Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

Returning to Bloodfall Base, Paige Summers felt as if a lifetime had passed.

But the sight of Annie in her arms brought her back down to earth.

The little one had slept the whole way and had just woken up, pouting and looking a bit fussy. Paige knew he was probably getting hungry, and the sudden change of scenery and all the noise weren’t helping... ’Still,’ she thought, ’he looks absolutely adorable like this!’

As soon as they entered the base, the members lined up neatly on both sides to welcome them erupted in cheers.

The loud noise startled Annie, and he immediately burst into tears.

Paige Summers gave a resigned smile. ’I knew this would happen!’

She had no choice but to leave the task of addressing the team members to Marcus Monroe. After a brief greeting to everyone, she headed back to her quarters by car, accompanied by Wendy Lowell and followed by the curious gazes of the team.

Once they were inside, Annie was still whimpering unhappily.

Paige nursed him for a bit, and he finally settled down.

Thankfully, after this period of recovery, her milk hadn’t completely dried up. With Annie’s vigorous nursing, she’d managed to keep some of her supply. Since Annie was a preemie with a small appetite, her breast milk, supplemented with a little rice cereal, was enough to get by.

Wendy Lowell’s heart ached for all the hardships Paige had endured. Due to the severe blood loss, Paige had regained her pre-pregnancy figure right after giving birth—in fact, she was even thinner than before, and her face was pale. Wendy had secretly resolved on the way back that she would make sure Paige was properly nourished and restored to health.

The following days were very peaceful for Paige Summers. It could even be said that they were the most peaceful days she’d had since arriving in this world.

With Marcus Monroe handling matters at the base, she didn’t have to worry about a thing.

She would occasionally hear mentions of new people coming to seek refuge, or how brutal Marcus’s training regimens were, but that was all they were—mentions. No one disturbed her sanctuary.

’This is a good thing,’ she thought. ’Bloodfall needs to become stronger!’

Meanwhile, Sean Raines’s new project was figuring out how to nurse her body back to optimal condition.

When her body had been weak, Paige had trouble using her powers smoothly. She couldn’t use the Stillspace frequently without feeling immense strain, and the crops in her Planting Space grew noticeably slower.

Paige, of course, had noticed this.

It was then she realized her powers were inextricably linked to her physical condition.

As her health improved, the Planting Space gradually returned to normal. At Sean Raines’s request, she planted a large number of medicinal herbs. Sean used some of these herbs to nurse her back to health, and the rest to create medicine pills that would aid his own training.

In a way, it was a perfectly symbiotic relationship.

Seeing that she was all right, Levi Young didn’t visit often. Instead, he threw himself wholeheartedly into his experiments.

Paige had a vague idea of what he was thinking.

He felt guilty.

But he didn’t express his guilt with words. Instead, he hoped to achieve a breakthrough in his research to repay her for the hardships and suffering she had endured.

She wholeheartedly approved of this.

Life went on at a gentle, unhurried pace for her. After a while, Marcus Monroe came to her with a proposal to expand the base. They discussed it and decided to carve out one side of the valley. This would essentially extend the base along the mountain range, increasing its internal area.

Paige, of course, agreed.

After the events at the Southern Front and in Southreach, not to mention the food and weapons trading, Bloodfall Base’s reputation had grown immensely. More and more people came to seek refuge. Some were from bases not far from Central City, yet they chose to travel thousands of miles to join them.

At this point, it was no longer practical to use Sean Raines’s Array to test every single person.

So, Marcus Monroe decided to divide the base into an Inner City and an Outer City.

The Inner City would be for the original members, while the Outer City would house the newly arrived Superpower Users.

In the Outer City, they would live, take on missions, and handle various issues. Designated personnel would be responsible for evaluating their conduct, allowing the base’s leadership to get a full grasp of their personalities and capabilities before making further arrangements. Those who passed the evaluation would then undergo the Array test. If they passed that as well, they could be assigned to more internal jobs. As for the rest, there were different protocols for managing different types of people.

It sounded a bit complicated, but it would ensure the security of the Inner City and the overall stability of Bloodfall Base.

Marcus Monroe also put the abandoned military base on the other side of the mountain back into use.