Chapter 422 - 302: Building a Bridge
The fact that Marcus Monroe hadn’t acted was noticed by a few people. In the earlier panic, they had all been too shocked to give it any thought. But now that Paige Summers had spoken up, their and Marcus’s casual demeanor began to grate on them.
On top of that, they were already quite wary of him from when Marcus Monroe had "recklessly" attacked people before.
Human psychology is a strange thing.
They were wary of him, but at the same time, they refused to believe they couldn’t beat him. This budding rivalry soured their attitudes, and they decided to make things difficult for Paige Summers, too.
Even though she looked like just a "little" girl, no one was going to go easy on her because of her age.
In the apocalypse, many young children who awakened a superpower were often more terrifying than adults.
Most adults still had a sense of reason.
Even if they had a superpower, there were certain lines they wouldn’t cross.
Children, however, were different.
There were far too many cases of them gaining a superpower and becoming arrogant and reckless, completely unaware of their own limits.
An adult might go after their own kind because they were wronged.
But some children would kill without any reason at all—perhaps simply because they were in a bad mood, or to prove they had the ability to do so...
Most of the people present had survived long enough to reach their current level of power, and they had seen more than their fair share of all kinds of children.
Now that someone was challenging her, the others were happy to watch from the sidelines. It was a chance to see Paige Summers’s reaction, judge her character, and probe the true strength of Marcus Monroe’s group.
Seeing everyone looking at her, Paige Summers knew they didn’t really want her advice. Still, after a moment’s thought, she said, "If there are any Water Ability Users, you can try freezing the ground first." A High-level Water Ability User could turn water into ice; it was a sort of derived superpower. If it worked, people could just slide across. It was arguably the simplest solution.
Everyone agreed it sounded reasonable.
Two Water Ability Users from the group stepped forward to volunteer.
Working together, they quickly covered a small patch of the ground with a layer of ice.
But before they could continue, the layer of ice started to CRACKLE and break apart, sinking into the ground piece by piece...
Everyone was a little dumbfounded, then they all turned to look at Paige Summers.
Marcus Monroe frowned imperceptibly. ’These idiots!’
Paige Summers just shrugged. ’Looks like this thing is tougher than I thought.’
"In that case, we’ll have to ask this gentleman..." she pointed to the Wood Element Superpower User, "to try and find out how long this patch of ground is. Then we can use something longer than that to build a bridge and walk across."
At her words, many people’s eyes lit up.
’That’s actually a great idea!’
’Who would’ve thought the little girl was actually pretty smart!’
Forgetting all about probing her further, they all turned to Leo Joyce.
After all, their ultimate goal was to find the armory; making things difficult for others and sizing them up had to take a backseat.
Leo Joyce’s lip twitched discreetly.
He had already thought of the idea himself. He had only hesitated because he was considering a few other problems.
’What was the deal with this man-eating patch of ground? Was it a natural formation or man-made? If it was the former, what exactly was it? If it was the latter, then this place was likely already occupied, and it was hard to say if the armory even still existed! In that case, was it really worth taking such a huge risk?’
Besides, he had also wanted to see how Paige Summers and Marcus Monroe would react to being put on the spot.
...He never expected her to defuse the situation so easily.
But he certainly couldn’t back down now. His gaze swept over Paige Summers, Marcus Monroe, and the others before he nodded. "It’s a good idea."
On the spot, the Wood Element Superpower User Paige Summers had pointed out was given his orders. He took two steps forward, conjured a new vine, and carefully reached it toward the patch of ground.
The tip of the vine skimmed along the surface of the ground, probing forward inch by inch.
He quickly found the edge on their side. The moment the vine was swallowed and he couldn’t pull it back, the Superpower User instantly and unhesitatingly let it go, ensuring he wouldn’t be dragged in himself.
Finding the other side took a little longer.
After seven or eight attempts, he finally managed to roughly gauge the length of the treacherous ground: a full ten meters.
By the time he had confirmed the length, the Wood Element Superpower User was covered in sweat, his face pale.
Leo Joyce clapped him warmly on the shoulder. "You’ve worked hard. Go get some rest."
He then turned to the others and said, "A ’bridge’ of this length is difficult to build. We don’t have that kind of material on hand. Does anyone have a good solution?"
The crowd looked at each other in dismay.
Ten meters... The easiest and most straightforward method would be to connect a series of wooden planks.
But then again, who would carry that much lumber around with them?
Even if other teams had a Space Ability User, their pocket dimensions were usually filled with food, weapons, or other, more important supplies.
Lumber?
You’d have to be crazy to be hauling around a pile of lumber!
Even Paige Summers didn’t have any.
What she did have was metal.
The steel rebar in her pocket dimension would be more than long enough if she linked it all together.
But there was no way she was going to contribute it.
Leo Joyce had anticipated the silence. He didn’t press the issue, simply continuing, "In that case, our only option is to head back out and prepare."
The others chimed in, "I guess that’s our only choice."
Just then, Rhonda Rhodes spoke up. "We don’t all have to go out, do we? On the way in, I saw a few trees behind a house not far from here. If we drag them in, they should be more than enough."
Someone immediately added, "That’s right, I remember now! There were a few trees there. We can just get a few Power Superpower Users to go drag them in."
Leo Joyce adopted the suggestion, sending a few people to chop down the trees while he and the rest waited in the tunnel.
It didn’t take long for the group to return, dragging the trees behind them.
They had already stripped the branches, leaving only the bare trunks. Another Wood Element Superpower User joined the four trees together, creating a span a full thirteen meters long. The felled roots, along with about a meter of the trunk, would serve perfectly as the bridge’s foundation.
As for getting the "bridge" into position, that, of course, was another job for the Wood Element Superpower Users.
The plants they conjured acted like crane cables, hoisting the bridge foundation and the connected trunks into the air before ferrying them across one by one.
Ten meters was no short distance, however.
By the time the wooden "bridge" was securely in place, every one of the Wood Element Superpower Users looked pale and unwell.
Seeing this, Leo Joyce deliberately had one of his subordinates bring over some Crystal Cores to reward them. This left a very good impression on the team members from other bases who hadn’t had much contact with him before.
’He’s so generous!’
Paige Summers saw this and couldn’t help but think, ’For Leo Joyce to have reached his current position, he really can’t be underestimated. He never misses an opportunity to buy people’s loyalty. But having seen his other face, there’s no way I can believe he’s some magnanimous person! We’ll just have to be even more careful. A hypocrite is always so much harder to deal with than an honest-to-goodness villain!’
At that moment, Marcus Monroe suddenly took one of her hands. It looked like he was just kneading it, but he was actually tracing a few words into her palm... leaving her utterly astonished!