Chapter 142 Awakening

The residents of the settlement ultimately did not dare to make a move against Velen. The bloodied, mangled corpses lying on the ground had vividly illustrated what kind of fate awaited them if they dared to challenge him. Even the soldiers who usually lorded over them and acted as tyrants were no match for him; where would these people possibly find the courage to fight Velen?

However, this did not mean the residents had run out of thoughts. If the Caesar's Legion arrived and could not find Velen, they would undoubtedly take it out on the people of the settlement. Since they could not defeat them... couldn't they at least run and hide?

Because most of the resistance forces in the manor had been completely wiped out by Velen, the remaining residents and soldiers began a frantic looting of the entire estate. They drove car after car out of the garage and crammed everything they could carry into the vehicles. Clearly, they intended to abandon this settlement completely and go live elsewhere. This meant that Hope Town would become history—at least until the Caesar's Legion sent people here once again, it would be thoroughly forsaken.

"I truly admire you, Master."

Looking at the frantically scurrying residents outside the car window, the cat-eared maid sighed helplessly.

"You can casually do just about anything and completely ruin an entire settlement. This ability of yours is truly extraordinary."

"The one who is wrong is not me, but the world. I merely did what I ought to do."

Velen clearly had no intention of taking the blame. In fact, he felt nothing at all about the demise of such a small settlement. Weakness equals death—this was the law of the wasteland. If you were not strong enough, anything you said was useless. And weakness itself was the greatest original sin... There was nothing strange about that; the survival of the fittest has always been the universal law of the world. Perhaps before the cataclysm, humans tried to shake off their innate nature, but the cruel world dealt a resounding slap that completely woke up those humans immersed in foolish fantasies... Any dignity, spirit, or freedom could not compare to the instinct for survival. The essence of humanity was not much different from other beasts. If one had to name a difference between humans and animals, it was simply that humans were greedier than beasts.

However, such philosophical topics had nothing to do with Velen.

Without paying any more attention to the residents fleeing for their lives in the face of disaster, Velen instructed Eruca to drive the transport vehicle away from Hope Town and head toward the direction of the Harmony. Of course, Velen did not forget to notify Kurona and Chris to prepare to receive the supplies. But to Velen's surprise, he received rather unexpected news from Kurona's end.

"That experimental subject has woken up?"

"Yes, Commander, except... there is a minor problem."

Because of Chris's habit of never saying more than a single sentence, the task of external communication was basically handled by Eruca and Kurona... and as Kurona grew up, Chris seemed increasingly reluctant to speak at all.

"A minor problem? What kind of problem?"

"This... you'll understand once you get back."

Faced with Velen's inquiry, Kurona was momentarily at a loss for words. Perhaps she did not know how to describe it either, and in the end, she simply offered such a vague and timid answer.

When Velen finally returned to the Harmony, he understood why Kurona could not explain what had happened.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Looking at the elven maiden who was tightly bound with ropes and lying unconscious on the floor with her eyes rolled back, Velen was slightly startled. He looked around at the smashed bottles and jars scattered everywhere, and then at Chris and Kurona, who were holding rags and wiping the floor. For a moment, Velen could not figure out what on earth had taken place. Hearing Velen's inquiry, Kurona and Chris both raised their heads and cast embarrassed expressions toward him.

"The thing is, Commander..."

According to Kurona, half an hour ago, the elven maiden had finally regained consciousness and was able to converse with others. However, she did not seem to understand her own situation and remained in a daze of "Who am I?", "Where is this?", and "What happened?". Perhaps because Kurona's cute appearance had bewitched the elven maiden, the latter had lowered her guard. At least under Kurona's comfort, she did not make any extreme moves—of course, perhaps in the elven maiden's view, this little girl posed no threat to her whatsoever.

Originally, everything was fine, and they just had to wait for Velen and the others to return, but an accident turned all of that into empty talk.

Of course, from Kurona and Chris's perspective, this could hardly be considered an accident. Through mental sensing, Kurona discovered that several zombies were approaching the Harmony. She then notified Chris, and upon receiving the notice, Chris quickly located the target and eliminated it... For the two of them, this was simply a part of daily life, as effortless as eating and drinking water.

To their astonishment, upon seeing Chris dispatch those distant zombies, the elven maiden leaped up in fright, shouting, "How can you kill people?!", and then bolted out of the vehicle, running toward the direction where the zombies were located!

This gave both Chris and Kurona a fright. They never expected the elven maiden to react so violently. In the wasteland, shooting and killing people was nothing new, and what did killing a few zombies matter anyway? Why was the elven maiden making such a huge fuss over it?

Startled as they were, the two of them certainly could not let the elven maiden run outside. The wilderness was fraught with danger, and no one knew what lurked in the shadows. Therefore, Chris and Kurona hurriedly stepped forward to try and stop the elven maiden. However, the elven maiden struggled desperately, shouting, "You murderers!", while attempting to escape. Her strength was truly considerable; although Chris and Kurona were both gifted individuals, they were not physical augmentation types, and their usual strength was about the same as that of ordinary girls. For a moment, dealing with the elven maiden's struggle proved extremely difficult for them. Ultimately, with no other choice, Kurona had to resort to her trump card, pulling the small bear straight out of her arms. Accompanied by soaring blue flames, a giant bear materialized out of thin air, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws at the elven maiden.

Seeing this, the elven maiden's reaction was very direct—her eyes rolled back directly, and she cleanly and neatly fainted on the spot.

The chaotic state of the cabin right now was what the two of them had left behind while subduing the elven maiden. Perhaps because she had behaved so obediently earlier, Chris and Kurona had lowered their guard against the elven maiden and had not thought to be vigilant. As a result, when the elven maiden resisted, the two of them suffered a major loss and even ended up turning the guest room of the Harmony into a complete mess. If Kurona had not unleashed her ultimate move, "Annie's Little Bear," there was no telling what the consequences might have been.

"This is truly interesting..."

After listening to Kurona's account, Velen glanced down at the elven maiden, who was still unconscious, and then, seeming to think of something, looked back at Kurona.

"I need to verify this: is her strength very great? How strong is she? Is it about the same as an ordinary person, or greater than an ordinary person? Also, when she was moving around earlier, was she normal, or somewhat uncoordinated?"

"This..."

Faced with Velen's question, Kurona was obviously somewhat taken aback. She and Chris exchanged a glance, hesitated for a moment, and then answered.

"It seems... a bit weaker than Eruca-姐姐 [Eruca-sister], but not too bad either... In other respects, she seemed about the same as an ordinary person."

"I see... Understood."

Hearing this, Velen nodded and then turned his gaze toward Derin beside him.

"Take her to my room. I want to investigate personally."