347: Chapter 347 One Man Scares Away a Terrifying Beast Tide?

The third day after the temperature dropped below -210 degrees.

4:12 AM.

All the sensing nodes on the outer ring turned bright red.

It wasn't just triggered.

It was overloaded.

Xia Muqing was jolted awake from her sleep by the system alarm and rushed to the data terminal.

Her Data Analysis Superpower activated, and she processed the data for three seconds—

It stopped.

It wasn't that she stopped it voluntarily.

It was because the volume of data was too massive; her Superpower was forcibly interrupted.

This had never happened before.

Xia Muqing's face turned pale.

"The volume of data is too large."

Her voice trembled slightly.

"The limit for the sensing nodes is one hundred thousand targets... and it has already overflowed."

Lin Yuan had already arrived at the command room.

He looked at the holographic map.

On the map, the ice sheet around the Shelter was changing color.

It was turning from white to black.

It wasn't from just one direction.

It was from all directions.

Like ink dripping into water.

It was surging in from every corner of the horizon simultaneously.

"Estimate," Lin Yuan said.

Xia Muqing bit her lip and recalculated manually.

Ten seconds later.

"At least... two hundred thousand. Possibly more."

The command room was silent for a second.

Ye Qingxue stood beside Lin Yuan, gripping her communicator tightly.

Two hundred thousand.

Not two hundred thousand ants.

It was two hundred thousand Apocalypse creatures.

Ling Shuanghan arrived at the command room three minutes later.

She glanced at the holographic map, and her expression darkened.

"This isn't a beast tide."

Her voice was very low.

"This is a mass migration of Apocalypse species. The extreme cold of -210 degrees has forced all living things on the ice sheet out."

She walked over to the map and traced her finger over different colored blocks.

"Evolved Beasts, about eighty thousand. Ranging from C-rank to S-rank."

Her finger moved to another area.

"Mutated zombie hordes, about fifty thousand."

Lin Yuan: "Mutated zombies?"

Ling Shuanghan: "Zombies from the early Apocalypse underwent a secondary mutation in the extreme cold. Their skin turned iron-gray, ice spikes grew from their joints, and their speed is three times that of ordinary zombies. What do you call them on your Blue Star?"

Xia Muqing: "Iron Zombies. B to A-rank. There are also a small number of S-rank Zombie Generals—they can command surrounding zombies to perform tactical coordination."

Ling Shuanghan nodded: "And these—"

She pointed to a few slow-moving light dots on the map.

"Ice Sheet Parasites. About twenty thousand. Translucent worm-like creatures that can burrow into other living bodies to control the Host. Parasitized Evolved Beasts and zombies become stronger, crazier, and don't fear pain."

"And—"

Her finger stopped on twelve huge red light dots.

"Frost-Bone Behemoths. Twelve of them. A-rank to SS-rank."

Xia Muqing pulled up an image of a Frost-Bone Behemoth—a blurry image captured by the sensing nodes.

Five stories tall.

Its entire body was covered in bony ice armor.

Like a glacial giant from ancient times.

Every step it took made the ice sheet shake.

Its footprints were three meters deep.

Zhao Tieshan saw this image through the communicator, and the binoculars in his hand nearly fell.

"What the hell is this..."

Ling Shuanghan ignored him.

Her gaze locked onto the three light dots on the outermost edge of the map.

"Abyssal Worms. Three of them. SS-rank. Over two hundred meters long. They move beneath the ice layer."

On the map, three dashed lines were slowly advancing beneath the ice. The ground bulged and then collapsed where they passed.

Lin Yuan watched the map.

Two hundred thousand creatures. Six species. From C-rank to SS-rank.

Quite lively.

Then Ling Shuanghan said the last sentence.

Her voice changed.

It wasn't calm.

It was repressed.

"There is one more."

She pointed to a light dot at the furthest point on the map.

That light dot was very small.

Smaller than any Evolved Beast.

But its color was deep purple—the highest threat level on the map.

"It is walking behind all the other species. Its size is only human-shaped. But all other creatures are making way for it."

Ling Shuanghan's finger trembled slightly.

"Frost Fetus."

Lin Yuan: "What rank?"

Ling Shuanghan was silent for two seconds.

"Ultra SSS-rank."

The air in the command room solidified.

Ling Shuanghan spoke through the communicator, her voice unprecedentedly serious:

"Attention everyone. This is not a drill. All personnel enter the highest state of combat readiness."

...

The outer ring sensing nodes switched to dispersal mode.

High-frequency sound waves propagated across the ice sheet.

Effective against Evolved Beasts below C-rank and ordinary zombies—

About sixty thousand low-level creatures scattered and fled in the sound waves, like ants blown away by the wind.

Zhao Tieshan watched the sixty thousand creatures scatter from the city wall and just breathed a sigh of relief—

Then he saw the remaining ones.

One hundred and forty thousand.

Completely unaffected.

The iron-gray skin of the mutated zombies remained unmoved by the sound waves.

The Ice Sheet Parasites had no auditory organs, so the sound waves were like farting to them.

The Frost-Bone Behemoths didn't even slow their pace.

Zhao Tieshan sucked back the breath he had just released.

The middle ring hot zone trap belt activated.

The frost crystal stones released heat. "Warm corridors" appeared on the ice sheet.

Evolved Beasts and some zombies rushed into the hot zones—instinct drove them to rush toward the warmth.

Ice blast traps triggered.

The temperature plummeted from 35 degrees above zero to 300 degrees below zero.

A temperature difference shock of five hundred degrees.

About thirty thousand creatures below B-rank shattered instantly.

Like glass falling on the ground.

But the Ice Sheet Parasites burrowed into the shattered corpses, using them as shields to continue advancing.

The Frost-Bone Behemoths stepped directly over the hot zones. Their bony ice armor could withstand the temperature shock.

An SS-rank Frost-Bone Behemoth crushed three ice blast traps without even breaking its stride.

The Abyssal Worms were even more excessive—they bypassed the entire middle ring from underground.

The hot zones were on the surface.

They were beneath the ice layer.

The hot zones didn't exist for them.

The middle ring eliminated about forty thousand.

But nearly eighty thousand still broke through the middle ring and rushed toward the inner ring wall.

Ling Shuanghan's voice sounded in the communicator:

"The middle ring was designed for Evolved Beasts. It didn't account for this situation with mixed species."

Her tone held no self-reproach.

Only calm analysis.

"The inner ring must hold."

...

Eighty thousand Apocalypse creatures rushed to the everwinter alloy wall.

The wall vibrated under the impact.

But there were no cracks.

At -210 degrees, the hardness of the everwinter alloy was five times that of alien alloys.

This was the material unlocked by Ling Shuanghan.

At this moment, it was proving its value.

The annihilation cannon fired.

The first volley—two thousand A-Rank Evolved Beasts and Iron Zombies were instantly vaporized.

The second round.

The third round.

The annihilation cannon continued to output.

But there were too many.

The cooldown time for the annihilation cannon was thirty seconds.

Within thirty seconds, more creatures surged up than were eliminated.

Zhao Tieshan's armored vehicle formation attacked.

Mobile fire points formed a second line of fire on the perimeter of the wall.

Armor-piercing rounds were effective against Iron Zombies—

The iron-gray skin was torn open by the armor-piercing rounds, and blue-black blood splashed everywhere.

But against the Frost-Bone Behemoths?

The armor-piercing rounds hit the bony ice armor, leaving only a white dot.

Zhao Tieshan looked at that white dot and wanted to curse.

He held back.

Qin Ziyan's Special Operations Team jumped down from the wall.

Close-quarters combat.

They were the Shelter's most elite combat force. Each one was an Ability User of A-rank or higher.

But facing eighty thousand creatures, the numerical disadvantage was too great.

One Special Operations Team member faced thirty Iron Zombies simultaneously.

She cut down ten.

The eleventh one pounced from behind.

It was slapped away by Qin Ziyan with one palm.

"Watch your back!" Qin Ziyan roared.

Her SS-rank Superpower output at full force, and every palm strike could shatter a group of Iron Zombies.

But she was only one person.

The battlefield was too large.

Ji Wushuang made her move.

The Nanming Li Fire expanded.

Vermilion flames bloomed on the ice sheet at -210 degrees.

A hundred-meter-wide wall of fire stood across the front of the wall.

Evolved Beasts and zombies rushed into the wall of fire and turned to ash.

The temperature difference on both sides of the fire wall exceeded one thousand degrees.

One side was the -210 degree ice sheet.

The other side was the 800-degree Nanming Li Fire.

There was no transition in between.

Either freeze to death or burn to death.

A choice of two.

But the Frost-Bone Behemoths chose a third option—hard push through.

An SS-rank Frost-Bone Behemoth rushed into the wall of fire.

The bony ice armor began to melt in the Nanming Li Fire.

But it didn't stop.

It passed through the wall of fire.

The ice armor melted by thirty percent, but the core skeleton was intact.

Its fist smashed toward the wall.

Boom.

The first crack appeared on the everwinter alloy wall surface.

Ji Wushuang looked at that crack, and her expression changed.

Her Nanming Li Fire couldn't burn this thing to death.

At least not with one strike.

Murong Xueer arrived.

Stars Shifting.

The second Frost-Bone Behemoth's fist smashed toward the wall—

The force was reflected back by Murong Xueer.

The behemoth's own fist smashed its own chest armor.

It looked down at its shattered chest, seemingly not understanding what had happened.

Then it fell.

But there were still ten left.

[part:gemini-3.0-flash]

The ground shook.

It wasn't the footsteps of a Frostbone Behemoth.

It was coming from below.

Abyssal Worm.

One burst out from the ground on the eastern side of the city wall.

The worm body, fifteen meters in diameter, collapsed a section of the wall.

Panels of everwinter alloy were sent flying, smashing down fifty meters away.

Refugees in the outer city screamed as they retreated.

Ling Shuanghan took action personally.

Frost Emperor Domain fully deployed.

An ice-blue light enveloped the Abyssal Worm.

The temperature plummeted!

The worm's body began to freeze, its movements slowing down until it was eventually frozen in place.

But Ling Shuanghan's Spiritual Power had only recently recovered.

After maintaining the domain for three minutes, her face turned pale.

Luo Qinghan attacked from atop the city wall.

Spiritual Shock.

Her spiritual waves were like an invisible blade, cutting into the consciousness of the zombie horde.

The residual consciousness of three thousand Iron Zombies was instantly destroyed.

They collapsed to the ground like puppets with their strings cut.

However, S-rank Corpse Generals could resist her spiritual shock.

A Corpse General stood behind the zombie horde, its iron-gray eyes staring at Luo Qinghan.

It opened its mouth and let out a sharp hiss.

The surrounding Iron Zombies stood back up—not because they had regained consciousness, but because they were being forcibly controlled by the Corpse General.

Luo Qinghan: "...This thing can even be remote-controlled?"

The battle lasted for two hours.

Casualties began to appear on the Shelter's side.

Seventeen militiamen from the outer city died.

Over forty of Zhao Tieshan's soldiers were wounded.

This was the first time casualties had occurred in a defensive battle since the Shelter was established.

...

While everyone was locked in a bloody battle against eighty thousand creatures.

"It" arrived.

The Frost Fetus.

It walked out from the depths of the ice plains.

Human-sized.

Its body was a translucent deep blue.

Inside its body, a beating ice-blue heart was clearly visible.

It walked very slowly.

Not because it couldn't walk fast.

But because it didn't need to be fast.

When it reached the city wall, something happened.

All the fighting creatures of the Apocalypse—stopped.

The Evolved Beasts stopped.

The zombies stopped.

The Parasites stopped.

The Frostbone Behemoths stopped.

The Abyssal Worms stopped.

Eighty thousand creatures.

All stopped at the same time.

It was as if a pause button had been pressed.

Then they began to retreat.

Uniformly.

Orderly.

They cleared a path for the Frost Fetus.

Two hundred thousand creatures—

Including those low-level creatures that had been dispersed to the distance—

All were instinctively moving away from the Frost Fetus.

It wasn't obedience.

It was fear.

Pure fear, etched into their genes.

On the city wall, everyone witnessed this scene.

Ji Wushuang's Nanming Li Fire was still burning, but she didn't move.

Qin Ziyan's fist was still raised, but she didn't strike.

Everyone was looking at that human-sized translucent existence.

The Frost Fetus walked up to the city wall.

It raised its hand.

It touched the everwinter alloy wall surface.

The wall began to freeze from the point of contact.

It wasn't ordinary ice.

It was a deep blue ice with veins.

Spreading across the wall like blood vessels.

As if it were alive.

The everwinter alloy began to become brittle.

The everwinter alloy—which was supposed to get harder as the temperature dropped—was actually shattering under the touch of the Frost Fetus.

Because what the Frost Fetus released was not ordinary cold.

It was 'Absolute Zero'.

A power that could erode the very structure of matter.

Ling Shuanghan's voice rang out through the communicator.

Carrying a tremor for the first time in a hundred years.

"Everyone retreat to the inner city. Do not engage it head-on."

She took a deep breath.

"That is a Frost Fetus. A forbidden species of the Everwinter World. My father... even as an SSS-rank, could only fight a Frost Fetus to a draw."

The people on the city wall began to retreat.

But Lin Yuan didn't move.

He stood on the wall, looking at the Frost Fetus.

The authority fragment inside him was vibrating violently.

It wasn't fear.

It was resonance.

There was some kind of connection between the ice-blue heart inside the Frost Fetus and the authority fragment.

Like two dialects of the same language.

He couldn't quite understand it.

But he could feel the other party speaking.

Lin Yuan made a decision that no one expected.

He jumped off the city wall.

"Lin Yuan!" Ye Qingxue's voice called out.

"You're crazy!" Ling Shuanghan's voice followed.

Ji Wushuang didn't shout.

She directly chased after him.

Nanming Li Fire protected Lin Yuan's side, the vermilion flames acting like a shield.

Lin Yuan walked toward the Frost Fetus.

The Frost Fetus looked at him.

If those pupil-less deep blue eyes could be considered "looking."

The two of them—

One person and one "thing"—faced off in front of the city wall.

Three meters apart.

Lin Yuan stopped.

The energy of the authority fragment surged out of his body.

Golden.

Warm.

Colliding with the Frost Fetus's Absolute Zero.

The two powers created a violent energy storm at the point of contact.

The ice surface within a fifty-meter radius completely shattered.

Ice shards flew into the sky, hovering, rotating, and pulverizing at the intersection of the two energies.

Ji Wushuang's Nanming Li Fire flickered unsteadily at the edge of the energy storm.

She gritted her teeth to stabilize the flames, but she knew—

This was not a level she could interfere with.

Cracks appeared on the Frost Fetus's translucent body.

It let out a—

Not a roar.

It was a low, whale-like mournful cry.

Drawn out.

Heavy.

Like an echo coming from the deepest part of the ice layer.

Then it retreated.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

It turned and walked toward the depths of the ice plains.

All the apocalyptic creatures retreated along with it.

Like a receding tide.

Silent.

Orderly.

Two hundred thousand creatures disappeared over the horizon within three minutes.

The siege was over.

...

After the battle.

There was no cheering in the Shelter.

Because people had died.

Twenty-three people.

Seventeen outer city militiamen. Six soldiers from the military district.

Sixty-seven seriously injured. Over two hundred with minor injuries.

This was the largest casualty count since the Shelter's founding.

Lin Yuan stood in the temporary morgue.

Twenty-three bodies.

Covered with white cloths.

He stood there for a long time.

No one disturbed him.

Ye Qingxue stood outside the door, blocking everyone who wanted to enter to report on work.

Chu Yanran didn't go out of the city to "collect goods" like she did after fighting the Ice Coffin Society.

She was in the kitchen cooking porridge for the wounded.

Her hands were shaking.

But the porridge was cooked well.

Plain white rice porridge.

Nothing added.

Because the wounded couldn't eat anything too complex.

When Ling Shuanghan found Lin Yuan, he had already come out of the morgue.

She told him the truth.

"The Frost Fetus is not an ordinary apocalyptic creature."

Lin Yuan looked at her.

"It is a larva of the Icebound Body."

Lin Yuan: "A larva of the Icebound Body?"

Ling Shuanghan:

"Before the Icebound Body awakens, it releases larvae to scout the path. Just like... a beehive sends out scout bees before it splits."

She paused for a moment.

"The appearance of the Frost Fetus means—the awakening of the Icebound Body is faster than we estimated."

Lin Yuan fell silent.

Ling Shuanghan continued: "Furthermore, the Frost Fetus didn't retreat because it couldn't beat you."

Lin Yuan: "I know."

Ling Shuanghan looked at him.

He knew.

Of course he knew.

The Frost Fetus retreated because it sensed the energy of the authority fragment.

It went back to "report."

"It will come back," Ling Shuanghan said. "Bringing more Frost Fetuses. Or—"

"The Icebound Body will come itself," Lin Yuan finished for her.

Ling Shuanghan nodded.

Lin Yuan was silent for a few seconds.

"How far is Ice City from us now?"

Shen Bingtong's voice came from the doorway—she had just returned from scouting and hadn't had time to change her clothes yet.

"About 280 kilometers. At a speed of five kilometers per day, there are 56 days left."

56 days.

Ice City was coming from the northwest.

The Icebound Body was beneath their feet.

The Ice Coffin Society was in the shadows.

A three-pronged attack.

Lin Yuan leaned back in his chair.

"Enough."

Ye Qingxue noticed his finger lightly tapping twice on the tabletop.

This was Lin Yuan's habitual movement when thinking.

But this time, he tapped three times.

Ye Qingxue's heart sank.

Two taps meant "I'm thinking of a way."

Three taps meant "the way is not easy to think of."

She didn't ask.

She just walked over and placed a cup of hot water by Lin Yuan's hand.

Lin Yuan picked it up and took a sip.

"Meeting tomorrow," he said. "Everyone."

Ye Qingxue: "Okay."

She turned to go and notify them.

As she reached the door, she looked back.

Lin Yuan was leaning back in his chair, looking at the ceiling.

His finger tapped on the table once more.

The fourth tap.

Ye Qingxue had never seen a fourth tap.

She didn't know what the fourth tap meant.

But she decided—

Regardless of what the fourth tap meant.

For tomorrow's meeting, she would call everyone together.

And then they would think of a way together.

Because Lin Yuan had said.

"I'm not doing this alone."