Chapter 217
The wheels of the makeshift vehicle creaked and groaned as they rolled over the ice. Scarface sat in the driver's seat, humming a smug tune as he toyed with the mutated beast meat he had stolen from Chen Lan.
"Boss, this haul is pretty good. Three barrels of fuel, and a lot of odds and ends. Enough to keep us warm in our hideout for days!"
The short, fat thug sat in the passenger seat, rubbing his hands, which were red from the cold, his eyes filled with greed.
The tall, thin man and two other thugs sat in the back of the vehicle, holding down the fuel barrels to prevent them from tipping over during the bumpy ride.
"Once we get back, we'll exchange this fuel for Xuanbing Pills and winter clothing, then we'll head to the next shelter. Those refugees are lambs to the slaughter; there's plenty of supplies waiting for us to plunder!"
The tall, thin man licked his chapped lips, a cruel smile creeping across his face as he recalled Chen Lan's desperate look.
Unbeknownst to them, a silver-gray figure was hovering above the vehicle, perfectly concealed, its aura and energy fluctuations completely hidden, like a ghost in the darkness.
Su Jing's fingertips glowed with deep purple lightning. Her third-tier lightning-type ability was already poised to be unleashed. She was waiting for the best opportunity to attack—to get away from the shelter and avoid the battle affecting innocent refugees.
"Now." Su Jing thought to herself, her fingertips twitching slightly, and three thick bolts of lightning shot out simultaneously, accurately hitting the vehicle's tires and driver's seat.
With a loud "boom," the tires were instantly shattered by the lightning bolt, the vehicle lost its balance, overturned on the ice, and the fuel tank rolled out and slid a long distance on the ice.
"What happened?!" Scarface was caught off guard, his forehead slamming heavily against the steering wheel, blood streaming down his face. He struggled to crawl out, but was struck in the chest by a deep purple bolt of lightning that pierced through his body and instantly penetrated his heart.
Scarface's body twitched, his eyes widened, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. The blood landed on the ice and instantly froze into red ice beads, quickly becoming still.
"Attack!" The short, fat bandit was terrified. He struggled to climb out of the overturned vehicle, wildly waving his machete, but couldn't find a target.
The moment Su Jing activated her perfect invisibility, her figure appeared on the ice. Her silver-gray manganese crystal suit gleamed coldly in the darkness, and her eyes were as icy as the ice of the polar night.
"It's you! 'I am the God of Wealth'?!"
The short, fat thug recognized Su Jing and was so frightened that his legs went weak and he turned to run away.
Su Jing gave him no chance to escape. Her fourth-tier ice-type ability erupted instantly, and pale blue cold air, carrying ice blades, shot towards the short, fat bandit like a rainstorm.
The ice blades were incredibly fast, instantly piercing through his limbs. The short, fat bandit let out a shrill scream as his body was frozen firmly to the ice, with only his head able to turn slightly.
"Spare me! 'I am the God of Wealth,' spare me! I will never dare to steal supplies again!" He begged frantically, tears and snot mingling and freezing on his face.
Su Jing showed no mercy. Lightning crackled at her fingertips, and a thin bolt of lightning shot towards his brow, instantly ending his life.
The remaining two bandits were terrified and fled in different directions, trying to escape the pursuit by taking advantage of the darkness and the ice.
"Trying to run?" Su Jing snorted coldly, activated her third-tier flight ability, and caught up with the tall, thin man like lightning. She raised her hand and lashed out with a lightning whip, which struck him hard on the back.
With a "crack," the tall, thin man's spine was broken, and his body slumped onto the ice. Before he could even scream, Su Jing's ice-based ability had already frozen his entire body, leaving only an ice sculpture-like corpse.
The last bandit ran the fastest, already a hundred meters away from the vehicle. He thought he could escape, but then he felt a chilling coldness coming from behind him.
Su Jing's ice-type ability transformed into an ice rope, which wrapped around his ankle. With a sudden pull, the bandit was thrown heavily onto the ice, knocking out several of his teeth.
He struggled to get up, but found his body frozen by the cold and unable to move. He could only watch helplessly as Su Jing approached step by step, his eyes filled with fear and despair.
Su Jing raised her hand and unleashed a bolt of lightning, ending his life.
The entire battle lasted less than three minutes. All five bandits were killed, their bodies quickly frozen by the cold of the polar night, merging with the surrounding ice.
Su Jing walked to the fallen fuel barrels, activated her spatial ability, and stored all three barrels of fuel, the supplies on the vehicle, the demon cores from the bandits, and the looted items into her spatial storage.
These resources were exchanged by the refugees using demon cores, and she will return them to those who abide by the rules later. The demon cores of the bandits, on the other hand, are punishment for their evil deeds.
After dealing with the bandits, Su Jing activated her flight ability and flew towards a small shelter from the cold.
Before she even got close, she heard a series of shrill screams and the roars of monsters. Her intuition told her that at least thirty Ice Fang Beasts had surrounded the shelter and were attacking the sheds and fleeing refugees with madness.
The shed at the cold-proof point had already been smashed to pieces by the Ice Fang Beast, manganese crystal insulation modules were scattered all over the ground, and the insulation equipment, having lost its fuel, had completely failed, with the temperature inside the shed dropping to -40℃.
The refugees scattered like headless flies. Some were torn apart by the fangs of the Ice Fang Beasts, some fell on the ice and were trampled into mincemeat by the Ice Fang Beasts that followed, and others tried to hide behind broken modules, but were easily pulled out by the claws of the Ice Fang Beasts and died instantly.
Chen Lan held Xiao Bao tightly, hiding behind a large manganese crystal module. Xiao Bao had already fainted and was breathing weakly.
An ice-toothed beast spotted them, its icy blue eyes gleaming with ferocity, and pounced on them.
Chen Lan closed her eyes in despair, preparing to face death, but then she heard a crisp "crack" as the head of the Ice Fang Beast was pierced by an ice blade, and its body fell heavily in front of them.
Su Jing landed beside them, unleashing her third-tier lightning ability and fourth-tier ice ability simultaneously. Deep purple lightning pillars and light blue ice blades intertwined to form a net, killing the surrounding ice-toothed beasts one by one.
"Follow me, don't wander off." Su Jing's voice was icy cold and carried an undeniable force. She didn't have time to comfort her, and turned to run towards the large cold-weather shelter in the city center, while using her powers to clear away the Ice Fang Beasts blocking her way.
Chen Lan quickly picked up Xiao Bao and followed behind Su Jing. She could feel that Su Jing's figure was like a barrier, keeping all the dangers out.
The refugees around her saw Su Jing as if she were a lifeline, and they all followed her in their escape. The originally chaotic escape team gradually formed a temporary queue.
However, there were too many Ice Fang Beasts, and they were extremely fast. As a result, many refugees fell behind the group and were caught up and torn apart by the Ice Fang Beasts.
Although Su Jing's abilities were powerful, she couldn't possibly attend to all the refugees while facing over thirty third-tier demonic beasts. She could only prioritize clearing out the Ice Fang Beasts closest to the core of the group, ignoring the refugees who lagged behind and tried to steal others' supplies—in this battle for survival, selfishness and cowardice would only lead to death; this was the rule of the chaotic world, and she would not break it.
In an attempt to snatch the winter coat from the person in front of him, a migrant deliberately pushed the other person down and then sped up to run ahead.
The displaced man, who had been pushed over, fell heavily onto the ice. Before he could get up, he was pounced on by an ice-toothed beast, whose fangs instantly pierced his throat.
The robber glanced back, his eyes filled with no remorse, only relief. But he had only taken two steps when he was struck by an out-of-control bolt of lightning, his body charred black as he fell onto the ice. Although Su Jing would not deliberately save people, she would never allow anyone to do evil under her protection.
The battle lasted for half an hour before Su Jing finally led the remaining twenty-odd refugees to a large shelter in the city center.
The large-scale cold-weather shelter was more heavily fortified, equipped with a large number of Tier 3 laser guns and superhuman guards. Upon seeing Su Jing return with the refugees, the guards immediately opened the defensive gates to welcome them in, while simultaneously activating the defense mechanism to keep the pursuing Ice Fang Beasts outside.
Su Jing did not enter the cold-proof point, but hovered in mid-air, looking in the direction of the small cold-proof point.
The place had been completely turned into a hunting ground for Ice Fang Beasts. More than thirty Ice Fang Beasts were tearing apart the corpses of refugees, their snow-white figures darting through the darkness, creating a horrific scene.
What alarmed her even more was that her intuition detected that more and more energy fluctuations from the Ice Fang Beasts were converging on this place, with the number already exceeding fifty and still increasing.
On the icy plains of the polar night, corpses lay strewn everywhere. The bodies of refugees and bandits were frozen to the ice, with blood and broken limbs scattered all over the place. The thick smell of blood permeated the low temperature, like the most tempting bait, attracting all the carnivorous monsters in the polar night.
Su Jing even sensed an even stronger energy fluctuation—it was a being far larger than an ordinary Ice Fang Beast, with an energy intensity reaching the fourth level. It was clearly the leader of the Ice Fang Beasts, and it was leading more members of its clan toward this ice field littered with corpses.
"This is troublesome," Su Jing muttered to herself. She knew that these corpses and the smell of blood would create a vicious cycle, attracting more and more monsters to gather, which might eventually threaten the large cold-weather shelter in the city center.
At that moment, the communicator vibrated. Wang Peng sent an urgent private message: "'I am the God of Wealth', the small cold-weather shelter has fallen, and a large number of refugees have died. Our large cold-weather shelter has also been attacked by a swarm of Ice Fang Beasts. Although we have held it for the time being, our fuel reserves are running low! The fuel we exchanged earlier is only enough to last for 24 hours. The insulation equipment and defensive weapons all need fuel to operate. If we run out of fuel, we won't be able to hold on!"
Su Jing looked at the private message with a serious expression. The extreme cold of the polar night, the attack of monsters, and the shortage of fuel—three major crises erupted simultaneously.
Although the fuel in her space could temporarily alleviate the problem, it was not a long-term solution. Moreover, after the battle and the recovery, the fuel consumption rate was far faster than expected.
"We must develop more powerful heating devices as soon as possible, without relying on existing fuels."
Su Jing made a decision—she had a large amount of special minerals stored in her space. These minerals contained stable thermal energy, which could be used to make heating cores to replace the existing fuel and help the cold-proof point get through the crisis.
She turned to look at the large shelter in the city center, where the gates were closing and the refugees and guards inside were frantically reinforcing the defenses.
Meanwhile, on the distant ice plains, the roars of the Ice Fang Beast grew closer, and more monsters were gathering, for an even greater crisis was about to unfold.
Su Jing activated her flight ability and flew towards the villa deep in the mountains. She had to race against time to create enough heating cores to solve the fuel shortage problem before the large-scale attack by the monsters.
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