Chapter 417 - 364: Demanding People
Chapter 417: Chapter 364: Demanding People
The last zombie siege had already left everyone in the Argent base on edge. The successive deaths of the Thorne family’s heads only made the other four great families feel even more insecure.
Everyone knew that Lex Cross and his team had visited the Thorne family right before Leigh Atwood’s death. All sorts of rumors spread throughout the base, but they didn’t seem to affect Lex’s group in the slightest, as they continued their unvarying routine of leaving in the morning and returning at night.
Lex Cross’s team, which had never recruited other superpower users, had gained a new member in the past few days. This person was none other than Gavin Todd, who was originally from the Todd family and had nearly been taken by the Thorne family to be experimented on alongside Cynthia Grant.
The stable team of thirteen had become fourteen. To everyone’s surprise, they also discovered that Gavin Todd, who had been just an unremarkable Earth Ability User, had somehow awakened a second superpower—and it was a Thunder Ability, just like Lex Cross’s.
This was something no one had expected. Both the Todd family and the other great families began to secretly send people to watch Lex Cross’s small, shabby courtyard, hoping to extend an olive branch to Gavin Todd when the team returned.
This was especially true for the Todd family. Even after Liam Todd learned what Five had said to Chelsea Todd, the cunning old man hadn’t completely given up on the idea of a match between his daughter and Five.
Originally, the Todd family had planned to use marriage to Five to secure their relationship with the team. Liam Todd didn’t even dare to consider Lex Cross; with his daughter Chelsea Todd’s temperament and abilities, she could never hope to control him.
’But now, even Five is slipping out of control and wants to sever the only flimsy connection he has to the Todd family. Has the plan I carefully laid out so many years ago failed just like that?’
’What exactly went wrong?’
With Robin Grant and Cynthia Grant gone from the Argent base, Hector Grant took direct control over all the base’s medical personnel and its healthcare system. Furthermore, after Leigh Atwood’s death, he announced the merger of the Grant and Thorne families, even taking charge of the Thorne family’s research lab staff.
The original five great families had now become four. For the ordinary people in the base, however, none of this made any difference.
All they wanted was a safe place to live in the apocalypse and enough food to fill their stomachs each day.
The people in the base watched Lex Cross’s team leave early and return late every day, always carrying a large crate back with them.
The next day, members of the four great families would watch them leave the base empty-handed, then go into the small courtyard to search, but they never found a single thing.
They even began to suspect that Lex Cross’s team might also have a storage space.
However, after ten days of this routine, on the eleventh day, Lex Cross’s team uncharacteristically did not leave the base. Instead, they went to one of the Grant family’s strongholds—the very house where the Thorne family had once lived.
Greeting him, surprisingly, were Hector Grant and Liam Todd.
Lex Cross showed no surprise. After entering, he got straight to the point.
"Family Head Grant, I’d like to borrow the researchers from the former Thorne family’s lab. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?"
Hector Grant himself knew nothing about research. The subordinates and researchers who had originally supported the Thorne family had all defected to the Grant family to ensure their own survival. Those researchers were no longer conducting any research; instead, they were working as medical staff in the temporary hospital.
Hector Grant currently had no desire to continue the Thorne family’s grand research enterprise. He had discovered that without Robin Grant, his own position within the Grant family was extremely unstable. Even with the Thorne family merged into his own, their strength was only superficial. If they were to face a real crisis, they would just fall apart.
He had invited Liam Todd over today specifically to discuss a collaboration. The Todd family possessed many resources and connections. If they cooperated, he could use the Todd family’s support not only to solidify his position but also to restart the Thorne family’s research projects.
What he hadn’t expected was for Lex Cross to show up asking to borrow people—and the former Thorne family’s researchers at that.
"Captain Cross, it’s not that I won’t lend them to you. It’s just that I’ve only recently taken over the Thorne family. Many of them still don’t answer to me, and I can’t command them."
The expression on Lex Cross’s ice-cold face hardened. "That’s fine. If you can’t command them, you can hand them over to me. They may not obey you, but they will obey me."
"Well..." The pressure from Lex Cross’s aura and power level was so overwhelming that Hector Grant didn’t dare to be too obvious with his reluctance in the face of such aggression.
"I don’t have much time, Family Head Grant. You can either gather them for me, or I’ll do it myself. The choice is yours. I’ll be back to see you before we leave tomorrow!"
"What? You’re leaving? Where are you going?" Liam Todd was shocked to hear this. As long as Lex Cross was stationed in the Argent base, no matter how tense his relationship was with the various families, he would at least help defend the base if it was in trouble.
But if he and his team left, what would they do if another zombie horde besieged the city?
At that moment, both men thought of Flora Bloom. After the incident with the Thorne family, Flora Bloom, Cynthia Grant, and even Robin Grant had all disappeared. It was obvious the matter was related to them.
Everyone in the four great families guessed that Flora Bloom and her group had returned to Morhaven.
But not a single one of the groups they had sent to Morhaven had returned. This left them completely in the dark about the situation there, and they didn’t dare to make any rash moves.
"Captain Cross, Five, where are you going? For how long? Is there anything my Todd family can do to help?"
Lex Cross shook his head. "No."
Liam Todd was momentarily embarrassed but didn’t give up. He had to secure this connection to Lex Cross. He and Hector Grant exchanged a look, each understanding the calculation in the other’s eyes.
"Ah, Captain Cross, you know that the Grant and Thorne families have just merged and are in desperate need of manpower. You say you want to ’borrow’ people, but I won’t be in a position to have you ’return’ them later. How about this,"
"I can give you the people, but I have two conditions. If you agree, not only will I give you all the researchers, but Family Head Todd here will also give you a share of food and clothing supplies. What do you say?"
After settling the terms with Hector Grant and Liam Todd, Lex Cross returned to the small courtyard. Simon arrived belatedly, knocking on the door. He was accompanied by several middle-aged men in ragged clothes, their faces pale from starvation.
"Family Head Wallace, you’re here."
Simon nodded and sat down in a chair. He looked completely exhausted.
"I have the men you asked for ready. The Argent base’s communications station has also been fully repaired. As long as we don’t face a cataclysmic disaster like the city falling, there won’t be any problems.
It’s just... Young Cross, this trip to Morhaven... are you really coming back?"
"You’re asking about Neal Wallace, aren’t you, Family Head Wallace? There are some things I don’t mind telling you. You know how the world is now. If you travel to Morhaven by land, the journey is long, and your survival is uncertain.
The air route, which used to be safe, was attacked by monster birds when Flora went back before; she nearly didn’t make it. So, if you don’t go to Morhaven with us this time, your chances of seeing your son again will be very slim."
He didn’t tell Simon that Flora Bloom and her team were in Morhaven researching a sonic disperser. After all, they hadn’t succeeded yet, and it was hard to say what would happen if they failed later on. Lex Cross was not the kind of person to give someone hope only to shatter it.
"Sigh... I won’t go! I’ve spent the better part of my life fighting and sacrificing for this land. I’ve lost too much already—I couldn’t even look after my own son. And now... if too many people leave the Argent base, who will be left to defend it against those endless monsters!"