Chapter 92: Working at the Water Plant
Early the next morning, after eating the pork offal rice noodles prepared by her mother, Luna Dawson felt warm all over and got ready to head out for work.
Since childhood, Miles Dawson had always loved being her little shadow. Kevin Keane and Evan Olson also said they wanted to tag along and have a look.
Lynn Shelby specially told Luna to leave Little Sweet Potato at home so they could continue their cordial and friendly exchange regarding the Evolution Fruit.
Passing by the door, Luna saw her grandfather still watering the soybean tree. She couldn’t help but wonder if this tree was truly a god of sleep, slumbering ever since it sprouted. Considering the withered tree in her space had already grown quite a few branches and leaves, it was really frustrating that this tree hadn’t shown any signs of life.
Evan Olson drove the car. Because the base was so massive and officials were still working around the clock to clear large areas of mutated plants, they had to take several detours before finally making it out of the construction zone.
They drove for another dozen kilometers before nearing the water plant. The abandoned cars along the roadside had mostly been crushed flat, and many survivors were following the army soldiers, helping to transport and burn zombie corpses.
By now, the zombies inside the base had been mostly cleared out. She thought back to her past life—it had taken a full year into the apocalypse for Southen to establish that small base, which only housed a little over a hundred thousand people. Compared to this life, the efficiency was much faster, and the quality was far higher!
Luna’s workplace was a factory building that belonged to a purified water company before the apocalypse. She had to swipe her ID card to enter, change into a sterile suit, and pass through several disinfection rooms before she could access the spacious factory floor.
Upon entering, she saw dozens of Water Ability Users standing in front of several rows of water inlets. Everyone was wrapped up tightly, making it impossible to tell their gender or age.
At the end of the water inlets was a large sterile room. The water pipes were connected to five-hundred-liter water storage barrels. Once a barrel was full, the assembly line machinery would automatically swap in the next one. They had to swipe their ID cards before injecting water, making it easier to settle the water volume and Crystal Cores later.
Luna followed the staff’s instructions and began filling the barrels. After more than half an hour, having filled ten storage barrels, she clicked the settlement button next to the card reader.
A staff member, similarly bundled up, immediately came over. They entered Luna’s name into a portable work device, double-checking several times to confirm the ten barrels of water and ten Crystal Cores. The staff member even looked her up and down before taking out the Crystal Cores and handing them over.
Luna didn’t dawdle. The moment she received the Crystal Cores, she turned and left. She swiftly took off the sterile suit and headed outside the water plant.
The further out she walked, the clearer the chaotic shouts in her ears became. It was impossible to tell whether it was the roars of zombies or the screams of humans. The sound made her heart tighten, and she couldn’t help but quicken her pace.
Luna’s expression turned grim, and anxiety bubbled up inside her. Those three outside absolutely couldn’t be in any trouble.
The staff in the administrative building had tightly locked the main gates, and the crowd was fleeing in panic toward the inner factory area. They yelled, "Snakes! There are snakes!" terrified of being caught in the danger outside.
Only Luna rushed outward against the flow of the crowd. It was so cold; had the snakes really come out to hunt?!
Luna took a grappling hook from her space and threw it over the perimeter wall of the factory. Fortunately, she was strong enough; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to throw it over the reinforced wall that was more than ten meters high. Kicking hard against the surface, she rapidly scaled the high wall, her arms aching from the exertion.
Luna hunched over and walked along the half-meter-wide wall toward the main gate. The crowd evacuating into the plant watched her series of maneuvers, their jaws dropping in shock.
"Is she even human? How did she dart up there so fast?"
"Is she a Space Superpower User?!"
"Look at the rope she pulled out of thin air!"
"Impossible! The only ones who can get in here are Water Ability Users!" a man in his forties panted out with certainty as he closed the water plant’s main gate.
"But I really saw her conjure that rope with my own eyes," a young woman chimed in immediately, sharing what she had seen.
The man’s gaze sharpened. "Are you saying this woman is a dual-element superpower user? How is that possible? Only Ms. Skylar Quinn of our Quinn Family is publicly recognized by the base as a dual-element Space Superpower User!"
He, Jack Quinn, had only managed to snag this Crystal Core escort job at the water plant by relying on his connections as a side-branch member of the Quinn Family. How could he possibly allow someone else to steal the Quinn Family’s thunder?
Claire Wright’s expression froze slightly at his words, as if she understood his warning. Her superpower was weak. She was just a lowly employee helping to verify water volumes at the plant. Unwilling to provoke anyone from the Quinn Family, she obediently shut her mouth and shrank to the back of the crowd. Yet, she kept staring thoughtfully at the figure in the pink windbreaker on the wall. The silhouette felt incredibly familiar, as if she had seen her somewhere before.
Standing atop the wall, Luna looked down at the base of the enclosure. The ground was swarming with slithering snakes, each one or two meters long. There appeared to be at least a few thousand of them. Her scalp tingled, and her legs went weak at the sight. That was way too many!
She steadied her nerves, trying her best to ignore the massive snake gathering below, and sprinted swiftly toward the main gate.
At this moment, the area from the administrative building to the outer parking lot was densely blanketed with countless lesser snakes. By the frozen decorative river across the road—where the output of superpowers was the most concentrated—a massive black snake resembling a flood dragon reared up. It was thrashing its tail at the superpower users and soldiers on both sides of the road.
With every sweep, a swath of people was knocked down. The guns in the soldiers’ hands seemed only capable of tickling it, unable to leave even a scratch on its scales.
The zombies inside the base had only recently been purged, and the latent mutated animals had yet to be fully brought under control. Furthermore, the water plant had gathered too many superpower users, which easily attracted mutated animals. Devouring organisms that possessed Crystal Cores to advance to the next rank had already become an instinct for some frenzied mutated animals.
Luna’s gaze swept over the uncleared, dense woods beside the water plant. Interlocking branches and leaves hid natural footholds. She pushed off the wall lightly with the tips of her toes, leaping into the air like an agile cat. With lightning speed, her hands accurately clamped onto a sturdy branch. Using the momentum of her swing, she twisted her waist slightly. Her arms surged with power, propelling her body even higher as she smoothly flipped onto the bough of an adjacent large tree.
The leaves rustled softly beneath her. Using both hands and feet, she navigated through the crisscrossing branches. Her eyes remained locked on the riverbank, her movements sharp and entirely devoid of hesitation.
As Luna drew closer to the river, she couldn’t help but hold her breath in tension. She palpably felt the intense oppressive force brought on by the High-level Superpower. Her heart was in her throat.
This was a Third Rank mutated giant snake!
It was over ten meters long, and its entire body looked like a moving concrete pillar. It could rival a prehistoric Titanoboa!
The giant snake seemed to sense the direction of the water plant, too—a human containing a sweet and fragrant Water Ability Crystal Core was rushing toward it. Excited, it unleashed a massive Water Bomb nearly a meter in diameter in her direction, aiming right for Luna’s face. The compounded speed and sheer power produced a hum that seemed to tear through the air.
Luna acutely sensed that if she didn’t dodge this, she would absolutely die! Her Spirit threads amplified infinitely. Like a spider-sense, she instantly flashed into her space.
The crowd relentlessly attacking beneath the giant snake only saw it launch a fierce Water Bomb attack toward the woods! In the next instant, leaves, branches, and woodchips went flying! An entire area spanning over ten meters in radius was instantly leveled to the ground!
Kevin Keane yelled, "Attack its mouth and eyes!" As soon as the words left his mouth, he instantly summoned dozens of lightning blades, hacking toward the giant snake’s eyes and mouth.
Miles Dawson didn’t reply; he simply hurled Fireballs one after another directly into the giant snake’s maw!
Evan Olson’s Wind Blades were not to be outdone. While assisting Miles by fanning the flames, he also split off a dozen blades to strike at its eyes.
As the three of them attacked in unison, they managed to steal a few glances toward the water plant. Not seeing Luna’s figure, they secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
The excruciating pain coming from its eyes and mouth caused the black snake’s forked tongue to flail wildly against its face. Subsequently, the giant snake channeled its superpower, furiously raining down dozens of small Water Bombs onto the circle of people surrounding it.
The mutated snake was highly irritable. Having just woken up, it was utterly ravenous. Its mind was entirely fixated on going to that factory to feast, but this circle of ants kept getting in its way!