Holly’s head was trapped in a water membrane created by Flora Bloom, and she was already suffocating. Inside the bubble-like membrane, her face had turned a deathly purple, her eyes bulging wide. She looked like a drowning person in her final moments. The sight sent Mindy Quincy into a panic.

"Miss, what do we do? We can’t just sit here and wait to die. How about we run for it?" They conversed in their native language, assuming no one else could understand.

But Flora Bloom had lived through ten years of the apocalypse before her rebirth. Back then, Veridian had become one of the most common languages in the nation. She had drifted between various groups, becoming proficient in several less common languages as well.

"Heh, you want to run? You think you can escape me?"

In the next instant, Flora Bloom unleashed her Water Ability.

A deep blue liquid dispersed into the air like vapor, silently closing in on Sienna Kensington and Mindy Quincy. The instant it reached them, it coalesced, forming a deep blue bubble over each of their heads, identical to the one on Holly.

Flora Bloom used her superpower to cut off the air supply inside the membranes. With their heads encased, it was as if they were submerged in water. They couldn’t inhale or exhale, left only to feel their lungs slowly burn and burst from the lack of oxygen, ultimately leading to suffocation.

"You dared to tie my little brother up and torture him. So how about I give you a taste of that same brutality before you die?"

Sienna Kensington desperately clawed at the water membrane on her head. Even as a Second-level Superpower User with a much stronger constitution than an ordinary person, she couldn’t last long. Flora Bloom pried the dagger from Sienna’s hand, which she had been clenching with all her might.

The dagger was still stained with Caleb’s blood. Flora Bloom took it, grabbed Sienna Kensington’s slender neck with her other hand, and pushed the blade through the water membrane to carve up Sienna’s delicate face.

One cut ran from cheekbone to the corner of the mouth; another from eyelid down to the jaw. She carved two deep, symmetrical gashes into her forehead, deep enough to expose bone, before pulling the dagger out. The water membrane sealed itself once more.

"Now for the rest of you."

A single slice severed the cartilage between her collarbones. Two stabs punctured the organs on either side of her abdomen. The blade danced without pause, as if painting a blood-soaked atlas on Sienna’s small, delicate frame.

Sienna Kensington had been pampered her whole life; she had never endured such torment and humiliation. She could feel the searing pain on her face but couldn’t touch it. She couldn’t scream. She couldn’t even breathe. Her oxygen-starved brain made it impossible to think. All she could do was writhe on the ground, flailing her limbs to vent her agony.

’It would be better to just kill me,’ she thought. ’A quick death would be a mercy compared to this torture.’

Mindy Quincy, however, didn’t have such a resilient body. As a Second-level Superpower User, Sienna Kensington’s constitution was far superior to a normal person’s; she wouldn’t die so easily. But Mindy Quincy was just an ordinary human. Her head also encased in a water membrane, the whites of her eyes were already showing. She had clearly reached the peak of oxygen deprivation, lacking even the strength to struggle. She was on her last breath.

Suddenly, the tent flap was thrown open. Caleb Bloom froze when he saw the scene inside. A thousand thoughts flashed through his mind, but he pushed them all down. His expression grim, he turned his gaze to Caleb, who was unconscious on the ground.

"How is Caleb?"

"Don’t worry. Caleb’s injuries are mostly healed. He’s just so little, and after being tortured all day, he’s exhausted. I just hope he isn’t too traumatized when he wakes up."

After confirming Caleb was safe, Caleb Bloom looked as if he wanted to speak but hesitated. When his eyes fell upon the wounds covering his son’s body, however, he clamped his mouth shut.

The moment Flora Bloom finished speaking, a set of hurried footsteps rang out from outside. She and her father exchanged a glance before both lifted the tent flap. They saw Milton Adler leading a squad of soldiers, heading straight for their tent.

The people in the other tents had long since smelled the heavy stench of blood but were too afraid to investigate. This wasn’t the old world; there was no guarantee anyone would intervene if something went wrong. A few curious onlookers poked their heads out at the sound of footsteps, but they were quickly forced back into their tents by Milton Adler’s men and forbidden to exit.

Finally, Milton Adler arrived at the tent occupied by Flora Bloom and her family.

The moment he stepped inside, the overpowering stench of blood made him frown. He saw Sienna Kensington’s two bodyguards—the man was dead, killed by a single, clean strike that had snapped his neck. The technique was fast, precise, and ruthless. He glanced between Flora Bloom and her father, wondering which of them had dealt the vicious blow.

But when he saw Sienna Kensington, Mindy Quincy, and Holly, their heads all encased in water membranes from a Water Ability, he knew they were on the verge of death. Their faces were purple, veins bulged on their necks, and their lips were swollen and black. They could suffocate at any second. His gaze immediately snapped to Flora Bloom.

"Uh, Flora Bloom, we can discuss this. How about you let these two go first? After all, Holly is part of my Naval Base. Could you do me a favor and release them?"

Flora Bloom gave Milton Adler an eerie smile. Beneath her lovely features, her eyes seethed with contempt and rebellion. It was a look that said she would do as she pleased and kill anyone who stood in her way—a look Milton Adler had only ever seen on one other person.

His nephew, Lex Adler, who had become a completely different person after recovering from a serious illness.

The resemblance was uncanny. Their expressions were shockingly similar, as if cast from the same mold.

But in the instant he was stunned, Flora Bloom raised an axe and swiped it lightly across the arteries in Holly’s and Sienna Kensington’s necks. As she moved to finish off Mindy Quincy, Caleb Bloom’s hands took on a metallic sheen. He grabbed Mindy’s neck and snapped it, extinguishing her life.

Flora Bloom went a step further, chopping off Sienna Kensington’s head and kicking it playfully toward Milton Adler’s feet. She shot him a sidelong glance before silently lifting Caleb from the ground.

Milton Adler stared at the father-daughter pair who killed without batting an eye. The words on the tip of his tongue were forced back down by a single glare from Flora Bloom. He remained frozen, staring blankly at the four corpses on the ground, until Flora Bloom walked out of the refugee camp with Caleb Bloom and Caleb.

Back in their rooms on the eleventh floor of the Lighthouse Tower, Flora Bloom placed Caleb on his mattress and covered him with a blanket. She felt his forehead. Sure enough, it was burning hot; Caleb had a fever. A unique magnetic field was emanating from his body—a sign, she presumed, that he was on the verge of awakening a special type of superpower.

Flora Bloom dressed Caleb in a new set of clothes. Before the apocalypse, she had only bought clothes and supplies for Polly, covering various infant stages. She had nothing for a six- or seven-year-old boy. She had to pull the smallest piece of clothing from her personal storage space for him to make do. When she had the chance, she’d raid a supermarket or mall for more resources and stock up on things for him.

Just then, Neal Wallace and Ethan Monroe burst through the door, panting as if they had just run a marathon.

"Gods, woman," Ethan Monroe panted. "Neal and I heard you’d gone to the refugee camp, so we rushed over. The second we got there, we heard you’d already come back, so we had to run all the way back here! Lord Monroe is exhausted. Get me a bottle of water, quick."

Flora Bloom casually tossed him a bottle of water from her personal space. "Caleb is awakening his superpower," she explained. "It’s a strange type I’ve never seen before. I’m going to stay here and watch him, just in case. Old Monroe, go make some food. Everyone’s hungry."

Ethan Monroe took the food Flora Bloom produced from her space and went to one side to prepare dinner, with Jade going over to help him out.

"Flora Bloom," Neal Wallace said, "we got some intel from those thirty soldiers just now. The keys to the base’s heavy weaponry and the sea-faring yachts are all in Sherman Lynch’s possession. Without the activation keys and passwords, we won’t be able to borrow any of the boats."

Flora Bloom’s expression darkened instantly. "How reliable is that intel?"

Neal Wallace nodded. "They don’t know we plan on borrowing a boat. I just asked casually and got that out of them. But I think you should still ask Milton Adler for the specifics. After all, the information I got might not be one hundred percent accurate."