Moving back to the situation outside the base, Aida's companions, Light, the twins, Rose and Little White, obediently followed Lackey 1 back to Green Base. All of them were extremely disheartened but refused to just accept the current situation.
After they recovered from the electric shock, they immediately began to fight like crazy. Every Reaper they encountered on the way back was utterly destroyed by this group of people.
Initially, the guards and troops hadn't really taken any of them seriously since they looked too young, soft and sheltered. However, their actions had indirectly earned them the respect of these people that was just below Aida's pedestal.
As they returned to the base, Light and the others took in the scene. The buildings and environment looked extremely shabby, but there was a whole group of people standing at the gate. They had been waiting for the return of the soldiers and to hear news about their fearless base leader. While not all of them approved of the all changes made to the base, they couldn't deny that their overall lifestyle had improved significantly. As they had been given very little in life, they understood gratitude and the concept of repayment better than anyone else. There was no free lunch in life.
Lackey 1 stepped down from the vehicle looking travel worn and mostly exhausted from watching Aida's companion. Despite this, he greeted the crowd with a smile and shouted, "Our base leader succeeded!"
Hearing this, everyone cheered. Light and the twins took in their reaction with wide eyes and a renewed sense of purpose. They could no longer follow Aida for the time being, but it was clear that she had left an incredible legacy here. They would help her continue to grow this legacy and her prestige.
Light gave the twins a gentle smile. "It seems we all know what we need to do now."
"Mm!" Both the twins responded firmly while Rose and Little White nodded towards Light.
Rose wrote in her notebook. "Mama wanted to change this place for the better and help everyone here. She wanted everyone to be happy."
Light patted her head and nodded, "We will help her make that happen."
Taking a deep breath, the five of them walked into the base. The people on the base hadn't known it yet, but their life was about to be overturned yet again with the arrival of Aida's companions.
Light went straight to the penthouse and began sorting through all the documents. In fact, after all this time, everyone had almost forgotten that he was a business genius not a fighter. He soon earned the respect of Lackey 2 and 3 with his incredibly clever and efficient ideas.
Starting with the people, he began to rearrange Aida's haphazard occupations into highly structured jobs to improve the quality of the people's work and enhanced the nightly lesson plans.
He began to work nonstop the moment he entered the base, not even taking any time to eat or sleep. From this, his determination could be seen.
After working a full 48 hours, even his enhanced Variant body wasn't able to handle the stress anymore and he fell into a deep sleep. The twins jumped up in fright. Fortunately, Yukio was a healer and was able to inspect and help Light recover.
When he woke up, he received a major scolding from the children. Even Little White gave Light a slightly disparaging look. Offering a wry smile, he apologized to everyone and promised not to do it again.
Then he dove straight back into the work. But this time, he made sure to eat all his meals on time and get at least 3 hours of sleep.
***
Back at the wall base, General Mills realized that the culprits came from Orange and Green Base. He began to prepare troops to send out and destroy the two bases. They had to demonstrate a show of force as a preventative measure so other bases wouldn't get any bad ideas. Having reported this to the authorities, they gave him full power to gather and deploy troops.
Fortunately for the two bases, this was no easy feat since the government couldn't deploy any missiles due to the close proximity to human lands and the cost.
By now, Lucifer had been hiding in the ventilation for almost 36 hours. His entire body had long grown numb and he was hungry and thirsty. He wanted to leave long ago, but there was a guard posted at the door which prevented him from leaving.
Noah had acquired a few more "samples" the past few days so she had been working around the clock to run new trials. She was also equally eager to dump the old and overused samples which is why there were so many people frequenting the place Lucifer was hiding.
Eventually, Lucifer decided to pop down from the ceiling and dumped himself into the human trash can. While it was disgusting for him to hug a dead Reaper or Variant body, it was still a better alternative than getting caught.
Waiting for the individuals to leave the room, he quickly jumped down and climbed into the trash can. Soon, the scientists came back in with another sample and drilled through the heart as they did all the previous ones. Dumping the body into the trash, she realized there was another body.
She commented, "Strange. I was pretty sure we already disposed of the other body."
Shrugging, she simply continued on with her work as they rolled the two dead bodies out of the room and towards the disposal center. She continued to push the trash can towards the exit.
Lucifer prepared to leap out the moment she left. However, just before they got past the exit, one of the men with white masks put out a hand to stop her.
The scientist instinctively backed away when she saw this. Even though she was told they weren't dangerous, these people always creeped her out. They didn't speak and they didn't have any change in expressions.
The guard in the white mask ignored her reaction and sniffed the trash can. He was about to reach into the trash when Lucifer suddenly burst out, evoking a scream from the female scientist.