Chapter 580: Denied Rebirth
"Zoe’s got a better handle on this than any of us. Let’s stop splitting hairs," Officer Graham said with a helpless laugh.
Zoe put her hands on her hips. "I’m the best."
"Yes, yes, you’re the best." Quincy and Wyatt Vaughn couldn’t help but laugh.
"Evelyn, have the Third Base and the Fourth Base built shelters?" Miles Vaughn asked, his interest piqued.
"The Third Base built ten shelters, but..." Evelyn paused. "The 300,000 refugees outside Lyra are still living in camps. Other than providing relief rations, the Third Base doesn’t accept refugees into the base or the city itself."
"Three hundred thousand refugees? That’s the population of a small city. How much relief food do they get?"
"Two pounds for children, three for adults. And it’s just mud cakes."
"Haven’t the Third Base and the Fourth Base had any cholera outbreaks?"
Evelyn shook her head. "Cholera hasn’t appeared yet, but Ryan Rowe told us that five years ago, in June, the Third Base had a plague outbreak. It didn’t end until March of the following year. Tens of thousands died. After that, the Third Base has had an outbreak every year between June and August."
Everyone was horrified.
"All these diseases classified as ’plagues’ are deadly."
Quincy had a look of utter despair on his face. "I’m never leaving the Undercity again. These diseases are impossible to defend against. One wrong move and you’re a goner. I heard Liam Sterling say that during the cholera outbreak, the skin of the first to die looked like it had been scalded. Patients had severe vomiting and diarrhea. Some lost over twenty pounds in a single day. Others would suddenly bloat up, their eyes bulging out. And for the ones who died bloated, their bodies would explode two hours after death."
"Exploding corpses? Like beached whales?" The very thought of it made Wyatt Vaughn’s skin crawl.
"Actually, before cremation, workers have to use tools to puncture or dismember the corpse. Only then can it be pushed into the incinerator. They don’t just put the whole body in, because there’s a high probability it would explode. It also saves time on the cremation."
After Ethan Dawson’s little educational spiel, both Wendy and Joelle Finch started to gag.
"Stop, that’s disgusting."
Ethan Dawson shrugged. "What’s so disgusting? Unless you get a full burial in a pit, it’s something everyone might go through. We all die eventually."
"That must hurt a lot, right?" Zoe asked, her brow furrowed in terror as she looked at Ethan Dawson.
"After a person stops breathing, their body and brain gradually lose sensation and consciousness. You can’t feel pain anymore." The moment Evelyn finished, everyone stared at her with curiosity.
Quincy rubbed his arms. "You’re so matter-of-fact about it, you’d think you’ve died before. Personally, I think when you die, your soul leaves your body. The body is dead, but you’re split in two, and your soul lives on. It can probably still feel everything."
"So you mean like a wandering ghost?"
"Can you guys please stop talking about this? I’m getting scared," Peter Owens said, silently scooting closer to Officer Graham.
Evelyn coughed. "Let’s drop it. My throat hurts, so I should talk less."
"Oh, right, I heard the Fourth Base is in a desert?"
"It is. But behind the desert, there are high mountains, and behind the mountains is a very large lake. The Fourth Base has a small population, and they took in all the refugees, so life there is relatively better."
"Why would they build a base in a desert?"
No one could understand why. After all, a desert was hardly a hospitable place.
"Because the Fourth Base has a lot of oil fields, and most of them are in the desert. Those oil fields are the basis for all their trade," Evelyn explained. Now everyone understood.
An hour later, Evelyn sensed Zion Lowell calling her. She instantly teleported into her space. When she saw the blood on both of them, her brow twitched. Only then did she see that the entire Hooper family lay in pools of their own blood. There were no survivors.
Taylor Vance looked dazed. He knelt on the floor, knife in hand, silently staring at Mr. Hooper, whose wide eyes stared back in a death that brought no peace.
Carved into Mr. Hooper’s face with the point of a knife was a single word: "Traitor." In his final moments, he had admitted his crimes were monstrous and unforgivable, but he refused to admit he was a traitor.
But Taylor Vance was determined to make him remember that word, carving it into his flesh so he would carry that sin with him, denied peace for all eternity.
"The base has an incinerator. We can take them there, or I can deal with it here in the space. Leave it to me. Mr. Lowell, you and Mr. Vance should go get some rest."
Zion Lowell seemed more clear-headed. He wiped the blood from his face and looked at Taylor Vance with concern.
"Evelyn, sorry for the trouble. Mr. Vance has finally gotten his revenge; he’ll need a few days to recover. I’m afraid we have to leave you to clean up this mess."
Evelyn waved her hand dismissively. "It’s no trouble at all. Don’t worry, I’ll handle it. Is Mr. Vance all right?"
"He’s not in a good place emotionally. As of today, this is all finally over, but he still needs to make peace with himself, and with all the people who starved or died from disease."
Evelyn understood.
Evelyn didn’t press further. She just told them to go to the cabin, wash off the blood, and change their clothes. Taylor Vance looked terrible, as if his very spirit had been drained from him. Zion Lowell patted his shoulder but offered no words of comfort. As she watched them go, Evelyn began to clean up the scene.
Ronan Kendrick had already gone to the office building to manage the supply transfer. Officer Graham and Quincy were in the kitchen cooking. When they saw Taylor Vance and Zion Lowell emerge, everyone was curious about what had happened to the Hooper family, but no one dared to ask.
At noon, Ronan Kendrick returned to the Undercity after completing the supply transfer. Evelyn told him everything that had happened with the Hooper family and about Taylor Vance’s current condition.
"What should we do with the bodies of the Hooper family?"
"Leave it to me. I’ll go to the incinerator tonight and take care of it."
Evelyn nodded. "Burning them to ash is for the best."
「Two days later.」
Taylor Vance finally emerged from his room. He had locked himself in his bedroom for two days, refusing to eat, drink, or see anyone. Everyone had been extremely worried. Zion Lowell had said he just needed some time to put it all behind him and would be out in a couple of days. Sure enough, Zion Lowell was right. Seeing Taylor Vance back to his old self, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"The ashes of the Hooper family have been sent to the farming sector to be used as fertilizer, along with those of the other unclaimed dead."
Taylor Vance showed little reaction to the news.
"That’s for the best. Let all their sins be buried in the earth with them."
Taylor Vance solemnly thanked Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick.
"Thank you for pulling me back from the abyss, time and time again. I have finally shed this heavy burden. From now on, I am just Taylor Vance, an ordinary man, no longer Commander Vance of Wyrmrest Base."
"The Holloway family and the Hooper family are both gone. As for the rest of us... we still have a long, long way to go."