Chapter 489 - 422: Seeing Shelton Underwood Again
Chapter 489: Chapter 422: Seeing Shelton Underwood Again
Morhaven remained as peaceful as a sacred paradise in this post-apocalyptic world.
Flora Bloom had previously sent the Golden Crow to the ancient town of Peach Blossom, where Evangeline Rook resided, to return an exotic insect. However, it discovered the entire town had been completely enveloped by a strange power. Even though the insect was connected to Evangeline Rook by blood and soul, it couldn’t break through to return to her side.
The Golden Crow tried many methods, but eventually found that without burning down the peach forest, it was impossible to break through. In the end, it had to return to Morhaven with Evangeline Rook’s Flying Silkworm.
Her days consisted of little more than eating and sleeping. On top of that, Maeve Preston and Gu Renbin had Flora Bloom increase her physical activity, which would help relax her muscles and joints, speed up the birthing process, and increase the chances of a natural delivery.
Without Nina Rook’s ugly and harmful poisonous bugs around, Flora Bloom’s weight hadn’t increased recently, even though she was eating and drinking whatever she wanted. In fact, after eating honey from the mutated bee swarm, her skin had become even smoother.
And today was Flora Bloom’s due date. Everyone was waiting in Villa 3, but there was no sign of activity from Flora Bloom’s belly.
Maeve Preston and Gu Renbin told everyone that it was perfectly normal for a mother’s delivery to be a few days early or late.
The next day, Flora Bloom was taking her usual walk under the wisteria trellis when suddenly, Joel Bloom returned from outside the base with three people. When Flora Bloom’s plant-based network detected these three individuals, her heart skipped a beat.
Because aside from Shelton Underwood, the people accompanying him included a man in white and an unfamiliar woman she had never seen before—a woman with a seductive figure and a bewitching face.
Joel Bloom walked in front, expressionless, leading the group behind him. He moved like a puppet, his limbs swinging with a peculiar rhythm.
’Shelton Underwood! He’s not dead!’
Flora Bloom’s face instantly turned pale. From a distance, she saw the man in white raise his head at just the right moment, lifting an arm in her direction and giving it a little wave.
The black ants in Flora Bloom’s space suddenly became active, seemingly on the verge of bursting out on their own. She forcefully suppressed them.
They followed Joel Bloom, rapidly approaching the Villa 3 area, and soon arrived at the entrance.
"What’s wrong, Flora?" Lex Cross came to Flora Bloom’s side. He too had sensed the unusual energy fluctuations outside the villa area, and his brow furrowed deeply.
"What is he doing here?"
Outside Villa 3, the man in white flashed a wicked smile and waved at Flora Bloom and Lex Cross.
"Hey, you two. We meet again!"
Flora Bloom, her face ashen, ignored him, her eyes still fixed on Shelton Underwood. "Why aren’t you dead?"
Shelton Underwood looked no different than before his death, with his pale, handsome face and the air of a rich young master. "You know me?"
Flora Bloom gripped Lex Cross’s wrist, clenching her jaw so tightly her gums ached. "I’m the one who killed you!"
Lex Cross looked down at Flora Bloom’s distraught state and suddenly realized something. He directed his question to the man in white. "You resurrected them?"
The man in white shrugged and smiled. "What? Is that not allowed? Such fine material is rare, even for my Undead Clan. And guess what? He seems to have retained some impression of his memories before death."
He sized Flora Bloom up and down. "So you’re the one he was talking about, my little darling!"
Shelton Underwood suddenly appeared before Flora Bloom as if he had teleported, only to be blocked by Lex Cross.
"So what if you’re alive?" Lex Cross said. "I can kill you a second time." Black energy converged on Shelton Underwood, instantly immobilizing him. The skin all over his body, only recently restored, began to crack and split once more.
The man in white suddenly appeared behind Joel Bloom with a grin. "I see this little brother of yours is delicate and tender-skinned, and his talent isn’t bad either. If he were to die and be resurrected by me, his potential would definitely be better than his."
"How about a trade? You kill him, and then I’ll kill your brother?"
A long, pale finger traced Joel Bloom’s neck. The transparent nail on that index finger suddenly slit a gash across the artery on the side of Joel’s neck.
"Stop!" Before Flora Bloom could even move, Lex Cross had already charged forward. But the man in white showed no intention of fighting Lex Cross. Supporting Joel Bloom with one hand, he began to flee into the distance.
As he left, the woman who had come with them gave Flora Bloom a lingering look, then followed the man in white.
A large pool of Joel Bloom’s blood stained the ground, but he had already been taken by the man in white, who left behind a single sentence.
"Next time I visit, I hope to trade Timothy for your brother."
Flora Bloom started to give chase. "Don’t you go! Leave my brother here!"
"Flora, don’t go after him!" Lex Cross shouted. "He has no intention of making a trade, otherwise he wouldn’t have left this guy behind!"
The black energy dissipated from Shelton Underwood, releasing him completely. The moment he was free, a wave of Death Energy rushed toward Flora Bloom.
Flora Bloom wasn’t hit. The black ant from her space broke through its confinement and appeared in front of her, intercepting the full brunt of the Death Energy and absorbing it.
Judging from the black ant’s appearance, after absorbing the Death Energy, its body seemed to have grown slightly larger. And then, shockingly, the voice of the man in white came from within the black ant’s body.
"Timothy, I told you, you can do anything, but you are not to harm my little darling. Oh, right, my little darling, do you want your brother back? Come find me outside Morhaven. I have a gift for you, you know."
Flora Bloom frowned, her heart anxious to save Joel Bloom, but just then, her stomach began to hurt.
Lex Cross saw the pained expression on Flora Bloom’s face and was about to carry her back into the villa when he saw Shelton Underwood’s nearly disintegrated body begin to reform once again.
"Still want to kill me?" he said, watching Flora Bloom, heavily pregnant and in extreme pain in Lex Cross’s arms. The bloodlust in his eyes was impossible to conceal.
"So the woman in my memory, the one who killed me... it was her... I... I remember now. Why? Why?"
As Shelton Underwood stood there, seemingly driven mad, dazedly asking "why," Lex Cross rushed Flora Bloom back to the villa. Without another word, he handed Flora over to Maeve Preston and Gu Renbin, then immediately took the unhinged Shelton Underwood outside the Morhaven city walls.
The man in white stood on a large tree at the edge of Morhaven. Watching Lex Cross approach with Shelton Underwood, the corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk, his expression completely different from before.
"General Cross, it’s been a while."
Lex Cross’s expression was frosty. He looked at the unconscious Joel Bloom lying by the roots of the great tree and said, "Let him go. I don’t wish to be your enemy for the time being. But if you insist on doing anything to harm her, then from this day forward, I will fight your clan to the death."
"Hey, don’t be so hasty! I’m not that tactless. However, I do know one thing. If you want to kill me, I can fight to the bitter end, and you’ll have to use all your strength."
"This place, Earth, is quite magical. With the appearance of these spatial rifts, your power should be almost fully restored by now, right? If you were to unleash your full strength, I wonder if this body of yours could handle it?"
"..." Lex Cross stared at the man in white, his expression grim. ’His body shattering isn’t what scares me. What’s terrifying is that Flora is probably going into labor. For the Undead Clan to show up now... their objective is likely not so simple.’
’If I’m not there, what will she do?’
’Maybe it’s better to just kill him and eliminate the future threat. After my true body returns, I can explain it to Flora.’
"Hehe, don’t give me that ’let’s die together’ look. I’m very afraid of dying! Cultivation isn’t easy for us in the Undead Clan, and I haven’t reached the stage of true immortality yet. I cherish my life dearly."
"Me, I just want to make a deal with you. If you agree, it’s good for you, good for me, good for everyone. Oh, and you can do whatever you want with Timothy, too."