The Day Love Betrayed Me and Never the Plan 226

Chapter 226 

Clayton’s eyes were still glued to the mutant insects pouring in. Every single one of them had a core. He’d only been gone for a few minutes, and already his teammates were covered in cores. 

Chloe let out a wry smile. ‘So this isn’t an invasion at all. It’s more like they’re just dropping off loot for us, she thought 

“Clayton, don’t rush. There are plenty of mutant insects in the Botanic Gardens. You’ll have plenty of chances to kill them,” Chloe said. 

Clayton scratched his head, a simple, honest smile spreading across his face. 

‘Yeah, what am I doing, competing with regular folks for cores?’ he thought. 

“Back to the point, can you put up a row of houses along the east wall of the base?” Chloe asked. 

Clayton looked totally confused. 

“Didn’t we just expand the base and take over a bunch of houses? We’ve got more than enough for everyone. Are we expecting a whole new wave of people or something?” he asked. 

‘And even if we do get new people, we don’t need that many houses. And why pick the most dangerous spot to build” he thought. 

Chloe smiled. 

“Clayton, you’re an earth–type powered human. You must’ve noticed how the plants here are way more lively and lush than anywhere else,” she said. 

Clayton nodded. 

“Yeah, the rye here always gives us way more than anywhere else. And the greens, if we don’t harvest them soon, I’m starting to think they’re gonna turn mutant,” he said. 

As he spoke, Clayton suddenly seemed to sense something. “Standing here, even without absorbing any cores, my abilities are ramping up. What’s going on?” Clayton said. 

Chloe voiced her suspicion. “I think there’s an energy stone underground, something a hundred times more powerful than a core.” 

“Energy stone? You mean the thing that’s making all those mutant plants in the Botanic Gardens evolve like crazy?” Clayton asked. 

She nodded seriously. Before she could say anything else, Clayton dashed off, his voice drifting back on the wind. 

“Don’t worry, boss! I’ll go find some blueprints and make sure those houses are super safe!” he called out. 

With Clayton gone, the place was still buzzing with activity. 

Even though the mutant creatures were swarming in, no matter how many showed up, they all had to squeeze through that little hole made by three bricks. The base had basically turned into a fortress, easy to defend and tough to breach. 

Most of the ones getting in were just the first or second level mutant insects, small and weak. Even regular folks could take them out, and everyone was collecting cores like crazy. 

These days, cores were the universal currency, and everyone’s faces were lit up with excitement. 

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Chapter 226 

20 vouchere 

Even if they got scratched up, nobody had time to patch themselves up. They just grabbed their knives and charged right back in. 

Some people even came over, begging Chloe not to seal up the gap, so regular folks could still get a shot at collecting cores. 

Chloe just rolled her eyes and threw up a shade over the opening. There was no way she was letting anyone get roasted by the sun out there. 

‘Alright, but you guys better be careful,” she said. 

“Thanks, boss!” they replied. 

For regular folks, their whole motivation was collecting cores. Before this, everyone had to grind rye flour for cores, and it was painfully slow. 

Now that there was a much faster way to earn cores, people were practically jumping at the chance. 

And these were cores. After all, even if each one was tiny, the sheer number piling up made it a real haul. 

When it came to those first and second–level mutant creatures, the regular folks just set them on fire. With the terrain working in their favor, they actually managed to snag a bunch of cores. 

Everyone’s face was lit up with excitement. 

While life inside the base was pretty sweet, the world outside was falling apart. The heat was brutal, the virus was running wild, and everywhere you looked, there were bodies, zombies, and humans alike, crushed and broken. 

Finger–length beetles crawled out of rotting corpses, sometimes even wriggling out from inside their skulls, before vanishing into the dry, cracked earth. 

Each one had scissor–like pincers jutting from its head, sharp enough to snap open a zombie’s skull like it was nothing. 

They looked absolutely disgusting and straight–up terrifying. 

Out on the highway just outside Grovenwich, an SUV was tearing down the road at top speed, with a pack of massive mutant creatures hot on its tail. 

The gap between them was closing fast. One of those giant feet was about to stomp down on the SUV. 

And just when things couldn’t get any worse, the road ahead was suddenly blocked by a swarm of iron beetles. 

‘Bell, look at that! What the hell is that up ahead?” the driver yelled. 

The driver gripped the steering wheel so tight his knuckles turned pale, eyes wide with terror as he stared at the swarm of iron beetles blocking the road. His hands were shaking uncontrollably. 

The guy riding shotgun saw it too, spat out in anger, and snapped, “Forget it! Just floor it and crush them!” 

But then, with a loud bang, the tire blew out, and the whole SUV tumbled into a roadside ditch. 

The car gave an ear–splitting screech. 

Bell’s eyes went wide with desperation. “Jump!” he shouted. 

Anyone who’d survived this long in the apocalypse was a powered human. They didn’t hesitate. Each one bailed out of the car in a flash, right as it started to roll. 

2/4 

9:12 am P P P 

PPO 

Chapter 226 

When they looked up, two enormous feet slammed down right where the SUV had just been. 

20 vouch 

With the tire blown and the car flipped by the iron beetles, the two giant mutant beasts stomped straight onto the swarm and immediately let out agonized howls. 

The iron beetles were crushed flat, but those massive feet puffed up to twice their normal size. 

Bell and the other three survivors instantly went pale with fear. “Oh crap, those iron beetles are deadly poisonous!” Bell shouted. 

As soon as Bell finished speaking, the two giant mutant beasts whipped their heads around, those huge, blood–red eyes giving everyone the creeps. 

“Run! Move it!” Bell yelled. 

The four of them were so terrified they nearly wet themselves, scrambling into the depths of the forest as fast as they could. 

They bolted for over 300 feet, stumbling all the way. One of the guys wasn’t watching his step and tripped over a root. He was so freaked out that he actually wet his pants. 

They thought for sure they were dead meat, but when they glanced back, they couldn’t believe their eyes. The two giant beasts hadn’t chased after them. 

Instead, the monsters just stared at them, looking freaked out, not daring to get any closer. 

The two creatures just sat right there in the middle of the road, fixing their blood–red eyes on the four, roaring in rage. 

“B–Bell, look! Those two monsters won’t even go near the woods. You think there might be something even scarier hiding in there?” one of the guys stammered. 

The guy with the wild hair named Caspian stared into the thick forest, eyes wide. ‘Is it just me, or does it feel like something way more terrifying is lurking in there?‘ he thought, shivering. 

“Let’s hang back for now and see if those monsters move on,” Bell said. 

They were all hardened survivors, used to living on the edge. Danger was in their blood, and just seeing how those two beasts reacted told them this place was anything but ordinary. 

The fact that not a single mutant creature could be seen in the dense forest was downright creepy. 

Bell and the other three were all banged up, but seeing those monsters back off, they started patching themselves up. 

“Bell, all our stuff is still in the car. What are we supposed to do now?” Caspian asked, worry written all over his face. Bell let out a sigh. “Guess we’ll just have to play it by ear.” 

They barely had time to catch their breath when Caspian suddenly yelled, “Hey guys, look! There’s a wide road running right through the forest!” 

Bell glanced over, tightening the bandage on his arm. “So what? We must be in Grovenwich.” 

“Grovenwich? You mean that city the radio said got taken over by mutant plants?” Caspian blurted out.