novelraw Chapter 143: Dense Fog 4
Chapter 143: Dense Fog 4
Mina scurried ahead, stopping and starting, as the group followed.
"Evelyn, are you sure Mina can do this?"
Evelyn glanced at Quincy. "You can be useless, but Mina has to pull through."
’This is a mountain spirit I brought back from Broken Cloud Mountain. How could it possibly fail? Besides, Mina even drank Ronan’s blood; its intelligence has shot up.’
"You can praise Mina for being amazing, but you don’t have to put me down."
Quincy shook his long, greasy hair. With a stick in his hand, he looked every bit an elder of The Beggars’ Sect.
"Well, you shouldn’t have doubted Mina. It’s incredible."
The two continued to bicker until they entered a block of single rooms in the West Courtyard, where everyone fell silent. The area was mostly uninhabited. Though they had already searched it once, they hadn’t expected to have missed a spot.
Mina started to chitter, then continued upward, arriving at a room on the seventh floor. It pawed at the door, then looked up at Evelyn, wagging its tail excitedly.
Evelyn picked it up. Officer Graham and Quincy, weapons in hand, started kicking the door. The child’s parents behind them could no longer hold back and rushed forward to help ram it open.
Even the frailest among them found limitless strength in that moment.
The door was soon rammed open. A gaunt man stood inside, holding a child hostage with a knife as he stared viciously at them all.
"Get out! Get out now, or I’ll kill him."
The child’s parents cried out in terror. The boy was barely breathing and covered in blood.
"Phoebe! Son! It’s really our Phoebe!"
The boy’s mother was so overwhelmed that she fainted on the spot. Evelyn glanced around. The room was small, and aside from this one child, there was no one else.
"Back off, or I’ll kill him this instant!"
Evelyn handed a few pebbles to Ronan, who flicked them out. The knife in the man’s hand clattered to the ground. He let out a pained scream as another pebble struck his chin, and blood immediately started gushing from the wound.
Officer Graham and Quincy rushed forward to restrain him, and the child was carried out to safety.
"Where are the others?"
The man was still howling in pain. Officer Graham dislocated both of his arms, and Quincy kicked him a few times. The man began to beg for mercy. "I’ll talk! Stop hitting me! I’ll tell you everything."
"In the warehouse on the second floor of the lab building."
The lab building was in the farthest part of the base, an hour’s walk from the West Courtyard.
"Why was this kid here?"
"I was going to take him over there, but he kept fighting back, so I had to lock him up here first. Everyone in the base is out searching today, so I was planning to just get rid of him. But he woke up a little while ago, so I beat him. That’s why he’s bleeding so much."
"You animal!"
As soon as the man finished speaking, the boy’s father rushed over and kicked him twice.
"Let’s head to the lab building first," Officer Graham commanded. Everyone followed him. It was only when they arrived that Evelyn understood why no one had been able to find the children. There was a hidden room.
But when they went inside, they only found two bound children and two girls shackled in iron chains. Three of the younger children were missing. On an empty patch of ground nearby, there was a pile of half-burnt firewood and a broken iron pot.
"What about the other three children?"
The parents of the missing children rushed forward and began beating the man. Soon, he was barely breathing.
"They’ve been gone for a long time! Haha! Long gone!"
The man cackled maniacally, a repulsive stench wafting from his body.
Evelyn and Quincy took off their jackets and gave them to the two girls, who were clearly in a terrible state. Quincy pulled out a knife, handed it to one of them, and said quietly, "Whether for vengeance or just to vent your rage, go on."
One of the girls took the knife, walked up to the man, and plunged it directly into his chest, twisting the blade.
The man’s eyes went wide. He stared at her, struggled for a moment, and then stopped breathing.
The three couples who had lost their children also rushed forward to vent their fury. Evelyn backed away from the crowd, pressing a hand to her chest as her heart began to ache.
"What’s wrong?"
Evelyn looked back at Ronan, her voice hoarse. "My heart hurts."
"We’re going back. You’ll drink my blood."
Evelyn blinked, forcing back the stinging in her eyes.
"It’s okay. It’ll get better in a little while."
Waves of sobs echoed from within. The parents who found their children wept with joy, while those who had lost theirs collapsed in anguish.
As for the man who now lay dead, even death by a thousand cuts would not have been enough to quell their hatred.
The oppressive, black sky was devoid of any light. In this boundless darkness, the killing would only increase.
Ronan took Mina from her, then crouched down. Evelyn climbed onto his back, and the two of them left ahead of the others.
Back at the villa, Taylor Vance immediately came over to ask what had happened. Evelyn told him everything, leaving out no detail.
"The bastard. He’s worse than an animal."
His hands were trembling, his eyes bloodshot.
"Hang that man’s corpse from the administration building. Let everyone see what becomes of him."
Zion Lowell and Secretary Hawthorne nodded in agreement. After Officer Graham returned, he never dared to leave Wendy alone in their room again, carrying her on his back wherever he went. The other survivors with children didn’t dare let their guard down either.
The dense fog was a shroud for crime. As long as it refused to lift, the fear hanging over everyone’s head would not dissipate.
Secretary Hawthorne and Zion Lowell dragged the man’s body to the front of the administration building and hung it upside down from a pillar with a hemp rope.
Some people came to whip the corpse to vent their hatred, while others began to have different ideas.
「The next day, the corpse was gone.」
Evelyn’s corn was fully ripe. After harvesting it, she weighed the ears and found she had over thirty pounds.
She could save some for seed. After turning the soil, she replanted sweet potatoes and potatoes.
After this incident, things in the base became much more peaceful. Officer Graham’s name spread throughout the settlement, and many people sought him out, asking him to organize a group to protect the base. They offered to contribute a portion of their crops as a "tax."
Officer Graham asked for everyone’s opinion. Evelyn agreed with the idea but said she wasn’t cut out for that kind of work.
Officer Graham then asked Taylor Vance and his two associates for their opinions. They were also very supportive. Since no one could leave for the time being, they needed to maintain order and peace. Most importantly, all the children had to be protected.
In the end, Officer Graham selected thirty people to work in three rotating shifts, temporarily establishing a security team. He also recruited two more people to cook for them.
This would not only guarantee everyone’s safety, but the security personnel would also earn a form of income.
The required contribution wasn’t large, since the security team was small. Each survivor only needed to turn in about one head of cabbage or half a bowl of wheat every two or three months.
Officer Graham was only responsible for recruitment; the rest of the administrative tasks were handed over to Zion Lowell and Secretary Hawthorne.
After all, they were the experts in management.
The base also established new regulations: no fighting, brawling, or bullying the weak.
The elderly were all gathered together and given seeds so that they, too, could be self-sufficient.
After a light rain, Taylor Vance organized people to build several cisterns out of wet mud to collect the rainwater, which they would then filter with wood ash.
’It seems things are getting better again.’