Chapter 433 - 378: A Close Call
Chapter 433: Chapter 378: A Close Call
Selina looked at Isla Preston’s cool, composed expression and said, "As long as my child can live, I’m willing to pay any price."
Flora Bloom and Isla Preston had communicated countless times using their spiritual power. After confirming the reliability of Isla’s method, Flora began discussing how to start with Maeve Preston and Robin Grant.
"How do we do it?"
"A C-section. Give the baby to me as soon as it’s delivered." Isla Preston was brief and direct, unwilling to elaborate. She could sense that if they didn’t hurry, the fetus in Selina’s womb would complete its mutation.
"We need to be fast. I’m worried the baby is about to finish mutating. If that happens, it will be too late to save him."
Isla Preston’s tone was cold and stiff, carrying no emotion whatsoever. This made Robin Grant and Maeve Preston, who had just learned of the plan, hesitate.
"How certain are you of success?" Maeve Preston and Robin Grant asked, looking at Isla Preston.
"Fifty percent."
"Only fifty percent?"
Flora Bloom knew that the faster they acted, the higher the baby’s chances of survival. She turned to Selina.
"Selina, it’s your decision. All I can say is, while this method isn’t a hundred percent guaranteed, if we don’t do it, the baby doesn’t even have a fifty percent chance of making it."
Black sweat beaded on Selina’s skin as the veins beneath it began to darken. She nodded frantically, tears welling in her eyes. "I’m willing to try! Flora, I trust you!"
Flora looked at Maeve Preston. "Maeve, Mr. Grant, get the baby out as fast as you can. Isla Preston will be on standby to assist you."
The two didn’t say a word. They laid out the prepared surgical tools, but just as they were about to administer anesthesia, Flora stopped them. "Don’t. It won’t make much of a difference for her now. Be fast!"
Isla Preston stood behind Maeve Preston and Robin Grant. She was supposedly there to assist, but in reality, she was there to prevent the newborn from turning into a zombie and harming them.
Meanwhile, Flora gave Cynthia Grant spiritual water to feed to Selina, all while nervously watching Selina’s belly.
With trembling hands, Shelly held the cleaning tools, assisting the two doctors from the side.
It wasn’t just Flora; even as a nurse, Shelly had never seen a pregnant belly so large. The belly’s volume was three or four times larger than the expectant mother herself.
The skin across Selina’s entire abdomen and back was stretched so tight it looked ready to tear.
This kind of surgery was a major test of the surgeon’s skill. With one wrong move, the skin across the woman’s midsection could burst right open.
Fortunately, as the two performed the surgery on Selina, Flora would occasionally sprinkle spiritual water on the tearing skin. By applying the spiritual water near the incision to heal her wounds, Maeve Preston and Robin Grant were quickly able to retrieve the baby inside.
The baby boy before them looked nothing like a newborn. As Maeve Preston and Robin Grant jointly pulled him from the incision in Selina’s abdomen, they saw his umbilical cord had already been bitten through.
The moment he was pulled free, before he had even opened his eyes, the teeth in his mouth began mutating, sharpening like a zombie’s.
Isla Preston’s reflexes were sharp. She snatched the baby away as Flora quickly healed Selina’s wound with spiritual water. The whole thing was over in a matter of seconds.
Thanks to her constant intake of spiritual water, Selina’s body recovered the moment the baby was born. But even spiritual water couldn’t completely cure the weakness that follows childbirth.
The enormous baby boy in Isla Preston’s arms was nearly the size of a one-year-old. Despite showing signs of mutation at birth, he was now exceptionally quiet and docile in her embrace.
"My baby!" Selina reached out to hold him, but Flora stopped her.
"Selina, wait!"
The instant Flora spoke, the baby boy’s skin turned rough and dark. Starting from his face, the change spread over his whole body as his flesh began to rot and fester like a zombie’s.
"No! No!" Her eyes filled with anguish, Selina reached for him, but Flora held her back. "Selina, do you trust me?"
Selina froze, her gaze fixed on her decaying child as she began to sob uncontrollably.
Flora dripped spiritual water into the baby’s mouth. But the water instantly evaporated, and a harsh screech erupted from the infant’s throat.
"Master, that won’t work. Watch me!" Isla Preston bit her own finger, and a drop of black blood welled at the tip.
She stuck her finger into the baby’s mouth.
The boy, who moments ago had been mutating violently, suddenly bit down on her finger after tasting the blood and began to suckle frantically.
Five minutes later, Isla Preston pulled her finger out and handed the baby to Flora. "Master, it’s done."
Flora sensed that Isla was weak; the spiritual power connecting them had faded considerably. She took out a red Energy Gemstone and handed it to her. "Take this. Go back, absorb it, and recover. We couldn’t have done this without you."
Isla Preston’s departure didn’t snap the others out of their stupor.
Maeve Preston, Robin Grant, Cynthia Grant, Shelly, and Selina stared in utter shock at the flawless little boy in Flora’s arms.
In just five minutes, he had transformed from a festering creature with sunken eye sockets and cracked lips into a baby with the skin and features of a normal human child.
In fact, his skin was impossibly perfect.
Flora handed the little boy, who had now shrunk back to the size of a newborn, to Selina.
"Selina, we saved him, but he’s not exactly like a normal child anymore. I don’t know the specifics, but you’ll probably have to be extra attentive with him from now on."
Crying with joy, Selina held her baby and thanked Flora profusely, kissing his little face and forehead again and again.
"Thank you, Flora."
She was, of course, grateful to Isla Preston. But based on how Isla addressed Flora, and the black blood that had flowed from her fingertip, everyone present had guessed that she wasn’t truly human.
In this post-apocalyptic world, the only things with a human appearance were humans and zombies. None of them knew Isla Preston’s true identity; even those who had returned with her from Area Nine had long since sealed away and forgotten those memories.
But now, Maeve Preston, Robin Grant, Cynthia Grant, Shelly, and Selina, all standing by the operating table, had their suspicions about Isla’s identity.
But no one dared to voice those thoughts.
Flora could command so many animals and even control zombies, which was already incredible enough.
Yet, none of them felt the slightest fear of Flora. To them, she wasn’t just their leader; she was a teammate and friend for whom they would risk their lives.
News that Selina had successfully delivered a healthy baby boy spread through the entire base in an instant. This caused Chelsea Todd, who was hiding in Seth Warren’s house and too afraid to go out, to let out a huge sigh of relief.
’I swear, I really didn’t do it on purpose!’
’I knew Selina was one of Flora’s people, so I said a few nasty things out of anger.’
’I don’t know what came over me, but I just lost control and lunged forward. My hands landed right on her pregnant belly.’
She had panicked at the time. Knowing full well how formidable Flora was, she was terrified Flora would come to settle the score, so she decided to just hide out at Seth Warren’s house like a coward.
’In her mind, since Seth Warren and Azure Leroy had taken her in at her lowest point, they would never abandon her in her time of need.’
Little did she know, however, that the moment Seth Warren heard that Chelsea Todd had caused Selina’s premature labor, he was already planning to tie Chelsea up and take her to Flora to humbly beg for forgiveness.