281: Chapter 281 Zhao Dezhu, the Officials Have Arrived

It was noon in the freezing Apocalypse, yet there wasn't a hint of warmth.

In the pale sky, the sun looked like a frozen slice of lemon.

It hung in the sky purely as a decoration, unable to emit even a shred of heat.

Gale-force winds, mixed with blade-like ice crystals, raged across the wasteland at negative sixty degrees, emitting shrill, mournful wails as if countless wronged souls were crying out.

On this frozen wasteland, where even the zombies were frozen into sluggish movement,

a convoy was struggling to trek forward, finally stopping at the outer buffer zone of Lin Yuan's base.

The convoy looked quite imposing, consisting of three heavily modified polar off-road vehicles.

Their tracks were covered in crushed ice, and in the middle, they protected a black business van reinforced with heavy armor and insulation.

The official emblem of The Authorities was printed on the car body.

Although worn and mottled by the wind and snow, it still exuded the high-and-mighty bureaucratic style of the old era.

The car door opened, and a gust of white cold air surged in instantly; then, over a dozen fully armed guards stepped out.

They wore heavy polar combat suits and full-coverage cold-weather helmets.

They were wrapped up like dumplings.

Even so, the moment they stepped out of the car, the biting cold wind made them shiver uncontrollably, and the hot air they exhaled instantly condensed into frost on their goggles.

Immediately after, two massive Mutated Beast snow dogs were led out.

These two beasts were as big as calves, covered in thick, long white fur.

Their fangs were exposed, and the white breath from their mouths was like that of a steam locomotive. They were biological weapons genetically modified by The Authorities.

Specifically adapted to the extreme cold environment.

It is said that their combat power in the snow is comparable to S-rank, and usually, they are entities that walk sideways in the base of The Authorities; even ordinary Mutated Beasts would take a detour upon seeing them.

Finally, the rear door of the business van slowly opened with the hissing sound of hydraulic rods.

A thick, fur-wrapped, one-piece cold-weather boot stepped onto the crunching snow.

A middle-aged man stepped out.

He wore a luxurious polar bear fur coat, with the collar turned up high, and a mink hat that looked very expensive on his head.

Although he was bundled up tightly,

his small eyes, revealed to the outside, still exuded an arrogant, bossy air.

He was Zhao Dezhu, a senior special envoy dispatched by The Authorities.

After getting out of the car, Zhao Dezhu first loudly sniffed back the snot frozen by the cold.

Then, he looked at the vast snowfield around him with disdain, as if the cold wind here was offending his noble body temperature.

He lifted his chin, aiming his nostrils toward the direction of the base gate.

Although his voice was somewhat broken by the wind and snow, that arrogance could not be concealed.

"Go, tell the people inside that the special envoy of The Authorities, Zhao Dezhu, has arrived. Tell their person in charge to come out and welcome me. Don't dilly-dally; this damn weather is freezing me to death!"

Zhao Dezhu's voice carried that sense of entitlement typical of those who have long held high positions.

In his view, although The Authorities were a bit down on their luck now and had to seek help from civilian forces, a starving camel is still bigger than a horse.

For this kind of civilian survivor base, shouldn't they bow down the moment they see a special envoy from The Authorities?

Shouldn't they be tearfully grateful and invite him inside for hot soup?

A guard immediately stepped forward and shouted at the surveillance camera on the base gate.

The voice echoed in the wind and snow through a loudspeaker: "The special envoy of The Authorities has arrived! Will the person in charge please come out immediately to welcome him!"

However, the only response they received was the howling cold wind.

And a Mutated Beast crow that fell from the sky after freezing solid, hitting the ground with a "splat" and shattering into ice shards.

The base gate was tightly closed, and a thin layer of frost had formed on the heavy alloy doors.

On the towering city wall, several automatic thermal machine cannons watched them coldly.

The red laser aiming dots had strong penetrating power in the wind and snow, swaying back and forth on Zhao Dezhu's expensive fur coat.

The guards were so scared that they subconsciously tightened their grip on their guns, their bodies tensed up.

"How preposterous!"

Zhao Dezhu frowned, feeling that his dignity had been provoked.

Especially since the cold wind was blowing straight down his neck, making him even more irritable.

"Since they are playing deaf and dumb, let's show them what we're made of."

A flash of severity crossed Zhao Dezhu's eyes, and he waved his hand at the captain of the guards beside him.

"Activate the sonic expulsion device and issue an ultimatum! Also, have the snow dogs demonstrate at the gate so they know the consequences of not cooperating!"

Following his order, the guard holding the dogs loosened the chains, allowing the two beasts to approach the gate.

"Roar—!"

The two Mutated Beast snow dogs received the order and let out a roar that shook the snowfield.

Their bodies surged in size as they paced and growled in front of the heavy alloy gate.

Their sharp claws dug deep furrows into the frozen earth, attempting to create panic.

Zhao Dezhu straightened his collar, a proud sneer curling at the corner of his mouth.

In his view, this kind of psychological pressure was enough to scare an ordinary civilian organization out of their wits.

After all, these two biological weapons with S-rank combat power represented the unrivaled biotechnology heritage of The Authorities.

However, the coolness didn't last three seconds.

The moment the two Mutated Beast snow dogs rushed into the range of the base's outer defensive array,

an invisible Spiritual Power pressure, ten thousand times more terrifying than the extreme cold weather, suddenly descended.

It wasn't ordinary pressure.

It was the Spiritual Power field that Lin Yuan had set up in this area, fused with that trace of "divinity" and the absolute suppression that seemed to come from the abyss.

"Awoo..."

The previously aggressive Mutated Beast snow dogs,

their majestic roars suddenly stopped abruptly, like a duck whose neck had been pinched.

Then, the two behemoths were slammed onto the ground as if by an invisible giant hand, with a loud "bang" that sent snow flying.

One second they were majestic wolves,

the next second they turned into shivering mutts with their tails tucked between their legs, lying on the ground.

Their limbs were tightly gripping the ground, and their bodies were trembling violently, even in this extreme cold of negative sixty degrees.

Steam was actually rising from their bodies—that was the effect of cold sweat caused by fear evaporating instantly.

They were even foaming at the mouth.

They even lost control of their bladders on the spot, and a stream of yellow liquid flowed out, instantly freezing into icicles on the snow.

This scene changed too quickly.

It was almost like a comedy sketch, full of absurdity.

"This..."

The sneer on Zhao Dezhu's face froze right there.

The expression was like someone trying to fart but pooping instead; it was spectacular.

It wasn't just the dogs; the guards also felt that something was wrong.

The air seemed to have suddenly solidified, not just from the cold, but from a trembling that originated from the depths of their souls.

Every breath became extremely difficult; their lungs felt like they had been filled with liquid nitrogen, their hearts felt like they were being gripped by a cold hand, and a sense of fear that they might drop dead at any moment welled up.

"Is this... is this the territory of that lord?"

The captain of the guards' teeth were chattering uncontrollably, not just because of the cold, but because of fear.

At this moment, a sound finally came from the loudspeaker on the gate.

It was a female voice, carrying a hint of impatience; it was the voice of the girl guarding the Shelter:

"The Master and Mistress are taking an afternoon nap; idle people should wait outside. If those two dogs dare to urinate or defecate here again and dirty the snow at the entrance, tonight's canteen will have braised dog meat hotpot added to the menu."

The voice wasn't loud, but it had great penetrating power.

Zhao Dezhu's face turned livid, and he forced himself to endure the cold while straightening his wind-blown mink hat:

"Please watch your language! I am a special envoy of the highest rank from The Authorities! I represent the Supreme Command..."

"Shut up."

The voice in the loudspeaker coldly interrupted him, several degrees colder than the wind and snow filling the sky.

"If you say one more word, you and the dogs will be frozen into ice sculptures to serve as door gods."

Zhao Dezhu: "..."

He wanted to lash out, wanted to rage, but seeing the two Mutated Beast dogs paralyzed on the ground, leaking excrement,

and the guards behind him, pale-faced with purple lips, his reason told him that a wise man does not fight when the odds are against him.

Freezing to death in this wilderness,

even if The Authorities wanted to pursue it, they would have to wait until the spring thaw to find his corpse.

Thus, this noble special envoy began the longest and coldest wait of his life.

This wait lasted for a full three hours.

In the afternoon of the freezing Apocalypse, the temperature dropped even lower.

Zhao Dezhu's expensive polar bear fur coat now seemed to have turned into a thin piece of paper.

The cold wind drilled into everything.

His carefully styled slicked-back hair had long been blown messy by the wind, his eyebrows and eyelashes were covered in frost, and he looked like an old popsicle just dragged out of a cold storage room.

He kept stomping his feet and rubbing his hands in place, and the white breath he exhaled became weaker and weaker.

The guards were even worse off, even though they were wearing combat suits.

Their hands and feet had lost all sensation, and several had already shown signs of hypothermia.

They huddled together, shivering like a group of frightened penguins.

As for the two Mutated Beast dogs,

they had long curled up into balls, turning into two large snowballs; if you didn't look closely, you would think they were stone lions at the gate.

Just when Zhao Dezhu felt his blood was about to freeze and even started having hallucinations of his great-grandmother waving at him,

the base gate finally let out a dull roar and slowly opened.

A Female Warrior wearing a black, form-fitting nano combat suit walked out.

She was actually not wearing heavy winter clothes; those thin garments seemed out of place in the wind and snow.

But her complexion was rosy, as if she couldn't feel the slightest bit of cold.

She looked at this group of "ice sculptures" expressionlessly: "The Master is awake. The one in charge, come in. Shake the snow off your body; don't dirty the carpet."

Zhao Dezhu took a deep breath, although his legs were already somewhat stiff from the cold.

But he pushed away the guard who wanted to help him and tried hard to straighten his back.

As a special envoy, even if he froze to death, he couldn't lose face for The Authorities.

He patted the snow off his body, took slightly stiff steps, and tried to maintain a steady posture as he walked into the base.

Upon entering the base gate, it was as if he had crossed a barrier between worlds.

A warm, spring-like breath rushed toward him, not the kind of dry, hot air.

But a perfect, constant temperature of twenty-four degrees.

The air carried a faint scent of flowers and the fresh smell of negative ions, instantly dispelling the bone-chilling cold from Zhao Dezhu's body.

Zhao Dezhu widened his eyes.

He was surprised to discover that the inside of the base was actually a huge greenhouse ecosystem!

Overhead was a huge transparent energy dome, isolating the wind and snow outside.

Here, trees were lush, flowers were in full bloom, and in the distance, one could even see women in cool summer clothes walking around.

What was even more fatal was that the air was filled with the rich aroma of braised pork and stewed pork ribs.

It made his already frozen stomach convulse wildly.

"Is this... is this Lin Yuan's base?" Zhao Dezhu's heart was stirred with stormy waves.

Where is this a Shelter in the Apocalypse?

This is fucking paradise!

You have to know, even in the No. 1 base of The Authorities, heating is limited in time and quantity, and everyone still has to wear sweaters indoors. And here... they are actually growing flowers?!

He was taken to a spacious and bright reception room.

The room was carpeted with thick wool, soft to step on.

The firelight in the fireplace flickered, emitting a charming warmth.

The crystal chandelier refracted dazzling light, and there was even an 80-inch color TV playing a pre-war variety show.

A young man sat on a single sofa in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

The man was wearing a simple white shirt with his sleeves rolled up casually.

Revealing his streamlined forearms. He held a cup of steaming black tea in his hand, looking at the raging wind and snow outside the window with great interest.

That comfort, that calmness.

Formed a sharp contrast with the freezing hell outside.

Behind him stood two stunning beauties.

One was wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a professional OL outfit, her long legs wrapped in black silk, slender and straight.

Her temperament was intellectual and elegant, and she held a file in her hand; this person was Su Yuyan;

The other had a hot figure, wearing a red tight-fitting combat suit, playing with a flame dagger in her hand, with orange-red flames dancing on her fingertips; she was Xia Bingli!

A look of extreme amazement flashed across Zhao Dezhu's face, but he dared not look too much.

Fearing that he would offend Lin Yuan.

After all, Lin Yuan's reputation for being possessive was well-known!