The convoy escaped, and the wondrous Dump Truck!

Outside the Supermarket, the street was a wreck.

The store entrance was packed solid with frost-covered, mindless corpses.

White flakes coated the Snow Corpses, making them look like science-fiction zombies from the Silent Era, hollow-eyed and densely packed.

Lin Lu stood in front of the Command Vehicle, the white cloth that had covered his eyes now gone.

In its place, a snow-white ribbon whipped wildly around him.

Every lash precisely shattered a Snow Corpse's skull.

On the other side, Xiao Qi, the assistant with the birthmark, had blood all over his face. Bloody frost crusted his skin, making him look terrifying.

Xiao Qi held a baseball bat shrouded in a blue glow.

He swung with all his might, repeatedly smashing the heads of the Snow Corpses charging toward him.

Every blow sent red and white matter splattering...

This was an improved version of Old Yang's Black Box. Along with killing anomalies, it had a mechanism that reduced the effort required to wield it.

The two cut through them with ease, and mangled limbs soon littered the ground at their feet.

But there were too many Snow Corpses. They surged in from every direction, quickly filling the gaps, fearless and endless.

"Get the supplies aboard! Hurry!"

Su Qian had shouted herself hoarse, her full chest heaving.

She directed Brother Dao and the others who had just run out to throw the supplies into the vehicles.

At the same time, she anxiously scanned the battlefield.

When Su Qian spotted Big Niu being carried out, she immediately turned.

She hurried over, pale green transcendent power shimmering on her fingers as she gently pressed them against Big Niu's chest.

Sweat soon soaked the hair over her forehead.

Keeping the outer defensive line intact had already drained most of her transcendent power.

All she could do now was keep Big Niu clinging to his last breath.

Su Qian slowly lowered her dimming hand, then turned and stared hard at the Supermarket entrance.

Xiao Ya, Chen Mo, and that donkey...

None of them had come out.

By then, the convoy's scattered defensive line was on the verge of breaking.

Everyone was on the brink of exhaustion.

Only the will to survive kept them holding on.

"Ah!"

A middle-aged woman was grabbed by the ankle and instantly dragged into the horde.

"Ah... no... help..."

Her screams cut off abruptly.

Fear gripped everyone's heart.

If they hadn't all known that ordinary people had no chance of surviving without Lin Lu, they would have scattered and fled long ago.

Just then, a small figure stumbled out through the store's doors.

It was Xiao Ya!

Xiao Ya had returned to her petite, girlish form and rushed wearily to Su Qian's side.

She hugged the Barbie Doll tightly, her little face frighteningly pale.

"Xiao Ya!"

Su Qian held Xiao Ya close.

Seeing Xiao Ya emerge, Old Yang quickly lifted Big Niu into the bed of the Command Vehicle.

Then he hurried over in a panic, worry written all over his face.

"Where's Chen Mo? Where's Red Hare?"

Xiao Ya only hugged her doll and shook her head wearily.

A flicker of hesitation crossed her eyes, but she spoke anyway.

"They... stayed behind to cover our retreat. There's a peak level two anomaly upstairs."

"They probably... won't be able to get out anytime soon."

Old Yang's face instantly went pale, and he froze.

Lin Lu noticed the commotion too.

The white ribbon beside him flew out on its own, sweeping and curling, sending three Snow Corpses' heads flying.

He looked back, his gaze passing over everyone before finally settling on the third floor of the Shopping Center.

A chill that terrified him seeped out from there.

Even with the heavy snow limiting his perception, he could vaguely sense how terrifying that thing was.

We can't wait any longer.

"We're not waiting!"

"Everyone, get in! Break through!"

Lin Lu pulled the pale blue, old-fashioned flip phone from inside his coat.

The Fantasy Phone!

Holding the phone, Lin Lu aimed at the endless horde at the end of the street and pressed the shutter.

Click!

In an instant, every snarling, clawing Snow Corpse on the street froze in place like ice sculptures from the Silent Era.

"Everyone, get in! Retreat!"

There was no hesitation in Lin Lu's command, no emotion whatsoever.

Everyone knew that, for Chen Mo and Red Hare,

this was practically a death sentence.

Old Yang froze. He glanced at Chen Mo's blue Dump Truck.

Then he looked at the resolute Lin Lu, his lips trembling.

"Captain Lin! Chen Mo... and Red Hare..."

"Get in!"

Lin Lu turned and roared at Old Yang, veins bulging on his forehead.

"We can't abandon everyone for one person!"

Trembling all over, Old Yang suddenly rushed toward Chen Mo's Dump Truck.

He kicked away a survivor who was about to drive it.

"You think you can fucking drive this? Get back to the Bus!"

He drove away everyone gathered around the Dump Truck.

Then he climbed into the Command Vehicle.

Su Qian trembled all over and took one long look at the store entrance.

She turned and wrote several large words in a patch of fresh, untrampled snow, then rushed into her vehicle without looking back.

"Meet up in Camel City..."

A pale blue glow lit up the huge Snowplow Blade mounted on the Bus.

It charged forward, smashing the rigid Snow Corpses in its path and plowing a bloody passage through the jam-packed street.

At the Intersection, the Bus swerved hard and turned onto another road.

The others started their vehicles and hurried after it.

Sitting in the Hummer's back seat, Brother Dao shakily picked up a lighter, trying to light the cigarette between his lips.

His trembling hands tried several times, but he couldn't get a flame.

Seeing this, Zhang Meili took the lighter. With a light press of her alluring red-manicured nail, a flame sprang up.

Brother Dao took a deep drag, his voice filled with disbelief.

"Chen Mo, the guy who used living people as bait... actually said he'd cover our retreat..."

Su Qian took one last, lingering look back at the enormous Shopping Center.

A flicker of conflict passed through her eyes, and she pressed hard on the accelerator.

Soon, all that remained on the street were motionless Snow Corpses strewn across the ground.

And Red Hare Two, left behind at the store entrance.

The blue Dump Truck sat there alone.

Red Hare Two.

It had been abandoned...

Time seemed to stand still.

A few seconds later, the Snow Corpses immobilized by the Fantasy Phone began to move. Some followed in the direction the convoy had fled.

The rest slowly surged into the store...

Vroom...

Without warning, Red Hare Two's headlights suddenly came on, their bright beams illuminating the words Su Qian had left behind.

Its engine shuddered.

It slowly started moving.

The front of the truck gently but firmly nudged aside several Snow Corpses blocking its path.

The Snow Corpses surging toward the Supermarket seemed to have no interest in this mechanical creation.

Their instincts drove them to pursue only the scent of humans.

Surrounded by countless Snow Corpses,

Red Hare Two's steering wheel turned on its own, swinging the truck around.

The blue Dump Truck moving against the flow was like a rock jutting out of a river, splitting the horde into two rushing streams.

The blue Dump Truck did not follow the direction in which the Starfire Convoy had left.

Instead, it turned at an intersection and slowly drove in the exact opposite direction.

At last, it vanished into the world blanketed in white...