Chapter 614: Contracted
Chapter 614: Contracted
For some reason, Zhou Zheng looked up at An Ran again.
He suddenly remembered what she had told him when they first arrived in Hexi — that she would repay the kindness of a packet of biscuits.
A packet of biscuits for a life — so this was how precious An Ran’s goodwill truly was.
As the crowd fell silent, the sound of wolves howling in the tunnels grew clearer. Above them, it was as if airplanes were roaring through the frozen air, their vibrations humming through the layers of ice and making everyone’s scalp tingle.
Then came another thunderous bang!—this time closer, in the southeast corner.
Panic erupted once more. People screamed and shoved, the tunnels echoing with terror.
An Ran gritted her teeth and forced her plants to extend farther, faster, through the ice passages.
The sight of the white, vine-like tails writhing above them—silent and deadly—was enough to stop the crowd from losing complete control. They cried out in fear but didn’t dare make any reckless moves.
From her spot on the second-floor balcony, An Ran scanned the tunnels through the network of thorny vines she controlled.
Finally, in the direction of the exit, she found Zhan Lian—locked in fierce battle with a pack of mutant snow wolves.
The wolves surrounded him, snapping and lunging, blocking his entry into the tunnel. Behind him lay the corpses of wolves he’d already slain.
No wonder the scouts had said the exit was full of them. The tunnel there was the largest—wide enough for two vehicles to pass side by side. Most of the wolves that had fallen through the shattered ice had funneled straight into it.
By sheer misfortune, Zhan Lian had run into them head-on, jamming the only exit.
No matter. An Ran could fix that. Her plants could consume the wolf carcasses, clearing the way and creating more room for people to move.
But even with that, getting everyone out of the ice would be nearly impossible. The western side of the river was crawling with wolves, and outside the tunnels, even more were migrating across the snowfields.
It was hard to say whether staying underground or escaping would be safer.
Yet, despite the panic around her, An Ran felt a strange sense of satisfaction. The sheer number of snow wolves meant one thing—food for her Fat Thorn Balls.
Lately, supplies underground had been scarce. With little left to devour except humans, her thorn flowers had stagnated.
Now, a feast had come to her doorstep.
The logic was simple. An Ran’s eyes glinted as she came to a decision—she would take on the entire mutant wolf pack herself.
Unseen by most, her Fat Thorn Balls spread their branches deeper through the ice. The sealed tunnels she ignored; the unsealed ones became her hunting ground.
The thick, white vines slithered out like living creatures, searching for prey.
Not long after, one of the fox-tail-like vines appeared before Zhan Lian.
Seeing it, he exhaled deeply. An Ran was safe—that was all he needed to know.
Outside, artillery fire continued sporadically, shaking the ice. But within Hexi’s tunnels, under An Ran’s cold command, no one dared move recklessly.
The chaos gradually gave way to tense, heavy silence.
Luo Feifan ran up to the second floor. “An Ran!” he called. “Did you find where Zhan Lian is?”
“Toward the exit,” she replied without looking back, her eyes fixed on the glowing vines as they devoured another wolf.
Luo Feifan nodded and turned to go help, but after seeing how many soldiers and awakened fighters An Ran already had—and her monstrous plants tearing through the wolves—he realized Zhan Lian didn’t need him anymore.
As he passed Zhang Boxun in the corridor, Zhang suddenly spoke, stopping him in his tracks.
“What are your plans?” he asked quietly.