348: Chapter 348 No need to wait for it to come up

Three days after the beast tide ended.

The ice sheet outside the Shelter had returned to calm.

The two hundred thousand Apocalypse creatures arrived quickly, but ran away even faster.

Now, one could not even see the shadow of a single C-rank Evolved Beast on the ice sheet—they had all been scared out of their wits by Lin Yuan and had hidden in the deep mountains two hundred kilometers away.

However, the movement underground had not ceased.

Ten in the morning.

Xia Muqing rushed into the command room, carrying a stack of data pads.

"Lin Yuan, the situation is a bit off."

Her glasses had fogged up from running too fast, but her tone was urgent.

"The frequency of the Frost Heartbeat has changed."

Lin Yuan was sitting in a chair drinking tea; hearing this, he set down his teacup:

"Did it slow down or speed up?"

"It sped up. And it is a sudden change."

Xia Muqing slapped the data pad onto the table and pulled up a graph.

"The previous frequency was once every half hour. According to our model, it should have been a very gentle, increasing curve. But now—"

She pointed to the red line on the chart that had shot up abruptly.

"Once every ten minutes."

In the command room, Su Yuyan, who was checking the supply list, stopped her pen.

Qin Ziyan, who was in charge of security, also furrowed her brows.

"How could it suddenly speed up so much?"

Ye Qingxue walked over to look at the chart, "Is it because that Frost Fetus went back to report the news?"

"It is not because of the Frost Fetus."

Xia Muqing gave a bitter smile, "It is our own fault."

She pulled up the data for the middle ring trap zone.

"During the beast tide, the ice explosion trap zone in the middle ring released a massive amount of extreme cold energy to kill the monsters. At that time, the surface temperature instantly dropped to minus 300 degrees."

"But this energy did not just disappear into thin air. It followed the cracks in the ice sheet and all seeped underground."

Xia Muqing took a deep breath and gave her conclusion:

"Simply put, our defensive weapons accidentally… charged up that big guy under the ice sheet."

The command room was quiet for two seconds.

"That thing has now absorbed its fill of energy."

Xia Muqing pushed up her glasses, "The awakening threshold that was originally expected to be reached in 30 days has now been brought forward to… 12 days."

12 days.

Qin Ziyan clenched her fists: "What will happen after it wakes up?"

Xia Muqing glanced at Ling Shuanghan.

Ling Shuanghan was wiping her frost longsword, her tone as calm as if she were talking about someone else's affairs:

"According to the historical records of the Everwinter World, the first thing the Icebound Body does after waking up is to drill out of the ice sheet. It is as big as a mountain."

Qin Ziyan: "And after it drills out?"

Xia Muqing added quietly:

"The Shelter… happens to be right above its head."

In other words, in 12 days.

A mountain-sized ice monster will burst out from underground and send the entire Lin Yuan Shelter flying into the sky.

Ling Shuanghan put away her longsword and walked to the holographic map.

"I suggest evacuation."

She drew a route heading south.

"The energy burst when the Icebound Body wakes up is something no building within a fifty-kilometer radius can withstand. Even the everwinter alloy will not hold. The only method is to immediately organize everyone to relocate south, at least 100 kilometers away."

"City walls can be rebuilt, but if people die, everything is gone."

This was the iron law she had summarized from her hundred-year military career.

Su Yuyan immediately began calculating rapidly in her mind.

"That will not work."

Su Yuyan shook her head, her delicate brows slightly furrowed.

"A mass evacuation of 8,000 people on an ice sheet at minus 210 degrees is not just something you say."

"Packing supplies, dismantling key equipment, and coordinating transport vehicles will require at least 7 days of preparation time. Adding the 100-kilometer march across the ice sheet, even if everything goes smoothly, it will take 5 days."

"7 plus 5, exactly 12 days."

Su Yuyan looked at Ling Shuanghan:

"We would be flipped over directly by the Icebound Body drilling out from underground when we are halfway through the evacuation."

Evacuation is a dead end.

Staying is also a dead end.

This kind of desperate deadlock.

If this were any ordinary Shelter, the people in the command room would already be writing their wills.

But here, no one was writing a will.

Because everyone's gaze subconsciously turned to the man sitting in the chair.

Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan listened to their analysis, and instead of frowning, he laughed.

"Evacuation?"

He leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping gently on the tabletop.

"It has been buried underground for so long, and now that it is fully charged with energy, it is about to be unearthed. This is like a local delivery sent right to our door; how can we refuse it?"

Ling Shuanghan was stunned.

"Sent to our door?"

She looked at Lin Yuan, feeling that this man's train of thought was a bit hard to understand.

"Lin Yuan, that is the source of the Apocalypse. My father once took his most elite guards to try and seal it, but they could not even get within fifty meters of it and were completely wiped out."

"Your father did not have an authority fragment."

Lin Yuan stood up, his tone relaxed, "But I do."

He walked to the holographic map.

He casually erased the "southward evacuation route" that Ling Shuanghan had drawn.

Then he drew a red X directly beneath the Shelter.

"No need to wait for it to come up."

Lin Yuan said, "Since it absorbed our electricity, we will make it spit it back out with interest."

"I will go down. Have a buffet."

Luo Qinghan had been silent on the side, but hearing this, she could not help but speak up:

"That Icebound Body has gathered the frost curse energy of the entire region. If it bursts instantly, the energy level might exceed your endurance limit—"

"Stop."

Lin Yuan interrupted her directly.

He looked at Luo Qinghan, a trace of a smile on his lips.

But his eyes revealed a domineering aura that made one afraid to look directly at him.

"In my dictionary, the word 'limit' does not exist."

"If it does, it is only meant to be broken."

The command room fell silent again.

Not because of fear, but because of an indescribable shock.

Ling Shuanghan looked at Lin Yuan's profile.

On that face, there was no fear of the source of the Apocalypse.

No gravity of facing a desperate situation, and even a hint of… anticipation?

Just like the anticipation a veteran gamer feels before opening a blind box.

"Just like opening a big blind box."

Lin Yuan added nonchalantly.

"And it is a premium blind box; there must be plenty of good things inside."

Looking at Lin Yuan's fearless and even slightly excited eyes.

Ling Shuanghan found that her heart, which had been hanging, had inexplicably settled down.

Not just her.

Ye Qingxue, Su Yuyan, Qin Ziyan, Xia Muqing…

The tension on all the women's faces had disappeared.

This man possessed a magic that made people trust him unconditionally.

As long as he thought it was fine.

Then even if the sky fell, it would be a small matter.

"Good."

Ye Qingxue was the first to return to her daily rhythm, "How should we arrange the personnel?"

"A three-person sightseeing team."

Lin Yuan designated the team, "Me, Ling Shuanghan, and Shen Bingtong."

"Ling Shuanghan is responsible for leading the way; after all, you are familiar with it."

"Shen Bingtong is responsible for sensing the direction; she is the most sensitive to frost energy."

"As for me—"

Lin Yuan smiled, "I am responsible for signing for the delivery."

No complex tactical arrangements.

No energy interference devices.

No backup rescue plans.

Just three people, going downstairs directly, and dismantling it violently.

"What about on the surface?"

Qin Ziyan asked, "Do we need full-scale first-level combat readiness?"

"What combat readiness?"

Lin Yuan waved his hand, "Let everyone eat and drink as usual, factories continue production, and city walls continue to be reinforced. Do not worry about what is below."

The meeting ended just like that.

Extremely hasty.

It did not even take five minutes.

After the meeting, Ye Qingxue found Lin Yuan alone.

There was not a hint of worry about life or death in her eyes.

Only the calmness of asking "where are we going to work today."

"How long will this take?"

Lin Yuan thought for a moment:

"Hard to say. If that thing looks too ugly, I might spend an extra minute beating it up. I will try to be quick."

Ye Qingxue chuckled:

"Then hurry up. Chu Yanran said she is making a top-tier gene hotpot tonight; if you are late, there will not be any meat to eat."

Lin Yuan nodded seriously:

"Tell her to save me a plate of marbled beef. If anyone steals it, I will be furious with them."

Ling Shuanghan, who was not far away, listened to the two of them, and she fell into self-doubt.

Going 300 meters under the ice to face the source of the Apocalypse that destroyed a world.

You call this… going downstairs to pick up a delivery and needing to rush back for hotpot?!

Is the world crazy, or am I crazy?

The night before the operation.

In the command room.

When Ling Shuanghan pushed the door open to enter.

She expected to see Lin Yuan wiping his weapons or closing his eyes to adjust his state.

Instead, she saw an unbelievable scene.

Lin Yuan was sitting in front of the big screen, holding a game controller in his hand, and the screen was playing pixel-style graphics.

"What are you… doing?" Ling Shuanghan took a deep breath.

Lin Yuan did not even look up, his fingers pressing rapidly on the controller.

"Playing games, warming up. The boss in this level has a bit too much HP; I have already lost two lives."

Ling Shuanghan felt like her hundred years of cultivation were about to break.

"We are going down tomorrow!"

She walked quickly to Lin Yuan's side.

"Are you not going to prepare a response plan? What about an emergency plan? How will you escape if you encounter an unexpected situation? Have you memorized the route?"

Lin Yuan killed the boss on the screen with an ultimate move, then pressed pause.

He put down the controller and turned his head to look at Ling Shuanghan.

The smile on his face faded, replaced by an absolute composure.

"In the face of absolute power, all plans, routes, and tactics are scrap paper."

He pointed to the ice sheet beneath their feet.

"With me here, you do not need to consider how to escape."

"You only need to consider what to eat after we come back up tomorrow."

Ling Shuanghan fell silent.

She opened her mouth, wanting to use the bloody lessons of the Everwinter World to refute him.

But she found that she could not say a single word.

Because this man, from the first day she met him.

Every seemingly arrogant word he spoke, he eventually accomplished.

He said he could hold the city, and he held it with zero casualties.

He said he could deal with the Frost Fetus, and with one look, he scared the Frost Fetus away.

"……Eat hotpot." Ling Shuanghan finally squeezed out three words.

"That is right."

Lin Yuan picked up the controller again, "Go get some rest."

Shen Bingtong happened to walk to the door at this moment.

She looked at the "MISSION COMPLETE" on the screen.

"Did you clear it?"

"Almost."

Lin Yuan pressed for the next level, "Something up?"

Shen Bingtong shook her head, a trace of relief flashing in her light gray eyes:

"Nothing. Just came to see if you were nervous. Now it seems, I clearly overthought it."

She turned and left, a faint, imperceptible smile on her lips.

Nervous?

The one who should be nervous is that unlucky guy under the ice who is about to be "eaten."

The command room returned to silence.

Lin Yuan continued playing the game, but his thoughts had already drifted to three hundred meters underground.

"I wonder what good stuff the crystal core of that Icebound Body will drop."

"It would be best if it drops something that can directly boost my Space Ability; otherwise, when fighting, it is always just banishing here and banishing there—it is too monotonous."