Chapter 113: Your Highness, the Vulcan Base lies just ahead.

Five minutes later, a group of corpses led the way on snowmobiles, with Su Miao riding behind them and the myna bird flying overhead, arriving at the spot where Zheng Meng had paused just moments before.

At the scene, there were only remnants of icy walls and a single snow cave on the ground.

Beneath the snow cave hung thick ice pillars.

Su Miao blinked, gazing into the distance. The person blocking the snow cave was clever—not giving her any chance to throw large water spheres.

Fortunately, the traces left by the group from the Vulcan Base were clear; they were all fleeing toward the base, and the snowmobiles could keep up.

“Move out!” Su Miao waved forward. The corpses rode their snowmobiles along the tracks, heading toward Vulcan Base.

The myna bird soared high above, relaying information ahead to Su Miao.

Damn it!

That mutated black bird again.

Zheng Meng, having crawled out of the snow cave once more, was almost certain that this mutated black bird was a reconnaissance tool used by the enemy forces.

Vulcan Base was researching how to tame mutated creatures but made no progress.

Those hunting them who could tame mutated animals were definitely formidable.

Zheng Meng said, “Keep digging holes, escape.”

She conjured several ice walls again and fled with two other empowered individuals.

But this time was different. When they emerged again, Zheng Meng’s expression was resolute.

“You go first and bring the news back to the base. I’ll cover the rear!”

“Captain Zheng! How can you do this?!” The two empowered individuals were deeply moved, never expecting that Zheng Meng — the base commander’s daughter and a powerful ability user — would make such a decision.

“Time is tight. Go now! That’s an order!”

Zheng Meng summoned a line of ice walls, seemingly ready to fight to the death.

Without hesitation, the two empowered individuals used their abilities to create a snow cave for Zheng Meng and then escaped through it.

Zheng Meng sealed their escape snow cave with ice and dug another snow cave under the ice wall, fleeing in a different direction.

After a short while, she stopped inside the snow cave and sealed herself within the ice and snow, completely blending into the ice layer.

At that moment, she had no thoughts, no breath, no heartbeat—only the bare minimum body temperature to sustain life.

If anyone found her in this state, killing her would be effortless.

But it was a necessary measure.

Her legs could never outrun the flying mutated bird or the pursuing snowmobiles.

Therefore, the best option was to enter a frozen, suspended animation state.

To prevent this frozen sleep from becoming permanent, Zheng Meng would naturally awaken and break free from the ice after one hour.

As for holding off the pursuers, that responsibility fell to those still fleeing.

Fifteen minutes later, Su Miao, guided by the myna bird, found the location on her snowmobile.

“Your Highness, they’ve dug more holes this time,” the myna reported after flying down.

Su Miao glanced at the additional snow caves and wondered if they’d fled in another direction.

Her gaze shifted to the snowmobile tracks ahead.

No matter; as long as she reached Vulcan Base first and blocked these people, it would suffice.

If they didn’t return, they might freeze to death in the blizzard at nearly seventy degrees below zero Celsius.

“Keep moving. Destination: Vulcan Base.”

The snowmobiles pressed onward.

After some distance, suddenly, one snowmobile got stuck in the snow.

Two empowered individuals digging rapidly beneath the snow dodged to either side, their faces pale as if they’d seen a ghost.

The corpse on the snowmobile turned toward them, its rigid hand lifting a gun, ready to greet them with deadly intent.

The two struck first, using their powers to shatter the corpse.

“They can control the corpses. They’re ability users.”

“Run!”

“Looks like it’s too late…”

They heard the roar of snowmobiles above and saw corpses raising guns, aiming at them.

Bullets rained down densely. One empowered individual prepared to defend, but unexpectedly felt light on his feet as countless bullets pierced him.

His eyes widened—never imagining that at such a critical moment, he’d become a human shield for his teammates.

As consciousness faded, he vaguely saw a myna descending.

“Your Highness, one escaped, but the one who got away is injured. There’s blood on the ground.”

The myna stood beside the corpse.

“Hmm.”

Su Miao raised a hand, casting a necromancy spell on the shattered corpse, making it crawl aside.

A hole appeared at the bottom of the pit, faintly filled with the sound of snow being shoveled beneath.

“Water sphere spell!”

The injured must need healing.

Su Miao smashed a large water sphere into the snow cave, eliciting a scream from within as the cave was sealed by ice.

The corpses dug along the ice pillars and soon found a body completely frozen stiff.

Huh?

Su Miao looked at this newly added corpse.

It seemed to retain some awareness, and upon seeing the frozen corpse encased in ice, it grabbed a military shovel and began furiously striking.

After several blows, the ice pillar shattered, and the frozen corpse inside was broken into pieces.

The corpse even tried to eat the fragments.

Unfortunately, the shards were too hard; it broke several of its teeth without success.

Angrily, the undead swallowed all the fragments it could, continuing until it could no longer ingest any more.

Surprisingly, after swallowing these shards, it was able to stand up.

Su Miao blinked, confirming the corpse was still under her control and decided to leave it be.

“Your Highness, one woman is missing,” the myna reported after circling the area.

“She might be hiding.”

Su Miao looked into the distance and then to both sides. The heavy snow obscured everything.

She carefully sensed the surroundings but detected no malice nearby.

“First find Vulcan Base,” Su Miao decided.

She was terrified. If those who escaped returned to Vulcan Base with information, who knew how many would attack her afterward.

Now, with the blizzard and extreme cold, wouldn’t it be better for everyone to just survive peacefully?

Su Miao’s body trembled slightly.

She had to inflict as much damage as possible on Vulcan Base before they learned more intelligence.

If Vulcan Base was above ground, let the undead lead the assault.

If underground, then they’d deliver a few big water spheres.

…

At Vulcan Base, Zheng Qiongmei had visited Yu Yuange’s office multiple times.

At first, Yu Yuange would politely respond, but when Millie brought new information, his attitude changed.

Zheng Meng, the search and rescue team leader, had sent a distress signal.

They tried to contact her, but there was no response.

Meanwhile, many search and rescue team members’ signal devices remained intact, yet they rapidly approached Vulcan Base.

Attempts to contact these members yielded no response.

Something was wrong.

Yu Yuange glanced at the report, then shouted at Zheng Qiongmei, “Get out!”

Zheng Qiongmei was startled.

In her impression, Yu Yuange had always been kind and gentle to everyone.

Because of this, she hadn’t realized her own attitude had worsened.

“Yu Yuange, how dare you shout at me?”

“If you can’t find my son, I want all of you to die with him!” Zheng Qiongmei yelled.

Smack!

Yu Yuange slapped her hard, sending Zheng Qiongmei flying.

“You hit me…”

“You ungrateful wretch! The base commander treated you well, and you dare hit me?!” Zheng Qiongmei clutched her face, dumbfounded.

She never expected Yu Yuange to strike her.

Yu Yuange threw the report in her face and said, “Secretary Zheng, do you know how much trouble your son has caused the base? Every time, our department cleans up the mess. Do you know how many have died because of these troubles?”

“Now, because of your son, Zheng Meng is in trouble. Let’s see how you explain this to the base commander!”

…

Zheng Meng in trouble?!

Zheng Qiongmei’s eyes widened.

At Vulcan Base, everyone knew Zheng Meng was the most powerful ability user second only to base commander Zheng Kaicheng.

Even Yu Yuange might not be her match.

During multiple assaults by mutated animals and plants, Zheng Meng single-handedly killed the strongest mutated creatures, averting the base’s destruction.

Because of this, Base Commander Zheng Kaicheng valued Zheng Meng above all else.

Now Yu Yuange was telling her Zheng Meng was in trouble.

“Millie, gather everyone, bring weapons, ammunition, and rations. We’re going to rescue Zheng Meng.”

Yu Yuange immediately gave orders.

“Yes, sir!”

It took about ten minutes to assemble.

Yu Yuange led Millie and fifteen ability users, along with over a hundred defense team members, leaving Vulcan Base in a grand procession.

But after some time, Millie noticed something was wrong.

“Captain Yu!”

“Are we heading the wrong way?”

Millie recalled Zheng Meng’s distress signal came from the east, yet they were heading north.

Yu Yuange glanced at Millie meaningfully.

Millie immediately fell silent, no longer questioning.

Yu Yuange ordered, “Increase speed to maximum!”

…

About twenty minutes after Yu Yuange and his group left Vulcan Base, Su Miao’s undead snowmobile squad arrived at the base’s entrance.

“Your Highness, Vulcan Base is just ahead. That’s the entrance,” the myna reported.

“This was once an air-raid shelter.”

The myna quickly relayed this information.

Originally, the myna would have needed to search longer, but the fresh tracks from Yu Yuange’s team made the entrance obvious.

“Your Highness, only two ordinary guards are stationed at the air-raid shelter entrance.”

“Hmm.”

Su Miao glanced nervously forward and urged the undead snowmobiles onward.

Just two guards—this should be a quick kill.

“Routine inspection!” At the Vulcan Base gate, two guards shouted as they saw the returning snowmobile squad.

From afar, they noticed the returning team was covered in blood and suspected the base had clashed with a major force.

They were relieved their job was to guard the gate, not to fight outside—otherwise, it would be terrifying.

“Stop for inspection!” one guard shouted again.

“Inspection my ass. Don’t you see they’re all covered in blood?” The myna shouted angrily from behind a corpse, “Open the gate now, or we’ll kill you!”

In the blizzard, several undead raised their blackened gun barrels.

Seeing this, the two guards dared not shout anymore.

They knew these uniforms belonged to high-level ability users in the base—no one to provoke.

Actually, the “inspection” was just to confirm if they were friendly.

Though the snow made it hard to see clearly, the uniforms were unmistakable—no issues there.

The smarter guards bowed and said, “Sir, we’re opening the gate immediately!”

The myna shouted, “Hurry up, don’t dawdle.”

The two guards hurried to open the gate.

Behind the snowmobile squad, Su Miao watched the myna’s antics and blinked.

Was the myna being a little too ridiculous?

Soon, the gate swung open.

Two guards stood on either side of the road, smiling and inviting the “gentlemen” in, though the guns were still aimed at them.

“Sir, could you not point your guns at our brothers? They’re scared.”

“Scared? Then join us,” the myna said.

Su Miao raised her hand; several undead opened fire, killing the two guards.

With the necromancy spell, the team gained two more undead.

“Charge!”

Su Miao ordered the undead to attack.

Soon, the undead snowmobile riders stormed into Vulcan Base, gunfire and explosions echoing endlessly.

At times like these, Su Miao somewhat missed Blood Magic.

With the spellbook, she could cast necromancy over a wider area and monitor both corpses and living beings within the spell’s range.

Now, she could only roughly direct the undead.

Also, the sudden appearance of numerous snowmobile tracks at the base’s entrance was concerning.

If those who left suddenly returned, it could be dangerous.

Su Miao was very afraid of facing strangers directly.

…

“Ah!!!”

Inside Vulcan Base, as the undead surged in, screams, wails, and explosions filled the air.

The remaining guards mobilized urgently, shooting to resist.

“What’s wrong with these people?”

“Their heads are blown apart, but why don’t they fall?”

“Find Captain Yu quickly! Where is he?”

“Where’s the base commander?”

“Help! Save me!”

Those who resisted fell one by one, then stood again to continue pressing deeper into the base.

Meanwhile, Zheng Qiongmei, left in Yu Yuange’s office, heard the commotion outside and snapped back to reality.

Yu Yuange actually dared to hit her.

Furious, she prepared to report the situation to her brother, Zheng Kaicheng.

Covering her face, she stepped out, only to find the base in utter chaos.

Someone stumbled into her, knocking her to the ground.

“Watch where you’re going, you bastard! Don’t make me kill you!”

Zheng Qiongmei shouted.

But the person who knocked her down didn’t respond, got up, and kept running.

Zheng Qiongmei covered her mouth and stood again.

She stared ahead, stunned.

A blood-soaked person was stabbing another repeatedly with a dagger, blood splattering everywhere.

“Ah!” Zheng Qiongmei screamed like a slaughtered pig.

In an instant, the dagger-wielding person stood silently and looked at her.

The one stabbed to tatters also stood, blood dripping as they stared at her.

The distant lights flickered, and Zheng Qiongmei realized the head of the dagger-wielder was half gone.

This was no living person at all.