Chapter 281 Lily's Request for Cooperation
Steven stared at Lily's message, lost in thought.
He couldn't forget that fierce, knife-wielding Lily!
Back then, she was starving and exhausted, yet she still had the energy to take on Fluffy.
If she was at full strength, she'd be even more of a powerhouse!
Lily had just joined West Mountain Base and was already going on missions with the special forces, which meant she was a big deal there.
But why was she looking for Cindy?
Did she need help?
Steven had no clue what was going on at West Mountain Base or what kind of person Lily really was.
He couldn't shake the feeling that this might be a trap.
Maybe Charles and his crew realized a direct attack on the shelter wouldn't work, so they were trying to trick Cindy into letting Lily in.
Steven crossed his arms, a sign he was on guard.
He looked at Cindy and Aubrey and asked seriously, "What can you tell me about this Lily?"
Aubrey and Cindy immediately spilled everything they knew about her.
"Lily, 27, a national-level Taekwondo expert, skilled in over a dozen martial arts.
She's best at knife fighting and grappling and used to be a bodyguard for a female leader.
Later, she got hired by the Innovation Academy's board with a $400,000 annual salary to teach PE.
She's cold on the outside but warm on the inside."
"Hold up!" Steven, curious, asked Aubrey, "Are you talking about her looks or her personality?"
Aubrey scratched his head, confused.
Cindy chuckled and said, "Physically, it's hard to explain unless you see it yourself. But Aubrey's probably talking about her personality!"
Steven was a bit let down. "Alright, keep going."
Aubrey and Cindy continued.
"Lily's been doing Taekwondo since she was a kid and is a top-notch fighter, so she's pretty straightforward.
She's got a good character but can be stubborn.
But it's clear she's a good person.
She could have easily survived the apocalypse on her own, but she chose to protect her students."
Cindy tilted her head and said, "If it weren't for Ms. Evans, our classmates would've been Fluffy's dinner!"
Fluffy, napping in broad daylight, yawned widely, filling the air with a fishy smell.
Steven crossed his arms and thought, 'Cindy and Aubrey have known Lily for a long time. And as a teacher, she wouldn't fake her nature for so long.
Surviving the apocalypse proves Lily's got a good character.
And just talking to her won't cost me anything.'
So, he decided to see what Lily wanted.
Maybe it would even be good for him?
After thinking it over, Steven asked Cindy, "If I use your phone to chat with her, is there a risk of her planting a virus and messing up the shelter's network?"
Cindy confidently replied, "Don't worry about that. My phone's defense is as good as the control room's computer!"
Steven nodded. "Alright, I'll use your phone to chat with her."
Cindy had no objections. Steven grabbed Cindy's phone and shot a message to Lily: [This is Steven. What do you want to talk about?]
Meanwhile, Lily was chilling in her room at Cox Village. As a captain-level Psychic and a woman, she had her own space, courtesy of Earl.
After seeing Steven's strength, Lily was set on teaming up with him. Time was ticking, and every day wasted could mean losing one of her students.
When Steven's reply popped up, Lily was thrilled. She quickly typed back: [Steven, I hope we can work together! My students are at West Mountain Base, and their lives are in danger. I need your help!]
Steven stayed cautious and replied: [Help you? You shouldn't be short on food and shelter at West Mountain Base, right? Aren't Innovation Academy students all aristocrats?]
His tone had a hint of sarcasm. After all, apart from geniuses like Cindy and Aubrey, Innovation Academy was full of top-tier aristocrats.
Lily responded: [You should know that in times like these, past identities and statuses mean nothing. I genuinely want to cooperate with you.]
Lily: [I'm a captain in the special forces at West Mountain Base. I think you might need my help!]
Lily: [In return, you help me and my students get out of there. What do you think?]
Steven stroked his chin, trying to read between the lines of Lily's message.
Something about her words felt off.
Steven: [Isn't West Mountain Base a big underground shelter?]
Steven: [How could there still be life-threatening situations there? But you seem to be doing well, and you're a powerful Psychic. You can't even protect a group of students?]
Steven had no clue about the internal situation at West Mountain Base, so he didn't get why Lily needed his help.
But one thing was clear: he wasn't about to attack West Mountain Base!
He could protect himself, but going after a well-armed, fully industrialized shelter was way too risky!
So Steven didn't rush to answer Lily's request.
Instead, he asked: [I know nothing about West Mountain Base. If you want my help, you at least need to tell me something about its internal situation.]
Whether or not the deal went through, at least he could get some free intel.
Lily thought for a moment. She knew some stuff about West Mountain Base but wasn't sure if it would be useful to Steven.
But to gain his trust, she decided to share.
Lily: [Alright, I can tell you. You risked your life to save Cindy, so I believe you're a good person!]
Steven found this message kind of funny.
If he didn't need a network expert, he wouldn't have bothered saving Cindy.
Steven: [Alright, go ahead.]
Lily then sent Steven a voice message, spilling everything she knew about West Mountain Base.
She didn't think there were too many secrets to it.
And she didn't have access to the core secrets, so there wasn't much to hide.
Steven didn't keep his chat with Lily a secret from the others.
So everyone heard Lily's rundown of West Mountain Base.
As she talked, their expressions kept changing.
The four-layer Life Warehouse setup at West Mountain Base seemed normal to them.
After all, with so many people in the base, some had to be at the bottom, doing the grunt work to support those in the upper Life Warehouse. But when they heard that the food these people consumed was made from cockroaches and corpses, everyone looked disgusted and nauseous.
Only Steven stayed relatively calm, listening to everything Lily had to say.
He didn't let his emotions get in the way as he carefully picked out the useful bits from Lily's words.
The folks in the Fourth Life Warehouse at West Mountain Base had to drink protein liquid. Using cockroaches to make it wasn't shocking, but using corpses? That was gross.
This showed that their total stored supplies weren't enough.
Even if the upper-class folks had questionable morals, they wouldn't easily ditch their basic human decency to keep up appearances.
Unless they couldn't maintain their quality of life, they wouldn't go to such extremes.
The mention of corpses was what really got Steven's attention.
People in the Fourth Life Warehouse were periodically taken out and then disposed of.
Lily noticed that the corpses showed signs of mutation, maybe from drug injections or high radiation exposure.
In other words, were they doing experiments related to Psychics?
Steven's eyes flickered as he thought about the Psychics around him.
They, like him, had awakened their Supernatural Abilities under intense stress, often at the brink of death.
West Mountain Base was likely experimenting on a lot of people to create a powerful Psychic force.
"This explains everything! Those missing students were taken for human experiments. It's laughable; the chance of Psychics emerging is so low that few of the students taken would return," Steven said.
"But they don't waste anything; even the dead bodies are processed into high-quality protein." Steven sneered.
Nora and Elinor instinctively moved closer to Steven, their bodies covered in goosebumps, trembling with fear.
"West Mountain Base is a complete hell!"
"If they treat the people in the Fourth Life Warehouse like this, what happens when they all die? Who will do the labor for them?"
Hearing their discussion, Steven laughed indifferently. "Living people outside are indeed scarce, but that's only relative to before the apocalypse."
He went on, "With the population base of the Astralium Kingdom, even if only 5% survived, the population density would still be among the highest in the world."
Steven looked towards Cox Town. "Aren't there thousands of people there? If I'm not mistaken, a large portion of them will be taken away. West Mountain Base will kindly let them experience artificial mutation."
The women showed expressions of relief.
If they hadn't met Steven and been taken in, who knows what fate would have awaited them if they had fallen into the hands of such an organization.
Aubrey couldn't help but mutter, "I thought their lives would be better at West Mountain Base! Now it seems they would have been better off staying at Innovation Academy!"
In reality, if they hadn't gone to West Mountain Base and had stayed at Innovation Academy, their living conditions wouldn't have been too bad.
After all, once Cindy left, Fluffy also left.
But they didn't know this; it was all a coincidence.
Steven now understood why Lily was seeking his help. However, he still sent Lily a voice message, "You know the security forces at West Mountain Base well. . They're not going to let a few people waltz in and rescue a bunch of weak students. Expecting me to go rescue them is overestimating me. I can only ensure my own safety."
Lily felt a bit disappointed, but Steven's response was what she expected.
After all, Steven had no emotional ties to them and no reason to risk his life for them.
Lily replied, "You can fend off attacks from West Mountain Base, which proves you have great strength. If I can demonstrate enough value, can I persuade you?"
Steven chuckled.
"I suggest you abandon that idea. But you have identified the key issue. Whether I help you and to what extent depends on the value you provide to me."
Lily said, "I understand! I will prove it and try to use my own strength to help them escape West Mountain Base. If possible, I hope you can provide some assistance then."
She asked, "If we manage to escape, can you take us in and give us a place to live?"
Steven frowned, looking incredulous. "Are you saying you want to live in my shelter?"
Lily said, "Your shelter is big enough to accommodate dozens of people. I believe you wouldn't want to see these young kids suffer at West Mountain Base, right?"
Steven took a deep breath and slowly sat up straight.
He said to Cindy and Aubrey, "I see how naive your teacher is!"
Elinor laughed. "She really is naive."
Indeed, the shelter could accommodate dozens of people.
But the question was, why should it?
There might be many kind-hearted people in this world who would selflessly sacrifice some of their own interests for others.
But Steven's name was definitely not among them.
Cindy and Aubrey exchanged glances, Cindy smiling, and Aubrey scratching his head helplessly.
This was indeed something their teacher would do.
Steven picked up the phone and directly refused Lily. "Sorry, my shelter won't let anyone in!"
After a while, Lily sent a long message, trying to persuade Steven.
Lily: [We won't be a burden to you. We can help you with many things. The kids from Innovation Academy have learned more knowledge and skills than ordinary people since they were young. They are very capable!]
Steven said, "This is non-negotiable. Honestly, Ms. Evans, we don't seem to have any relationship, do we? I'm even less familiar with your students."
He went on, "In fact, we even have some conflicts. Why do you think I would kindly take you in?"
Steven still remembered how he had taken Lily's Dragon Roar at Innovation Academy and killed several students who tried to kidnap Cindy.
They wouldn't have had a good opinion of him, not a chance.
Seeing that she couldn't persuade Steven, Lily, not being a fool, softened her tone. "Then, can you at least provide us with some shelter and basic supplies?"
Steven smiled. "If those are the conditions, then there's room for negotiation."
Steven looked at Cindy and smiled. "Cindy, didn't you say before that if we could plant a Trojan in West Mountain Base's network, we could hack into their entire system?"
Cindy immediately understood what Steven wanted to do. "You want to use Ms. Evans to counterattack West Mountain Base?"
Steven said calmly, "I can't always be on the defensive! At the very least, if we control their network, we can understand their true strength."
He added, "If we ever need it, this will be a very important card in my hand!"
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