. "What about you?"
"I have my own way! Stop dawdling! Hurry, there’s no time!"
The water mist enveloped the trio. Watching them hurry toward the base gate, Flora Bloom breathed a sigh of relief.
Donovan Yardley was a High-level Superpower User, and the energy signature of a Level 3 Superpower User was far stronger than a Level 3 zombie’s. The few Level 3 zombies wouldn’t chase him, but they certainly wouldn’t let Flora Bloom, who remained behind in the horde, get away.
The seven Level 3 zombies drew closer, and the leader zombie was also approaching from the shadows. The surrounding horde of zombies and zombified lifeforms had received their orders and were also closing in on Flora Bloom.
Just as they thought Flora Bloom would turn and flee, a giant evolved creature suddenly materialized before them. It completely separated them from Flora Bloom, crushing a huge swath of zombies and zombified lifeforms in the process.
Flora Bloom leaped lightly onto the Behemoth’s foot, then scrambled up onto its broad, hard back.
Furthermore, instead of fleeing, the Behemoth, with Flora Bloom aboard, charged rapidly toward the remaining hostages.
Flora Bloom’s position was already close to the hostages. To them, the Behemoth’s enormous body was like a wide building moving toward them, and terror once again filled their faces. The remaining group of less than thirty people stumbled backward at the sight of the monster right before their eyes.
In their eyes, the monster was a colossal crocodile, its skin a flawless, glossy ink-black. It flashed with hints of dark green luster under the reflections of the night.
"A monster! Another monster! It’s over, we’re dead for sure!"
"What do we do? Oh God, I don’t want to die!"
"Why has the world become like this?! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!"
"It’s—it’s going to crush us!"
Amidst the crowd’s terrified expressions and screams, a familiar figure suddenly appeared on the giant crocodile’s head.
In the chaos, someone pointed at the crocodile’s head and shouted, "Look, it’s that pregnant woman! Isn’t she the one the base sent to save us?!"
"Yeah, yeah, that’s her! What is she doing on the monster’s head?! Does she have a death wish?!"
"Who cares about her! We’re all going to die anyway! It’s just one more person dead!"
Flora Bloom jumped from the Behemoth’s head to its forelimb, then slid down to its foot. She shouted to the crowd, "Don’t be afraid! Get on, I’ll get you out of here!"
Her words caused the hostage superpower users to hesitate for a moment, but they quickly snapped out of it.
The giant crocodile monster was terrifying, making their hearts tremble with a single glance. But when faced with a matter of life and death, "terrifying" was just a feeling; their lives were what mattered most.
Seeing a glimmer of hope, the group’s eyes instantly filled with the will to survive. As if heading into battle, they began to scramble up from the Behemoth’s feet.
Flora Bloom grabbed a middle-aged woman who was climbing the slowest, pulled her onto the Behemoth’s giant foot, and then helped her onto its back.
This woman was a plant-type superpower user. Seeing how much trouble the others were having, she went to the edge of the Behemoth’s back and extended three vines that weren’t particularly thick, making it easier for those below to climb.
Just then, trouble arrived. The seven Level 3 zombies also began to climb onto the Behemoth’s back.
Axe in hand, Flora Bloom easily climbed to the top of the Behemoth’s head. While protecting herself with a water shield, she waited until the very moment the seven Level 3 zombies were about to haul themselves up, then struck their heads with all her might.