Chapter 622 - 468: A Year of Slumber
Chapter 622: Chapter 468: A Year of Slumber
Archie suddenly appeared before Belle Bloom, a black ant resting on his hand. "You did this, didn’t you?"
The black ant had relayed everything to Archie, including the full details of Flora Bloom’s death.
"Me? I’m just a lowly, High-level waste slave. How could I have done it? She, on the other hand, possessed a Divine-level Space Fragment that all the great families could only dream of. Hogging a treasure like that... it’s a cardinal sin!
She got what she deserved!"
Archie raised a hand, his deathly pale, slender fingers tapping the black ant’s head. "You know perfectly well what you did!" He stared grimly at Belle Bloom, whose beauty was as deadly as a viper’s, as black Death Energy swirled around her body. "Now that you have a new body, you should cherish it. If I find out you’ve gone to Morhaven again, I’ll make you disappear from this world entirely!"
Spring passed and autumn came. Earth’s seasons had begun to change drastically.
The north was perpetually hot, the south perpetually cold. The west remained evergreen, while the east became a perennially arid, barren wasteland. In the year that followed, Earth grew remarkably quiet. The zombie hordes had found a way to survive in this apocalypse, forming their own nation and settling entirely in the northwest.
The zombies that still roamed outside their territory were almost all Initial Stage, numerous but low-level. The hordes had started to live in clearly demarcated territories based on rank. The highest-level zombies had long shed their undead forms, becoming almost indistinguishable from humans.
The one now in control of the entire zombie collective, standing at the very top of their pyramid, was a woman. Dressed in black, she was bewitchingly beautiful. Had anyone from the Cross family seen her, they would have recognized her as the woman who, before Flora Bloom’s death, had taken Polly from the base with Selina.
Belle Bloom had been resurrected by Archie, and it was also because of him that she was now the leader of this zombie horde she so utterly despised.
"Has the King not returned?" Two men of the Undying flanked her, utterly unmoved by her charms.
"No."
"It’s been the promised year. Where did he go?"
"The King’s affairs are not your concern."
Belle Bloom’s expression darkened for a moment before returning to normal. "I’m going for a walk. Don’t follow me."
The zombie nation was located at the junction of Aethelgard City, Azuregard City, and Morhaven. The current masters of Aethelgard City were a mysterious organization from the Star Nation.
No one knew who their leader was, or how many people were in their ranks. They occupied the largest area in northwest Veridia, posing a grave threat to Azuregard City and all of Veridia’s human population.
This mysterious organization, the Cross family, the Vaughn family, and the rest of Earth’s humans became the main players in the current apocalypse.
But one place remained isolated from it all.
Morhaven.
After nearly all the members of the great families from the Ancient Universe had died, the people in the various bases finally got a chance to catch their breath. They hunted, stockpiled food, and fanatically slaughtered zombie hordes to amass Crystal Cores.
To them, the great families of the universe had come and gone like fleeting guests in their apocalyptic world.
Such powerful "guests" had, for the first time, made them feel a sense of crisis about their own Superpower Levels.
There’s always a higher mountain, always a stronger person.
No matter how high their Superpower Level was, they weren’t the strongest.
A year isn’t a long time, but it wasn’t short either. After sleeping for that entire year, the people in the Morhaven Base woke up once again.
Every one of them had changed upon waking.
Those with superpowers found that they had broken through their original levels. Those without superpowers discovered they had awakened them, and had even broken through to the High-level.
However, they couldn’t go anywhere outside of Morhaven.
Morhaven was enveloped by a pervasive golden energy shield, just like how Flora Bloom had once been trapped in the small farmhouse courtyard within her personal space by the essence of the Tree of Life’s Life Energy.
It had taken even Flora Bloom a monumental effort to get out of there; there was no way the people of Morhaven Base could break through this barrier of light.
But this also shielded them from the threats of the outside world.
After that great battle, Rona Rook leaked the news that the Cross family had exclusively obtained three Divine-level Space Fragments. Furthermore, upon learning that the family members they had sent out had been completely wiped out, the various great families of the Ancient Universe once again dispatched more people.
This time, their goal was not only the Divine-level Space Fragments, but also to fight for control of Earth, this newly discovered high-level life-bearing planet.
Only the Cross family knew about the Tree of Life.
The three War Gods of the Cross family—Ray Cross, Jim Cross, and Frost Cross—remained on Earth. They not only developed the Cross family’s power but also continued to search for the location of the Tree of Life.
On that day, Caleb Bloom, Jade, Sherman Lynch, and the others had all been pulled back to Villa Area 3 of the Morhaven Base by the Tree of Life. All members of the Cross family were isolated outside Morhaven Base, unable to get in.
This energy shield protecting Morhaven Base was so strong that not even the three War God-level powerhouses of the Cross family could break it by combining their strength.
Unable to enter Morhaven Base, they took up residence in Aethelgard City, which was adjacent to it. Naturally, they were far more domineering than the Seymour family, who had previously occupied Aethelgard Base.
However, the Cross family’s rules and laws were strict. After they occupied Aethelgard City, the people of Aethelgard Base, while losing their former freedom, gained a clear set of rules and regulations.
The Cross family showed no mercy to petty thieves and criminals. For a time, Aethelgard City actually became a safe place where one could live a normal life.
A land of deathly silence, like the deepest darkness within an abyss. If you believe in the theory that where there is light, there must be darkness, that logic is completely useless here.
Because here, there is only darkness. If you were to speak of light, it would only be the ghostly glow of a will-o’-the-wisp, born from the dark, that occasionally rises.