Apocalypse Landlord: My Tenants Are All Beautiful Heroines.-Chapter 50: Karina’s Wrath

"Karina! What are you doing!?" Old Joe roared, but for all his bravery, he didn’t dare approach his niece.

In the far corner, a blonde woman in a fur coat lit up a cigarette, watching the scene with amusement.

A foul stench emanated from a dark stain of blood mixed with someone’s piss. The culprit wasn’t far away. The man was sitting on top of that smelly patch, but pain was the only thing on his mind.

What pain you ask?

The pain of having one’s jaw twisted upside down.

The man’s blood was still dripping down her clenched fists.

However, Karina didn’t pay attention to either of them. Her gaze was focused on the slum that had been turned upside down in a mere three days of absence.

Glenn and Damian stood behind her. Her rage wasn’t directed at them, but even they were sweating bullets.

"How dare you?" she said through gritted teeth. "How dare you raise medicine prices!"

Old Joe cowered away in fear, cursing how such a beautiful day had turned sour in the blink of an eye.

***

A few minutes ago, at the camp entrance.

"Miss Shaw! It’s good to have you back!" a guard exclaimed, saluting her.

"Have things been well?" she asked, stepping through the gate.

It was a casual question, one she always asked them. Usually, the guards would smile and tell her what could go wrong under her leadership.

However, this time, the guard’s reply wasn’t as quick. Karina’s senses immediately picked up on his hesitation. The guard clearly wanted to say something but didn’t dare to.

As much as Karina wanted to force him, she had more important matters to discuss. Besides, wouldn’t she know what was wrong once she entered the camp?

Once the group walked in after a basic check, the guard picked up his radio and alerted Joe. Karina was back, and at most, they had a couple of minutes to fix everything.

Walking inside, Karina immediately felt uncomfortable. The scene from the apartment and the slums was like heaven and earth. No, perhaps heaven and hell would be a more suitable comparison.

They lived in tents, but there weren’t even proper tents. People used discarded plastic sheets, tarpaulins, wood, and metal frames, basically anything they could get their hands on, to build simple structures on the muddy ground.

Aiden was right. I was blind to let them live under these conditions.

Being in the apartment near Aiden had, in some way, detoxified her mind. Now that she looked at the place she had spent a year building, she could only despise herself.

Why did I do it, though? I couldn’t possibly be this blind, even if I required votes from the rest to do something about this.

It felt strange. Almost as if someone else had been influencing her decisions while she ran the place. Thankfully, Aiden had opened her eyes. It was an opportunity to correct the wrongs, starting with the slums.

"Ma’am... something feels off," Glenn whispered. "The slums, it’s too quiet."

Damian nodded in agreement. While others fear Karina, for the slum dwellers, she was their savior. Whenever she returned from the outside, they would often swarm her, and Karina would graciously offer them whatever food she had on the crew.

Sometimes she would also offer toys and clothes to the young ones if she found any.

Yet, now that she was there, no one approached her. Even the few who saw her immediately rushed inside their tents as if they were scared of her.

Before Karina could ponder on it, she heard the hurried footsteps. She looked up and noticed Old Joe running towards her barefoot.

"Oh, you’re back so early!" Old Joe came barreling towards Karina. "I was so eager to see you that I even forgot to wear my slippers."

Karina just smiled back and tilted her head. Did he forget that she could sense lies? The guy in the farther had slipped the forgotten slippers into his pockets.

As for why he was eager, the fool thought Karina was back because she had found the source of Aiden’s supplies.

Little did the fool know she wasn’t there to offer anything, but to take what Joe had been hiding. However, she had something else to ask him first.

"What’s wrong with them?" she asked, pointing at the slum.

Old Joe looked at the silent place and cursed them under his breath. He could change the raised prices to normal, but how would he change people’s attitudes?

The well-off would help him for their shared interest, but the poor, whom he had wronged, had no intention of doing the same.

"I-t’s nothing," Old Joe laughed, waving his hands dismissively. "You know them. They don’t get food for a day, and all their energy is gone—"

"They didn’t get food? Aiden sent more than enough supplies for everyone. He even sent some extra for free, just for the slums. It hasn’t even been a week, so tell me, Uncle... why didn’t they get food?"

Old Joe was taken aback. Previously, whenever he said something, Karina would take his words at face value, never questioning him.

Now, not only did she chop the logic off his words, she did so publicly.

"Y-You know, it wasn’t intentional—"

"Just tell her how it is, Sir," a man’s voice interrupted Joe.

Everyone turned to look at the man walking with an entourage. His crooked teeth looked every bit as disgusting as his face. Yet, he was dressed to the nines, wearing an old tuxedo with a crooked monocle resting on his nose.

"Oh, it’s manager Simeon Lee!" Old Joe exclaimed, having found a lifeline. "Since the slums are his responsibility, it would be better if you asked him!"

"First, let me say you look as beautiful as the day you saved me," Simeon smiled, giving her an exaggerated bow. "You have no idea how torn up I was when Sir Joe informed us about your decision—"

"Cut the crap before I barf on your disgusting face, Simeon, and tell me why they weren’t given any food!"

Simeon opened his mouth to answer. As usual, he would feed her some bullshit about inventory mismanagement and technicalities to shut her up, but before he could, a little boy came running out of a tent and hugged Karina’s leg.

Even through her legs, she could feel the boy was burning up.

"Big sis..." he whispered in his weak voice. "Please bring... my father back! I beg you..."

"What happened to your father?" she asked, bending to take the boy’s temperature with the back of her hand.

"He said... he would look for medicine outside, but... he didn’t return."

As if all strength left his body, the boy collapsed right then and there. Without any instruction, Damian pulled a tablet from the little bag tied to his waist and gave it to the child.

"Why... would his father look for medicine outside?" Karina gritted her teeth, staring at Joe. "Medicines are for everyone!"

"T-They raised the prices for e-everything!" another slum-dweller stepped forward. "Even the food... we can’t get anything."

"Is it true?" she asked, lifting Simeon in the air by his collar.

The fool struggled before making up a lie, but her senses picked it up before he could even utter a word. Just like that, Karina lost her cool, grabbed the guy’s lower jaw, and twisted it until it was upside down.

The sound of crunching bones got lost in Simeon’s painful howls, but no one dared to do anything to help him. Not even his closest confidants.

"Anyone else wants to lie to me?"