Chapter 293
Lucas was utterly flabbergasted.
He was genuinely dying of curiosity. Gun control in their country was incredibly strict, so where on earth did the people on the twentieth floor get their hands on all of this?
His own group had tried to get firearms before, but they never had the connections. Who would have thought Suzy and her people not only had weapons, but had this many?
Suddenly, a wave of relief washed over Lucas. Thank God they hadn’t crossed the twentieth floor. If they had, and these guys decided to show up at their door one day and just start blasting, they’d be completely screwed.
They probably wouldn’t even have time to react before being wiped out.
After a long moment, Lucas swallowed hard, finally finding his voice, though it still sounded a bit shaky. "Wh—where did you guys score all this gear?"
His question voiced exactly what the Edison family was thinking. They were just as curious! Where the hell did all these guns come from?
Everyone’s eyes shifted back to Suzy, waiting for her answer.
Leaning back against the sofa, Suzy looked at Lucas’s shock-ridden face. The corners of her mouth twitched into a faint, fleeting smile.
"We found them," she said flatly, her tone so casual she might as well have been describing what she ate for breakfast. "Things were incredibly chaotic when the apocalypse first hit. We were out foraging for supplies and got lucky."
Standing beside her, Thomas remained expressionless as he continued to pull magazines and ammunition out of the bag. One box, two boxes, three boxes... He stacked them neatly on the coffee table, the metal clinking softly with each movement.
Leonard leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, a trace of a smirk playing on his lips, saying nothing.
Lucas swallowed again, his gaze drifting from Suzy to the growing tower of ammunition. His mind was a chaotic mess of emotions.
Fucking ’found them’? Just like that? Talk about insane luck! How come they never had that kind of luck?
Oh, right. During the early days of the apocalypse, his family had plenty of supplies, so they had just holed up in their villa and rarely ventured out.
If he had known you could just stumble across guns outside, why the hell would he have stayed cooped up in the villa? He would’ve spent a few hours wandering the streets every single day!
Lucas felt an unprecedented wave of frustration, feeling as though he had missed out on a literal fortune. Man... this sucked. He couldn’t help but feel a surge of envy and jealousy. After all, these were guns!
Seeing the look on Lucas’s face, Elijah knew exactly what he was thinking and found it a bit amusing. He felt a pang of jealousy too, but realistically, he knew he probably wouldn’t have found anything even if he had gone out. You could only chalk it up to fate; everyone’s luck was different, so he chose not to dwell on it.
"Alright, stop obsessing over it. With your kind of luck, even if you wandered around outside for a lifetime, you wouldn’t find a damn thing," Elijah blurted out.
He had meant it as comfort, but the moment the words left his mouth, they sounded entirely wrong.
Sure enough, Lucas whipped his head around and glared fiercely at Elijah, his eyes flashing with murderous intent. "Are you mocking me?"
Elijah offered a dry laugh and waved his hands. "How could I? I’m just trying to tell you to let it go."
"Is that how you comfort someone?" Lucas snorted coldly and ignored him, turning away.
Who comforts someone like that? Was he seriously not mocking his terrible luck? Fine, so his luck sucked, but did the guy really have to rub salt in the wound?
By now, Thomas had emptied everything from the black backpack. There were more than enough weapons and ammunition. The number of firearms matched their headcount perfectly; everyone could easily be armed with one.
There was plenty of ammo too, considering they wouldn’t necessarily get into a firefight with all three hundred people.
According to their informant, the rest of the crowd lived scattered across different buildings in the compound. Ray and his inner circle likely occupied just one building—fifty people at the absolute most. With a total of five hundred rounds piled here, taking out fifty people would be a walk in the park.
Thomas began distributing the firearms. They were all handguns, except for a single rifle, which he set aside for Suzy.
Weighing a pistol in his hand, his eyes swept over the group. "You all know how to use these ones, right?"
Lucas gripped his gun and nodded vigorously. "Yeah, I’ve used one before."
The pistol felt heavy and solid in his palm, bringing a sudden sense of security. He practically couldn’t put it down; it had been ages since he last handled a gun.
Thomas then looked at the twin brothers and Aaron. All three nodded in affirmation.
"Good," Thomas murmured under his breath. "Saves us some trouble."
Since everyone knew how to shoot, he wouldn’t have to waste time teaching them, which cut their preparation time in half. Without wasting any more words, Thomas cut straight to the chase.
"We’ll split into teams of two."
As he spoke, Thomas pulled out his hand-drawn map of the residential compound. He looked at Suzy first, his voice softening. "Suzy, you sit this one out. Just wait for us at home."
Suzy fell silent for a moment before nodding. "Alright."
She was currently injured and couldn’t use her spiritual spring water to heal herself instantly; recovering too quickly would raise suspicion. Thus, she had no choice but to stay behind and wait.
Though a pang of frustration flared up inside her, she suppressed it. She wanted to go, but her circumstances wouldn’t allow it. She could only comfort herself with the thought that staying back meant she wouldn’t be a liability.
Bill glanced at Suzy, then at Aaron, before hesitating. "Can we leave Aaron behind too? He’s still young. The rest of us can handle it."
Aaron looked at Bill in surprise, not expecting him to say that.
"I can go," Aaron said, frowning.
Thomas glanced over at him. "Fine, you stay."
Out of everyone present, Aaron was the youngest—even younger than Suzy. He was just a high schooler. This raid carried a significant amount of risk, so it really wasn’t appropriate for him to tag along. Besides, they owed Bill a favor, so since he had asked, Thomas readily agreed.
"I don’t need to stay. I know how to use a gun, I—"
This time, before Aaron could finish, Bill cut him off. The man, who usually seemed so mild-mannered and gentle, now took a surprisingly unyielding stance.
"You’re staying," Bill said firmly.
Aaron opened his mouth to argue but swallowed his words, a look of fierce reluctance washing over his face.
Watching him, Suzy found it rather new. It was the first time she had ever seen Aaron make such an expression. Usually, he carried himself with a calm that defied his age. Seeing him now, he really was just a kid after all.
Aaron said nothing more. He bit his lip, then tossed the pistol onto the coffee table. The gesture meant he was submitting to Bill’s order.
"Keep the gun," Thomas said evenly. "Even staying here, you need to keep your guard up. They might still send people over."
Suzy nodded in agreement.
Hearing this, Aaron didn’t argue. He silently picked the pistol back up.