Reborn with a Space: Hoarding Food and Raising My Kid

Chapter 422: Chapter 369: The Shielded Morhaven

The moment he stepped out of the cabin, Lex Cross summoned his Thunderbird. At the nose of the plane, the large, motionless bird suddenly tensed up as if facing a powerful foe the instant the Thunderbird appeared.

SCREEEE! A cry as sharp and clear as if it could pierce one’s very soul erupted from the Thunderbird’s beak, aimed straight for the large bird’s head.

Simultaneously, the Thunderbird unleashed a blizzard resembling a tornado, crackling with lightning, and sent it hurtling toward the other bird.

The blizzard, imbued with the dual effects of Water and Ice superpowers, immediately trapped the large bird within the whirlwind, rendering it unable to escape.

A bolt of lightning descended from above, striking the bird squarely on the head.

One would have thought the battle was over, but the bird’s skull was incredibly tough. It managed to withstand the hit from within the blizzard and even used the force of the lightning strike to break free from the whirlwind’s grasp.

The plane flew steadily along the flight path programmed by Five and Nolan Jennings. Just as Lex Cross was about to recall his Thunderbird, he noticed the air had suddenly grown unusually damp, with a few scattered raindrops drifting over from Morhaven up ahead.

Lex Cross frowned. He realized that both the large bird and his own flying beast, the Thunderbird, were now involuntarily speeding toward Morhaven.

Through his mental link with the Thunderbird, he learned that some sort of beneficial energy was emanating from Morhaven.

As if they had lost all will to fight, the two birds flew toward Morhaven, one after the other. The smaller flocks that had been circling the plane, however, didn’t follow. They remained, flying alongside in their scattered groups.

To be safe, Lex Cross called down a bolt of lightning, striking down all the nearby birds before returning to the cabin and sealing the door.

"Boss, what’s happening?"

"Something seems to be happening in Morhaven."

The plane flew on steadily, with Morhaven Base coming into view below. However, the massive wall of vegetation that encircled Morhaven, as if protecting the people inside, showed no signs of opening.

"Five, have you been able to contact Flora?"

Five shook his head. "Her signal’s being jammed."

Lex Cross picked up the satellite phone, punched in a number, and stared at the device.

Flora Bloom, however, had no idea. Because of the event brought on by the Golden Crow, all signals in Morhaven were being jammed. By the time she remembered Lex Cross was due to return to the base that day, it was already afternoon.

Lex Cross’s plane circled over Morhaven, but with a thunderstorm raging over the city, he soon had Five and Nolan Jennings find a skyscraper on the edge of Orinburg, at the point nearest Morhaven, and land the plane on its roof.

Upon hearing that everyone would have to proceed to Morhaven on foot, the superpower users took it in stride. But those without powers—like the seven researchers from the Thorne family and a few ordinary people who had been placed on the team by Titan Adler, Hector Grant, and Liam Todd—began to complain.

"Captain Cross, we only came to Morhaven because you begged the Grant family to send us. How can you now expect us to walk into the city?"

"I saw what was happening outside! All those mutated birds... who knows how many zombies are waiting downstairs to eat us!"

"We can’t do something so dangerous. It’s too risky!"

Lex Cross said nothing, continuing to work with twelve special forces soldiers to unload instruments from the plane’s storage bay. It was raining in Morhaven, and he worried the equipment might get damaged.

’I don’t know what’s happened with Flora. If she were here, she could just put all this equipment in her dimensional space.’

Seeing that Lex Cross was ignoring him, the man’s face flushed red with embarrassment.

"Captain Cross! I think you owe us a reasonable explanation! You asked us to come, but you’re not guaranteeing our safety. Isn’t that the same as murder?"

At the word "murder," the faces of the researchers still seated inside the plane turned deathly pale.

This was especially true for Mason Adler. His purpose in coming to Morhaven was Flora Bloom; it was the mission Titan Adler had assigned him before he left. If he failed, then as a blind, crippled, Level 3 Fire Element user, his standing in the Adler family would only continue to fall.

But if he could secure Flora Bloom, then even as a blind man, his position would be unshakable.

What he didn’t know, however, was that the person who had personally blinded him was none other than his current target: Flora Bloom.

If Lex Cross knew the purpose of his trip, he might have just eliminated him on the spot.

After Five and Nolan Jennings finished securing the aircraft, they returned to the cabin.

"Everybody out," Five announced. "From here, we cross the road, get on the highway, and it’s a day’s walk to Morhaven. If you don’t keep up, things will get much more difficult after dark." As he finished and turned to disembark first, Chelsea Todd grabbed his arm.

"Five, I’ll walk with you."

Chelsea Todd pulled her small suitcase from a storage compartment and fell into step right behind him.

Lex Cross and several of the special forces soldiers followed right after.

Just as the last person, Nolan Jennings, was about to leave, a gentle voice reached his ears.

"Excuse me... could you help me get my wheelchair? I can’t walk, so it’s the only way I can leave."

Nolan Jennings turned around. He saw a woman with long hair draped over her shoulders. Her expression was a mixture of anxiety and insecurity, as if she were terrified he would refuse to help.

Nolan Jennings pulled a folding wheelchair from a storage compartment, but instead of setting it up for her as she expected, he did something else.

Holding the wheelchair in one hand, Nolan Jennings squatted in front of the woman. "Get on," he said. "I’ll carry you."

The woman froze, a strange light flashing in her eyes. She then lowered her head and demurred in a small voice.

"That’s... that’s too much trouble. You don’t have to."

Nolan Jennings glanced back at the woman. ’I remember her. She’s Simon’s daughter. Despite her disability, you can tell she’s reasonable and not one to dawdle. She’s much better than those able-bodied people with courage the size of a mustard seed.’

’Besides, the Boss is cooperating with the Wallace family, and I hear Neal Wallace on Flora’s team is her younger brother. We should look out for her.’

’Anyway, carrying one person is no burden for me.’

"Come on, get on. The streets below might still be dangerous, and a wheelchair won’t be convenient. It’ll be easier if I just carry you. If you insist on using the chair, you’ll probably just slow us down."

Hearing his last sentence, the woman’s expression stiffened unnaturally. She immediately clambered onto Nolan Jennings’s back. A little piqued, she deliberately threw her weight against him as she did.

Her legs were numb, so she had to rely entirely on her upper body strength.

Her little display of attitude didn’t escape Nolan Jennings’s notice, of course. But for a special forces soldier who was also a superpower user, the force was negligible.

When the people still in the cabin saw that even a disabled woman was choosing to leave, they couldn’t stay put any longer. They, too, stood up, grabbed their luggage, and began to queue up to disembark.

The building was just a single wall away from the outskirts of Orinburg. After Lex Cross and his men cleared out a small horde of zombies up ahead, they led the group toward the highway.

This was the same route Flora Bloom’s group had taken to Morhaven previously. Thanks to the lingering scent of the giant evolved creature that had passed through, no low-level zombies or other low-level life forms dared to linger here.

The few that had strayed into the area were immediately eliminated by the special forces soldiers taking point.