Free Web NovelChapter 98: Into the Blizzard
The storm outside the mountain sanctuary had mutated into a howling, white monstrosity, wrapping the peaks in a suffocating shroud of ice and zero visibility.
Inside the loading bay, the air vibrated with the harsh, rhythmic screaming of an industrial grinder as Da Yong finished welding thick, reinforced steel plow plates onto the bumpers of their two transport trucks. Brilliant cascades of blue and orange sparks cut through the dim shadows of the garage, reflecting off the grim, determined faces of the checking strike team.
In the corridor just outside the loading bay, a completely different battle of wills was taking place.
"I am completely healed, and my core is stable," Han Ye argued, his voice a defiant treble that cut right through the distant mechanical noise of the garage. He stood with his small arms crossed tightly over his chest, his jaw set in a rigid line as he stared up at Lin Qing "I can hide in the back of Da Yong’s truck. If Gao Feng’s men try to flank you in the gorge, my shadows can cut their infantry lines before they even clear the vehicle doors. You need every powered core you have for this, and you know it."
Lin Qing didn’t even look up from the harness she was systematically tightening around her waist. Her movements remained fluid, and unbothered by the boy’s words.
"No," she replied, her voice a flat, immovable wall of pure logic. "You are a child, Han Ye, and your core, while powerful, is still recovering from overexertion during the previous attack on the ventilation shafts. Your primary responsibility tonight is to stay in the residential sector with Sun Hao and protect Gu An and Su Xiao. If the center is completely compromised, you are their final line of defense. My answer is absolute."
Frustration flashed across Han Ye’s young face. Realizing his stepmother was entirely immune to stubbornness and viewed everything through a lens of cold efficiency, the boy immediately pivoted on his heel toward Han Zheng, who was silently checking the bolt action of Old Wang’s backup rifle nearby.
In an instant, Han Ye’s stubborn posture melted away completely. His eyes softened, turning wide, round, and pooling with a sudden, carefully calculated vulnerability. He stepped closer, reaching out to tug lightly on the edge of Han Zheng’s heavy vest, completely acting like a five-year-old child who simply missed his dad too much and couldn’t bear to be separated from him.
"Dad... please," Han Ye murmured, his voice dropping into a soft, trembling whisper designed to melt stone. "You’ve been gone for so many days. I barely get to see you anymore. What if something happens out there in the blizzard and you don’t come back down? Let me go with you. I just... I missed you too much, and I want to help protect my dad."
Han Zheng paused, his hand freezing over the steel rifle casing. A sudden, heavy pang of genuine parental guilt struck him right in the chest.
Looking down at his young son, he realized with a wave of heavy remorse that between the constant zombie outbreaks, the brutal travel, and now this suffocating mercenary siege, he hadn’t been able to spend any real quality time with the boy. He had been a military commander first and a father second, leaving Han Ye to grow up far too fast in a brutal, unforgiving world.
For a split second, Han Zheng’s resolve wavered under the weight of that guilt. But as his dark eyes caught the faint gleam hidden deep within Han Ye’s wide eyes, he let out a slow, heavy sigh. He realized the little brat was weaponizing his guilt. He reached down, placing his large, calloused palm firmly on top of his son’s messy dark hair, giving it a rough but deeply affectionate shake.
"Nice try, brat," Han Zheng said, his deep voice softening with affection but remaining entirely unyielding. "The sweet-talking act won’t work on me tonight. Your mother is completely right. The blizzard outside is a blind operational environment, and as your father, I need to know the residential bunker is locked down by someone I trust. Stay behind and keep your head down."
Han Ye deflated instantly, his wide-eyed childish facade vanishing in a heartbeat as he let out a sharp, annoyed huff. He stepped back, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he watched Han Zheng and Lin Qing turn back to their final equipment checks. ’I need to grow up faster,’ Han Ye thought to himself, a cold, intense determination settling deep in his chest. ’If I were older, stronger, and my core was completely unrestricted, they wouldn’t be able to leave me behind like baggage every time the real fight starts. I’ll make sure they have to take me next time.’
Ten minutes later, Zhou Ming took his position at the central monitoring desk of the research center, locking down the primary internal security gates and setting up the medical arrays. With the home front officially secured under a trusted watch, the remaining members of the strike team slipped out of the heavy blast doors, completely swallowed by the freezing, pitch-black void of the midnight storm.
---
Within an hour, the striking team had successfully navigated the treacherous, ice-slicked mountain ridges to take their exact positions overlooking the Dead Man’s Switch.
The environment was brutal beyond measure. The freezing mountain winds howled through the narrow canyon like a dying animal, driving thick sheets of ice and snow horizontally through the dark air.
High up on the northern cliff face, Old Wang lay perfectly prone in a deep snow drift, his entire body covered in a white thermal blanket to mask his heat signature from any potential infrared scanners. Below him, hidden behind jagged stone outcroppings, Lieutenant Chen, Ah Hua, and Xiao Li crouched in absolute silence, their bodies completely numb from the cold but their minds hyper-focused on the road below.
Further down the reverse slope of the gorge, completely hidden from the road’s sightline, Han Zheng and Lin Qing sat inside the cab of the leading modified transport truck. Da Yong sat in the secondary truck, his hands were clamped tightly around the steering wheel, the heavy engine idling in a silent, low-vibration mode that wouldn’t echo through the frozen valley.
Lin Qing held the modified short-wave communication receiver against her ear, her slender fingers adjusting the fine-tuning dial to clear up the heavy atmospheric static coming from Gao Feng’s local relay network.
Suddenly, a faint, rhythmic crunching sound vibrated through the frozen ground, followed closely by the dim, heavily diffused yellow glow of headlights piercing through the thick curtain of white fog. The enemy convoy was finally crawling into the mouth of the narrow gorge.
Lin Qing leaned closer to the frost-rimmed window of the truck, utilizing a pair of high-powered night-vision binoculars to count the vehicles struggling up the single-file incline. Three heavy vehicles were towing massive, shrouded iron artillery pieces, flanked by two lightly armored infantry transport vehicles at the front and rear of the line.
She scanned the lead vehicle, searching for Gao Feng. He wasn’t there. The command structure of this convoy was entirely standard mercenary issue.
"Gao Feng didn’t come personally this time either," Lin Qing noted, her voice dropping into a cold, analytical whisper over the team’s shared short-range radio channel. "He stayed back at the main camp, safely ensconced inside his warm camp while he forces his remaining men to haul heavy artillery up an unstable, freezing cliffside in the dead of night."
In the driver’s seat beside her, Han Zheng’s expression darkened, his jaw tightening as he stared into the snow. "He’s smart. He knows the vanguard’s elimination means our defenses are highly lethal. He won’t risk his own skin until the path is entirely cleared by his men."
"Smart, yes, but fundamentally a coward in a structural sense," Lin Qing replied, calculation flashing across her calm features as she recorded the logistics data. "He demands absolute, suicidal loyalty from his grunts but refuses to share a single ounce of their physical risk. Remember this detail, Han Zheng. Once we break this artillery line, we can feed this exact point directly into the lower grunt radio channels we intercepted earlier. If Lin Tao and the disgruntled men realize their commander is hiding in the back while they are being slaughtered as cannon fodder, the remaining camp will completely implode without us firing a single bullet."
"A perfect psychological trigger," Han Zheng agreed, proud smile cutting across his face in the dim cabin light as he looked at his wife’s brilliant mind at work. He reached for his headset, his voice dropping into a commanding, low-frequency baseline that signaled the end of the waiting phase. "Old Wang. Target acquired. Lock onto the lead vehicle’s driver. The moment they hit the center bottleneck... take the shot."
High up on the freezing ridge, Old Wang’s finger slowly slid onto the cold steel of the trigger, his crosshairs settling directly onto the frosted windshield of the vanguard truck. The entire canyon hung in a state of suspended, suffocating tension, waiting for the first crack of thunder to break the silence.
