He stepped closer, his tone firm but patient.
"My focus isn’t the background checks. It’s on who’s willing to help us right now and deal with the zombies."
Martha’s brows knitted together, confusion flickering across her face.
"These refugees’ pasts might be a problem," Kael continued, "but our priority problem is the zombies. As long as we keep the refugees busy fighting them, they won’t have ti to stir up trouble."
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "And those who already have issues? They’ll leave on their own."
He exhaled slowly.
"As for those who are in the line and causing trouble... there will always be another day to admit more refugees. It’s better to deal with the problematic ones now and not give them even the slightest chance to sprout chaos."
Hearing that, Martha nodded in agreent, her expression resolute.
"That approach makes sense."
With that, they decided to proceed imdiately.
Far away from all this chaos, Ivy was busy preparing for her wedding.
The storage halls were finally full... crates of vegetables stacked neatly, their fresh, earthy scent filling the air.
With food supplies stabilized, the people in her territory had grown noticeably calr. Morale was high, and more squads were even volunteering to go out and fight zombies.
Yet Ivy couldn’t shake the unease creeping into her chest.
She had noticed it recently... the zombies were becoming more proactive.
She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination or if sothing else was at play. Maybe it wasn’t just the Zombie King. Maybe the extre heat was accelerating things.
Humans weren’t the only ones suffering from the heat. Zombies, too, were decaying faster, their skin blistering and burning.
So had already collapsed, charred beyond movent. That should have helped humanity... but it hadn’t.
Flies sward the rotting bodies, feeding on decayed flesh. Worse, so of them were mutating, growing stronger, causing trouble in nearby regions.
The military base had already been overwheld by these insects to the point that nearly half of its personnel had defected and lined up outside Ivy’s base instead.
She had even heard a rumor that General Frank himself was preparing to join.
For a mont, Ivy almost laughed at the irony. Instead, she calmly ordered a list to be made... every remaining enemy, every hostile force.
Once the nas were recorded, she instructed that each of them be given a "special offer": food in exchange for valuable assets.
By now, Ivy had accumulated staggering wealth. Over a thousand properties on paper. One hundred tons of gold.
Nearly seventy tons of silver. With that alone, she could have lived comfortably for decades.
But comfort wasn’t her goal.
She envisioned a future where the apocalypse ended, disasters receded, and humanity rebuilt itself.
That was why she continued to accumulate land, resources, and capital. Over ti, she realized her territory was no longer just a base... it was slowly turning into a city.
Still, worry gnawed at her.
Without another major breakthrough, her power wouldn’t be enough to sustain the expanding population.
Compared to the Talon Base from her previous life, this base had already reached half its size in just nine months.
’Ti really does fly,’ she thought.
Nearly a year had passed since the apocalypse began. The extre heat had peaked, and she knew what followed.
Extre cold.
Her chest tightened. ’When winter arrives... most of humanity won’t survive.’
From seventy billion to one billion.
Taking a deep breath, Ivy clenched her fists.
"We need to produce clothes," she murmured to herself. "If we don’t, we won’t survive the cold."
Even if her base could hold out, others wouldn’t leave their shelters, and trade would collapse. Inco would plumt.
Just as worry clouded her face, soone wrapped their arms around her from behind.
Ivy didn’t even flinch.
Silas.
She chuckled softly.
"If you don’t fix this habit of sneaking up on ," she warned, "one day I’ll seriously beat you."
Silas laughed, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"I probably deserve a beating."
With exaggerated enthusiasm, he turned and presented his backside.
"Right here."
Ivy closed her eyes, mortified beyond words. ’How did my husband beco this shaless?’ she thought helplessly.
Ever since marrying her, Silas had learned all kinds of antics, chief among them, presenting his butt and asking to be spanked.
She had actually done it a few tis before.
And every ti, he only laughed and said,
"I’ve taken my punishnt. Next ti you make a mistake, you’ll take yours the sa way."
Ivy sighed, torn between embarrassnt and amusent, as the weight of the world montarily lifted from her shoulders.
This had reached the point where Ivy didn’t dare skip her als at all, genuinely worried that he might actually spank her.
’This man is serious when it cos to food,’ she thought helplessly.
Even though she knew he respected her deeply, whenever it ca to her health, Silas never joked.
He watched her als, her rest, even the way her face paled when she overworked herself, and he treated all of it with utmost seriousness.
Recently, he had also developed a strange habit of disappearing and reappearing out of nowhere.
It made Ivy slightly suspicious, but she chose not to pry.
With their wedding banquet only two days away, her heart brimd with excitent.
From the bottom of her heart, she felt happy. After everything they had endured, they could finally beco one.
These days, however, had been torturous in their own way.
Even though they wanted to be closer, whenever things went a little too far, Ivy would suddenly feel nauseous.
A cold, uncomfortable sensation would rise in her stomach, forcing her to pull away.
’Maybe it’s just lingering trauma,’ she reassured herself. ’Once we’re married, maybe it’ll fade.’
She wanted to believe that marriage would help her move past whatever invisible wall still lingered inside her heart.
While she was lost in thought, a knock sounded at the door. Ivy looked up, slightly startled.
When she saw Helena standing there, she couldn’t help but smile softly. "What are you doing here?"
Helena sighed faintly, her gaze lingering on Ivy with complicated emotions.
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