The Day Love Betrayed Me and Never the Plan 196

Chapter 196 

But honestly, all that was just them kidding themselves. 

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The hailstones from above kept getting bigger and heavier, pounding through the metal sheets over the windows. When they struck people, flesh and blood splattered everywhere in an instant. 

Just then, the lead vehicle suddenly came to a halt. 

Chloe slowly stepped out of the RV, hailstones raining down, aiming straight for her head. 

But then, something incredible happened. 

Every snowflake and hailstone that got close to her just vanished. It was like she was wrapped in an invisible shield. Nothing could touch her. 

In reality, she had stored all those hailstones in her spiritual space. 

That downpour three months ago was the only one carrying the zombie virus. As long as the snow and hail didn’t hit the ground, they were totally harmless. 

Once the freezing cold passed, the scorching heat was next. Stocking up on hailstones now would definitely come in handy later. 

Chloe walked down the street unfazed by the chaos around her. With a casual wave of her hand, she reinforced the roof of every vehicle with a thick, protective layer of ice. 

This ice was a lot tougher than the hailstones crashing down from above. With it, they’d be able to reach Grovenwich safe and sound. 

The highway was dead empty, not even a Phantom Zombie around. Every car that used to block the way had been cleared out, but the blizzard was so intense that they could barely see their own hand in front of their face. 

The temperature kept nosediving. It was already colder than -94°F, and water turned to ice the instant it hit the air. 

It felt like they’d been dumped straight into the Arctic. 

Everyone was shivering like crazy. Even with the heat cranked up inside the cars, everyone’s eyebrows were crusted with frost. 

Meanwhile, Chloe was perched casually on top of the RV, still rocking that red chiffon dress. With snow swirling all around her, she was impossible to miss like a splash of color in a world of white. 

Her cheeks were pale with a healthy flush, not even a trace of chill on her face. If anything, she looked perfectly comfortable, like the cold didn’t bother her at all. 

As the vehicles slowly rolled into Grovenwich, excitement flashed in everyone’s eyes. But then, as they thought about what lay ahead, their faces grew heavy. 

10:16 Wed, Feb 11 

Chapter 196 

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With conditions this brutal, there was no way they could even think about building a base. 

Forget about the hailstones the size of heads pelting down like rain. Just the ground was so hard that it was impossible to even start digging. 

And those villas were probably getting smashed to pieces by the hailstones. 

Just one look at the houses lining the road was enough to tell. 

Just like everyone had guessed, after all that struggle, they finally rolled into Grovenwich, only to find the whole city had turned into a frozen wasteland. 

The villas held up pretty well. None had caved in, but the roofs had definitely taken a beating, with plenty of dents and cracks from the hail. 

Good thing they’d picked off–road vehicles with high ground clearance and big tires. The roads were a nightmare, but those rides barely broke a sweat. 

Chloe was the first to step out, her eyes sparkling with delight as she took in the endless mountains and the stretch of lakeside villas. 

Forgetting the whole apocalypse thing for a second, this place is jaw–droppingly gorgeous, like something straight out of a dream. 

She didn’t hang around for long. Instead, she kicked her speed power into gear, zipping from villa to villa. With a flick of her hand, she threw up ice barricades all 

round each place, locking everything down except for the front door. 

After wandering around for a bit, she ended up finding the villa keys on a couple of zombies just shambling nearby. 

In this bone–chilling cold, the zombies had lost all their former strength. Their blood was frozen solid, and they shuffled along, arms and legs stiff as boards, joints creaking with every step. 

No matter if there were thousands of these zombies, Chloe could crush them all in just a few minutes. 

In winter, the only thing you had to worry about was the brutal cold. 

But when summer hit, it wasn’t just the scorching heat. Bacteria and viruses spread like wildfire, and worst of all, mutants were everywhere. Plants, bugs, and even nightmarish beasts crawling up from underground turned the whole place into a living hell. 

Just thinking about all that made Chloe pick up the pace. 

‘I have to make sure the base is fully operational before summer arrives,‘ Chloe reminded herself. 

She arrived at the largest and most luxurious villa in sight. The place stood three stories tall, with sprawling front and back yards that together covered nearly two acres. 

It was spacious enough to house everyone from the base comfortably. 

10:16 Wed, Feb 11 

Chapter 196 

She opened the front door and walked right in. 

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The first floor alone had seven or eight rooms, while the second and third floors each boasted more than a dozen rooms. 

Every room was lavishly furnished and fully stocked with all the daily necessities anyone could need. 

Everything here was decked out like a five–star hotel. 

“Looks like the owner was planning to turn this place into a luxury guesthouse,” Chloe said. 

Honestly, the other villas were even fancier and more impressive. They might’ve been smaller, but each one was basically a private pad for just one person. 

Not like this big villa–it had more of a hotel vibe than a cozy home. 

Chloe vanished in a blink, using her space power to pop up right on the rooftop. Suddenly, a flag appeared in her hand, black, with red flames licking across it. 

“Host, please confirm this location as the base,” came the system’s voice in her head. 

Chloe nodded, “Confirmed.” 

The flag flew out on its own, staking itself at the edge of the roof. The wind howled and hailstones the size of basins crashed down, but the flag didn’t even get scratched. 

Chloe decided to have the whole team stay together in this villa for now. 

The cold was just too brutal. If everyone chose their own place, there was no way to keep warm, and some might even freeze to death overnight. 

Sticking together in one villa made it easier to keep everyone warm. 

It was already late, and the power had been out for ages. The whole villa was pitch black. Chloe ushered her crew inside. 

“This place is our base now. Once things thaw out, we’ll divvy up the villas properly,” Chloe announced. 

“For now, go ahead and claim a room, and get some sleep,” she told everyone. 

With a wave of her hand, Chloe pulled out dozens of stoves, each one loaded up with burning charcoal. 

She ordered everyone to take a stove to their own room. 

Once everyone had gone, Chloe brought out a huge stove and placed it right in the center of the living room, tossing in a heap of charcoal. 

It wasn’t until late into the night that the whole villa finally started to feel a bit warmer. 

After making sure the villa was fortified from the outside, she finally headed to her own room. 

10:16 Wed, Feb 11 

Chapter 196 

Her room was the biggest on the first floor, and everyone just instinctively left it for her. 

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After all, the first floor was for someone with real power, so if any mutant creatures tried to break in, the person downstairs could jump into action and protect everyone. 

Outside, the blizzard raged and hail hammered down, but inside the villa, everyone slept soundly, warm and safe, as if the storm didn’t exist at all. 

Each room was left with a small gap in the door, just enough for ventilation. No one wanted to risk carbon monoxide poisoning in their sleep. 

Chloe climbed into bed, and the system’s mechanical voice echoed in her mind. 

“Congratulations, Host! You’ve successfully established the base. As a reward, the base now has heating,” the system announced. 

Chloe’s eyes flew open, pure delight lighting up her face. 

‘Heating? Couldn’t have asked for anything better,‘ Chloe thought. 

All of a sudden, the whole villa turned cozy and warm, like spring had come early. With all the stoves still blazing in every room, it actually got a little too warm. 

“System, the hail outside just keeps getting bigger. Is my base going to get wrecked?” Chloe asked, a hint of worry in her voice. 

“Don’t worry. Everything within a mile of this villa is now part of Blaze Haven, and all the buildings are S- grade sturdy,” the system replied. 

Chloe didn’t really know what S–grade toughness meant, but that was enough to put her mind at ease. 

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