Chapter 211: Exploding Round-Faced Man?
Lily Hart was confused. She quickly ran forward, picked up the stone, and flung it away with a WHOOSH. Before it could even hit the ground, the stone exploded in a shower of sparks.
It was a brilliant display, dyeing the dim night sky red.
"What the hell?" Lily Hart jumped, instinctively taking a step back. "Was that stone a bomb? Activate maximum protection. Prohibit all foreign objects from entry."
’If I’d been a step slower, the consequences would have been unimaginable.’
[Yes, Host.]
"Come on, next time something like this happens, can’t you just step in and handle it? What if I get blown up?!"
[Host, I do not have that permission. I cannot act on my own without your authorization.]
"Granted, granted, granted! From now on, in any critical situation like this, you have direct authorization to act. If I die, there won’t be anyone left to grant you permissions!"
Lily Hart said sarcastically, still a bit shaken from the close call.
THUD—
Another stone slammed into the RV’s Protective Shield. This time, it was simply devoured, vanishing without a trace.
Lily Hart took two steps forward, braced her hands on the table, and leaned out to look, muttering, ’Who is it, coming here this late at night looking for a death wish.’
The words had barely left her mouth when a barrage of stones rained down like hail with a deafening RUMBLE. Lily Hart couldn’t see the Protective Shield and instinctively recoiled in shock.
Once she realized what was happening, she put her hands on her hips and started yelling at the darkness outside. "You’ve got the guts to look for death, but not the guts to show your face?" She kept up the tirade for a full two minutes.
She tired herself out, taking a sip of water to rest. After a while, a RUSTLING sound reached her ears. Lily Hart jolted and peered outside.
"Who’s there?!" she roared, slamming her water cup on the table with a THUMP.
A man emerged from the shadows. He had a buzz cut and a round, cheerful-looking face. But in his hand, he held one of the stones he had just used to attack Lily Hart.
He was surprised to see Lily Hart completely unscathed. He tossed the stone in his hand a couple of times, still unable to figure it out. ’Did I miss? No, that can’t be right!’
With that thought, he threw the stone at Lily Hart again. She didn’t move a muscle, not even blinking as the round-faced man watched, dumbfounded, as the stone vanished in mid-air.
"You! You!" The round-faced man stared as if he’d seen a ghost, his eyes wide as he pointed at her, completely speechless.
Lily Hart’s lips curled into a smile. With a wave of her hand, she summoned several plants that erupted from the ground right next to the round-faced man.
"What is this?!" The round-faced man stared at the unknown plants that had suddenly appeared, towering over him. He was so scared he nearly jumped out of his skin.
’Are they mutated plants?’
He pulled another stone from his dimensional space, tossed it twice, and hurled it at one of the man-eating plants with a gaping maw. To his shock, the plant swallowed it whole!
It even chewed a few times before swallowing! The grating CRUNCH CRUNCH sound was like a thousand needles piercing his fragile little heart.
"Where in the world did these things come from?!" Seeing that he couldn’t handle the plants and was no match for Lily Hart, the round-faced man’s mind turned to escape.
But Lily Hart wasn’t about to let him get his wish. She ordered the plants to knock him unconscious, chew him up, and eat him, destroying all traces of the body.
’If she hadn’t reacted so quickly and thrown that first stone, she’d be the one lying on the ground crying right now.’
Lily Hart felt completely justified. After cleaning up the scene, she recalled her plants and went upstairs to sleep.
Little did she know what a tremendous shock her actions had sent through the various factions secretly watching the RV.
Unbeknownst to Lily Hart, the superpower users lurking nearby quickly departed to report what they had seen to their respective leaders.
「...」
"That Seventh-rank Superpower User was killed? I remember his superpower was explosions—he could turn anything he held into a bomb," Ivy Whittaker said in surprise.
Rose Rhodes, seated at the head of the room, wasn’t surprised by her subordinate’s words in the slightest. Lily Hart’s power was simply unfathomable.
’She wondered which family had been foolish enough to go looking for death at a time like this.’
「...」
"What did you just say?! Justin Carter was killed?! By Lily Hart?! Isn’t she just some weak woman? I thought her superpowers were just supportive things, like that lottery shop! How could she possibly have any combat ability?"
The wine glass in his hand was hurled to the floor. The man was so furious he was rambling incoherently. Justin Carter had been one of the few Seventh-rank Superpower Users under his command.
To be killed so easily... and eaten alive by a few plants?
’Who the hell started the rumor that Lily Hart was a pushover?!’
As he stewed in his anger, the man swept everything off the table. The gourmet food, porcelain plates, and glasses went flying, shattering on the floor in a chaotic mess.
「...」
Lily Hart remained blissfully unaware, sleeping without a care in the world until dawn.
It was a new day. Lily Hart opened up the side of the RV. There was no trace of the round-faced man outside. ’Perfect,’ she thought. ’Time to get to work!’
It was still early, and customers were beginning to trickle out. But they were all discussing the same thing, their faces grim and nowhere near as cheerful as the day before.
Lily Hart listened for a while and pieced it together: rations were being cut again.
They were already cut once last month, and now they were being cut again. Just a mouthful of water? Were they being treated like beggars?!
As a result, today’s customers were filled with resentment, cursing eighteen generations of Central Command’s leadership. It didn’t matter whose decision it was; they cursed every name they knew!
Listening to the customers’ sighs, Lily Hart couldn’t help but ask, "If they only gave out a mouthful of water each day, how did you all manage to survive before?"
A customer replied resentfully, "By killing zombies like our lives depended on it and trading the Crystal Cores for living supplies."
"I don’t know when it started, but supplies just keep getting more expensive. A full day of killing zombies doesn’t even guarantee you can trade for food anymore," another customer added.
"Tell me about it! But things are better now that Boss Hart is here! I checked out the convenience store—a bottle of mineral water costs less than one Crystal Core! It’s so cheap!" a customer exclaimed excitedly.
At the mention of this, everyone perked up, chiming in to praise how great the convenience store was. The prices were so low! They had gone for a look yesterday and couldn’t help but buy a huge haul!
Listening to them chat, Lily Hart couldn’t help but smile. ’I really need to get the ’online supermarket’ up and running,’ she thought. ’The fruits and vegetables behind the hotel have been ripe for a while.’
With that in mind, she took a few steps back, settled into a comfortable position on the sofa, and got to work.
’Since Central Command blocked the old app, I’ll just create a new one!’
Lily Hart was a woman of action. This task, however, required Frost Shaw. It was a function for the convenience store, and she was too lazy to do it herself, so she just sent him a message.
Half an hour later, Frost Shaw was staring at two identical mini-apps, lost in thought.
"Forward the new one to me. I’ll reinforce it so The Mysterious Clan can’t destroy it," Lily Hart said, full of ambition.
After setting up a firewall-like protection and configuring purchase limits and prices, everything was ready. Lily Hart forwarded the new mini-app to Yael Lowell and Logan Holland.
Logan Holland immediately replied with, "??"
Yael Lowell, however, opened the mini-app and was thrilled to find that it actually worked! The image of the mineral water was so vivid it instantly made his mouth feel dry.