Chapter 99: Dispute
She looked back aggrievedly at the survivors behind her, her voice carrying a distinct sob.
"After all... after all, before you arrived, many Superpower Users were also besieging that giant snake. Many of their family members and friends were sacrificed. Maybe... maybe the giant snake was killed by everyone together?
"And my Zach, he was injured like this and lost a leg just to kill the giant snake. The Crystal Cores... how can you hoard the Crystal Cores all to yourself?"
After she finished speaking, her shoulders trembled slightly. That weak and wronged appearance made it seem as if she were desperately speaking up for all the victims who hadn’t received a Crystal Core. To an uninformed onlooker, Luna Dawson would simply appear domineering and selfish.
At this moment, two passing medical team members heard this. One man couldn’t help but speak up. "If you put it that way, it makes sense. Everyone worked hard, so naturally, you can’t hoard the Crystal Cores for yourself."
Luna Dawson shot him a sideways glance, recognizing him as someone who had arrived for the post-battle rescue. Her tone was far from friendly. "Don’t jump to conclusions without knowing the full story. Do you not even understand that?"
"You!" Seeing the barbs in Luna Dawson’s words, the man couldn’t help but want to argue back.
The female team member beside him immediately pulled him back. "Lawrence Sheffield! Calm down!" She gripped his sleeve tightly, keeping him from making any more impulsive remarks.
Standing beside Shay Kramer, the refined, fair-skinned man also spoke up. His tone carried a deliberate mildness that secretly concealed a sense of pressure. "Apologies, my younger brother was just a bit too emotional. At the end of the day, he just wants to fight for the rightful reward for his efforts. After all, everyone shouldn’t have suffered their injuries in vain, and those who sacrificed themselves shouldn’t have died in vain. Don’t you agree?"
Listening to this coordinated attack, Luna Dawson slightly raised her eyes. She cast a cool glance over the dozen or so people in front of her who clearly wanted to snatch the Crystal Cores. Her pink lips parted, and her tone was as cold as ice. "And who the hell are you?"
Jasper Payne was clearly taken aback. The anger in his chest instantly surged up, but he forcefully suppressed it. He thought to himself that Shay Kramer was indeed right. This woman showed no mercy and was absolutely no pushover.
Suppressing his displeasure, he raised his voice. "My name is Jasper Payne, a Second Order Wind Ability User. This injured man is my younger brother, Jesse Payne, a First Order Gold Element Superpower User."
"You’re right, you should fight for it," Luna Dawson said, suddenly hooking the corners of her lips, but her tone sharply turned severe. "After all, if our squad hadn’t stepped in just in time, the people near the water plant wouldn’t have just ended up dead or injured. I’m afraid even these people following behind you would be buried here together, wiped out completely!"
She sneered, the mockery in her voice completely undisguised. "We killed the giant snake, and we dug out the Crystal Core ourselves! You all owe us your lives, yet not only do you fail to offer some Crystal Cores as thanks, but you actually turn around and demand compensation from me?"
At this point, her eyes suddenly turned cold. The gaze that swept over the crowd looked as if she were staring at a pile of garbage. "It seems that the lives of you pieces of trash really are worthless!"
Kevin Keane stood to the side, taking in the sight of Luna Dawson fiercely guarding the Crystal Cores. Not only did he not find her mean-spirited, but he actually found this protective demeanor exceptionally cute. He spoke lazily. His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an unquestionable murderous intent that instantly suppressed the clamor in the area. "There’s no need to waste words with them. Just kill them all."
Those dozen or so people had originally been goaded by Shay Kramer to get a piece of the pie. Hearing Kevin Keane’s words, their hair instantly stood on end. A chill originating from their very marrow rapidly spread throughout their bodies—it was the suffocating sensation of being targeted by an apex predator! In this temperature of minus twenty to thirty degrees, cold sweat instantly broke out on their backs.
Although Jasper Payne claimed to be a Second Order Superpower User, he had only recently arrived with the reinforcement troops. None of the crowd had ever seen him use his superpower, so naturally, he held no deterrent power. But Luna Dawson and Kevin Keane were different. Their superpowers had just delivered a genuine, fatal blow to that giant snake! This level of deterrence was enough to terrify everyone present.
Evan Olson was growing impatient as he listened from the side. He suddenly let out a low chuckle, raised his eyes to exchange a glance with Kevin Keane, and spoke with a hint of warning. "The base just broadcasted that fighting is strictly prohibited within its limits. Let’s just remember their faces today. Once we’re outside the base later on, there will be plenty of opportunities."
Jasper Payne’s face turned pale and green in turns. Clenching his jaw tightly, he turned around and aimed his hostility at the nearby soldiers. "It’s one thing if you don’t compensate us, but you even dare to threaten us! Are you soldiers just going to stand there and watch?!"
Larry Wright was already laughing his head off internally, but on the surface, he feigned helplessness. He sighed softly and spread his hands. "The base has regulations that only actual physical fighting counts as a violation. But it never said we have to police the masses’ freedom of speech."
"You!" Shay Kramer was so angry that her voice changed pitch, shrilly adding, "You soldiers are actually colluding with these people!"
"Colluding?" Miles Dawson immediately started roasting her, the sarcasm in his tone practically overflowing. "If the army hadn’t joined forces with our squad to kill that snake horde, your precious Zach would probably be a skeleton drying by the water plant right now!"
Those dozen or so people had originally been goaded by Shay Kramer to get a piece of the pie. Seeing that all four members of Luna Dawson’s squad were speaking sharply and full of threats, and that even the soldiers clearly weren’t taking their side, they immediately lost their nerve. They all began to backpedal, only wanting to leave quickly and avoid wading into this muddy water. Inside the base, anyone who dared to provoke the authorities simply had a death wish!
A middle-aged woman in the crowd was the most panicked. Being the first to break, she suddenly reached out and grabbed Shay Kramer’s arm. "You were the one who said it!" she said urgently. "You were the one who called us over, saying we’d definitely get a share of the Crystal Cores! Now that she isn’t giving them, you have to compensate us!"
Hearing this, the eyes of the dozen or so people behind her immediately lit up. They chimed in one after another, "Right! That’s what you said! You said your family member is a Second Order Superpower User who would back us up, and that if we followed you, we’d get Crystal Cores!"
Shay Kramer stiffened as she was grabbed, then violently shook off the hand as if she had been burned. She retorted shrilly, "Nonsense! It was clearly your own insatiable greed! You saw them digging through a pile of snake corpses and got jealous of their many Crystal Cores, so you came over to extort them on your own accord! It has nothing to do with me!"
Jasper Payne heard everything clearly from the side, his brows instantly knitting into a tight knot. He turned his head to look at Shay Kramer, his eyes full of scrutiny. Just earlier, it was Shay Kramer who actively approached his brother and whispered something, which led his brother to frantically drag him over to "seek justice." He had previously only felt that Luna Dawson was not to be trifled with. However, he hadn’t expected this seemingly weak Shay Kramer to be so calculating. He had certainly underestimated her!
Miles Dawson let out a contemptuous laugh. "You woman. We shouldn’t have saved you on the second day of the apocalypse. You’re nothing but someone who bites the hand that feeds you."
"You were clearly the ones who killed my parents!?" Shay Kramer grew frantic and hurriedly rebutted.
"Wasn’t it you two sisters who squatted at our door, crying and begging us to go kill the zombies for you?!"
"I did not! How could I possibly ask you to kill my mom and dad?!"
"Oh, those were your parents? Then why were you crying at our door instead of staying home and lovingly embracing your zombie parents!"
"You! You!" Shay Kramer was so furious she looked as if she were about to go into respiratory alkalosis from hyperventilating. Her chest heaved up and down as she slumped weakly against Jasper Payne, gazing up at him with teary, doe-like eyes. "They’re all bullying me, Brother Rick."