"Ah! You little bitch, let me go!"

The man pinned under Flora Bloom’s foot had a face twisted in pain, but he still spouted a stream of curses.

"If you dare kill me here, you’ll be arrested and executed on the spot!"

A slight smile touched Flora Bloom’s lips. Her delicate, fair face seemed to glow in the encroaching twilight, leaving the crowd around her momentarily stunned.

"Executed on the spot?" she mused, increasing the pressure of her foot. The man was left with nothing but agonizing howls.

"Move aside, move aside! Who’s brawling here? Watch it, or I’ll have you all arrested."

Suddenly, the crowd parted, creating a path. A fully armed soldier in uniform strode in from the perimeter, leading three others.

He saw a very young girl pinning a severely injured man with her foot. The murderous look on her face was completely at odds with her age.

"What’s going on here?"

The lead soldier frowned at the scene, his gaze landing grimly on Flora Bloom.

Caleb Bloom stepped forward, positioning himself in front of his daughter.

"Officer, we’re new here, and these people tried to rob us of our food."

"Oh?"

"That’s right! We were just acting in self-defense!"

Ethan Monroe chimed in, pointing at the man bleeding profusely on the ground. "This guy didn’t just try to rob us, he almost hurt one of our kids. And you soldiers aren’t doing anything about it."

"Whether it was self-defense or not, we can’t just take your word for it."

The lead soldier’s brow furrowed at Ethan Monroe’s statement, clearly displeased with his tone. He turned his head to look at Flora Bloom.

"Young lady, could you please let him go?"

Flora Bloom gave the lead soldier a cool glance. An AK assault rifle was slung across his chest, his belt held a pistol, ammunition, and standard-issue grenades, and he had an uncommon submachine gun on his back. ’This isn’t the standard loadout for a regular patrol,’ she thought.

After a moment of consideration, Flora Bloom slowly released the man under her foot. Just as she was about to say something to the lead soldier, the man on the ground suddenly shot up, grabbing Flora Bloom’s wrist with one hand and clawing at her slender neck with the other.

Flora Bloom’s eyes narrowed as she watched him, and a flash of murderous intent appeared in her gaze.

The lead soldier saw this and moved to intervene, but he froze the very next moment.

The deceptively frail girl before him moved with astonishing speed. Her axe was a blur as she slashed at the man’s approaching wrist, severing it cleanly and without a hint of mercy.

"Stop!" the lead soldier shouted, seeing that Flora Bloom was going for the kill.

But before he could intervene, the girl, without so much as a blink, flicked her axe across the man’s throat. A fountain of blood erupted from his carotid artery, spraying the lead soldier and his three men who stood closest.

In that same instant, Flora Bloom had already conjured a massive water shield in front of her group, deflecting the gruesome spray.

When the onlookers saw the man killed, they screamed and scattered in every direction. In moments, only Flora Bloom’s group of seven and the four soldiers remained.

"I told you to stop! Didn’t you hear me? Why did you kill him?" Seeing that Flora Bloom had mercilessly killed the man in complete disregard of his order, the soldier’s anger flared.

"Why should I explain myself to you?"

"You! This is a restricted military zone! You think you can just run wild in here?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he and the three soldiers behind him raised their rifles, aiming them at Flora Bloom’s group. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Seeing the soldiers’ actions, Caleb Bloom and Ethan Monroe immediately shielded Flora. A sallow aura of the Earth Element began to suffuse the air. In the same instant, Caleb Bloom’s arms took on a metallic sheen.

Neal Wallace, at the rear of the group, had an orange-red flame hovering in his palm. At the slightest provocation, he would undoubtedly launch it at their enemies in an instant.

Only Jade and Caleb were in the middle of the group, but they also stared nervously at the four soldiers.

Cynthia Grant, however, did something strange. Upon seeing the four fully-armed soldiers, she ducked behind the others, seemingly trying to avoid being seen.

’Something had felt wrong about the base from the moment she’d returned. For one, the square was packed with refugees, yet there were no soldiers on patrol. Even the regular sentries were missing from their posts.’

’On top of that, refugees were brazenly robbing and attacking people right here in a military zone, and the soldiers didn’t show up promptly. None of it was normal.’

’The heavily armed men who had just appeared were clearly not the soldiers she knew. It was all deeply unsettling, forcing her to be on guard.’

’She had a terrible feeling that something significant had happened at the base while she was away on her mission—something she still knew nothing about.’

"What’s going on here? You four, what is the meaning of this?"

Another fully armed soldier, leading a squad, walked over. His eyes swept over Flora’s group, lingering on Cynthia Grant for a moment before he impassively looked away.

"Staff Officer Warren, these people were causing trouble in the base! They even killed someone! I was just about to take them down."

A glint appeared in Hugh Warren’s eyes as he immediately scolded the soldier. "Fool! Hasn’t General Adler ordered that all individuals with superpowers are to be reported to him? We’re in desperate need of manpower right now. How can you be so reckless?"

After a moment’s hesitation, the lead soldier lowered his head and fell back behind Hugh Warren.

"I... I was being shortsighted."

"You go on with your patrol. I’ll take these people for screening, and then I’ll report to the General."

"Yes, sir."

"You all, continue to inspect the security at each entrance and exit. I’ll take them to be processed," Hugh Warren commanded, turning to the squad behind him.

"Yes, sir."

After the first four soldiers and Hugh Warren’s squad had all departed, Flora’s group turned their attention to the man known as Staff Officer Warren.

"Cynthia, you’re back?"

Hugh Warren spoke to Cynthia Grant, who was part of Flora’s group. His expression was no longer as stern as it had been moments ago.

"Hugh? What are you doing here? Since when are you in charge of base patrols?"

It was only then that Flora and the others realized Cynthia Grant knew the officer.

Just then, Hugh Warren glanced around, and only after confirming that they were alone did he turn back to Flora’s group.

"This isn’t the place to talk. Come to my quarters, and I’ll tell you everything."

Seeing Hugh Warren’s grim and exceptionally cautious expression, Cynthia Grant guessed that something must have happened at the base. ’Hugh’s rank isn’t low,’ she thought. ’He was highly regarded by General Lynch. There’s no way he would be assigned to patrol duty, no matter what.’

’Even if he’d made a mistake, this kind of punishment would be too humiliating. After all, the Warren family of Argent, while not a major house, is a family with generations of military service and long-standing ties to the Lynch family. Something like this has never happened before.’

The group followed Hugh Warren through a winding series of paths to a building that resembled a barracks. It was eerily quiet, and from the outside, it looked completely deserted.