Ray felt a pang of disappointment as he couldn't find any sign of the person he had been looking forward to capturing. But that was life; not everything goes as expected.
"Yo, Seraphine, how's it going over there?" Ray called out as he approached, spotting the blue-haired girl in front of him. A trace of annoyance flickered in her eyes.
"I see you've got company," Seraphine spoke lightly, her gaze shifting to the people behind Ray.
Her pupils focused on the two miserable women following closely behind him, as well as the many women with bloated bellies, their eyes filled with maternal love.
"Of course, didn't I tell you about this already?" Ray replied, giving Seraphine a meaningful look.
"Alright, you can enter the base now," she responded coldly, ignoring the look Ray was giving her.
As the gates slowly opened, Ray's eyes darted around the place, taking in the surroundings.
"Hmm?" Ray frowned slightly as he took in the state of the Awakener base.
The buildings were almost all damaged, the walls crumbling, and the roads were a mess. This was the indirect destruction caused by King and Ray fighting previously.
There were no stray undead in sight, but the people here looked extremely thin and malnourished.
Of course, the conditions weren't much better than those of the group he had brought, except for his women, who were in relatively good shape.
"We need to fix things up," Ray mumbled to himself, his eyes drifting to the wooden planks being carried around by the people.
"Elyon, I have a job for you," he spoke lightly, making his way toward the limbless Elyon.
"What is it?" Elyon looked at Ray with a deep gaze, a flicker of deep resentment in his eyes, though he didn't dare to show it openly.
"I want you to rebuild all of this," Ray said, pointing at the dilapidated surroundings.
"Why would I do that—?" Elyon began, but Ray's gaze turned icy.
"Because your life is in my hands," Ray interrupted, his voice cold and menacing.
It was clear that if Elyon dared to argue, he would face consequences.
Elyon trembled, realising he had no room for negotiation. "Alright," he conceded, the words barely being forced out of him.
Ray sighed and walked closer to him. "I can spare you. I might even get you a prosthetic hand and leg. Work for me, and you'll have a chance at a better life. How about it?"
Elyon was indeed a miserable person with a tragic backstory, but Ray couldn't overlook the fact that Elyon had played a role in Aurora's murder.
"Alright," Elyon said quietly, his voice resigned.
Soon, Elyon was fitted with prosthetics by some of the doctors at the base, allowing him to walk again.
The base had a decent number of doctors, including many that Ray had brought in.
Ray's healing skill was basic and couldn't cure diseases or just simply make new arms or legs, so having skilled doctors around was invaluable.
"Do it now," Ray commanded.
"Yes," Elyon replied, closing his eyes as the mutation energy in his body rapidly drained away. The earth trembled beneath them.
One by one, buildings were demolished, and new structures began to rise in their place, forming right before Ray's eyes.
Each building drained Elyon's entire mutation reserve, making the process long and tedious, but in the end, Elyon proved to be incredibly effective; this building, which would have taken decades to build, was built on the spot.
Ray had a grand plan to make his base, which should be equipped with everything necessary to maintain the ecosystem of society and make it even grander than the current society.
Time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, with the sun and the moon cycling as a month went by just like that.
"How is it, Lord Ray?" one of the engineers asked.
"Not bad, you engineers have been really helpful," Ray said lightly, offering praise as he looked at the tall skyscrapers that had been systematically built in this span of a month.
"Thank you," the people in the group responded, instantly happy.
For these people, the apocalypse was the worst nightmare, but people have to adapt to the times, and if they could please Ray, they could definitely live their lives in comfort.
After all, wherever you go, skills and talent are always praised. This was just one fact of the world that held true.
"Elyon, have you recovered enough?" Ray asked.
"Yeah," Elyon replied, looking at the blueprint before building the last skyscraper.
"This should be enough, right?"
"Yeah, it is," Ray nodded. "You can rest now if you want."
He looked at Elyon with meaningful eyes, causing Elyon to shudder.
Ray then offered some encouragement to the engineers and walked away, heading toward the centre of the city, where the most luxurious skyscraper stood. He got into his luxurious Rolls Royce car and the driver drove.
The Rolls Royce travelled down the clean, paved road as Ray looked out the window, observing the crowds of people walking frantically, looking flustered.
But wherever the car went, people made way, stepping aside and some even bowing their heads, whether out of reverence or fear.
After casually parking the car among his numerous collection, Ray was greeted by his women, all of whom had smiles on their faces.
Ray's heart warmed, but he said with a stern expression, "Freya, I told you not to come out in the open. It's bad for our baby; you must stay inside."
"I just wanted to see you," she pouted.
"Hahaha, true, true," Vanessa giggled from the side.
"It's not just about her. You need to be careful too. Even though you're awakened, the baby could still be harmed," Ray said in a reprimanding tone.
"Alright," Vanessa responded, lowering her head and the other chuckled.
"It's fine now, let's go inside," Ray smiled, guiding the women with him. There were nine in total: Vanessa, Freya, Evelyn, Grace, Gina, Yuna, Melissa, Daisy, and Kate.
These were essentially his nine main women.
When Ray entered his top floor through the elevator, he was greeted by the sight of two girls trembling on the ground.
"Welcome home, master," both of them said in unison.
"Hmm," Ray acknowledged them with a casual nod as he walked over to the large, comfortable sofa and sat down on it with his shoulder slumped.
Yuna moved to sit next to him, and the other girls followed suit, lounging lazily on the sofa without a care in the world.
"Let's just play some PS4, what do you think?" Ray suggested.
"Yes!" they shouted in unison, quickly diving into the game, laughing and chatting as they played.
Violet and Natalia watched them, their eyes tinged with jealousy as they observed Ray being gentle to the woman while their condition was extremely miserable.
Just like that, the day passed by.