Chapter 98: Provocation
Larry Wright and his men walked up to the survivors. Stopping in his tracks, his tone was casual. "Hello, is there a problem? Since the injured have already been bandaged, you should head home to rest as soon as possible."
The man on the stretcher struggled to prop himself up. The pain in his leg made his entire body tremble. Despite the cold sweat covering his face, he glared daggers at Luna Dawson, looking at her as if she had committed some heinous crime.
"Hey! You!" He raised a hand, pointing a trembling finger at Luna.
Luna was extremely surprised. Larry and his soldiers found it strange as well, and they parted to create a gap, no longer blocking Luna and her group.
"Me?" Luna tilted her head, racking her brain to figure out if she had ever crossed paths with the man before her. In the end, she came up empty. She simply didn’t know him, so she continued to look at him in bewilderment.
Jesse Payne saw that the woman before him looked about his age. She had fair skin and bright, clear eyes that were currently filled with confusion. A small mole under her eye added a touch of charm to her endearingly naive expression, giving her a vulnerable look that stirred a sense of protectiveness. For a moment, he actually forgot what he was trying to do.
He had heard Shay Kramer mention that this woman had a Space Ability, killed zombies with clean efficiency, and had even nearly killed Shay and her sister. When they moved, he had seen this woman walking out of the villa with a fat dog. Shay had specifically pointed her out to him from the car. At the time, he had secretly thought that this young lady was quite a beauty.
Today, he had brought two bodyguards to the water plant to hand over Crystal Cores in exchange for some purified water. Just as he parked the car, he saw Luna entering the sterile workshop of the water plant. Only Water Ability users were allowed in the sterile workshop. Was this woman actually a dual-ability Superpower User?!
This discovery had shocked him, and he originally planned to tell Shay this news as soon as he finished exchanging the water. But the moment his car drove onto the main road, hordes of snakes swarmed from all directions, surrounding the area near the water plant. While his two bodyguards were protecting him by the river, a giant snake measuring tens of meters long had directly smashed them into a bloody pulp.
He immediately unleashed his Gold Element superpower to counterattack, but the small flying daggers he conjured merely bounced off the giant snake’s scales, dealing absolutely zero damage. He himself was sent flying by a swipe of the giant snake’s tail. He slammed into a tree trunk over a dozen meters away and crashed heavily to the ground. Just like that, one of his legs was completely crippled.
Just as he was staring at his broken leg, filled with despair and fury, this woman had jumped down from the large tree beside him and charged straight toward the giant snake. He never would have expected that such a petite body could harbor such fearless courage. She had actually dared to shoulder a rocket launcher and take on the giant snake head-on.
The crowd looked at Jesse on the stretcher, who was currently staring blankly at Luna’s face.
Shay Kramer irritably reached out and pressed a hand to his shoulder, shaking him gently. "Brother Zach, what’s wrong?" Her face was etched with worry, and her gentle words slowly drifted into Jesse’s ears. Deep down, however, she was screaming inwardly, "Damn it, turning into a dazed idiot the moment you see a woman. What a piece of trash!"
Miles Dawson really couldn’t stand it anymore. Frowning, he shouted, "Who the hell are you? What are you staring at my sister for?"
Jesse finally snapped out of his daze, the expression on his face gradually twisting into a ferocious scowl. "You were the one who blasted that giant snake with the rocket launcher earlier, weren’t you?"
Luna raised an eyebrow. Her tone was completely unapologetic and carried a hint of arrogance. "It was me. What about it?"
Hearing this, Jesse’s fury burned even hotter. He roared, "If you had firearms, why didn’t you bring them out earlier?! If you had acted sooner, my leg wouldn’t have been broken! Everyone behind me wouldn’t have lost so many of their loved ones!"
With that, he glared viciously at Larry and the soldiers, his eyes practically spitting fire. "And you! You only sent a hundred or so men to guard the water plant? Is the military just sitting around doing nothing?! You think you can just make do with a few busted guns? Where are the heavy weapons?! Where have you hidden them?!"
He was consumed by indignation. He had gone through untold hardships to escape his luxury flat in the city, protected by his older brother the entire way so that he arrived completely unharmed. Yet, only a few days after moving into the villa district—inside the walled residential area guarded by the military, no less—he had been reduced to a cripple!
Looking at how he was only capable of venting his emotions without an ounce of rational thought, Luna kindly explained, "I was storing water inside the plant just now. I ran into the snake horde right after I finished and came outside. I wasn’t intentionally delaying."
Larry’s expression turned ugly from being cursed at, but he still patiently explained, "We only received orders to station ourselves at the water plant to maintain order and security. The zombies in this area have mostly been cleared out, so our superiors didn’t equip us with heavy fire support.
"Currently, the military factories can’t resume production, and many large-scale firearms can’t be transported. The main firepower is being used to secure the construction of the defensive walls.
"Furthermore, the use of weapons inside the walls requires multiple layers of approval. It’s not that we refuse to bring them out; it’s that we simply don’t have them.
"Our military also suffered massive casualties during this snake horde attack. I believe that better equipment will be gradually provided moving forward."
A soldier named Jack Palmer really couldn’t hold his tongue any longer.
"We’ve lost a lot of comrades too! When the zombie hordes and snake hordes attack, you civilians can retreat, but we can’t!
"Everyone is desperately trying to adapt to this apocalypse. Nobody can be perfect!
"You should be thankful that you only lost a leg, instead of losing your life like those fallen soldiers, only to be subjected to your complaints!"
Hearing this, some of the survivors following behind looked embarrassed and lowered their heads. However, others grew even more indignant. A middle-aged man shouted at the top of his lungs, "You were the ones who brought us to the base! You have to be responsible for our safety! That’s your duty!"
Luna stepped forward. The aura around her instantly turned freezing cold, and she fired back with a harsh, aggressive tone.
"Responsible for your safety? Who gave you the nerve to spout that kind of bullshit? The soldiers are here to protect you, not to be your servants or your babysitters!
"If you’re so capable, go out there and kill the zombies and fight the snake hordes yourself! Don’t hide inside the base like a coward, relying on others for protection while daring to point fingers!
"Stay if you want, but if you don’t like it, get the hell out of the base right now. The zombies and hordes of Aberrant Beasts outside are waiting to be fed. No one is stopping you, and no one is begging you to stay!"
All the soldiers’ eyes instantly lit up, and they looked at Luna in unison. She was truly speaking exactly what was on their minds! Ever since the apocalypse began, they had been bound by orders to obey commands and avoid conflicts with the public. They had been bottling up a bellyful of rage for a long time, and today, someone had finally vented it on their behalf!
"You! You!" The middle-aged man choked on his words, his face turning pale and then red. He couldn’t force out a single word of rebuttal. How could he dare leave the base? The outside world was crawling with zombies and mutated flora and fauna. It wasn’t a place for humans at all! Leaving the base was tantamount to suicide!
Standing to the side, Shay Kramer rolled her eyes dramatically. In the blink of an eye, she switched back to her frail and delicate persona. Her voice was soft, carrying a hint of grievance. She looked at Luna. "But, Luna, you took the giant snake’s Crystal Core, right?"
Luna’s brow instantly furrowed. Her tone was unyielding, without the slightest hint of compromise. "My squad risked our lives to kill that giant snake. What’s wrong with me taking the Crystal Core?!" She wasn’t about to let anyone snatch her Crystal Core. No way in hell!
"I... I was just asking. I didn’t mean anything else." As Shay spoke, she slowly squatted down and gently grasped Jesse’s hand. Her eyes instantly welled up with tears that swirled within, threatening to fall at any moment.