Chapter 47 - 39: Burning with Rage (Part 2)

The scene seemed to cast a spell on Flora Bloom, but the harder she tried to remember the man’s face, the blurrier it became.

Suddenly, a very soft, faint voice sounded beside her ear.

"Flora, wake up!"

"Flora, if anything happens to you, how could I go on living!"

"Flora Bloom, please wake up."

"Sister, Caleb is a good boy. I didn’t eat all the candy and chocolate you gave me. I even gave a piece to Little White. He really liked it."

’Little White? Who is Little White?’

As Flora Bloom racked her brain, trying to figure out who this "Little White" Caleb mentioned was, a tiger’s roar suddenly made her jolt, and her eyes snapped open.

Before her were her mother’s red, swollen eyes, and her father’s worried face. When Caleb saw that Flora Bloom was awake, he immediately cried out in joy.

"Sister’s awake."

Flora Bloom sat up. Although her body still felt a little weak, her mind felt sharp.

Suddenly, her expression changed. She quickly touched her lower abdomen and then extended her senses, carefully feeling for the presence of the small life within.

Finally, she breathed a sigh of relief. PHEW. Thank goodness her Polly was okay.

"Mom, why are you all crowded around here? I just exhausted my superpower and was tired, so I took a nap. It’s nothing serious!"

Jade’s eyes suddenly flew wide as she stared at Flora Bloom. "What do you mean, a nap? You’ve been sleeping for three days and three nights! Promise me, no matter what happens in the future, you won’t push yourself so hard, okay? As long as you’re okay, nothing else matters to me."

’I actually slept for that long?’

Looking at her mother Jade’s nervous, pale face, Flora Bloom held back her tears. She took a deep breath and, feigning a relaxed tone, said to her mother, "Mom, what are you talking about? I’m your daughter. How could I ever let anything happen to you?"

"Don’t worry, Mom."

Flora Bloom drank some spiritual water to recover, and felt so hungry she could eat a whole cow.

Seeing her parents still staring at her with worried faces, especially her mother who was nagging her to rest and not get out of bed, she quickly interrupted, "Mom, I’m so hungry. Is there anything to eat?"

At Flora Bloom’s question, Jade’s expression suddenly turned grim, but she quickly hid it and stammered, "There should be some rice porridge in the kitchen. I’ll go get you a bowl."

Flora Bloom watched her mother hurry away, then looked at her father in confusion and asked, "Dad, what’s wrong with Mom?"

Caleb Bloom sighed heavily, shaking his head in regret. "I don’t know what’s happening outside. Perfectly normal people have turned into man-eating monsters. Thankfully, your mother and I listened to you and stored up a lot of food."

Flora Bloom smiled. "See? It’s all thanks to your daughter’s foresight that you’re not starving right now."

"But Sister, we haven’t had a proper meal in two days."

Caleb said suddenly with childlike innocence. The unvarnished truth often comes from the mouths of children. Caleb’s words made Flora Bloom frown. She looked at her father and asked, "What’s going on? Didn’t we stockpile a lot of food?"

Only then did Caleb Bloom say, "Stephen’s family came by the day before yesterday and asked for some food. They said they had nothing left to cook."

Flora Bloom got out of bed and walked doubtfully toward the kitchen, then entered the storage room through a small door inside.

It was completely empty. Even the Nu’er Hong wine her father had sealed at her birth was gone. All that was left on the floor were some rotten vegetable leaves.

When her mother saw Flora Bloom emerge from the cellar, she began to cry softly in helplessness.

"Your father felt bad for his own brother and couldn’t bring himself to refuse. But our family... SIGH!"

At this point, Jade couldn’t hold back anymore and started shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Your uncle and his family didn’t just ’borrow’ a little food! They came and emptied our entire pantry!"

Jade glared fiercely at Caleb Bloom and accused him, "You treat him like a brother, but does he treat you like one? When he cleared out our food supply, did he spare a thought for our Flora, who was lying here in a coma? They’re in cahoots with Wu Shangjin and the others, just trying to drive us to our deaths!"

After hearing this, Flora Bloom, in contrast, remained calm and said nothing.

She looked at her father and asked, "I left my two pets to guard the house. How did they get in?"

Questioned like this by his daughter, Caleb Bloom lowered his head in shame.

Neal Wallace, Mervin Warren, and Ethan Monroe, feeling it wasn’t their place as outsiders to interfere in family matters, had gone out to chat in the empty space in the yard early on. The little white tiger was guarding the backyard, occasionally swatting away stray zombies that wandered in and absorbing their Crystal Cores.

Caleb, who had followed her into the storage room, was too young to understand the complexities and, seeing Flora Bloom ask the question, answered truthfully.

"Sister, Uncle brought that bad uncle and bad auntie inside. Vert and Little White didn’t dare to stop them."

Caleb Bloom shot the little one a glare. ’To think I’ve been so good to this kid, and he dares to sell me out in front of my own daughter.’

But Caleb just glared right back at him.

Caleb was like Flora Bloom’s little shadow now. He had barely left her side during the three days she was in a coma, terrified that this sister, who was pregnant with a little sister just like his own mom had been, would also leave him.

"Uncle, you were wrong. You’re supposed to protect Auntie Jade and Sister, but you let the bad guys trick you. For shame."

Out of the mouths of babes. Caleb Bloom was left speechless by Caleb’s words.

Flora Bloom glanced coolly at her father before stepping forward to comfort her crying mother. "Don’t be afraid, Mom," she said. "We have plenty of food."

With that, Flora Bloom took out one of the large mountain pheasants that Vert had killed back on the horse farm’s mountain. The pheasant’s feathers were iridescent and beautiful, but more importantly, it was huge—nearly the size of seven-year-old Caleb.

Most importantly, this pheasant was clearly an evolved creature. The bodies of evolved creatures contained a very dense Spiritual Energy; eating its meat would be incredibly nourishing. She would treat it as a way to replenish her parents’ and her own bodies.

Food was the one thing she didn’t lack in her space. Besides the items she had collected from the supermarket, the two or three acres of black soil in her space were planted full of fruits, vegetables, and grains that looked to be heading for a bumper crop soon. For her, food was the least of her worries.

But just then, Vert’s warning cry came from outside the fence of the Bloom family’s yard.

It was followed by a clamor of fragmented, noisy voices.

Flora Bloom told her mother to stay and cook while she went out to see what was happening.

Caleb Bloom, his old face still red from Caleb’s innocent but cutting words, saw his daughter about to face the people outside alone and quickly stepped forward.

"I’ll go with you. If that group comes looking for trouble again, I definitely won’t let you be wronged this time."

Flora Bloom’s lips curled into a smirk. ’Wronged?’

She didn’t come back to life just to be wronged. She wouldn’t let a single person who harmed her family get away with it.