Chapter 210: Not a Single Good Person in the Shaw Family
But the amount they give out is too little, not even enough for one person. You have to use Crystal Cores to buy more at the base’s exchange center, and it’s incredibly expensive.
And forget about the price—the base’s exchange center is often out of stock. Either there’s no water, or there’s no food. In short, you can never get what you came for!
Frost Shaw chimed in, "Before you showed up, I was out killing zombies from dawn till dusk."
But even with all that, I still couldn’t get enough food for the five little ones. They’re all growing kids, but they were skinny and small from malnutrition...
"So, where do they get their water, food, weapons, and medicine?" Lily Hart asked the crucial question.
"No one knows," Leo Colby said, enunciating every word.
Everyone wanted to know the answer to that, but even after ten years, no one had figured it out.
At first glance, the daily water allotment doesn’t seem like much, but Cathaya has a massive population. When you add it all up, the total tonnage is staggering!
’That’s weird. Don’t tell me they have a System, too?’ Lily Hart wondered.
Noticing her distant expression, Frost Shaw asked, "Did the Mysterious Clan come after you?"
It was a no-brainer. The Mysterious Clan was obviously furious with Lily Hart. They used to rake in tens of thousands of Crystal Cores every day while barely lifting a finger, and now that income had suddenly been cut in half. Who could possibly stand for that?!
"Yes. Alex Shaw from the Shaw Family and Rose Rhodes from the Rivers Family. Do you know them?" Lily Hart asked, her fingertips tapping lightly on the tabletop.
Roman Rowe raised his hand. "I know Alex Shaw. He’s a total bastard."
"A bastard how?" Lily Hart asked, curious.
"He just is! He never acts like a decent human being!" Roman Rowe couldn’t quite explain it, but the very mention of Alex Shaw made him furious.
Frost Shaw calmly explained, "Roman Rowe took a job from him once. Yes, from Alex Shaw. After Roman completed the mission, Alex refused to pay the rest of the fee."
"The bastard!" Roman Rowe cursed. "I was so pissed I gave him a brutal beating! But it still wasn’t enough to cool me down!"
"Oh, he broke both his arms and legs today. Feel better now?" Lily Hart said, her tone as casual as if she were asking if he’d had lunch.
Roman Rowe’s eyes shot wide open. "Wait—really?!" he exclaimed, so excited he nearly knocked over his bowl. His shock of blond hair seemed to fly up with his spirits.
"Of course," Lily Hart said with a shrug and a slight smile. "For a bastard like him, it’d be perfectly normal to get beaten to death one day."
"Exactly!" Roman Rowe slammed his fist down, looking like he wanted to go give Alex another beating that very night. Still, most of his pent-up anger had already vanished.
With Alex Shaw covered, it was time to discuss Rose Rhodes. Lily keenly noted that the moment the name was mentioned, Leo Colby’s expression seemed... off.
He was usually emotionless, but for a split second, his features had stiffened unnaturally.
"What about Rose Rhodes? Anyone know her?"
Frost Shaw and Roman Rowe shook their heads. Seth knew even less; he had previously been active around Rodington City and Gilden City and was largely unfamiliar with the affairs of Central Command.
Leo Colby seemed to wrestle with himself for a moment before finally speaking up. "I know her. We used to be on the same squad."
That one short sentence sent everyone’s imagination into overdrive. Teammates on the same squad... that could mean so many things. They could have faced life and death together, forging a bond deeper than brotherhood.
"And what happened after?" Lily Hart asked.
"We had a difference in philosophy. The squad disbanded," Leo Colby said. His voice was flat, devoid of emotion, as if he were merely stating a fact.
Lily Hart wanted to ask more, but seeing his somber mood, she figured something unpleasant must have happened and held her tongue. But in the next second...
Leo Colby spoke again. "She’s not a good person, but she isn’t exactly a bad one, either. The Rivers Family’s position is relatively neutral, but The Mysterious Clan always puts its own interests first."
Lily Hart got it. ’So basically, they’re another one who has it out for me.’
And that went without saying for the remaining White and O’Malley Families. In short, all four families of The Mysterious Clan wanted to strangle her in the cradle—though she was long past the cradle stage now.
’I’m in a period of rapid development now,’ she thought. ’Trying to snuff me out is impossible!’
After finishing their meal, the little ones cleared their own dishes and put them in the dishwasher without needing to be told.
Lily Hart and the others talked a while longer about The Mysterious Clan, but it turned out no one knew much about them. They certainly lived up to the "mysterious" part of their name.
They always sent their underlings to do their bidding, while the direct family members never revealed their true identities, taking the "mysterious" moniker to the extreme. As the conversation continued...
Lily Hart realized that apparently, no one had ever even seen what a direct member of The Mysterious Clan’s bloodline looked like.
"Frost Shaw, stay behind. I have a few things I want to ask you," Lily Hart said.
The others exchanged a look and, taking the hint, sensibly headed home.
"What is it?" Frost Shaw hadn’t moved an inch from his seat beside her. Only after watching everyone else leave did he finally speak in a low voice.
Lily Hart got straight to the point. "Do you have any connection to the Shaw Family?"
Frost Shaw didn’t seem surprised by the question. He knew that with a mind like Lily Hart’s, she was bound to make the connection. He didn’t hesitate. "I’m the youngest of the Shaw Family’s current generation."
Lily Hart wasn’t surprised by the answer. She just hadn’t expected Frost Shaw to be from the family’s direct bloodline...
"Then you...?"
’How did you end up out here all alone?’
Frost Shaw chuckled softly. "The entire Shaw Family... there’s not a single good person among them."
’Even if he says that, I still believe Frost Shaw is a good person,’ Lily Hart thought. ’What kind of villain would take in five children to raise? He’d rather starve himself than let them go hungry.’
"It’s nothing. You should head back," Lily Hart said with a wave, dismissing him.
Frost Shaw stiffened, then hurriedly explained, "I—I would never hurt you! I ran away from the Shaw Family because I hated what they were..."
Lily Hart let out a little laugh and reassured him, "I know. I trust you."
’Besides, even if you wanted to hurt me, would you even have the power to?’
Frost Shaw let out a visible sigh of relief. He studied her carefully for a long moment, and only after confirming that she wasn’t just placating him—that she was sincere—did his shoulders finally relax.
Then, in a low voice, Frost Shaw briefly told her his story.
It was a story full of twists and turns.
Frost Shaw’s parents were both members of the Shaw Family—and they were brother and sister. Frost Shaw was fortunate enough not to inherit any of the negative genetic traits from their union, instead getting all of the good ones.
In order to maintain the purity of their bloodline, each generation of the Shaw Family had practiced inbreeding. As a result, the family line was thin, with most generations producing only two or three children.
The previous generation consisted of Frost Shaw’s parents. Fortunately, they proved to be quite fertile, producing four children in the current generation, of which Frost Shaw was the youngest.
But later, when the apocalypse began, his parents used the chaos to send him away. They declared him dead to the rest of the family, not wanting him to get tangled up in their rotten affairs.
Lily Hart was left speechless. It sounded just like a dark secret from some great, powerful clan...
Words of comfort felt hollow in that moment, so Lily Hart simply reached out and patted his shoulder.
Frost Shaw smiled, as if a weight had been lifted. "It’s no big deal. I’m doing just fine now."
The two of them looked at each other and smiled.
The customers who had been lingering outside the shop during dinner had mostly scattered. The aroma was probably too tantalizing for them to bear.
After Frost Shaw left, Lily Hart took out the five automatic scratch-off machines she had just bought.
She deliberately set them up a good distance away, nearly twenty meters from the RV, arranging them in a single row. She stocked each machine full of scratch-off tickets so people wouldn’t have to crowd around.
She stretched lazily, closed up the side of the RV, and prepared to head up to bed.
Suddenly, a rock was thrown inside. In her mind, the System began to frantically flash a red alert.
[DANGER! DANGER! HOST, PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!]