Chapter 194: Courting Death

Chapter 194: Chapter 194: Courting Death

Only a patch of scorched earth remained. The woman’s body had been instantly roasted into charcoal by the lightning fire before being pulverized by a swirling vortex of wind. The black ash was swept away by the freezing gale, vanishing without a trace.

"Ah! Murder!"

"Someone was killed in the safe zone!"

"Run for your lives!"

Witnessing a living human being reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye, the crowd of thirty or forty people was scared out of their wits. Not daring to linger a second longer, they scattered and fled in panic.

A short man who had stood closest to the woman wet himself in terror. His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground. A pungent smell of urine instantly filled the air.

Watching the fleeing crowd, Luna Dawson knew exactly what was going on. Someone resented the Sunset Squad’s peaceful days and had deliberately hired these thugs to stir up trouble.

Truth be told, she hadn’t planned on killing anyone. In the apocalypse, the human population had plummeted, making every survivor precious. After all, the end of the world was a life-and-death struggle between humanity and zombies; the more united and numerous humanity was, the higher their chances of survival. But there were always those who had a death wish, constantly pushing others’ boundaries.

Blake Blue’s face was livid. Manifesting a massive metallic arm out of thin air, he snatched the tall, skinny instigator and hoisted him into the sky.

"Who sent you?" His voice was bone-chilling, all traces of his usual good temper completely gone. "Do you realize you’ve provoked the wrong people?"

If he hadn’t needed to keep the man alive for questioning, he would have strangled this piece of trash to death on the spot.

The fleeing crowd didn’t even have the courage to look back. They ran for their lives, terrified that lingering would result in the same fate as the woman.

"I... I don’t know..." Suspended in the air and struggling to breathe, the tall, skinny man’s face turned purple as he choked out. "It was that woman just now. She said if I came here and made a scene, she’d give me a roast chicken and a lot of Crystal Cores... so I agreed..."

Evan Olson stepped forward, his tone impatient. "Then why did you keep looking behind you just now?"

"Th-that woman said the employer was watching from over there," the man stammered out. "So I couldn’t help but take a peek. I really don’t know who the employer is. I couldn’t see clearly..."

At that moment, Lynn Shelby raised the communication bracelet on his wrist. "Alright, I’ve recorded everything he said and sent the video to Francis Grant."

Hearing this, the man’s eyes went wide. Veins bulged on his forehead, and his face—already flushed from the lack of oxygen—darkened even more. He thrashed around, begging, "...Please... don’t report this... I’ll never do it again... Can I just give the roast chicken and Crystal Cores back...?"

Looking at him in utter disgust, Blake released his grip, tossing the man harshly to the ground.

The tall, skinny man hit the dirt, rolling right into the short man who had wet himself. In the temperatures dropping below minus ten degrees Celsius, the short man’s soiled pants had already frozen rock solid. Since he had collapsed onto the icy ground, the fabric had bonded with the slippery surface. He struggled frantically to stand, but the frozen fabric tore at his skin, making it impossible to rise.

Ignoring his own pain, the tall man forcefully yanked the short man to his feet. With a loud rip, a massive hole was torn in the short man’s outer pants. The frozen fabric dangled heavily like a lead weight as the two men pulled at each other, supporting each other as they stumbled away in a panic.

Outside the courtyard, only the middle-aged woman who had been knocked out by the lightning remained lying motionless on the ground, her fate unknown.

Seeing the men flee, the family turned and headed back indoors. After washing their hands, they resumed their interrupted lunch.

Miles Dawson dried his hands, picked up his chopsticks, and poked at his bowl of rice. Frowning, he couldn’t help but complain, "Who the hell was that? They’ve got nothing better to do than ruin a perfectly good meal."

Blake felt a heavy tightness in his chest, clearly still furious. He turned to Kevin Keane and asked in a low voice, "Did you get a good look at that silhouette earlier?"

As soon as he spoke, the others at the table turned their attention to Kevin. Their eyes were filled with curiosity and speculation as they eagerly awaited his answer.

Kevin remained composed. Taking a spoon, he gently pried around the edges of the clay pot, carefully scraping out the fragrant, crispy rice from the bottom for Luna. His movements were tender and completely natural.

"It looked like that tagalong who’s always trailing after Francis Grant," he said casually.

Hearing this, a flash of disgust crossed Luna’s eyes, and she gritted her teeth in irritation. She despised people who spread sleazy rumors; it was absolutely repulsive.

She picked up a piece of lamb chop, chewed, and swallowed before saying nonchalantly, "Who cares who it was? Send the video you just took to Francis. He’ll deal with it."

Mrs. Dawson picked up her glass and took a sip of water. Setting it down, she pondered for a moment before looking at the group. "Are you talking about that lively-looking girl? I think her name is Skylar Quinn, the Space Superpower User."

Rhonda Dawson nodded in agreement. "I’ve seen her a few times too. She really isn’t friendly to us. I think she even glared at me a couple of times."

"But we can’t be sure. It’s possible she was just passing by," Kevin added. "This whole farce looks like someone purely trying to disgust us. As for who the mastermind is, we can’t be certain right now. After all, the original instigator has been reduced to ashes."

Lynn was also mulling it over. "We can’t rule out the possibility that someone specifically invited Skylar to watch the show, conveniently using her as a scapegoat."

Kevin pushed the clay pot of crispy rice toward Luna and continued, "That’s definitely a possibility. The culprit might have figured out our little boss’s vindictive nature and deliberately pushed Skylar to the forefront. If our little boss got angry and threw Skylar to the zombies, wouldn’t our Sunset Squad be completely at odds with the Quinn Family? When that happens, Francis would be caught in the middle, and it’d be hard for him to mediate."

Listening to this string of analysis, Evan couldn’t help but laugh out loud. "Our lives sure are busy. It’s bad enough we have to kill zombies and complete missions, but now we have to find time to solve mysteries and track down masterminds."

Wayne Dawson put down his chopsticks and sighed helplessly. "Exactly! Can’t we just enjoy a few peaceful days? They won’t even let us eat in peace."

Luna, however, looked completely unfazed. She scooped up a spoonful of crispy rice, stuffed it into her mouth, and mumbled as she chewed, "There’s no need to waste brainpower on these convoluted schemes. Anyone who shows hostility towards us and dares to jump around in front of us, we’ll just kill them straight out."

At that moment, Lynn received a message. "Francis just texted. Skylar was called over there by a little girl, but there’s no way to know exactly who it is yet. He’s going to send someone to investigate the troublemakers from today."

"Hmph, I bet this was the doing of some squad or someone in this safe zone who’s got a grudge against us!" Aaron Palmer slammed his hand heavily on the table, his tone full of indignation. "There aren’t any security cameras around here anymore. Finding one little girl among over three hundred thousand people is like searching for a needle in a haystack. It’ll be as hard as ascending to the heavens."

Even so, they couldn’t have held back from killing that vile woman earlier. The garbage she was spewing had been simply unbearable.