Chapter 102: Chapter 90: Caleb? Sienna Kensington?

Flora Bloom gave the soldier in the back seat, who had been stunned unconscious by a Sea Eel, a few sips of Space Spirit Water. Although the soldier was still passed out, Flora figured, ’There shouldn’t be any serious issues now.’

The vehicles quickly reached the outskirts of the city, and they would soon be at the on-ramp for the Military Avenue.

The convoy was lucky enough to avoid any further danger along the way. In the end, all four vehicles and thirty-four people made it onto the Military Avenue, completely unscathed.

Flora Bloom didn’t fully relax until they were on Navy Avenue. The reason was simple. The shallows and reefs on both sides of this avenue had become the domain of the ten needlefish under her control.

To welcome Flora Bloom’s arrival, the needlefish patrolled the nearby waters. Flora discovered that as long as a creature was marked with her space’s spiritual imprint, she could sense it through their mental link, no matter how far away it was.

They had been gone since early morning, and by the time they returned to the Military Avenue, the better part of the day had passed. No one had eaten anything besides breakfast. As the team leader, Flora Bloom had the three vehicles ahead of her pull over.

The convoy stopped in the middle of the road to rest. The people in the first three vehicles immediately began eating the ration biscuits and water the base had prepared for them that morning. These were the standard provisions for missions—enough to sate their hunger and save time.

In Flora Bloom’s vehicle, however, even though they had the same rations, Neal Wallace, Ethan Monroe, and Cynthia Grant didn’t touch the bag of biscuits at all. Instead, they stared at Flora with mischievous, gleaming eyes, looking at her as if she were a walking treasure trove of goodies.

Flora Bloom glanced at Irvin Holden in the driver’s seat. He had just pulled a ration biscuit from its bag and was about to stuff it into his mouth when Cynthia Grant smacked him on the back of the head—again.

"Cynthia, what was that for? I haven’t eaten all day! I’m starving!" Irvin Holden shot Cynthia Grant an aggrieved look and lifted the ration biscuit to his mouth again. He ignored her completely, even when she said, "You’d better not regret this in a minute."

Just then, a cascade of items appeared out of thin air in Flora Bloom’s hands.

Jam-filled bread, whole milk, beef jerky, chocolate, crunchy noodle snacks, bananas, tomatoes, ham sausages, and some cans of meat.

"This is just to tide us over since we’re still in the car. When we get back to the base, I’ll have Old Monroe cook us something hot."

Neal Wallace, Ethan Monroe, and Cynthia Grant quickly snatched up all the food from Flora Bloom’s hands. As for Irvin Holden, he stared at the scene, suddenly unable to bring himself to put the ration biscuit to his lips.

He had no idea where Flora Bloom had gotten all that food, but he knew that getting to eat meat and bread at a time like this was a true blessing. What’s more, he’d even seen fruit like bananas and tomatoes. At the military camp, he hadn’t eaten any fruit for more than a week.

"Team Leader, I... I... could I maybe..."

Seeing Irvin Holden stammering with a beet-red face, Flora Bloom conjured up another roll, a carton of milk, a tomato, and a pack of beef jerky as if by magic, then handed them to him.

Irvin Holden managed a quick "thank you," then snatched the items and began to eat ravenously with his head down.

Flora Bloom herself grabbed a piece of bread in a flavor she preferred and ate it with some milk. After that, she ate a tomato and then stopped.

’I was hungry before, but now that I’ve eaten, we should get back to the base as quickly as possible.’

Something about the Naval Base, whether it was Milton Adler or its current defense systems, made her feel uneasy.

Once everyone had finished eating, the convoy started up again and headed back to the base.

「Meanwhile, at the Naval Base.」

Caleb Bloom and Jade’s faces were still etched with worry. Hugh Warren and his team had already turned the entire base upside down, but they still hadn’t found any trace of Caleb. They hadn’t found a single clue; it was as if the boy had vanished into thin air.

"Could the boy just have been playing and wandered off by accident? The exit over by Navy Avenue has been left unguarded for a while due to other matters. Why don’t we go search there?"

Caleb had been incredibly obedient and well-behaved ever since he started following Flora Bloom; he would never wander off by himself without telling anyone. Both Caleb Bloom and his wife knew this for a fact. Still, clinging to a sliver of hope, they followed Hugh Warren toward the entrance of Navy Avenue.

But they were disappointed. They scoured every path and road leading out of the base, searched the small groves of trees, and checked every nook and cranny, but they found no trace of Caleb.

As dusk fell, the expressions on the faces of Caleb Bloom and his wife grew even more frantic.

In peacetime, a child missing for 24 hours was already an extremely dangerous situation. But this was the apocalypse. With zombies rampant and countless other unknown, dangerous creatures lurking about, a child so young wouldn’t survive an encounter with any of them.

To accommodate refugees, the Naval Base had sectioned off a part of its vast plaza to create a temporary camp for the displaced citizens of Azuregard City.

The camp was filled with military tents. The tents were large, but since they were in short supply, each one was assigned to seven or eight people.

Inside one of the refugee camp’s tents, three Koreans were gathered around a small boy, who was stripped to the waist, and laughing smugly.

The three were speaking to each other in Korean.

"Miss, the people from the base are searching for him now. Should we move him somewhere safer? There are too many eyes and ears here," Freddy Dnovoan asked, his expression serious. ’We’re in a foreign country. If we get caught, things could get ugly.’

"What are you afraid of? My father paid a fortune to have high-ranking officials from Veridia come find me. They wouldn’t dare lay a finger on me before I’m safely back home!"

Sienna Kensington looked at the tightly bound boy in front of her. His mouth was stuffed with a cloth gag, and she pressed a knife against the side of his face.

"I was doing you a favor, wanting you to play with me, and you dared to ignore me? Fine. In that case, I’ll *really* play with you." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The steel of the blade was ice-cold, and it only tickled when it first touched Caleb’s face. But then the skin broke, and a small sting blossomed into spreading agony. Caleb didn’t know how deep the cut was, only that it felt like the flesh of his cheek was being sliced away by the sharp knife. The pain was so intense that tears streamed down his face.

His scalding tears dripped into the open wound, the added sting forcing choked sobs from his throat.

"Hahahaha! Look at him, he’s crying. How amusing. Such a delicate little face, you’ll probably grow up to be very pretty. But why did you have to defy me? We’re both kids, so why did *you* get candy and chocolate, and not me? How could I, Sienna Kensington, be the one who gets nothing?"

"Did you think your sister was coming to save you? Let me tell you, your sister went out to find food for the base, and now she’s dead. No one is coming to save you. If you had just been cooperative, I might have kept you by my side. I would have made sure no one ever bullied you again. But you? You dared to ignore me! No one ignores me! No one!"

At first, Caleb’s tears were only from the pain. But then he heard Sienna Kensington mention his sister. ’Flora Bloom calls herself my big sister... so what happened to her? How could Flora be dead?’

Young Caleb only knew that Flora Bloom was a big sister who was good to him and protected him, someone who gave him the same warmth he felt from his mother. ’No one is allowed to say bad things about her! She can’t be dead!’