“Ic… ice?!”
“Damn! What the hell is this?!”
“Brother Qiang! The door… it’s frozen solid! Harder than iron!”
Silence.
Inside and outside, a brief, eerie dead silence descended.
Had it worked?!
Su Qianqian stared, dumbfounded, at the massive wall of ice that had appeared out of nowhere, radiating deadly cold.
The icy chill assaulted her skin, making it ache, yet a surge of ecstatic relief and… absurd disbelief rose within her.
This… ice wall… had she “guided” it out?
Or was it Lin Chen’s instinctive counterattack?
She instinctively looked at Lin Chen.
After unleashing that terrifying frost energy, his face appeared even more ashen, his breathing so faint it was almost imperceptible. The dark stains seeping through the bandages on his arm seemed deeper than before.
He had clearly paid a tremendous price.
Yet the violent, uncontrolled frost aura around him had temporarily subsided, leaving only a pure, bone-deep weakness.
“Thanks… Top Jungler…”
Su Qianqian’s voice choked slightly as she gently brushed away the strands of hair clinging to his forehead, matted with cold sweat and frost.
This time, her movements carried genuine gratitude.
After the brief silence outside, Brother Qiang’s roar became even more frenzied, bordering on irrational:
“Damn it! Damn it! What the hell is going on in there?! Air conditioning? A superpowered one?! Glasses! Check it! What the hell is this ice?! How do we break it?!”
“Brother Qiang… that ice… the energy reading… the map… the Jungler marker’s chaotic energy value just spiked!
Now… now it’s dropped back… this ice is definitely his doing! This… this is unbelievable!”
The glasses guy’s voice trembled with shock and near-frenzied excitement. “Breaking it… an ordinary axe won’t work! High heat! Blowtorch… or… explosives!”
“Explosives my ass! Where the hell would I get explosives!”
Brother Qiang’s roar was full of exasperated rage. “Keep them trapped! Not a single fly gets out!
I don’t believe they can stay in the ice cellar forever! When that useless guy finally croaks, let’s see what tricks that little girl can pull!”
Footsteps and murmurs circled outside the door, clearly with no intention of leaving, like a pack of hyenas smelling blood.
The immediate threat had been averted, but they were now completely trapped.
The ice wall blocked physical attacks, but it also cut off their retreat.
Lin Chen’s status had worsened.
And… how long could the ice wall hold?
Su Qianqian forced herself to calm down.
The ecstasy faded, leaving the icy reality stark before her eyes.
She couldn’t just sit and wait to die.
Lin Chen needed time to recover (if he could), and she needed…
Strength.
She carefully avoided the edges of the ice wall, returning to sit beside Lin Chen.
The down jacket blocked some of the cold, but the chill still sank deep into her bones.
She took the last bit of saline from the first-aid kit and carefully fed Lin Chen a few sips.
His swallowing was so faint it was almost imperceptible.
Then, she pulled out a cracked-screen spare phone and… a wrinkled notebook, smudged with some dried sauce.
She had picked it up in the supermarket pharmacy section, from a knocked-over checkout drawer, along with a nearly-dry ballpoint pen.
Under the dim yellow light, Su Qianqian opened the notebook to the first page.
The pen tip scratched lightly across the rough paper.
Her eyes no longer reflected the terror and bewilderment she had shown facing Brother Qiang. Instead, they shone with a strange mixture of calm, cunning, and a hint of ruthlessness.
She began recording: [Enemies List – Black Tiger Gang]
Wants to steal, kill us, and… (she paused, pressing the pen hard)… harbors disgusting thoughts toward me.
Threat level: High! Must be closely guarded against!
Feels like a research-obsessed madman? Reacts to my Mental Interference (guilt? confusion?).
Danger level: Unknown but very high! Could be the strategist.
Threat level: Medium-low, could be persuaded? Monitor further.
After listing these three, she paused, heavily crossing out Brother Qiang’s name.
Next to it, she wrote: [Arm injured by door? Frightened by ice wall? Status: enraged, wounded, alertness increased.]
She turned to a new page and moved the pen again: [Ability Records (Mine)]
Mental Interference (temporary name): small range (~3 meters?)
Effect: Causes target brief palpitations, mental confusion, strong guilt (particularly effective on glasses guy).
Consumption: Unknown (slight dizziness after use).
Trigger: Strong emotional fluctuation + intense will?
Controllability: Very low! Needs practice!
(Effect: Successfully scared off Brother Qiang, interfered with glasses guy’s judgment, bought time to close the door! Nice!)
At “Nice!”, her lips even curved slightly in a small smirk of satisfaction.
[Ability Records (Lin Chen’s)]
Frost Manipulation (Out-of-Control State): Extremely powerful (instantly freezes doors!), possibly controllable range? Immense consumption (near-death after use).
Trigger: Severely Injured, unconscious, threatened? Or guided by my will? (To verify)
Danger: Cannot distinguish friend from foe, nearly froze me!
Status: Severely Injured, infected? Energy unstable (frost symbol).
Priority: Survival! Study after he wakes up!
Having recorded these, Su Qianqian flipped to a new page.
She drew a simple layout of the cold storage, marking the door (frozen), shelf positions, potential vents (tiny, covered by frost), and a small “safe point” in the corner (Lin Chen’s position).
Once done, she closed the notebook and carefully tucked it into the inner pocket of her jacket, pressed against her chest.
This small notebook became her anchor amidst the chaos of the apocalypse, a place to organize her thoughts, track threats, and note powers.
Fear still lingered, but a clear, calculated calm began to take over.