Chapter 381: Rising Temperatures, Increasing Patients

Chapter 381: Chapter 381: Rising Temperatures, Increasing Patients

Flora’s actions were a complete reversal of her usual quiet self!

Dexter Luther’s jaw dropped in astonishment.

It took him a long moment to finally mumble,

"Sullivan... I believe you now. Flora is absolutely your daughter... This approach is just like yours... Uh, unconventional."

The surrounding Players and soldiers all nodded in agreement.

The way they looked at Seraphina and Flora Sullivan was a mixture of awe and an indescribable, peculiar feeling.

They realized that solving a problem didn’t always have to be a life-or-death struggle.

It could also be done like this... through simple, crude "persuasion."

Crystal Lynn stared, her eyes wide and unblinking.

Her cheeks flushed faintly, partly from shame over her own reckless attempt earlier.

But it was also flushed with a deep envy for Flora Sullivan’s powerful and bizarre Power.

In the end, the communication problem that Crystal Lynn had failed to solve despite racking her brain was perfectly resolved by Flora Sullivan’s session of "reasoning with the deer."

Although the Four Seasons Deer Alpha’s eyes still held a look of defiance and indignation after being set down,

under Flora Sullivan’s calm yet latently threatening gaze,

and, of course, the predatory stares of the humans all around,

it finally lowered its proud head and let out a low call of submission.

With their alpha "persuaded,"

the surrounding Deer Herd gradually ceased their agitation.

They gathered together uneasily, watching the humans warily, but did not attack again.

Under the guidance of Justin Brooks’s team and the "supervision" of Flora Sullivan,

these massive Four Seasons Deer were eventually "conscripted" to aid the migrating convoy.

Flora Sullivan, in turn, promised to grant the deer sanctuary.

Of course, these arrangements were left to Justin Brooks and his team, who managed the convoy.

The Four Seasons Deer docilely allowed the humans to place supplies, as well as the elderly, the weak, women, and children, on their backs.

This greatly lightened the convoy’s load and increased its travel speed.

As for the exceptionally intelligent Stag King that possessed the [Four Seasons] Talent, it naturally became Flora Sullivan’s exclusive mount.

Though it didn’t seem particularly willing, it could only resign itself to its fate under Flora Sullivan’s occasional "caresses."

The tense standoff triggered by the Four Seasons Deer thus came to a dramatic close, thanks to Flora Sullivan "reasoning with the deer."

The convoy not only defused the crisis but also unexpectedly acquired a powerful "animal transport corps."

Their travel speed and carrying capacity were both significantly enhanced.

The convoy set off once more, continuing its advance toward the Central Base.

Several days slipped by, marked by bumpy roads, constant vigilance, and occasional minor troubles.

The sky remained clear—a rarity in the apocalypse—and the temperature was pleasant, almost as if it were a normal season from before the cataclysm.

But an undercurrent of turmoil churned beneath the surface of this calm.

As dusk fell, painting the sky in shades of dark red and deep purple, Wesley Moore, the man in charge of the convoy’s itinerary, gave the order:

"Everyone, listen up! Halt the advance! We’re making camp here for the night!"

The command was quickly relayed via vehicle radios and runners.

The long convoy slowly came to a halt.

People began to disembark.

They set up makeshift tents, lit campfires, and prepared simple meals.

They also seized the chance to stretch their stiff limbs.

"Traveling at night is too risky,"

Wesley Moore explained to Justin Brooks and the others beside him.

"Visibility is poor, it’s easy to get lost, and we’re more likely to be attacked by things lurking in the dark.

We’ve run into noticeably more trouble at night than during the day these past few days."

Everyone agreed wholeheartedly.

In just the past few days on the road, they had been ambushed by all sorts of strange creatures at dusk or after nightfall on several occasions.

The world was no longer what it once was.

There were swift Nocturnal Mutants that used the darkness for cover.

There were monsters that crawled out of the thawing permafrost, reeking of decay.

There were even "animal players," like the Four Seasons Deer, whose Abilities were enhanced in certain environments.

They were gradually realizing that under the rules of the Doomsday Game, humans weren’t the only "Players."

All living things on Azure Star—animals, plants, and perhaps even more primitive life forms—seemed to be on a somewhat level playing field, a starting line for "Evolution" or mutation.

The normal climate brought on by this one-month "Peace Period" seemed to have broken some kind of Seal.

It allowed all the problems previously hidden or suppressed by the extreme cold to erupt at once.

And the threats weren’t just living ones.

As the ice and snow melted, the problems buried beneath the permafrost were exposed for all to see.

The bodies of countless humans and animals that had frozen to death in the extreme cold, along with all sorts of uncleared rubble and trash,

were now all exposed.

With temperatures rapidly returning to normal,

these corpses began to decay quickly, breeding vast quantities of pathogens.

A stench, mingled with the smell of damp earth and rot, filled the air and clung to the land they crossed.

Many in the convoy were already weak and malnourished from their struggle to survive the extreme cold.

Combined with days of exhausting travel and exposure to the elements,

and their exposure to the filthy environment and pathogens,

various illnesses began to spread through the group like wildfire.

Coughing, feverish groans, the weakness that followed bouts of diarrhea...

Signs of all kinds of ailments became commonplace throughout the temporary camp.

At first, there were only a few sporadic cases, but it soon spread like a plague.

Medicine, already an extremely scarce resource in the apocalypse, had been partially depleted during the evacuation from the safe zone.

Now, supplies were critically low.

Justin Brooks returned to the tent area where his family was.

He found his mother, Susan Webb, covering her mouth with a handkerchief. She was suppressing a cough, and her face was flushed.

"Mom! Are you okay?" Justin Brooks’s heart clenched. He rushed forward to steady her.

Susan Webb waved her hand, signaling that she was fine, her voice a little hoarse.

"COUGH... I’m fine. It’s just my old ailment acting up. I’m getting old, my body’s not what it used to be. I probably just caught a bit of a chill from the bumpy ride.

I’ll be fine once I take some of the medicine we brought. You should get back to your duties; the convoy has so many things to deal with."

Seeing his mother forcing herself to put on a brave face, Justin Brooks felt his stomach churn.

He knew she was just trying to comfort him and keep him from worrying.

He helped his mother get comfortable and poured her some hot water. As he watched her swallow one of the few cold medicine pills they had left, his anxiety only intensified.

He immediately thought of Seraphina Sullivan.

Seraphina Sullivan’s [Flower Therapy] Skill was remarkably effective at healing physical injuries, almost to a miraculous degree.

But he quickly tempered his thoughts.

From Leo Ross and others who had been treated by Seraphina Sullivan before,

he had learned that [Flower Therapy] seemed more geared toward rapidly healing physical wounds and restoring stamina.

Against illnesses caused by bacteria or viruses, its Effect was probably limited. It might not even be the right kind of treatment at all.

Filled with deep worry, Justin Brooks found Wesley Moore, who was discussing matters with several other team leaders.

The atmosphere inside the temporary command tent was grim.

Wesley Moore looked at a rough tally in his hand, his brow deeply furrowed.

"...Currently, there are over three hundred people with symptoms like fever, coughing, and diarrhea, and the number is still rising.

Our reserve of medicine, especially antibiotics and fever reducers, can last two days at most. If the situation continues to worsen..."