Chapter 153: The Troubles of the Harvest

Chapter 153: Chapter 153: The Troubles of the Harvest

After having a meal in the courtyard and resting briefly, everyone set off once again.

The Sullivan siblings had a particularly exhilarating time slaughtering zombies. The Crystal Cores they had harvested over the past few days far exceeded what they had gathered in the previous few months. The bountiful harvest made their blood boil with excitement, rendering their strikes even swifter and more decisive.

The group methodically cleared out the zombies in the Ninth District. Wherever Luna Dawson went, obstacles were entirely swept away, forcibly carving out a broad road wide enough for vehicles to pass through. After they entered the Containment Zone, quite a few combat teams followed these cleared paths and subsequently stepped into the Ninth District. Having long since gathered enough supplies and seeing that it was getting late, the group drove their off-road vehicles onto the journey home.

As soon as they arrived home, Luna couldn’t wait to enter her dimension. The temperature inside was as pleasant as always. Every time she came in, she could smell the fresh scent of green grass in the air. She extended her senses and found that the little ones were still playing on the other side of the mountain. She then went to the miscellaneous items storage area with peace of mind. With a thought, she teleported directly to the foot of the mountain.

This was the newly expanded area of her dimension. Everything collected from the Containment Zone had been placed here. Manipulating her thoughts, she spent over an hour sorting them out into different sections. The various supplies obtained from the shopping mall and street sweeps were categorized and placed on large shelves. As for the parcels from the logistics park, Luna stacked them with the smaller ones on top and the larger ones at the bottom. Their harvest over the past three days was truly abundant. For a small family, these supplies could last a lifetime!

Looking at the neat mountains of parcels, her forehead throbbed with a headache. Even if she used her spiritual power to open them one by one, it would take her an eternity. She hadn’t even bothered to open the twenty shipping containers from Meridia, let alone this pile of miscellaneous items. Collecting them had been a thrill, but unboxing them made her want to curse.

After breakfast the next day, the Dawson family’s courtyard was bustling with frenzied activity.

When Luna entered her dimension the night before, thinking about what items she could use to exchange for points at the base, she instantly felt a strong aversion to those parcels. She immediately decided to give them all away. Adhering to the principle that failing to lead a team meant working herself to death, Luna had no intention of unboxing the parcels alone in her dimension. She firmly believed that pain could only be effectively diluted when shared.

And so, a massive mountain of deliveries was now piled up in the two-thousand-square-meter courtyard. Even Larry Wright and the others were startled by the sudden appearance of the delivery mountain when they patrolled past, while other passersby in the villa district cast curious side-glances. Some bored individuals peeked through the cracks in the gate, only to see the group inside—men and women, young and old—sitting on small folding stools, heads buried in unboxing deliveries.

After Miles Dawson and Aaron Palmer accidentally burned five or six packages in a row, Luna gave them both a swift kick. They were now obediently practicing their superpowers on already opened boxes, terrified of destroying any more of Luna’s property. Among the group, Blake Blue, Lynn Shelby, and Evan Olson were the quickest to catch on. They precisely manipulated their superpowers to slice open, extract, slice open, extract—working with remarkable efficiency.

Of course, the true model worker was Little Sweet Potato, doing the work of ten! Meanwhile, Purple Bean still exhibited a kind of brainless stupidity, its movements mechanical and slow. At best, it counted as a marginal labor force.

Like the others, Luna also manipulated her Water Blades, effortlessly slicing open the packages placed before her in a few swift strokes. After seeing Miles and Aaron get beaten up, Kevin Keane obediently practiced on several empty boxes. He could now condense his lightning into fine threads to slice the boxes, working just as fast as everyone else.

Naturally, the packages contained all sorts of bizarre goods. For instance, Luna was currently holding a twisting sunflower toy wearing sunglasses. She turned it on and placed it on the ground, and Rollo was now performing a lion dance to the toy’s music.

At first, Luna watched Rollo play with a fond smile. However, when she grew tired of it, she ordered both Little Tiger and Rollo to join the labor force; otherwise, they would get no dinner! Rollo was fairly well-behaved, properly using its Wind Blades to slice open the large boxes. As for the smaller packages, Luna didn’t bother straining a little dog’s brain.

Little Tiger, however, gave everyone a pleasant surprise. Its black hole condensed into the shape of a scalpel. It lay obediently in Luna’s arms while the small black blade flew about, nimbly unboxing the deliveries.

"PURR PURR PURR," Little Tiger purred softly.

"Impressive technique," Lynn praised. This immediately won Lynn over. She snatched the little cat from Luna’s arms and showered it with such enthusiastic kisses she practically sucked it dry like a mango pit.

Over on Kevin’s side, he accidentally pulled out an inflatable adult toy. Shocked, his hands froze before he quickly chucked it away as if it were covered in filth. His face turned as black as the bottom of a pot. With a twisted expression, he said, "Little Boss, what about some psychological health protection?"

"Oh, there’s only a market because there’s a demand. Don’t make such a fuss," Luna said, holding a notebook as she tallied the quantities and categories of the items. She silently stored the various eye-sore items into her dimension one by one. Seeing this, Kevin and the others hesitated, feeling like they had a lot to say but didn’t know how to express it.

Luna’s eyes gleamed with greed. "These are all points, guys! We need to step up our game!" She quickly added, "We get work done while everyone gets to practice their superpowers. I’m practically a genius!"

As soon as she finished speaking, another mountain of packages appeared in the courtyard. Everyone was utterly speechless.

***

Meanwhile, inside a villa in the Aurelia Villa District.

Ron Rivers lay sunk into his bedroom mattress, looking utterly haggard. Beneath the covers, his empty trouser leg below the knee lay flat. A dark brown, hard scab had formed over the stump of his severed limb, its edges still slightly swollen and red. As his nerve endings struggled to repair themselves, a piercing, maddening itch arose. It felt as though countless tiny bugs were crawling and gnawing beneath the scab, sending shivers straight up his spine to the top of his head.

With lowered eyes, he stared intensely at that empty space. Unruly hostility surged in his gaze, mixed with a sinister, resentful malice. He had to clench his back teeth tightly to keep himself from losing control and scratching at the scab.

Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door. After a long while, the bedroom door was pushed open. Stan Stone stood expressionless in the doorway. He raised his hand and tossed a stack of photos onto the bed. The photos scattered, their edges scraping against the back of Ron’s hand and leaving a few shallow red marks.

Ron’s pupils abruptly contracted. He quickly gathered the photos to his chest to examine them closely. When he clearly saw the contents, the blood in his veins seemed to freeze. It was none other than what had been buzzing around the base for the past two days—intimate photos of Susan Vaughn with another man.

"Ah! That bitch!"

His defeated complexion was instantly replaced by a savage scowl. Ron gripped the photos so tightly that his knuckles turned white, crumpling and distorting their edges before fiercely sweeping them off the bed. The photos scattered across the floor, and one happened to land right next to his empty trouser leg, seemingly mocking him in silence.

He stared blankly at the photo on the floor. A twisted smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and his voice was as hoarse as sandpaper grinding. "Where is she?"

Stan looked at the seemingly crazed figure on the bed and sighed softly. "In the Seventh District Central Railway Hospital," he replied in a deep voice. "The District Mayor has given the order to confiscate your residence in the Sixth District. Until your injuries are fully healed, you are not allowed to step half a pace outside of this place."