Chapter 96 - 84: Arriving at the Flour Mill

Flora Bloom sat in the passenger seat of a sheet-metal military vehicle, a grin on her face as she fiddled with a fourteen-inch tablet in her hands. She felt a surge of smug satisfaction as she recalled how Edwin Warren had just reluctantly installed the satellite positioning system and handed it over.

’With this satellite positioning system, finding Joel Bloom in Morhaven will be so much easier.’

The vehicle suddenly braked, causing Flora Bloom to look ahead.

"What’s wrong? Why did we stop?"

The driver was Hugh Holden. According to his introduction, he was an all-around soldier who specialized in demolitions.

"Team Leader, the military highway is just ahead. Didn’t you say you had a way to deal with the attacks from those sea creatures?"

Flora Bloom nodded nonchalantly. "That’s right. Just focus on driving. I have my ways, so don’t worry about it."

Flora Bloom went back to fiddling with her tablet, ignoring Hugh Holden’s panicked expression.

Just then, Cynthia Grant poked her head forward from the back seat and smacked Hugh Holden on the back of the head. "If she tells you to drive, then drive! If something really goes wrong, wouldn’t I be dying right here with you? And I’m far too young and beautiful to die!"

"Team Leader Bloom told you to drive, so get going! Stop dawdling and drive!"

Hugh Holden seemed to take Cynthia Grant’s words to heart. He stomped on the accelerator, and the vehicle surged forward.

Three other vehicles followed them. The first two cars in the convoy were for passengers, while the two in the back were empty transport trucks, each with just a driver, meant for loading cargo at their destination.

Four vehicles sped along the military highway. Except for Flora Bloom, Neal Wallace, Ethan Monroe, and Cynthia Grant, everyone else’s palms were sweating with nervousness.

The monitoring system on the satellite map showed that every single time a living creature had attempted to cross the military highway, they were attacked and killed by that swarm of sea creatures. There were no exceptions.

This was why the exclusive entrance connected to the Naval Base’s military-only highway required no guards. It also explained why the entrance had been unguarded when Flora Bloom and her group arrived the day before.

But strangely, they had now been driving at a steady speed for over ten minutes. Forget an attack from the sea creatures—the ocean waves weren’t even churning. It was so calm, their convoy might as well have been a tour group on a sightseeing trip.

Hugh Holden hadn’t believed Flora’s words at first. But four hours later, as their vehicles turned onto the off-ramp toward the suburbs, the way he looked at her had completely changed.

"Team Leader, how exactly did you stop those things from attacking us? Could you tell me?"

Flora Bloom just gave a mysterious smile without a word. Instead, she went back to studying the map of the suburbs displayed on her tablet.

These were the same suburbs where they had rested before entering the Naval Base. They had cleared the surrounding area on their last visit, so there weren’t many zombies. The convoy passed through quickly and headed toward the flour mill five kilometers away.

As they drove, Flora Bloom studied the area around the flour mill on her tablet.

The large flour mill was located right next to an off-ramp. This ramp connected to a network of national highways, making it a hub of transportation. For Flora, this convenience spelled danger for their food run.

’Heavy traffic means a higher population, and a higher population means more zombies.’

There weren’t many buildings along this stretch of road, but a sprawling plot of land diagonally opposite the flour mill caught Flora’s eye. It was sectioned off into what looked like low-lying fields. She zoomed in on the map with two fingers. The sections were surrounded by high, dark glass fences. Zoomed in, the "fields" were actually pools, half-filled with water and silt.

When Flora Bloom saw the sign at the entrance to that place clearly, her eyes widened.

’A Sea Eel farm?’

’Sea creatures? Anything related to sea life has turned into something terrifying beyond imagination. I have no idea if the sea eels at this farm have mutated or if they are all dead.’

’She had never encountered or even heard of evolved creatures like sea eels in her past life. But after the lesson learned from the sand-whiting, the thought of any biological creature made her heart pound with residual fear.’

’If the sea eels at this farm had all mutated, and hundreds or thousands of them suddenly swarmed out to attack, it wouldn’t end well for us. All I can do now is hope everything at the farm is either dead or gone. Otherwise, we’re in for major trouble.’

"Hugh Holden, once we get to the flour mill, you all need to load the supplies onto the trucks as fast as possible. We leave at top speed. Understood?"

Hugh Holden didn’t know why Flora Bloom said that, but seeing her serious expression, he knew she wasn’t joking.

"Yes, Team Leader!" He immediately grabbed the two-way radio and relayed her orders to the soldiers in the vehicles behind them.

"Attention, all units. The flour mill is one hundred meters ahead. We must load the cargo and depart at maximum speed. Acknowledge."

"Copy."

"Copy."

"Copy."

After reaching the flour mill, the two armored passenger vehicles parked on the shoulder of the off-ramp. Flora Bloom, Hugh Holden, Cynthia Grant, Neal Wallace, Ethan Monroe, and the twenty-nine remaining soldiers disembarked one by one.

Hugh Holden led some men to open the flour mill’s outermost iron gate. One of the two transport trucks reversed through the gate, its tail end backing right up to the mill’s main entrance. The other truck parked to the side of the gate.

Flora’s group fell into formation and entered through the main gate, where they found the processing plant’s large doors shut. After her Water Ability had advanced to the Second Level, Flora’s five senses, particularly her hearing, had become much sharper. She could clearly hear faint, shuffling sounds from behind the closed doors—the telltale sound of zombies dragging their feet aimlessly.

There weren’t many of them, suggesting only a few zombies were inside the massive plant.

But she also heard other, more unfamiliar rustling sounds that made her uneasy.

But with the farm looming across the road, and with her parents and Caleb waiting for her back at the Naval Base, she knew they had to finish this mission as fast as possible and get away from this unpredictably dangerous area.

"Anyone here a lockpick? Try not to make too much noise. There are definitely zombies inside, and some other things I’m not so sure about. We don’t want to alert them. Let’s just load the trucks and get out of here fast."

After one of the soldiers, a man with very dark skin, made short work of the lock, the thirty soldiers cautiously filed through the door into the processing plant.

The processing plant was pitch-black inside, with the only light spilling in from the open doorway.

Suddenly, a zombie in the shadows noticed the movement and lunged at one of the soldiers. The soldier was about to draw his gun when Flora stopped him.

"Don’t use your gun! It’ll attract the others." As she spoke, a shield of water materialized between the zombie and the soldier. Flora quickly closed the distance and split the zombie’s head with her axe.

The soldier stared, stunned by Flora’s fluid, effortless movements. He only snapped out of it when she clapped him on the shoulder.

"Everyone, try to be as quiet as possible," Flora instructed. "There’s plenty of flour in here. You’ll find bags at the end of each machine line. We just need to carry them out, one by one."