Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 437: The unlucky witness.

In a chilling, frightening move, Pink snapped the neck of the bird beast and ripped off the head. Then she hurled them away.

"Okay, I have spent enough time outside." Dr. Flora declared and raced away. She was too freaked out by the eye contact with the watcher.

Sunshine was not fazed. "Thank you for taking care of that threat." She shouted.

Pink spread her magnificent wings and flew away.

Hades looked at his wife. Like Sunshine, he was unfazed. Until they faced off against the watchers directly, he would not be afraid. "Now what? Pink is getting creepier and Ariel still doesn’t want to be hugged?"

"Now I go to work." She stepped on the tips of her toes and kissed him on the cheek. "We will have a conversation with Ariel later and see how to proceed."

She got into the car, and it drove away.

Hades returned to what he was doing before the meeting, which was handing out construction licenses and permits. With all the applications that they had received and chaos the wealthy individuals were displaying he had to act like a tyrant.

He slapped stamps down with dramatic force, personally choosing which building should go where as long as the engineers agreed.

"Approved. Approved. Absolutely not approved_ your building will be blocking the school from accessing the sun children need vitamin D." he told Wes Tilton.

"What do they need the sun for?" Wes asked. "It ain’t like the rugrats are going out there to fight mutated beasts anyway. Just give them vitamin D shots."

Hades gestured at people to drag him out.

Some people that were waiting in line laughed while others frowned.

Meanwhile Sunshine was at the cold storage warehouse which reeked of blood.

A group of four young men stood stiffly near a stack of fresh carcasses, their anxiety so thick she could almost taste it.

She sniffed once, crouched slightly, then straightened. "Cheetah meat," she said casually, making one of them nod. "Ten fat squirrels and twelve rabbits. Mutated, all fresh. I am impressed."

The young men could not hide their joy. Theirs was the first group that dared to go out and hunt. Philip and Tommy had gone with them.

While the superhumans thought they could have done better, the ordinary young men thought it was impressive.

Sunshine waved two workers over. "Take this to section C."

When she paid the young men 137,000 dollars, they erupted and screamed, one nearly dropping his share of the cash.

"One day I will buy a house in the town," one blurted.

"I’m drinking everything away," another announced proudly.

"My girlfriend wants to move to the rumored villas the rich are building. If I save enough, we will be living with the elite."

Sunshine laughed as she climbed back into her vehicle.

[You are going to make back two times what you have paid them.] The system chimed in her mind. [You remain faithful to being a cheap buyer.]

Sunshine rolled her eyes. "If I was not buying, there would be no market. And half of my profits go back into the base. In my books, I am their hero."

Her radio crackled. "Ma’am," Dominic’s voice came through, tight and controlled. "We have a situation in Westbrook town. One of the parents of the missing children claims he saw his child in the town. He is demanding a door-to-door search of every building. I am not authorized to approve that"

Sunshine’s expression hardened instantly. "I’m coming over."

She called Nimo and Nala and told them to meet her at the gate.

They took the road hard, Fortress Four’s newly finished streets blurring beneath the tires as they drove fast and clean toward Westbrook town.

The town was louder than usual when they arrived, construction everywhere. With all the new projects, nobody would be unemployed in the town for a while.

Dominic stood outside an old house turned medic bay, dust on his boots, sleeves rolled. He led Sunshine and others inside.

Inside, antiseptic fought unsuccessfully with the smell of medicine and wet cement that was seeping in through open windows.

He did not explain anything, figuring Sunshine would want to hear directly from the man himself. The man lay on a bed, bruised and pale.

Ronda was watching over him, a frown on her face and a heat pack in her left hand.

Nimo recognized the man immediately. "You’re that man that told us about Fifi," she said.

"Yes, I remember you." Sunshine said. She did not know his name, but his face was curved into her brain.

His eyes lit with something fragile and desperate. "Yes, ma’am." He sat up too fast, wincing, but ignoring his pain. "I saw him as clear as day." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"He tried to engage the kidnapper," Ronda said quietly. "Got beaten badly."

Sunshine bent so she was eye level. "Are you alright, Sir?"

He shook his head; sadness covered his eyes. "I will be when my son is found."

Sunshine used her gentle voice, one that Dr. Flora would call politically loving. "We will do our best to help you, but first you must tell me everything. And I mean everything. Do not leave out single thing." She said softly, seeming to understand him.

The man nodded. "When I showed up to start my new job with the construction team, I found that work had been paused," he said hoarsely. "The engineers said the wall direction was changing, expanding to include Leafwell and Manville streets. You know the times in which we live, when work stops, there is no income. Then hunger starts talking louder than fear." His fingers curled into fists.

"I went to Leafwell because there is a small market that Derone used to operate. Now, it is open to all. I was looking for scraps, anything cheap to eat. That’s when I saw her. A woman with her head wrapped in a purple shawl.

She was walking fast_ angry fast with some children. She wasn’t guiding them or acting like a parent. She was shoving and pinching them. I knew immediately that something was wrong." His breathing hitched.

Not just him but Sunshine’s too.

"Then one child fell. Scraped his knees. He cried." The man’s head snapped up, eyes wet and wild. "I knew that cry. That was my boy." His voice rose. "I dropped everything. I ran. I shouted Jamie’s name. He turned. He saw me." A broken laugh escaped him. "He reached for me. He tried to pull away from her. He fought her_ he’s always been a fighter." His body leaned forward like he could still close the distance. "People were everywhere but they did nothing, they were scared. I shoved one aside.

Someone grabbed my arm and I punched him. I didn’t feel it. I didn’t feel anything. I was almost there." His hand lifted, fingers trembling inches apart. "Almost." His jaw clenched. "Then something hit me from behind. Hard. I went down, but I tried to get back up. I swear I did. I crawled. I called his name until my mouth tasted like blood. I heard him screaming for me." Tears spilled freely now. "Then another blow. And another." He shut his eyes. "When I woke up, a man was hovering over me, asking if I was okay. But how could I be okay when my boy was gone."