Su Yao and Ling Yu bid farewell to the survivors at the shelter and headed towards the town overrun by zombies. The blizzard gradually subsided, but the cold was still biting. Su Yao looked at the town's location marked on the system map, feeling somewhat uneasy.

As they approached the edge of the town, a stench of decay filled the air, particularly pungent even in the cold weather. Su Yao activated the system's detection function and discovered that zombies were scattered throughout the town, but in large numbers. Some zombies were covered in frost, making them move somewhat slowly, but this did not mean they were harmless.

"We need to be careful and try not to attract the attention of a large number of zombies," Su Yao whispered to Ling Yu. Ling Yu nodded, conjuring an ice blade in his hand in case of emergency.

They crept stealthily along the edge of the town, trying to find a route around the zombie-infested area. However, the narrow streets and dilapidated buildings made their movements extremely difficult. Suddenly, a zombie burst out of the nearby ruins, much faster than ordinary zombies, likely due to some kind of mutation caused by the extreme cold.

Su Yao reacted quickly, activating her spatial abilities to teleport the zombie to a distant ice cellar. However, the zombie's roars still attracted the attention of other zombies, who began to gather towards Su Yao and Ling Yu.

"We can't just sit here and take this beating," Ling Yu said, brandishing his ice blades and charging towards the zombie horde. Each swing of his ice blades severed a zombie's limbs, and his ice-based power spread across the zombies, slowing their movements. Su Yao also stopped hiding; she activated her wind blade power, and powerful wind blades ravaged the zombie horde like cutting machines, slicing them down one by one.

During the battle, Su Yao discovered a building in the town center surrounded by very few zombies, and the system indicated a high-intensity energy reaction there, suggesting the possibility of valuable resources. She and Ling Yu fought their way towards the building.

When they arrived at the building, they found it was a former research station, its doors tightly shut and chained. Su Yao used her spatial abilities to cut the chains, and the two entered the research station. The station was pitch black inside. Su Yao took out a lighting device, illuminating the dusty instruments and documents around them.

They searched the research station, and Su Yao's system alerted them to important supplies in the basement. Upon reaching the basement entrance, Su Yao opened the door, and a powerful energy surged out. The basement was filled with various experimental containers containing colorful liquids, seemingly some kind of medicine.

In the center of the basement, there was a massive energy shield, inside which was a mysterious device that constantly flashed with light. Su Yao tried to use the system to break through the shield, but its energy was too powerful. After careful observation, Ling Yu said, "This shield might be related to the low temperature here. Let's try changing the temperature."

Ling Yu then used his ice-based abilities to lower the surrounding temperature, while Su Yao used her spatial abilities to disrupt the energy field around the shield. With their combined efforts, the shield's energy began to fluctuate unstablely.

Suddenly, a huge commotion came from outside the research station. It turned out that the zombies had broken through the station's main door and were surging towards the basement. Su Yao and Ling Yu were extremely anxious and sped up their efforts to break through the shield.

As the zombies drew closer, a crack finally appeared in the shield. Without hesitation, Su Yao reached through the crack and retrieved the mysterious device inside. Just then, the zombie horde reached the basement, and they were surrounded.

Su Yao hugged the device tightly, with Ling Yu shielding her in front. At the critical moment, Su Yao activated the device, which emitted a dazzling light. Wherever the light touched, zombies turned to dust. It turned out to be a device with powerful purification capabilities, a scientific achievement from before the apocalypse.

Having resolved the zombie crisis, they left the research station with the equipment and the medicines they found in the basement. Some of these medicines could enhance supernatural abilities, while others could heal serious injuries; they were extremely valuable resources.

After leaving the town, they continued their journey towards the mountain fortress. The road became increasingly rugged, and the weather more unpredictable. But Su Yao and Ling Yu remained hopeful, for each crisis made them stronger and brought them one step closer to their goal of survival and reconstruction. In this apocalyptic cold, they relied on each other and were courageous travelers on the road to scavenging for supplies, resolutely marching towards the mountain fortress that symbolized hope.