102: Chapter 102 The Red Tide Approaches

The top floor of the ruins was extraordinarily cold.

There was no hearth.

There were no rock walls to block the wind.

Snow dust swirled in through the broken window, hitting the edges of the wolf skins.

Zhao Mengmeng dragged a collapsed sheet-metal table over and propped it up in front of the window.

She desperately stuffed the gaps with frozen-stiff documents and rags.

The sound of the wind was barely cut in half.

Rubbing her frozen fingers, she spoke in a low voice.

"This is way worse than the dog hole."

Lin Ye was checking the warning line at the stairwell.

"It's a temporary shelter, don't be picky."

"I'm not being picky, I just miss that stone door we sealed up."

Bullet comments were flooding the Great Xia Live Stream.

[Mengmeng calls it a dog hole, but her body is honest.]

[That was a home she built bit by bit; who wouldn't feel bad about leaving it?]

[Forget it, being able to find a rooftop to stay on right now is already a blessing.]

[Is this building sturdy? I hope it doesn't get collapsed by a wave of Vines.]

...

Lin Ye stood in the center of the room, his gaze sweeping over three preset escape routes.

One led to the stairwell.

One connected to a half-collapsed metal billboard outside the window.

One pointed toward a half-collapsed ventilation shaft in the corner.

The stairwell was jammed with scrap metal frames, and behind the door, a ground-level tripwire from the Dark Weaver was stretched tight.

Scraps of iron were piled at the mouth of the ventilation shaft; anything climbing up would trigger a noise.

In the direction of the outdoor billboard, three backup anchor points for Nano-wires were set.

Zhao Mengmeng shook her head as she looked at the setup.

"You've even scheduled the escape routes?"

"Yeah."

"What if all three routes are plastered shut by Vines?"

"Jump."

Zhao Mengmeng choked.

"You make it sound so easy."

"I have the Dark Weaver."

"What about me?"

"Hold onto me tight."

Zhao Mengmeng wrapped her Animal Skin Cloak two inches tighter.

"Fine, I'm just a human accessory now."

Lin Ye walked to the window and looked down through the gap.

The wind and snow at the edge of the basin were still violent.

His gaze shifted to the rooftop of a six-story building to the east.

Behind a water tower, two people were huddled.

They were only wearing thin cloth and a few pieces of tattered animal skins.

One clutched a rusty scimitar, while the other held an empty canteen, lips turned purple from the cold.

No information popped up on the light screen of Lin Ye's right eye, but he recognized the style of their gear.

Zhao Mengmeng tilted her head.

"India?"

"Judging by their clothing, yes."

"They look like they're about to freeze to death."

"And starve to death, too."

On the rooftop of the low building, the man with the knife reached for his waist.

He pulled out half a blackened tree root and stuffed it into his mouth, biting down hard.

After a couple of chews, he spat it onto the snow with a twisted expression.

He didn't dare start a fire.

Even less did he dare make a sound.

The streets below were densely packed with Pale Species.

The India-exclusive livestream was filled with wails.

[Oh God! Save our warriors!]

[That Lin Ye from Great Xia is on the rooftop opposite them! He has jerky and high-quality animal skins!]

[Strong protest! The Great Xia contestant is doing nothing! This is murder!]

[Great Xia is a major power; they must show the grace of a great nation and send supplies over immediately!]

The Great Xia Live Stream immediately struck back.

[What do you mean 'must' send it? Do you think this is food delivery?]

[Why didn't you talk about 'great nation grace' when you were accusing us of cheating earlier?]

[In the Void Sea, everyone's life is their own. Who has time to look after you!]

[Brother Eye, definitely don't go. Going there would just be looking for trouble!]

...

Lin Ye glanced at the rooftop and then looked away.

Zhao Mengmeng also showed no trace of overflowing sympathy.

In the Void Sea, the "bleeding hearts" die the fastest.

She gripped her crossbow firmly.

"Will they get desperate and come over to rob us?"

"Depends on how hungry they get."

"Then I'll keep a close eye on them."

Lin Ye's gaze shifted to the southwest.

Behind the broken wall of a seven-story office building, three Challengers were moving.

The light screen of his right eye popped up.

[Nationality: Kangaroo Country]

The tall man leading them clutched a Bone Spear, lying by a hole in the wall and staring intently at the ground below.

The two behind him carried flat backpacks, finding it difficult even to stand up straight.

They had their eyes on the ruins of a convenience store across the street.

As soon as the Pale Species swarm left a gap, they would dash across the street.

Either they'd find food, or they'd become food.

Zhao Mengmeng twitched the corner of her mouth.

"These people have been pushed to a dead end, too."

"Everyone is desperate."

Lin Ye's finger rested on the mechanism of the Dark Weaver.

The rooftop wasn't an absolute safe zone.

Vines could burrow through snow and climb walls; tall buildings were only useful for gaining a vantage point.

The key to survival lay entirely with the monsters below.

They had to let the Vines and the Pale Species tear into each other, exhausting their vanguards.

Lin Ye's left eye snapped open.

On his retina, geometric blocks of color reorganized.

The ruined roads were thick with viscous red light—the dense Pale Species.

Scattered green lights twinkled in the middle and upper floors of the buildings, representing hidden Challengers.

His gaze swept past the buildings, piercing straight toward the snow-white ridges on the outskirts of the basin.

There, a vast and dim crimson ocean was crossing the mountain line, spreading downward.

They were coming.

Lin Ye blinked quickly to cut off the vision.

A swelling pain, like being pierced by a needle, throbbed deep in his eyeball, and a vein at his temple twitched slightly.

Zhao Mengmeng immediately handed over a small piece of clean ice she had chipped off the windowsill.

"Your eye hurts again?"

Lin Ye took the ice and pressed it against his left brow bone.

"I'm okay."

"Every time you say you're 'okay,' it means you're about to collapse."

"Stop talking nonsense."

Zhao Mengmeng curled her lip and turned her gaze back to the low building to the east.

Something happened to the Indians on the rooftop.

The man holding the canteen suddenly stood up, pointing toward the edge of the basin and letting out a short, terrified, off-key sound.

His companion with the knife was scared witless and yanked him down, covering his mouth tightly.

But it was too late.

The Pale Species swarm on the eastern street looked up in unison.

Their featureless faces were aimed at the sixth-floor rooftop.

Excited predatory shrieks erupted from their throats.

The monster swarm began to surge toward the base of the low building.

Zhao Mengmeng gripped the stock of her crossbow.

"Dammit, that shout woke up everyone downstairs."

"They won't last long."

"We're not getting involved."

"Not involved."

With the crossbow resting on her knees, there was no ripple of emotion in Zhao Mengmeng's eyes.

The sound of doors being battered downstairs drifted up through the wind and snow.

The curses in the Indian livestream were deafening, while the Great Xia Live Stream was full of praise for the duo's cold-blooded style.

Suddenly.

The Pale Species on the street stopped.

The monster swarms in the center of the ruins halted in perfect unison.

They gave up on tearing into their own kind and stopped attacking the low building.

Thousands of deformed monsters turned their bodies, facing the edge of the basin in unison.

Their cries changed.

It was no longer the excitement of predation.

Instead, it was an extremely irritable, furious roar of defense against an enemy.

The roars spread through the depths of the blocks.

Underground garages, broken bridge frames, abandoned subway stations—the whole city responded.

Zhao Mengmeng's knuckles turned white from her grip.

"What are they screaming at?"

"They've sensed a natural predator."

"The Vines?"

"Yeah."

Every living thing in the Lost Lands was suppressed by the sheer weight of this commotion.

The Indians on the eastern rooftop cowered under the water tower, trembling.

The people from Kangaroo Country in the southwest office building retreated into the shadows.

The sporadic fires that had just been lit were stomped out.

Lin Ye walked to the window.

The snow and wind at the edge of the basin were forcibly pushed aside.

A red line spilled over the pure white ridge line.

Hugging the undulating snow slopes and broken deadwood, it crushed its way toward the ruined buildings of the Lost Lands.

Zhao Mengmeng's throat felt dry. "The enemy is at the gates."

Below, countless Pale Species let out wild roars facing the Red Tide.

On the ridges, the blood-colored army bore down with a roar.