The Farming Saint in the Starry Wasteland (Elizabeth Schofield) novel Chapter 460

Chapter 460 Unapproved Absence

Cyndi pushed open the door to the staff break room.

It was nearly empty. Only Newman sat alone in a corner, staring blankly into space.

“Where is everyone?” Cyndi frowned. “Where are the others?”

Newman looked up, his expression strange.

“They, uh… they all requested time off.”

Cyndi blinked.

“Requested time off? For what? Who approved it?”

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Newman shrank back slightly. “Just now, while you were upstairs. They came to me one by one, said they needed to step out for a couple of hours to take care of something. I couldn’t exactly stop them…”

Cyndi felt something sharp spike behind her temples.

“One by one?” Her voice rose. “How many?”

Newman began counting on his fingers, stumbling over the names.

“Forget the names!” she snapped. “How many in total?”

He swallowed. “18.”

For a moment, the room seemed to tilt.

26 staff members in the store, and 18 had walked out?

She drew a long breath, forcing herself not to explode.

“And what exactly did they need to go take care of?”

Newman dropped his gaze to the floor.

Cyndi stared at him, and a horrible suspicion began to take shape in her mind.

“Talk,” she said.

His voice came out small. “They said they were going to Mercury Plaza to buy some fruit. That they’d be right back.”

Cyndi thought she might actually black out.

Mercury Plaza.

To buy fruit.

Their customers were being stolen by that farm, and now her own employees were running off to patronize the competition?

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Chapter 460 Unapproved Absence

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Fine,” she said, teeth pressed together. “Just wonderful. Mark down their names. Anyone who left today is counted absent. Triple pay deduction.”

Newman looked up, pale. “Cyndi, isn’t that a bit…”

“What?” she cut in sharply. “Who’s still on shift? Show me the list.”

He fumbled with the schedule, pointing at the remaining names.

He hadn’t finished when the break room door swung open and a crowd filed in.

At the front was a young woman in her early 20s, her hair pulled into a high ponytail, her face drained of color.

Her hands were empty, her posture slack, as though something had knocked the wind clean out of her.

“You wouldn’t believe the crowd out there,” she said over her shoulder. “The line was so long I couldn’t even see the end.”

The others chimed in behind her.

“Seriously. We waited an hour and moved maybe 30 feet.”

“Those strawberries looked amazing, big and red, even more tempting than what we sell.”

“And the apples. You could smell them from across the plaza.”

“Doesn’t matter how nice they are if we can’t buy a single thing, though.”

They drifted into the room, chattering away, oblivious to the atmosphere until the young woman at the front looked up and met Cyndi’s stony expression. The smile froze on her face.

“C–Cyndi…”

Cyndi fixed her with a gaze sharp enough to split hairs.

“Enola. Where have you been?”

Enola Beck opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Behind her, the others went still, heads lowering one by one, eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

Cyndi swept her gaze across them, counting without thinking.

15 of them were present.

Plus the three who hadn’t come back yet. 18 total.

All accounted for.

“Very well,” Cyndi said, her voice cold as a walk–in freezer, “everyone’s back. How was the fruit at Mercury Plaza?”

No one answered.

“I asked you a question.” Her hand struck the table with a sharp crack. “You took leave? Who approved it? Did any of you come to

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Chapter 460 Unapproved Absence

me?”

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