Apocalypse: Reborn with a Soul Sync Farming Space System-Chapter 136 Plan

Laurel looked at Alexander for a long moment after he spoke, her calm expression giving very little away even though the tension between them had already thickened enough that even the farmers working in the nearby fields could feel something was wrong and began quietly minding their own business.

"Is that so?" she asked at last, her tone light but carrying a faint tiredness. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Alexander’s jaw tightened.

"Is that so, is that all you have to say?" he replied, his voice low but sharp around the edges. "You speak to him like you are very close, yet when you speak to me it’s ’Mr. Wayne’ as if I’m nothing more than a stranger in your life."

Laurel rubbed the back of her neck slowly, as if trying to ease the headache she could already feel forming. "You were the one who asked me to address you as Mr. Wayne. Did you forget?"

"That was a long time ago, didn’t I tell you several times to call me by my first name?"

"Yes you did, but I don’t feel like calling you by your first name. Mr. Wayne sounds a lot better to me."

Alexander laughed under his breath, though there was no humor in it.

"Really? Good." He nodded his head, trying to hide the pain in his eyes. "You ask him for help, you share plans with him, and you laugh with him like that in the middle of the road. You don’t even do that with your own husband... and when I talk you act as if I’m imagining things."

Laurel folded her arms across her chest and regarded him quietly.

"If you came here to apologize, then you should do that and go," she said calmly. "If you came here to argue, then you should save your energy."

Alexander stared at her.

For a brief moment, he almost looked like he might say something else entirely, something closer to what he had originally intended when he carried the flowers across the fortress earlier that morning. But the words never came.

Instead, something else slipped out. "You said you’re leaving tomorrow."

"Yes."

"To search for something outside the valley."

"Yes."

"And you asked Chris to send soldiers with you."

Laurel nodded once.

"That’s correct."

Alexander inhaled slowly. "Then I’m coming with you."

The words came out so suddenly that Laurel blinked once in surprise before immediately shaking her head. "No."

Alexander frowned. "No?"

"You should stay here," Laurel said, her tone still calm though the firmness in it had sharpened slightly. "The fortress needs someone who can make decisions if something happens while I’m gone."

"Grandpa can handle that."

"That’s not the same."

"It’s good enough."

Laurel looked at him with realization. "You’re not asking for permission."

"No." He met her gaze without hesitation. "I’m telling you."

The two of them stood there silently for several seconds, neither willing to back down first.

Finally, Laurel exhaled slowly.

"Do whatever you want," she said. "I’m tired of repeating myself. But just know it is dangerous out there."

Then she turned and walked away toward the residential district without waiting for his reply.

Alexander remained standing in the road long after she left, the crushed bouquet still hanging loosely in his hand. ’Is that so? I’ll see if you won’t come back to me after he is taken out of the picture.’

His eyes darkened as his gaze lingered on her disappearing figure.

..

By the time Laurel returned to her apartment, it was already late afternoon.

She closed the door behind her and stood quietly in the center of the room for a moment. The silence felt comforting after the argument.

She placed her hand on her chest, her heart drummed erratically under her hand. She hated the fact that she had lingering feelings for Alexander. And now that he was no longer cold to her, it made it even harder to erase him from her heart.

She pushed down the feeling, and after a few seconds, she stepped forward and slipped into the system’s space.

Inside the space house, Ling Xuan sat near the middle of the hall examining the armor they had traded for earlier. The metal plates lay disassembled beside her as she studied them one by one, occasionally running her fingers across the surface as if feeling for something hidden beneath the rusted exterior.

Ling Xuan didn’t bother to look up when she felt Laurel’s presence.

Laurel dropped onto the couch nearby. "The harvest went well," she said. "and Mission ten is completed."

"Hmm." Ling Xuan replied without taking her eyes off the armor.

Laurel sighed, briefly explaining the updated statistics before leaning back against the couch.

"The mist is almost gone," she added after a moment. "Tomorrow will be the best day to leave the fortress, it is going exactly as I had predicted, perhaps some things are still the same."

"Hmm." Ling Xuan said again without looking at her.

Laurel almost rolled her eyes inwardly at her behaviour. Ever since she got the armor, she does nothing else except running her fingers on it and staring blankly at it.

"I asked Chris to recommend a few soldiers to accompany us." She said in a bored tone.

Ling Xuan immediately shook her head. "No."

Laurel looked at her. "No?"

"We’re not using them," Ling Xuan said calmly, finally peeling her eyes away from the armor. "I’ll bring Enzo and a few of my men."

Laurel thought about it for a moment. "Why?"

"But there is nothing wrong with using military force." She added.

Ling Xuan set the armor piece down beside her. "The fewer people who know our real objective, the safer it will be."

Laurel nodded slowly. "Fine." To her, she saw nothing wrong in taking the soldiers or the mafia. In fact, she believed the soldiers were more loyal to the mafia, they could snitch anytime on them considering how Ling Xuan had tamed them under her control.

The two of them then began discussing supplies, routes, and travel preparations, quietly planning how they would leave the fortress the next morning without drawing too much attention.

Neither of them realized that events elsewhere in the fortress were already beginning to unfold.