Chapter 312 - Good Rewarded with Good
The shopping center was at a good height, and a straight street lay before it. Thus, four sniper rifles and four drones were enough for the agents to control what happened in a range of several hundred meters around the shopping center.
The search and rescue operation didn’t stop until midnight. After all the survivors were rescued, an exhausted Luke finally returned to the shopping center.
Before he returned, he gave Agent Charles the maps of the mines and marked a location. “Here, this is the cave where that unknown substance is stored. According to the manager of the mines whom I saved, there’s a super big guy in the cave as well as many smaller spiders.”
Agent Charles was reinvigorated by the information, since that was the reason why he was here.
He hadn’t asked Luke earlier, partly because they couldn’t search the mines before all the spiders were killed, and partly because he didn’t think that Luke knew the specific location of the unknown substance. After all, Luke had only been here two days.
Who knew that Luke would directly verify the exact location.
After Luke told him about Gladys, her nephew Chris, and the previous proprietor of the mines, Agent Charles had a lot of mixed feelings. It almost felt like fate.
Gladys had refused to hand over the maps of the mines because they were her brother’s lifelong work.
However, Chris gave Luke the maps, which enabled the latter to rescue Gladys.
So, was this good being rewarded with good? Hearing Agent Charles sigh, Luke whispered inwardly, You’re damn right, but you don’t know what my real reward is.
After that, Luke went to the shopping center to look for Selina, and found her bellowing at the residents and telling them to find a place to rest on the second floor.
The town hadn’t been fully purged of the spiders yet, so the residents couldn’t go home.
Even though they were in a safe place, they had to take turns keeping watch in case a spider snuck in and killed them.
Luke observed them quietly for a moment, before he went downstairs with a smile. He cleaned himself up in a bathroom and found his car.
Thanks to his foresight, he had gotten Selina to park the car on one side of the shopping center, and it was basically undamaged except for a few scratches.
The cars that had been parked in a panic at the entrance to the shopping center were buried under the bodies of spiders and their disgusting fluids.
Luke didn’t even need to look to know that there had to be a lot of bullet holes in the cars. It would cost a fortune to fix them, if the townsfolk could get their cars back at all.
If there was something wrong with those spiders, it was possible that all the cars had to be destroyed.
Luke had learned this the hard way when he lost his car in Laquin.
Luke took out the Napoleon cake from the mini-fridge in the car and returned to the shopping center.
Patting Selina on the back, Luke showed her the box in his hands and said, “Please take a break, Detective Selina.”
Selina turned around. Seeing the big box in his hands, she immediately smiled.
This was their exclusive food box, which contained delicious food every time it made an appearance. She would automatically start drooling whenever she saw it.
She was about to open the box, when Luke moved it out of reach. “Wash your hands, okay? I washed my hands multiple times before I fetched the cake for you.”
Selina glared at him angrily but still went to wash her hands.
Following her and making sure that she cleaned her hands and her face, Luke finally gave her the box. “Let the FBI take care of the rest. I’ve already spoken to Charles. We should get some rest now since we’ll likely be questioned for a while tomorrow.”
Selina nodded and asked, “Where do we sleep?”
Luke had already scouted the area. “There’s an unused utility room in a corner on the first floor. It’s absolutely safe and away from the lobby. We can get some sleep there.” Selina said, “Haha, that’s good…” As they spoke, they reached the utility room.
Seeing that an inflatable camping tent had been set up inside the utility room, Selina was even more satisfied. “We don’t have to sleep on the floor? Great! Right, where did you find this?”
Luke said sorrowfully, “It’s an offering from the dearly departed ex-mayor Wade, who owned a camping equipment store here.”
Selina shrugged. “What a shame. I’ll pray for him tomorrow morning.” Luke nodded. “Yes, we must thank him for his generosity, if there’s nothing wrong with him.”
Selina was curious. “Is there anything wrong with him?”
Luke replied, “Those giant spiders are probably related to Mayor Wade. However, since your acting is terrible, I’ll tell you the details when we’re out of here. Now, be good and finish the cake, brush your teeth, and go to bed.”
Selina nodded. She wasn’t in a hurry now that she had a basic gist of the situation.
She yawned, quickly brushed her teeth with some mineral water, then collapsed inside the tent.
With a smile, Luke straightened Selina’s body, before lying down on a blanket next to the door and falling asleep as well.
Luke woke up after only two hours of sleep, which was all the sleep he needed now.
Elementary Self-Healing was definitely a valuable ability for anyone who burned the midnight oil.
After he got up, he called Agent Charles, but nobody picked up.
Setting up a camera in the room, he closed the door, then went to look for an FBI agent. He then learned that further reinforcements had arrived, and Agent Charles had led them into the mines.
Luke immediately lost interest in the matter.
This was something that only the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents pretending to be the FBI could do. He would be a pest if he was too enthusiastic about it.
There were more and more residents in the shopping center. The four hundred survivors at the beginning plus the couple of hundred that were rescued by Luke and the agents later added up to around six hundred people here.
According to Elizabeth, around a thousand people lived in this town; it seemed that the rest of them had been killed.
It was already midnight, but the shopping center was still noisy.
Some people were sleeping soundly and some were weeping quietly, while some were devastated and some wandered about aimlessly.
The beautiful sheriff was still busy.
She had to keep the anxious residents calm, make sure that the situation was under control, and deal with the issues of food and a place to sleep.
This was supposed to be the mayor’s job, but Wade had gotten himself killed, so the sheriff had no choice but to take charge of the remaining members of the town council to handle this matter.
However, with Chris’s help, she wasn’t on her own.
Luke walked over and greeted her. “Samantha, you can take a break. Chris can help you look after things. Isn’t that right, Chris?”
Chris smiled. “I’m not half as capable as Samantha.”