Chapter 71 - 60: Offensive and Defensive

The zombies in the car were mindless, jumping out of the window one after another as if queuing up for Caleb Bloom to practice on. For every zombie that appeared, one fell. Caleb Bloom had long since lost his initial fear of them.

Even when the zombies’ bodies finally burst the window and three leaped out at once, Caleb Bloom dispatched them with ease.

And just like that, a whole carload of zombies had been dealt with, leaving only the last few.

"Dad, wait. Leave one. Just cut off its arms and legs."

As expected of the Gold Ability, which excelled at both offense and defense, the reinforced axe made it easy to hack off a zombie’s limbs. A single swing could cleave an entire shoulder from a zombie’s body.

Flora Bloom took the axe from her father and handed it to her mother, Jade. Caleb Bloom seemed to know what Flora Bloom had in mind; though he watched Jade with concern, he didn’t intervene.

"Mom, you take care of this zombie."

Jade gripped the axe. The metal felt cold to the touch, but her palms were sweating.

She hesitated for a long while. She thought about how much her daughter had changed since coming home, about everything she’d done on their journey. ’And here I am, her mother, still so cowardly.’

’Flora is only nineteen, yet she has to bear so much more than I do. I failed to protect my children, letting Flora be the one to charge into battle.’

’My daughter is so brave. How can I fall behind, unable to even bring myself to kill one zombie?’

"Mom, it’s simple. Just hit it in the head, and it’ll be dead."

Jade took a deep breath, suddenly raised the axe with both hands, and, shutting her eyes tight, swung down at the head of the limbless zombie writhing on the ground.

The limbless zombie was completely immobile, a lamb waiting for the slaughter. Plus, the axe in Jade’s hands had been reinforced by Caleb Bloom’s Gold Ability.

So when Jade brought the axe down, the zombie’s brains splattered, and it was killed on the spot.

Jade cracked her eyes open. The sight of the unmoving corpse, its skull split open, nearly made her pass out.

Flora Bloom fought back the bile rising in her throat, steadied Jade, and handed her a bottle of spiritual water.

"Mom, you did great. Don’t be afraid. They aren’t human anymore, they’re monsters. If we don’t kill them, they’ll either eat us or we’ll become one of them."

Jade was a typical rural woman—honest, simple, and incredibly kind. Now that she had killed something, she was trembling uncontrollably. However, after she drank the spiritual water Flora Bloom handed her, a cool sensation spread from her stomach, clearing her mind and calming her nerves.

Now that Jade had experienced killing a zombie firsthand, she understood that even though it wasn’t murder, it was still deeply unsettling.

’Then what about her daughter, Flora Bloom? What could she have gone through to become so fierce?’

Jade put her arms around her daughter’s shoulders, tears streaming down her face.

"Flora, it’s my fault. I failed to protect you."

Moved by her mother’s display of emotion, Flora Bloom touched her stomach, a thousand feelings welling up inside her. In her past life, she had missed out on so much because of that man, Shelton Underwood.

’In this life, for Mom and Dad, for Polly, I’m going to get it all back.’

"Flora, don’t worry. I won’t hide behind you anymore. Your father and I will protect you."

As Jade spoke, her eyes filled with determination. Flora Bloom, however, shook her head and reassured her.

"Mom, I’m already very strong. It’s my turn to protect you. Besides, you see? Killing zombies isn’t that hard, is it? And Dad awakened a superpower! He can even reinforce weapons to make them stronger. How amazing is that?"

Caleb Bloom watched the mother and daughter embrace and pour their hearts out to each other, a complex feeling swelling in his chest. ’My Flora has grown up,’ he thought. ’She’s not a child anymore.’

"Alright, Mom. Let’s collect the Crystal Cores and get going. Polly is still waiting for us."

Flora Bloom’s words were a reminder that this was no time for sentimentality. The group collected the Crystal Cores and continued toward the other end of National Road 320.

Along the way, Flora Bloom started to explain the basics of superpowers to the group. Though this knowledge would eventually be discovered by humanity over time, her foreknowledge allowed her to share consolidated wisdom far in advance, giving everyone a crucial head start and bolstering their confidence.

"Actually, it’s not impossible for a normal person to awaken a superpower. A portion of users, like me for example, were infected with a minute amount of the zombie virus around the start of the apocalypse. If your constitution is strong enough, or if you’re just plain lucky, you might awaken a power."

"Aside from those people, another way to awaken a superpower is to continually strengthen your body until you reach a point where your latent potential is unlocked. That’s what happened to you, Dad. You were in a desperate situation, and that’s what triggered your potential and awakened your superpower."

Of course, this was also related to the water Flora Bloom had been giving them all to drink. The spiritual water from her dimension could not only strengthen one’s constitution but also heal wounds. Jade, who was nearly fifty years old, already had noticeably smoother and fairer skin after just a few days.

"Old Monroe, remember how I told you I had a way for you to awaken a superpower?"

Ethan Monroe’s head snapped up, and he immediately began shaking it vigorously.

"Hahaha! Oh, for heaven’s sake, you can’t be serious! I’m not letting a zombie bite me! What if I’m just that unlucky and turn into a zombie instead of awakening a power? Wouldn’t that be a miserable end for me?"

Flora Bloom laughed. Though Ethan Monroe was still a big, broad man, his complexion was much healthier than when they had first met. And in just these few days, his potbelly had already shrunk by more than half.

"I’m not joking with you. Do you know how Mr. Wallace got his superpower?"

"Didn’t he just go to sleep one night and wake up with it? And he nearly burned the house down in the process."

Flora Bloom roared with laughter.

"You’re such a big guy, but you’ve got the courage of a mouse. When I first met Mr. Wallace, he had been scratched by a zombie. But he pulled through on sheer willpower and awakened his superpower as a result."

"Generally, if you get bitten or scratched by a zombie, as long as you can last 24 hours without turning, there’s a high chance you’ll awaken a superpower. Mr. Wallace is a prime example."

Ethan Monroe was tempted, but he still asked worriedly, "But what if I don’t have Old Woods’s willpower?"

Flora Bloom smiled slyly and shot Ethan Monroe a look.

"You’ve still got me, don’t you? Do you think I’d let anything bad happen to you?"

After spending some time with him, Flora Bloom had come to a conclusion. ’This guy, Ethan Monroe, might be full of hot air, but he doesn’t have a bad bone in his body. If I train him properly, he could be a huge help to me during the apocalypse.’

"Oh, right! That reminds me. Your mom was bitten by a zombie and almost didn’t pull through, but you were the one who saved her. Heh heh, now I’m not worried. Don’t any of you try to steal my thunder! I’m gonna find a zombie and let it scratch me, then I’ll awaken a superpower too."

"I’m gonna be a superhero and save the world!"

But this left Jade confused.

"Flora, I was bitten by a zombie too. How come I didn’t awaken a superpower?"

Flora Bloom found her mother’s situation odd as well, but on second thought, she figured her mother might just be one of the very few people who could survive a zombie bite without having a superpower manifest.

’But it’s also possible she might awaken a rarer superpower that just takes longer to manifest,’ Flora thought. In her past life, she had encountered two people with rare superpowers. One was the Light Ability. This power was incredibly potent; even a beginner-level user could take on a Middle Level zombie.

Zombies were creatures of the Dark Element, so they were extremely vulnerable to the Light Ability. Thanks to this natural advantage, it was common for Light Ability users to slaughter zombies far above their own level.

The other kind was an invisibility-type superpower, like those possessed by people codenamed Lynx and The Crown Prince.

That kind of superpower allowed a person to vanish without a trace, even in broad daylight, and suddenly reappear behind their target to deliver an unexpected, fatal blow. Such people were terrifying and not to be provoked.

Otherwise, you could be taken out from behind and never even know how you died.

However, Flora Bloom wasn’t at all worried about whether her mother would awaken a power, because she was confident in her own ability to protect her.