The cold, pure, destructive intent stabbed into Su Qianqian’s bones like invisible ice spears.
Lin Chen’s suddenly opened, inhuman icy blue eyes were like two blocks of eternal ice from the deepest polar abyss, instantly locking onto her.
There was no human emotion in those eyes—only the most primal, violent desire for destruction.
“…!”
Su Qianqian was left with nothing but silent terror.
Her blood seemed to freeze in an instant, her body stiff and immobile. She could only watch helplessly as the chilling frost rapidly spread from under Lin Chen.
Like a tide of death, the white frost quickly covered the cardboard she had laid down, cracking with a teeth-chilling “crack-crack” sound, and the icy cold stabbed through her thin pants like needles.
It was over!
He was losing control!
Was it the Radiation?
Or had the virus completely consumed him?!
A massive sense of powerlessness gripped her heart like an icy hand.
She even forgot about the soul-level throbbing pain from the Radiation. The world had shrunk to only those icy blue, emotionless eyes, and the soul-freezing chill emanating from them.
Just as the frost was about to reach her ankles, and that killing intent was about to turn into a physical strike—
The polar-storm-like whirlpool in Lin Chen’s icy blue eyes suddenly convulsed violently.
A faint, extremely weak glimmer of “Lin Chen” appeared, like a candle struggling in the wind, flickering amidst the icy blizzard.
His tensed body shuddered, and a deeply suppressed, distorted scream of pain escaped his throat.
That scream was no longer pure; it carried a trace of familiar, human agony and struggle.
He fixed his gaze on Su Qianqian, his icy blue pupils violently contracting and expanding, as if engaged in a brutal internal tug-of-war.
The frost rapidly spreading beneath him abruptly stopped, as though bound by an invisible force, emitting a defiant “crack-crack” of ice breaking.
“Uh…ah…”
Lin Chen’s teeth chattered loudly. Veins bulged on his forehead and neck, cold sweat mixed with frost forming on his pale skin.
His uninjured left hand gripped the icy metal grid beneath him so tightly that his knuckles whitened, and the hard metal mesh even bent slightly under his strength.
He was struggling—fighting the cold, violent power within him!
Su Qianqian’s heart raced to its limit.
She saw that faint struggle.
She saw the fleeting glimpse of “Lin Chen” in his eyes—the pain that belonged to him.
Hope ignited like a tiny flame on the frozen plains of despair.
“Lin Chen! It’s me! Su Qianqian! Cai Wenji!”
She screamed desperately, her voice hoarse and distorted from fear and urgency.
“Wake up! Look at me! Don’t let it control you! Think of the canyon! Think of your blue buff! Think of the crystal we haven’t destroyed yet!”
Her words were frantic and jumbled, tossing out every fragment that could awaken his human consciousness, like a drowning person clutching the last straw.
“Cai… Wen… Ji…”
Lin Chen’s lips moved with immense effort. The storm in his icy eyes still raged, but those three words seemed to tear open a brief gap in the blizzard.
He stared at Su Qianqian’s tear-streaked, bloodied, desperate, and fearful face. In that moment, the violent killing intent in his eyes wavered, if only for a split second.
In that instant of hesitation—“Pff—!”
Lin Chen violently spat out a mouthful of dark red, icy-laden blood.
His body convulsed as if all his bones had been removed, the icy blue in his eyes dimmed, extinguished, and was covered once more by heavy eyelids.
He collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut, soft and limp on the ice-cold metal grid.
The frost beneath him, as if deprived of its source, ceased spreading. The surface crystals melted quickly, leaving only damp cold traces and faint chill.
The suffocating, murderous cold receded like a tide.
Inside the cold storage, only Lin Chen’s faint, nearly imperceptible breaths remained, alongside Su Qianqian’s drumming heartbeat and ragged, heavy breathing.
“Huff…huff…huff…” That was terrifying…
Su Qianqian collapsed to the floor, drained, cold sweat soaking through her thin T-shirt, the chill pressing against her skin, making her tremble uncontrollably.
The overwhelming exhaustion and lingering fear of survival swept over her.
She looked at Lin Chen, now back in deep unconsciousness, his face pale and gray, dark red icy residue still at the corners of his mouth, and her worry surged again.
What had just happened?
Frost?
The blue eyes?
That terrifying killing intent… was it a mutation triggered by Radiation?
Or was it his injured arm… that strange blue-black discoloration…
She hadn’t heard of zombies looking like that… Should she strike preemptively and kill him now?
Wait, she—she was a model citizen, a “flower of the motherland.” How could she…
Besides, she was really scared…
Maybe it was better to wait and observe?
His combat ability was still strong. If he regained reason, she would be much safer…
With so many zombies outside, where could she hide anyway…
Better to wait and see.
Perhaps she would gain a powerful ally.
Thinking this, she exhaled slowly.
The throbbing hum of the Radiation alarm seemed slightly weaker, but the soul-level sting and dizziness remained.
Su Qianqian shakily pulled out the backup device.
On the screen, the scarlet Radiation countdown had reached zero, but the red shadow representing Radiation still covered the supermarket.
The color was slightly lighter than at the epicenter, labeled: 【Residual Radiation Intensity: Lv.2 (Moderate Danger)】.
Residual Radiation…
Still there!
Although weakened, it remained deadly.
They could not leave this icy “shelter” for now.
On the map, Lin Chen’s dark red flame icon now had a flashing, ice-blue snowflake symbol she had never seen before.
Beside it: 【Status: Severely Injured (Blood Loss/Infection?), Energy Disorder (Frost)】.
Frost?!
Energy disorder?!
Su Qianqian stared at the ice-blue snowflake symbol, then at Lin Chen’s furrowed brow even in unconsciousness. The terrifying scene replayed in her mind.
That was absolutely not human power!
Could it be…
This was the so-called “Source Radiation” power…
Yet this ability had almost killed him—and nearly killed her too!