Chapter 168: Chapter 156: Just You Guys? 4 People?

"Just a little girl, after all. Full of empty boasts. Chester, do you think one person—no, even if her whole team of nineteen—could get eight thousand Crystal Cores in a single day?" Morgan Sterling scoffed at Chester Sawyer, who was standing nearby. Before Chester could answer, Morgan shook his head and chuckled. "She’s just a girl. Why am I even getting worked up over her? Ah well, time for bed."

Chester Sawyer raised an eyebrow and looked at Morgan Sterling. "Aren’t you going to wait for her?"

Morgan Sterling stopped in his tracks. He turned to look at Chester Sawyer, sizing him up as if he were a stranger. "Wait for her? You really think she’ll show up and expect me to take her to the villa district outside the safe zone? Are you kidding me? You know what’s out there! Even Seth Warren, Heath Holden, and I combined had to flee with our tails between our legs. You expect me to send a slip of a girl out there to die? What kind of person do you take me for?"

But Chester Sawyer’s expression was more serious than ever. He looked at Morgan Sterling and said, "Chief, I think she’ll come."

Morgan Sterling patted his shoulder. "You should head back soon, before Heath Holden’s people get suspicious."

Chester Sawyer gave a resigned smile. Just as he was about to turn and leave, a district guard came running up in a hurry. "Chief, there are four people at the gate asking to see you! They say they have an appointment. Oh, and that young lady came by looking for you a moment ago!"

"Ha!" Chester Sawyer lowered his head with a soft chuckle, then looked up at the incredibly complex, shifting expression on Morgan Sterling’s face.

"She actually came!" Morgan Sterling muttered, then asked the guard, "Just the four of them?"

The guard nodded. "Yes, Chief. Only four. Do you need me to send them away?"

Morgan Sterling rubbed his brow, his eyes glinting with indecision. "Let them in."

He looked at Chester Sawyer. "This girl’s actually pretty strong, just too arrogant! This whole thing is your fault, you know. When Flora Bloom gets here, you explain the situation with the villas outside the safe zone and talk her out of it."

With that, Morgan Sterling sighed. "Just tell her I’ve gone to bed." He then shot upstairs as if his life depended on it.

When Flora Bloom and her three companions entered Morgan Sterling’s villa, they found only Chester Sawyer inside.

"Where’s Morgan Sterling?" Flora Bloom asked bluntly. "It’s been two hours. Where is he?"

Chester Sawyer smiled amicably. "Miss Bloom, Chief Sterling was called away on urgent business. It seems he won’t be able to guide you to the villa district outside the safe zone tonight. How about this? In a couple of days, when the Chief is free, I’ll have someone notify you?"

"Was he really called away, or is he just unwilling to go? You should know the truth, Chester Sawyer." Flora Bloom glanced up toward the landing of the stairs and, standing her ground, gave a cold smile.

Chester Sawyer was a shrewd operator, both before and after the apocalypse. He knew at once that this young woman had read between the lines.

"The truth is, the villa district outside the safe zone is teeming with zombies. They’ve already formed a sizable horde, and there are advanced zombies in there as well. The four of you alone could never hope to clear it."

"One of the Chief’s teams went to Area 09 to scavenge for supplies this morning and still hasn’t returned. They must have run into trouble, so we’re really stretched thin. It would be extremely difficult to muster another group to help you clear the outer villas. And as you know, the other two major powers in the base are always watching our every move. One false step and..."

Chester Sawyer knew perfectly well that Morgan Sterling didn’t want to make an enemy of this young woman, so he was earnestly trying to make excuses for him.

But Flora Bloom cut him off before he could finish.

"Wait!"

"Huh? What is it? I’m telling the truth!"

"I never said you were lying. Why are you so defensive? What I mean is, who ever said I wanted him to muster a force to help me clear the villa district?"

Now it was Chester Sawyer’s turn to be surprised.

"What? How are you supposed to clear that area without mustering a force? You have to understand, the zombie hordes in Morhaven number in the tens of thousands! And just you?" Chester Sawyer glanced over the four of them. "Four people? You’ve got to be kidding me."

Flora Bloom rolled her eyes. "Who’s kidding? ’Called away on business?’ More like he just doesn’t want to help!"

"This..." Chester Sawyer started to panic. ’What in the world is this young woman trying to do?’ Everyone else avoided fighting zombies at night. During the day, the zombies were less active and easier to hunt. But at night, their activity and strength surged, as if they were on stimulants.

’And here she was, in the middle of the night, planning to walk right into the lion’s den?’

Flora Bloom suddenly looked at Chester Sawyer, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Then, her eyes lit up. "Hey, it’s fine that he’s not here! You must know the way. You can take us."

Chester Sawyer’s knees went weak; he almost fell to the floor right there. He did know the way, but he had no desire to go! Those things out there seemed to be growing more powerful, able to detect the scent of the living from a great distance.

’If I get caught, I won’t even know what hit me! No. Absolutely not. I’m not going, not even if you beat me to death.’

"Uh, it’s too late tonight. How about another day?" Chester Sawyer tried to slip away as he spoke, but a bubble-like sphere of water shot out from Flora Bloom, instantly enveloping him from head to toe.

Chester Sawyer struggled inside the transparent, deep-blue bubble for some time. ’How is it,’ he thought, ’that with all my strength as a Second Level Earth Ability User, I can’t even break through this seemingly fragile water bubble?’

He conjured an earth spear in his hand, trying to pierce the bubble that trapped him, only to find that while the bubble’s membrane looked thin, it was incredibly resilient. No matter how much he thrashed about, he couldn’t break it.

Just then, Flora Bloom felt a strong surge of Earth Ability from beneath her feet. She calmly looked at Chester Sawyer and said, "Your Second Level Earth Ability is useless against me. You should save your strength."

Chester Sawyer had just been testing the waters, but Flora Bloom’s words made him recall the day one of Heath Holden’s Level 3 Earth Ability Users had created an earth prison, only for Flora to shatter it with a single screen of water. He plopped down onto the bottom of the bubble, utterly dejected.

"Fine, fine, I’ll take you! Is that good enough!?"

Watching Chester Sawyer wrapped in the deep-blue bubble below, Morgan Sterling, hidden on the landing, almost burst out laughing. But his expression quickly turned serious again.

’Is Flora Bloom really just a Water Ability User? Is this kind of attack and defense something a mere Water Ability User can achieve?’

’If that deep-blue bubble had formed around me, could I have broken free from it quickly?’

These questions swirled in Morgan Sterling’s mind, compelling him to unconsciously follow them from a distance to see for himself.

Flora Bloom, Sherman Lynch, Neal Wallace, and Shauna Wallace followed behind Chester Sawyer, walking slowly.

"Hey! If we keep walking at this pace, the sun will be up! Can you hurry it up?"

Flora Bloom looked so exasperated she seemed ready to kick Chester Sawyer. Sherman Lynch held her back and said to him, "Chester, my young friend, she’s just a bit hot-tempered. Please don’t take it to heart. Since it’s the villa district outside the safe zone, there must be a path that leads there, right? Rest assured, you only need to guide us. You can leave as soon as we arrive."