Chapter 124: Chapter 112: These 2 Lousy Old Men

As if it heard the humans behind the gate getting further away, the Middle Level zombie could no longer hold back. It vaulted over the fence, hands shaped into claws, and lunged toward the group.

It possessed intelligence on par with a teenager and knew it was no match for Lex Cross. So, it lunged for the person closest to him: Rhea Thornton.

When Rhea Thornton found the pale, grotesque claws inches away with no room to dodge, a faint pink halo emanated from her body. She fearfully grabbed Lex Cross’s arm. "Save me." As her pitiful eyes met his, rings of a strange power radiated from her pupils, shooting directly into his.

Rhea Thornton suddenly felt different. ’Just now, looking into his eyes, I realized I could project my thoughts into them. I can control him and make him completely devoted to me.’

Charm.

Lex Cross’s normally hawk-like eyes clouded over for a split second upon meeting Rhea Thornton’s gaze. The confusion vanished an instant later, as if it had never been there.

"You’re asking to die." Lex Cross glared at Rhea Thornton, his dagger flashing across her delicate face and leaving a deep, bloody gash.

"Ah!"

"Go! Retreat to the airstrip, now! We can’t hold out here much longer." As he spoke, a thick bolt of lightning struck the red-haired zombie square on the head, stopping its lunge at Rhea Thornton in its tracks.

A net of lightning immediately followed, trapping the Middle Level zombie. Lex Cross led his group in a hasty retreat toward the airstrip.

Lagging behind, Rhea Thornton clutched her face, watching Lex Cross’s retreating back with lingering fear. ’The red-haired monster is right there. If I don’t go now, I’ll be dead the moment it breaks free.’

Just as she prepared to run and catch up with the group, she found her feet frozen to the ground by a thick layer of ice, unable to move an inch.

She struggled in panic but couldn’t break free. Her heart filled with bitter resentment as she watched helplessly, seeing the group pull away and a woman among them turn back to give her a contemptuous sneer.

’It’s her. The woman who got out of Lex Cross’s car. She’s an Ice Ability User.’ A moment ago, Rhea Thornton had been smug about awakening a charm-type superpower. Now, her face was ruined, and she was frozen in place, watching the red-haired monster slowly break free from the lightning net, stand up, and stalk toward her.

***

「At the Azuregard City Naval Base」

On the coast, a two-story yacht about a hundred feet long was moored in the water just off the lighthouse. It lacked the opulent flair of a luxury vessel; instead, its pointed bow and wide stern made it look very much like a warship, albeit a much smaller one. The hull was a clean, milky white, giving it a simple yet grand appearance.

With its two decks and hundred-foot length, it could comfortably hold around twenty people. It was a small yacht regularly used by the base’s soldiers for maritime missions—and the very one Sherman Lynch had selected with Flora Bloom.

Right now, Irvin Holden was busy loading barrels of fuel onto the yacht. Caleb Bloom and Jade had already boarded early that morning. Neal Wallace and Ethan Monroe, wearing backpacks, stood on the upper deck, gazing out at the distant sea.

After Irvin Holden finished loading the fuel and other supplies, he stood at the bow and shouted, "Reporting to Old Lynch, all preparations are complete!"

Sherman Lynch stood beside Flora Bloom, supported by Cynthia Grant. He looked toward the yacht, a faint smile gracing his lips. "Good. Let’s go, Cynthia. Time to get on board."

Flora Bloom overheard their conversation, completely bewildered. ’Get on board? Get on board what?’ she thought. She watched Cynthia Grant help Sherman Lynch walk all the way onto the yacht before she finally ran after them, a look of horror on her face.

"Hey, wait! Cynthia Grant, didn’t you say you weren’t coming with me?" She then turned to Sherman Lynch. "And you! You’re one of the base’s top leaders. What are you doing getting on this boat?"

With his hands behind his back, Sherman Lynch shot a glare at Cynthia Grant. "Stop helping me! I’m perfectly healthy. Don’t treat me like some invalid!" When he turned to Flora Bloom, however, his stern old face instantly softened. "Ah, Flora, my dear. This old man has no standing in the base anymore. If the Adler family wants it, let them have it. I’ll be much better off following you."

Without waiting for Flora Bloom to respond, he left her and Cynthia Grant standing there and went into the cabin to find a room for himself.

Flora Bloom glared at Cynthia Grant, her eyes screaming, ’You’re not going anywhere until you give me a clear explanation.’

"It was my uncle! He wouldn’t let me say anything!" Cynthia explained. "He was afraid you wouldn’t agree, so we decided it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Hahaha." With that, she left a fuming but helpless Flora Bloom standing alone on the bow deck.

’Milton Adler is a sly old fox, and that old geezer Sherman Lynch is no saint either! Hmph!’

Flora Bloom ambled into the cockpit. Irvin Holden was at the helm, managing their course, while her father, who had just come down from the upper deck, was discussing something with him.

Flora Bloom didn’t disturb them. She sat on a leather stool behind them, mulling over whether or not she’d been played.

Last night, Milton Adler had summoned her for an "important discussion." The conversation made it clear he was unhappy about his authority being diminished ever since she brought Sherman Lynch to the base. He had also probed for information about her team, beating around the bush before making an offer: if she did him a favor, he would choose an expert in maritime affairs from the base to accompany her to Morhaven.

Flora Bloom’s eyes had lit up at the offer. Although her father could pilot the yacht, making him do it for the entire journey would be exhausting. Having an expert seaman along would not only lighten her father’s burden, but a soldier with naval expertise was exactly the type of person she would need going forward.

So, she had agreed on the spot.

She had traded control over a school of horse mackerel for one such soldier.

Flora Bloom went down to the shore and summoned all the horse mackerel in the waters off Azuregard City, pulling them all into her dimension. She then kept the ten leader fish and a portion of the school, releasing the rest back into the ocean.

The unique imprint from her dimension allowed Flora Bloom to issue commands via a mental link, ordering the school of horse mackerel to obey Milton Adler’s commands. However, she still held primary control; the fish were merely ordered to follow another person’s directives.

If they both issued commands simultaneously, the horse mackerel would, without a doubt, obey Flora Bloom.

As for how Milton Adler was supposed to communicate with the fish, Flora Bloom had tried several methods. In the end, she gathered the school and had him try to use his sea of consciousness—the same one he used to control his superpower—to connect with them.

After some trial and error, and after Milton Adler had consumed a dozen or so Crystal Cores to replenish his energy, he finally managed to leave a trace of his spiritual power on a few of the fish. Flora Bloom then designated these marked fish as the new leaders of the school. This would allow the rest of the fish, which didn’t bear his spiritual imprint, to follow the leader fish and thus better accept Milton Adler’s commands.

After all, a superpower user’s spiritual power couldn’t normally be imprinted onto living beings. All Milton Adler had done was leave a part of his spiritual power on a few fish to make communication easier. It was a far cry from Flora Bloom’s domineering Spiritual Imprint from her dimension.

And right after successfully completing the handover of the horse mackerel, Milton Adler had unexpectedly leveled up, becoming a Level 3 Fire Ability User. This led Flora Bloom to a startling conclusion. ’Besides just absorbing Crystal Cores to accumulate energy, could exercising one’s spiritual power also be a way to level up?’

’Looks like I’ll have to give that a try on the journey ahead.’

The next day, a soldier informed her that after his advancement, Milton Adler had entered seclusion to stabilize his new power and was unavailable to see her. And the so-called "expert in maritime affairs" he had assigned to her turned out to be Irvin Holden.

Flora Bloom was so angry she could spit. ’Damn it all! If I’d known it was going to be Irvin Holden, I would have just asked Sherman Lynch directly! To repay her for saving his life, Sherman Lynch would have done anything she asked.’

But who could have known? It was only at the very moment of boarding that she realized she’d been played by both old geezers who had, one after the other, taken charge of the base.

One had swindled a small school of horse mackerel from her. The other was even worse, just waltzing onto her boat and claiming a room without so much as a by-your-leave. ’Are they both planning to just freeload off me?’