Chapter 153: Chapter 141: Morhaven Safe Base

Everyone else had been dealt with, leaving only Lucia, who Cynthia Grant had trussed up completely.

Lucia’s eyes filled with panic when she saw Flora Bloom and Joel Bloom approaching. She shook her head violently on the couch, watching as Flora’s family and a group of strangers surrounded her, staring as if she were a spectacle in a monkey show.

The bloody scenes of the siblings’ recent slaughter filled her mind.

"Don’t, Joel! Don’t kill me. I love you!"

Flora Bloom put away her axe and stood to the side. "Joel Bloom, what happens to her is up to you. Like I said, if you want to keep her, the team can afford one more mouth to feed."

Joel Bloom stared at Lucia for a long time, a flicker of conflict in his eyes. Finally, he made a choice.

"Cynthia, untie her."

The terror on Lucia’s face instantly melted away, replaced by delighted surprise.

"Joel, you’ve forgiven me? This is wonderful! I knew you still loved me!"

The moment she was untied, Lucia sat up and lunged toward Joel Bloom, trying to bury herself in his arms. However, at that moment, his heart and eyes were filled with nothing but disgust; he no longer felt any of the love he once had for this woman.

’A woman who’d throw herself into another man’s arms just to save her own skin... How disgusting. It makes me want to puke.’ The love he once felt for her had curdled into an equally intense disgust. Seeing her lunge at him, he shoved her back onto the couch. Yet, as she collapsed onto the cushions clutching her stomach, he couldn’t suppress a flicker of pity.

"I’m not going to kill you. The only reason I’m letting you live is because you’re carrying my child. Don’t get any ideas. If it weren’t for this baby, I would have you sliced into a thousand pieces."

The disgust in Joel Bloom’s eyes finally sobered Lucia. She began to whisper through her tears, "It wasn’t on purpose! If I hadn’t given in, both the baby and I would have been killed!"

"I would have rather the three of us died together then!" With that, he turned and stalked upstairs, unable to bring himself to look at Lucia again.

Lucia gradually stopped crying, a secret smile playing on her lips. ’As long as I’m alive,’ she thought, ’anything goes.’

With the Juggernaut guarding the main entrance and Flora Bloom’s other "little pets" surrounding the weather station, the place was extremely secure.

Flora Bloom called her original team of nine upstairs, leaving Joel Bloom and the newcomers on the first floor.

It wasn’t that Flora Bloom had deliberately left Joel Bloom behind, but with a ticking time bomb like Lucia in the picture, it was better to keep him in the dark about certain matters.

Now that the group had suddenly expanded, their future operations would become more complicated.

For example, where did Flora Bloom’s fresh vegetables, grains, and fruit come from? Even if she’d had a stockpile from the beginning, it couldn’t last forever, could it? Over time, it was bound to arouse suspicion.

The nine people upstairs all trusted one another. Flora Bloom had neither deliberately concealed nor meticulously explained the origin of her pocket dimension.

She had called them all upstairs primarily to discuss one matter: their future survival.

To survive in this post-apocalyptic world, the first thing one needed was a stable, permanent place to live. Besides coming to Morhaven to find her brother, Flora Bloom had another very important objective.

In her past life, Morhaven was the only city to remain fully intact after the great war between humans and zombies three years into the apocalypse. That meant that for at least the next three years, Morhaven would be safer than any other city.

Besides, she was almost four months along. Once her pregnancy started to show, many things would become inconvenient. Not to mention, there were now three pregnant women in the group, including herself. She had to find a safe place to give birth to Polly, no matter the cost.

The nine of them devised a plan. To avoid gossip and suspicion among the larger group, starting tomorrow, each person would carry a travel bag with just enough food and water for one day. Fresh produce, like the tomatoes Flora Bloom had brought out before, would not be shown again to avoid attracting unwanted attention.

Just in case, Flora Bloom took out the bracelet she had forcibly removed from Tianna Bloom’s wrist. It was an heirloom from her grandmother, but its quality was unremarkable. Even when worn, it was unlikely to attract any covetous stares.

After all, this was the apocalypse. People cared about Crystal Cores, food, and resources. Material possessions like bracelets were no longer considered all that important.

Flora Bloom held out the bracelet. "This has a pocket dimension inside, about a sixth of an acre in size. It can hold a lot of things. Who wants to wear it?"

The men present all averted their gazes. As much as they coveted its storage function, the bracelet’s design was a major deterrent.

As for the women, besides Flora Bloom, only Cynthia Grant and Jade were there.

Cynthia Grant glanced at the bracelet’s quality and style. "It’s too old-fashioned. Not for me. You should wear it, ma’am."

It was true. The bracelet was made of white jade with snowflake-like inclusions, but it had no trace of desirable green coloring, marking it as subpar. Even its shape—a thick, round style known as a "tire"—was something favored by the elderly. It was difficult for someone Cynthia Grant’s age to appreciate it.

Flora Bloom slipped the bracelet onto her mother’s wrist. Before handing it over, she had already filled it with fruits and vegetables, grains, pickled foods, water, and clothes and shoes for all four seasons. She had even put some baby clothes and bedding into the bracelet’s pocket dimension.

Flora Bloom then took out a tablet, opened a location-tracking page, and showed it to the others.

"This is what I wanted to talk about."

"Morhaven Safe Zone?" Sherman Lynch said, zooming in on the map. "To think Morhaven established a safe zone so quickly."

Caleb Bloom and Sherman Lynch studied the map, examining the geographical location of the Morhaven Safe Zone and its surroundings. After a short while, both men nodded in appreciation.

"The leader of this base must be a formidable person," Sherman Lynch said. "Look, the safe zone is surrounded by woodlands, which does a great job of concealing its location. This place was probably a wetland park before, so it has plenty of vegetation, and the surrounding residential districts have been incorporated into the zone." He pointed to its main gate. "And look here—these entrances are guarded daily, and even at this time of night, they have teams on patrol. Their patrol system is almost identical to ours at the Azuregard City Base."

"Not only that." Caleb Bloom zoomed in on the picture of a residential area until it was at its maximum size. The faint figure of a child was visible outside one of the buildings, but they were quickly ushered back inside by a passing patrol. "It seems the security situation inside the base is also very stable."

"Impressive indeed," Flora Bloom said, nodding in satisfaction. "So, shall we head out tomorrow?"

Once everyone was in agreement, Flora Bloom collected all the equipment on the second floor into her pocket dimension. Then, she went downstairs with the rest of the group.

When Shelly heard there was a safe zone in Morhaven, she was so happy she practically danced. ’In novels, safe zones were truly safe havens, places where human society and civilization were rebuilt after the apocalypse!’

’Once I get there, I won’t have to live in fear anymore! Maybe it will be like before the apocalypse, with proper houses, shops, and other people who’ve survived just like us.’

"This is wonderful! When are we leaving?" Shelly had been locked in a sterile room for a month, and after getting out, she had lost all hope for the future. This news, however, reignited it.

She wasn’t the only one; Lucia, Mark Sterling, Fakeryu, and Selina—the pregnant woman Flora Bloom rescued—all felt a surge of hope at the news.

Humans are social animals. The very idea of finding a community of their own kind was enough to instill a sense of hope and security. No one was immune.

However, only Lisa and Shauna Wallace remained silent after hearing the news, their expressions unchanging.

"Flora, once we get to the safe zone, are you guys leaving?" Lisa asked, moving closer to Joel and hugging his arm. "I don’t care about any safe zone! I’m staying with Joel!" As she spoke, she shot a deliberately vicious glare at Lucia, who was watching him.

Flora Bloom smiled at the sight of the young girl clinging to Joel. "We’re not leaving," she said. "We plan to stay in this safe zone."