Chapter 46: Just Right to Stretch Our Legs
Early the next morning, before the pale dawn had fully broken, the four of them returned to the massive cold storage warehouse.
Chu Yang stood in the center of the vast depot, drawing in a deep breath. The biting chill characteristic of frozen food lingered heavy in the air, piercing straight into his lungs and making him shiver.
Composing himself, he pushed his newly upgraded spatial ability to its absolute limit. With a single focused thought, an invisible force swept across the endless rows of industrial shelving. Pallets of frozen meat, crates of seafood, packaged meals, and crisp produce vanished into thin air one after another, all drawn cleanly into his pocket dimension, which had expanded more than tenfold.
Across the thousand-square-meter facility, the mountain of provisions dwindled at a visible pace. The rustle of plastic wrappers and the dull thuds of cardboard boxes echoed softly through the chamber until the entire warehouse was stripped completely bare.
Feeling the rich, heavy abundance packed securely within his space, a profound sense of reassurance washed over Chu Yang. With a stockpile like this, they wouldn’t have to worry about food or supplies for the long road ahead.
With their haul safely stowed, the four men officially set out once more, continuing their journey toward N City.
The weather, however, refused to cooperate, turning harsher by the hour.
Not only did the snow show no sign of letting up, but it fell in thick, heavy sheets. Goose-feather flakes whirled wildly across the sky, blotting out the pale sun and reducing their visibility to less than five meters. The temperature plummeted relentlessly, coating the asphalt in a thick, mirror-like sheet of solid ice.
Since Lin Weiwei had run off with the white SUV, all four of them had to squeeze into Chu Yang’s modified RV.
Lin Xiao took the wheel. Gripping the leather rim with white knuckles, his brow furrowed so tightly it could crush an insect, he cursed every few minutes: “This damn road! It’s practically unnavigable!”
Even with heavy snow chains fitted onto the massive off-road tires, the heavy rig drifted and fishtailed over the slick ice, crawling forward at a snail’s pace. Several times, the rear wheels slid dangerously sideways, nearly dragging them into the steep roadside ditch. Lin Xiao broke out in a cold sweat with every skid, hastily fighting the steering wheel to bring the chassis back under control.
Tossed about in their seats with every jolt, Chu Yang braced himself against the dashboard and grumbled, “In this hellish weather, if it keeps snowing like this, we’re going to turn into human popsicles!”
Su Mubai had been leaning quietly against the frosted window, his brow knit with concern as he watched the swirling white chaos outside through the glass.
After another violent shudder of the chassis, Su Mubai’s voice cut through the crunching sound of tires grinding over packed ice, soft yet distinct: “The road is in terrible shape and we can barely see five feet ahead. Shouldn’t we find some shelter first and wait for the blizzard to pass before moving on?”
Sitting in the front passenger seat, Jiang Jue kept his sharp gaze locked on the obscured road ahead. Hearing the suggestion, he slowly shook his head. His voice was low and calm, yet it carried an unshakable resolve: “We cannot stop. Judging by the cloud density and the wind direction, this storm won’t let up anytime soon; the snow will only pile up deeper.”
“We can still manage to crawl forward right now. The moment we stop, the drifts will bury our wheels and the ice will lock the chassis in place. It’ll be nearly impossible to get moving again, and getting stranded out in the open wilderness is far more dangerous.”
He paused, then turned slightly to address Lin Xiao, whose nerves were stretched taut over the wheel. “Keep your speed low, hold the steering steady, stay in low gear, and avoid slamming the brakes.”
“Ease off the gas well before you reach any curves or slopes. If you get exhausted, speak up; we’ll take turns driving.”
Catching the tense, worried faces of Chu Yang and Su Mubai in the rearview mirror and hearing Jiang Jue’s calm, methodical instructions, Lin Xiao gritted his teeth and blew out a long breath. “Understood, Boss! Hang on tight, everyone—I’m going to take this damn road head-on!”
Just as they were inching forward, faint, panicked screams and the frantic sound of running feet drifted through the howling wind.
Through the dense curtain of swirling snow, a ragged group of people came stumbling into view, running toward them in pure terror. There were about a dozen survivors, mostly dressed in thin, ragged clothing, their faces twisted in desperation. Hot on their heels was a pack of over twenty zombies!
The infected moved with stiff, jerky strides, yet they remained entirely unaffected by the treacherous ice beneath their feet, charging forward with hungry, guttural roars.
“Survivors being chased by a horde!” Chu Yang’s eyes lit up, his lethargy vanishing instantly. The pent-up frustration from the bumpy, suffocating ride finally found an outlet.
He shoved the heavy side door open. A biting blast of freezing wind mixed with snow rushed into the warm cabin. Pulling his collar tight, he leaped down into the slush. His heavy combat boots hit the frozen ground with a crisp crunch.
“Watch your footing—the ice is slick!” Jiang Jue stepped down almost in the exact same second. Even as he issued the quiet warning, his long straight blade was already sliding from its scabbard, the steel drawing a frosty arc through the dim air.
In the next breath, the head of the lead zombie flying toward them severed cleanly from its neck. Foul, dark blood splattered across the white drifts, steaming faintly in the bitter cold.
Lin Xiao and Su Mubai grabbed their weapons and vaulted down from the vehicle right behind them.
Rolling his shoulders, Lin Xiao rested his broad blade across his shoulder with a fierce grin. “Perfect timing! My bones were getting stiff from all that sitting anyway—let’s use these bastards to stretch our legs!”
Seeing the armored RV and several armed fighters suddenly appear in their path, the fleeing survivors looked as though they had found a lifeline. Hope flared in their panicked eyes, and they scrambled desperately toward the vehicle, crying out over the wind: “Help us! Please, save us!”
Chu Yang had no time for pleasantries. Locking his eyes onto a snarling zombie lunging at the front of the pack, he charged forward instead of falling back. Digging his boots into the packed snow, he lunged like a hunting cheetah. Sliding two paces over the slick ice to steady his center of gravity, he raised his right leg and brought his heavy combat boot crashing down with crushing force straight onto the monster’s shoulder!
Crack!
The sickening sound of shattered bone rang out crisply. The immense force drove the zombie straight to its knees, slamming its skull hard against the frozen road. Putrid blood and gray brain matter splattered across the pavement, staining the pristine snow a dark, ugly crimson.
Another infected lunged from his blind spot, reeking of rancid rot. Without even turning his head, Chu Yang whipped his blade around in a fluid, reverse slash. The polished steel flashed like silver frost. With a clean shing, the rotting head parted from its shoulders, tumbling into the snowbank with its dead eyes wide open.
Jiang Jue’s movements were even cleaner and far more lethal. Moving like a silent wraith among the horde, every sweep of his straight blade found the precise weak point of a zombie’s skull. There was no wasted motion, no hesitation; like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, he harvested the monsters in absolute silence, leaving a trail of collapsed corpses in his wake.
Lin Xiao swung his heavy blade with ferocious power, each cleave whistling violently through the air. A single sweeping strike was often enough to sever a zombie straight through the torso as he bellowed: “Come on, keep ’em coming! Let your grandpa show you what real power looks like!”
Holding his shorter blade, Su Mubai kept his footing light and nimble along the perimeter, his sharp gaze scanning every angle. Whenever a stray zombie slipped through or an injured monster dragged itself forward, he stepped in swiftly to deliver the finishing blow, his strikes neat and efficient, leaving no lingering threats behind.
Though it was their very first time fighting together as a complete unit, the four of them demonstrated remarkable, instinctual coordination.
Chu Yang’s aggressive frontline charges, Jiang Jue’s ruthless, high-efficiency kills, Lin Xiao’s heavy suppression, and Su Mubai’s vigilant cleanup formed a tight, lethal combat formation. While still developing, it was remarkably effective.
In less than five minutes, all twenty-odd zombies lay dead across the frozen asphalt. Their dark, viscous blood stained a broad patch of the snowfield, standing in stark, gruesome contrast against the pristine white flakes drifting softly from the sky.
