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The long–awaited sun appeared, signaling the end of winter. And the start of an even greater crisis.
With summer coming, all those frozen zombie corpses, viruses, and plants would start popping up everywhere.
But what was truly terrifying were mutant creatures. Their numbers would explode, and they bred at a freakish rate.
Chloe remembered that in the first summer after the apocalypse in her previous life, humans had already sunk to the very bottom of the food chain, nothing more than easy prey for mutant creatures.
Now, Chloe had reached level five, one of the scariest powerhouses on Earth.
She could even take on those beasts of the same level lurking deep in the mountains and forests.
Going out to hunt was as easy as taking a stroll for her.
She turned to her teammates. “I’m heading out. Make sure you stay
Inside the base, no matter what.”
“Chloe, where are you going? Do you need me to go with you?” Molly hurried over.
Chloe reached out and patted Molly’s fluffy head, smiling as she shook her head.
“No need. I’m just going to check things out,” she said.
Then she turned to Linda. “Aunt Linda, here’s a map of Grovenwich. If you’re free, could you fill everyone in on what’s around us?”
Before leaving, Chloe handed all the beast hides and the mutant serpent’s fangs to Frank.
“These are two fangs from the mutant serpent. The venom isn’t too strong, but they should make some seriously sharp weapons. See what you can do with them,” she said.
Then, she turned to the group and said seriously, “This villa has been specially fortified. No mutant creature below level five can break through the defenses. As long as you stay inside, you’ll be safe.”
With that, Chloe vanished from sight.
With her speed power, Chloe dashed through the woods like a cheetah–if anyone happened to catch a glimpse, all they’d see was a fleeting shadow.
She had to move fast and scoop up all the frozen supplies before the ice thawed.
In about half a month, summer would hit. Viruses would run wild, and even the smallest bugs could take down something huge. Scavenging for supplies would be pure hell.
Right now, stuff like bread and pancakes was still frozen, so it was safe to eat.
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But once summer rolled in, everything would start to rot, get moldy, and be crawling with bacteria. With earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods on top of that, the only things left to scavenge would be canned food or
mutant creature meat.
Chloe’s spiritual space was packed with enough supplies to feed a hundred thousand people for a lifetime, but nobody could ever have too much.
Just knowing all that food was about to go bad made her feel awful inside.
After the sun came out, the temperature climbed by 50°F, but it was still a freezing minus -70°F. Even the sunlight couldn’t chase away the chill; it felt like icy wind cutting right through people.
Chloe held the map of Grovenwich in her hand. In just a single day, she’d picked the city clean. There was nothing left but shattered ruins.
Grovenwich had never been a big city, maybe a hundred thousand people at most. Ninety–nine percent had turned into zombies, and most of the rest got eaten alive.
The last 0.4% were nearly wiped out by that freakish hailstorm.
This place used to be a quiet, cozy little city. Now, everywhere one looked, there were broken walls and rubble, and people could still make out the mangled bodies–smashed and bloody from the hail.
Some people had been crushed flat; others reduced to nothing but bloody mush. You couldn’t even tell they’d ever been human. It was a nightmare come to life.
Every time Chloe saw a patch of ice stained with blood, she knew someone had been killed under there.
Seeing all this carnage, her eyes, usually so calm, showed a hint of doubt.
‘Can humans really make it to the end?‘ Chloe thought to herself.
Even in her previous life, nobody had ever figured out the answer.
All she could do now was gather as many useful things as possible.
After her spiritual space leveled up to five, its area expanded dramatically, adding a hundred–thousand–mile stretch of barren mountains. Even if the place was desolate, it was perfect for stashing away all sorts of scrap and supplies.
She could store things like collapsed buildings and broken bridges from the outside world in there, no problem.
Whatever Chloe came across, if there was even a chance it might be useful in the future, she’d add it to her stash without hesitation.
She even collected all the chunks of ice she found along the way, storing them in her spiritual space.
As an ice–powered human, Chloe was tough, but creating ice took a lot out of her, and it wasn’t something she could do in a flash.
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Chapter 198
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Those irregularly shaped chunks of ice, some as big as washbasins, might come in handy during a fight and could have unexpected effects.
Whenever Chloe was out scavenging, as long as the stuff was touching or piled together, she could scoop it all up into her spiritual space with just a thought.
The moment her hand brushed against the ice, the whole street’s worth of ice and snow vanished without a
trace.
Inside her spiritual space, one of those barren mountains was instantly covered in ice and snow, turning it into a snowy mountain.
According to the Spiritual Space System, this newly added hundred–thousand–mile stretch of mountains was just a bunch of barren wastelands–pretty much useless for now.
They wouldn’t turn into fertile land until her spiritual space reached level ten.
But right now, they were perfect for stashing all kinds of construction debris and endless piles of ice and
snow.
‘Man, funny how things work out. Just a few days ago, I was complaining these mountains were useless, and now they’re actually coming in handy,‘ Chloe thought to herself.
And apparently, just like the mall on the north side of her spiritual space, anything she stored on these mountains would stay exactly the same, never changing.
That meant all the ice and snow she stored there would never melt.
To make running easier, Chloe switched into a thin tracksuit and put on a mask, making a high–profile run through the city.
Wherever she went, it was like a swarm of locusts had passed through. Nothing was left behind.
Along the way, she even stumbled upon a few mutagenic herbs and mutant flowers.
Talk about a lucky break.
Without even realizing it, Chloe had swept up all the ruins and ice from Grovenwich into her spiritual space.
The next day, Chloe slept for four hours in her spiritual space, then rushed out once more to gather more supplies.
When she reached the riverbank, she saw the surface was already sealed under a thick layer of ice. Chloe sent a blast of her power at the ice and couldn’t help but curse.
“Damn, this ice is over six feet thick,” she muttered.
‘Jackpot!‘ Chloe thought, grinning to herself.
She reached out and touched the frozen river, trying to suck the whole sheet of ice into her spiritual space with just a thought. But nothing happened. The ice didn’t move an inch.
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The system’s exasperated voice rang out in her mind.
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“Host, this river is huge, and the ice is nearly ten feet thick. There’s no way you can absorb all that into your space,” the system complained.
Chloe blinked in surprise. “Wait, my spiritual space actually has a weight limit?”
“Honestly, there wasn’t, but you’ve crammed so much stuff in here, it’s way over the limit,” the system replied.
Just as Chloe was about to scoop up the ice within three hundred feet, a team burst through the mist on the frozen river.
There were six people in total, riding in pairs on makeshift wooden sleds, each one pulled by four sled dogs.
Chloe’s eyes narrowed as she locked onto the
group.
Twelve sled dogs, all looking well–fed and strong, with sharp eyes and glossy coats. No way these pups ever missed a meal.
‘If someone can keep their dogs this fat when people are starving, they must have some serious backing,‘ Chloe thought to herself.
Chloe eyed the frozen river and the newcomers. ‘Guess I’ll have to hold off until they clear out,‘ she thought.
Not looking to pick a fight, she decided to quietly slip away.
AD
