Chapter 617: Are You Ready?
Chapter 617: Are You Ready?
“This is how it should be!” Fatty said, his eyes filled with respect. He gave Liu Zhi a deep look, then waved to the soldiers holding the line. “Let these elders and children through.”
The hanging white vines parted slightly, lifting like a curtain to open a narrow passage.
The soldiers unclasped their linked arms, creating space for the Liu family’s elders and children to enter the safe zone.
Liu Zhi kept her word. With the old and young safely inside—and Liu Shasha watching over them—she could finally rest easy.
She turned to her family and shouted, “Hey! Are you ready?”
“Ready!!!” Several sturdy young men from the Liu family shouted in unison. Their voices echoed through the tunnel, strong and steady.
They weren’t heroes, just ordinary people who happened to possess abilities.
Before the apocalypse, the Liu family had come from all walks of life—insurance agents, real estate brokers, small business owners. None of them had been exceptional. But now, after years of hardship at Yaoyang Base, they stood together, united by blood and survival, heading toward the tunnel Fatty had pointed out—to hunt down the wolves.
Seeing them move, several other young and middle-aged men were inspired to join.
One shouted, “What’s there to fear? If we go outside, we’ll die from bombs; if we stay, we’ll die from wolves. Either way, we die! Might as well go down fighting—at least I’ll die a man in front of my wife and kid! Brother Fatty, if I die, look after my child for me!”
“No problem!” Fatty replied with a broad grin. He couldn’t promise much to anyone else, but when it came to children, he’d guard them like treasures. He’d rather lose ten grown men than a single child.
Of course, there were still cowards—men who cared for no one, who refused to help, who were dragged out by their families or driven away under the threat of An Ran’s white thorn vines. They stumbled reluctantly toward the exit, herded forward by Fatty’s booming voice.
There were many of them.
Once those unwilling to fight were gone, An Ran finally felt the tension in her chest ease. For the first time in hours, she could think clearly.
With the strong fighting, the weak protected, and her thorn flowers fed, they might actually make it through the night. Her Fat Thorn Balls would have enough corpses to consume and multiply—another kind of survival.
But An Ran’s hopes soon met harsh reality.
Across the river, Chen Chaofa was determined to keep the mutant wolves from crossing into the east. To stop them, he ordered an artillery strike on the southeastern bridgehead. The explosion shattered the bridge—some wolves were obliterated, others scattered in panic across the frozen river.
In the Hexi tunnels near the exit, Zhan Lian and Luo Feifan had just regrouped when a massive sheet of ice broke loose above them. Both reacted instantly, leaping aside. The ice smashed into the floor where they had just stood.
Those running behind them weren’t so lucky. The blast had destroyed the bridge, forcing many to tumble down the icy slope and crawl across the frozen river toward the east. Others were driven back west—straight into the jaws of the remaining snow wolves.
Shells continued to fall, one after another. Explosions rocked the ice, collapsing several tunnels that had once been open. The passages leading out were blocked again.
An Ran, now separated from the others, stood beneath the trembling ceiling. Ice fragments crashed down around her, but none touched her or the people below. The Fat Thorn Balls above their heads spread like a living shield, catching every falling shard before it could reach the ground.