Flora Bloom and her parents returned home to find the once neat and bright house in a state of complete chaos.

With no time to think, Flora Bloom pulled a bathing tub from her space and had her father place her mother inside. She then used her superpower to fill the tub, keeping the water flowing continuously.

Flora Bloom nervously watched for any changes in her mother.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes.

The water in the tub was continuously replaced, and Flora Bloom took out Space Spirit Water for her father to feed to her mother without a pause.

"How could this be? Why isn’t it working?"

Flora Bloom stared at her mother, who showed no signs of improvement. Although the wounds weren’t worsening, the rot wasn’t disappearing either. Her mother’s face remained ashen, her lips had turned black, and she didn’t react at all, no matter how incessantly Flora Bloom called her name.

A chilling dread washed over her, making it hard to breathe.

"Mom, Mom, it’s Flora! Please, open your eyes and look at me..." she sobbed.

Immense fear frayed Flora Bloom’s nerves. She desperately unleashed her Water Ability as if it were free, soaking Jade’s body.

Her eyes turned red, and she grew so exhausted her limbs could barely hold her up. She took a few sips of spiritual water and forced herself to continue.

As she continuously expended her power, Flora Bloom suddenly felt her reserves dwindling to almost nothing. She knew that no matter how special her Initial-stage Superpower was, it was still just an Initial Stage ability and would eventually run out.

But looking at her mother hovering between life and death in the tub, she pulled Crystal Cores from her space and clutched them in her palm, absorbing their energy to restore her superpower while continuing to release the water without pause.

One, two, three... An uncountable number of Crystal Cores turned to dust in Flora Bloom’s hands. She felt the vortex in her sea of consciousness spinning furiously as it absorbed the energy, only for her to consume it completely in the next instant.

Recover a little, exhaust it completely. Her superpower was being stretched and drained in this constant tug-of-war.

’I can’t stop. If I do, Mom might really be beyond saving. I have to save her, even if it means dying from superpower exhaustion.’

An unknown amount of time passed. Flora Bloom felt her head swim and her vision blur. Black and white stars danced before her eyes, making her think she was hallucinating. Shaking her head to stay lucid, she downed bottle after bottle of spiritual water. She had absorbed nearly a whole pile of white Crystal Cores and several Zombie Crystal Cores.

She just mechanically repeated the cycle—absorb a Crystal Core, restore her superpower, release water; absorb, release—as the dizziness grew more and more intense.

Neal Wallace, Mervin Warren, and Ethan Monroe rushed over, bringing Caleb with them. They were all shocked by Flora Bloom’s condition.

"Flora Bloom?"

Flora Bloom didn’t say a word, just continuing her cycle of releasing water and absorbing Crystal Cores. Finally, the rot covering her mother’s body began to fade, and the black, gluey liquid at the wounds gradually vanished.

Eventually, it was replaced by crimson blood.

Fighting back her dizziness, Flora Bloom tossed a large amount of spiritual water out from her space. A small white tiger appeared along with it.

Finally, just before her vision went black and she fainted, she gave one last command to Vert and the little white tiger: ’Don’t let anyone in. Kill any intruders.’

A boundless darkness swept over Flora Bloom.

Seeing that her mother’s wounds were finally healing, she closed her eyes in relief and collapsed backward.

..................................

She fell into a very, very long dream. Even though she knew it was a dream, she couldn’t wake up, no matter how lucidly she told herself to.

In the dream, Caleb Bloom and Jade were torn to pieces by a horde of zombies, not even a bone left behind. She howled in anguish, but received no answer.

The scene shifted. A zombie held Polly Bloom, slowly devouring her. No matter how much Flora struggled, she could never reach her daughter, forced to watch helplessly as she was reduced to a skeleton.

Shelton Underwood and Belle Bloom stood together atop the tallest building in the base city. They looked down on her, mocking her incredible foolishness.

In her anguish, she tried to banish these images, only to fall back into the boundless darkness once more.

Then, the scene changed again. A familiar, dim light brought her a moment of clarity.

It was that night from over two months ago. The man was using the most primal method to purge the aphrodisiac from her body.

This fragment unlocked a long-buried memory, but it seemed some mysterious energy clouded her vision, preventing her from seeing the man’s face. Only his eyes—like a falcon scanning its prey—remained etched in her mind.