Chapter 427: Eating Melon

Chapter 427: Chapter 427: Eating Melon

Replicating the shops in every base—what’s not to love about that?

Once there are shops outside the bases, people will be motivated to kill zombies like crazy so they can go enjoy themselves and relax.

The zombies will all be killed one day, and once they are, the age of civilization won’t be far behind.

We’ll restart the cities, redefine currency, reboot all the major industries—the good days are coming.

Lily Hart’s eyes crinkled with a smile at the thought.

"Alright. Then go back and have a good talk with your Great Elder. As long as he doesn’t do anything stupid, there are plenty of rewards to be had. As for the branch families of the other three clans, try to absorb them. If you can’t, kill them," she said decisively.

Ash O’Malley agreed. Just then, his Light Brain chimed—it was a call from the Great Elder.

It’s unclear what the two discussed, but after hanging up, Ash O’Malley took his leave.

Watching Ash O’Malley leave, Lily Hart called Elder Shaw to ask about the situation inside the base.

She asked if he needed any help, but all she got was his excited reply.

"No need! You already took care of the biggest parasite. The rest are just minor issues. When Steven Gibbs and the other main managers heard The Mysterious Clan had fallen, they bolted without a second thought."

So now they were full of drive, their main goal to purge the small-fry parasites left behind by The Mysterious Clan.

Once the purge was complete, all their work would proceed with exceptional smoothness.

Orders were issued one after another, and everyone handled them with a calm but enthusiastic energy.

As for the small-fry parasites, they’d had a list for a long time. They hadn’t dared to make a move before, but things were different now.

Time to move!

Time for a big move!

They weren’t calling people in one by one for talks anymore; they were bringing them in by the batch.

They got straight to the point: "The Mysterious Clan has fallen. Are you going to submit, or will you defy us to the death?"

Some people didn’t believe it. How could such a powerful backer collapse just like that?

But when they called or messaged their superiors, all they received was advice to surrender, a simple "take care," or just no connection at all.

The facts were right in front of them, and they had no choice but to accept it. Some chose to submit, while others chose defiance.

Those who submitted were immediately put to work as assistants. Those who defied were immediately locked up.

And so, they advanced triumphantly.

The process went very smoothly.

At ten o’clock that night, outside Central Command, Lily Hart closed up shop right on time.

After closing, she called all the shop owners together for a short meeting.

The gist of it was to cheer them on, encourage them to work hard, because they would eventually be doing a tour of every single base in Cathaya.

Hearing this only fired everyone up. They were incredibly excited for that future.

A shop in every base... a future where they could just lie back and rake in the cash.

’Oh my god, how amazing would that be!’

They were so eager they wanted to stay open all night. Why close at all? Lily Hart had to stop them. "You still need to sleep. Everyone, hurry back and get some rest."

She sent everyone off and was about to close the door and head upstairs to wash up when she noticed a familiar figure outside the RV.

She took a closer look. ’Isn’t that Sue Sutton?’

’What’s she doing here? Could she have found out Cynthia Whittaker was at Central Command and taken the high-speed train just to find her?’

’I have to see this drama unfold!’

Outside the RV, Sue Sutton stood in the darkness, her eyes following the people as they disembarked one by one.

Finally, she saw the person she had been waiting for.

’It’s been so long,’ she thought. ’Her hair has grown so much, and her complexion is so rosy. She must be eating well here.’

’She walks with such a light spring in her step, the ends of her hair swaying back and forth. So cute.’

Unable to contain her joy any longer, she started after her.

The others in front had already gone their separate ways. Cynthia Whittaker was a bit slow coming down, so she fell behind.

Sue Sutton quickened her pace and gave the ends of her hair a gentle tug.

As Cynthia turned, Sue instinctively dodged behind her, as if they were playing hide-and-seek.

But Cynthia Whittaker knew. Usually, only that woman, Sue Sutton, would do something like this to her.

’Boss Hart would never.’

Cynthia Whittaker pretended not to know. She touched the ends of her hair and continued walking toward the convenience store.

Sue Sutton frowned, tiptoed up behind her again, and gave her hair another gentle tug.

This time she missed, startled by Cynthia Whittaker, who suddenly spun around and yelled, "AHH—"

The shout made Sue Sutton jump back a step, and she reflexively clutched her chest. "You knew it was me all along, didn’t you?"

Cynthia Whittaker scoffed. "With your cheap little tricks, who wouldn’t know?"

With that, she turned and walked away. Sue Sutton, completely unbothered by her taunt, followed.

"Why aren’t you asking me why I’m here?" Sue Sutton said, thinking, ’Come on, just ask!’

Cynthia Whittaker pouted. ’I’m not going to ask. I’m just not. Nya nya nya, see how anxious you get.’

When Cynthia didn’t say anything, Sue Sutton thought she hadn’t heard and repeated, "Don’t you want to know why I’m here?"

Cynthia Whittaker still didn’t say a word, but she silently led her back to her room.

Lately, though she never said it out loud, she often found herself thinking of Sue Sutton.

She wondered how she was doing at Solara Base, if things were going smoothly as the Base Commander.

Once inside the room, the space suddenly felt smaller, and everything became quiet, as if they were the only two people left in the world.

Sue Sutton, who was a step behind, saw Cynthia’s back so close and couldn’t resist hugging her from behind.

Cynthia Whittaker froze, a little stunned. ’How did it come to this?’

But strangely, she didn’t want to resist. She even silently turned around and hugged her back.

’Wow, her embrace is actually pretty warm,’ she thought. ’And she smells nice, not like those stinky men.’

Sue Sutton was even more stunned. The script she’d imagined involved being pushed away and yelled at a hundred times.

Even getting slapped in the face was a possibility in a more dramatic version. She never expected to be hugged back!

Her heart thrilled, her hands trembled. Sue Sutton hugged her even tighter.

’Is this what they mean by ’distance makes the heart grow fonder’?’ Sue thought. ’When we were at the same base every day, she couldn’t stand the sight of me.’

’Then she went to the neighboring base, but I often manufactured ’chance’ encounters. Our relationship improved a little, but not by much.’

’After that, she started traveling all over with Lily Hart, so I applied for a transfer back to Central Command.’

’I was just thinking that Boss Hart might come back here. I didn’t expect the wait to be this long.’

’But thankfully, my wait is over.’

’And I even got a hug!’ Sue Sutton was so content.

The surroundings were silent, so quiet that the two of them could only hear their own and each other’s fierce heartbeats. Neither wanted to be the first to let go.

In that same embrace, Sue Sutton asked, "Have you been doing okay lately?"

Cynthia Whittaker nodded, her chin prodding Sue Sutton’s shoulder with each movement.

Her voice was muffled as she said, "I’ve been doing great. I eat well every day, I dress well, I sleep well. In short, everything is great!"

Sue Sutton held back for a moment, then asked, "Is it still that great even without me?"

Cynthia Whittaker froze for a second, unsure how to respond. It seemed Sue Sutton had no intention of letting her off the hook.

She just waited quietly for an answer.

Cynthia Whittaker thought for a moment. "It’s still great without you..." She then heard Sue Sutton’s breath catch.

She continued slowly, "...but with you, it seems like it might, possibly, maybe be even better?"

Despite all the hesitant words she’d tacked on, Sue Sutton was still happy.

So happy to hear her say that.