Sorry about the delay, I was busy with work……this is supposed to be Monday’s regular release

  Yan Fei lifted the metal plate, fortunately he did not let it hit their cars. A body covered in snow appeared in front of the team.

  It was a sheep-like animal but much taller than a normal one! At the moment is was dizzy from hitting the metal plate head on. It seemed likely to fall backwards at any time but the wind steadied it.

  "……Is this a mutant goat?" Luo Xun froze before snapping to attention. He stared at the animal in shock.

  "……Should be." Yan Fei confirmed from behind him.

  "I say, is this the time to discuss species? Shouldn’t we either kill it or run?" Zhang Yi impatiently reminded the two men.

  Proving Zhang Yi correct, the sheep stood, lowered it’s head and hoofed the ground like a bull before charging at the team.

  Luo Xun looked at the goat with its four hooves on top of the ice and snow. His face changed – the goat could stand in the snow, if its ability was not related to ice it would be wind!

  "Metal plate!" Luo Xun could only use short words to warn Yan Fei.

  Yan Fei instantly lifted the plate in front of the goat. *Bang* He felt a similar pressure like last time. However this time he titled the metal at an angle to disperse the force. Sure enough he did not feel anything this time.

  The goat did not wait for Luo Xun to move before lowering its head and continued targeting the team.

  "This sheep is crazy!" Zhang Yi exclaimed. "Do you want to kill it? It would be a waste otherwise."

  After the latest attempt the sheep realized that its current methods could not wipe out the team. Suddenly a bust of icy wind condensed – air ability!

  "Also a wind user……" Zhang Yi looked, the sheep’s whirlwind range was much larger than his and the air also included snow, gravel and dirt.

  "Shoot." Yan Fei swore and the metal changed shape, a dome that covered everyone in the sleds.

  *Bang*Whoosh*Clang*

  Sounds came from the outside the wall, who knew what was making that shrill sound.

  "What are we going to do?" Could they wait for the sheep to get out of here and leave?

  Although they did not know why the sheep suddenly attacked everyone. But with the way things were going, it was unlikely to leave. It has been made clear that it was going to kill everyone or die trying.

  Luo Xun frowned in thought, remembered that the sheep launching attacks against the metal. His eyes brightened – this situation was similar to the one with the duck! Wait, no the sheep’s attack obviously did not rely on the horns.

  "Can we make something to trip it up in the snow?" Song Lingling asked aloud.

  "That’s right! It would be best to hurt it using thorns on the ground." Luo Xun clapped his hands and turned to Yan Fei.

  *Crash* The sheep hit them, the car staggered and left the team feeling dizzy.

  "No problem." Yan Fei recovered and understood what they meant.

  He removed some metal from the hood. The sheep backed up to build up momentum, it lowered its head, the front hoof pawing the ground. Cyan wind whipped up – the impact of this collision would definitely be greater than the previous times.

  Under the snow and ice metal quietly stretched over to the goat, obstacles suddenly appeared in the way! Sharp metal thorns burst from the white snow!

  *Poof* There were three quakes, Luo Xun and the team felt unsteady, even the sled was shaking.

  Looking out from the gap, the team sharply breathed and looked at each other in amazement – their luck was too good? The sheep fell to the ground and its neck was shredded by the metal thorns. Splashes of dark red sprayed on the snow, the sheep fell sideways, its limbs twitching one last time.

  There was a moment of silence, before a voice echoed out. "Ah……meat to eat."

  The team looked over at Zhang Yi, who had been completely out of breath, sound like He Qiankun. He ate just as much but why was he not fat? Clearly he ate the most meat.

  In thought they looked at Zhang Yi’s small waist even when thickly dressed for winter. All were secretly grinding their teeth.

  But, meat! Authentic mutton!

  "Have to clean up! It will be hard to deal with it frozen solid!" Luo Xun came out with bright eyes.

  Fighting mutant animals, even if desired, no one could control what they encountered while outside base.

  Luo Xun heard in his past life about all kinds of mutant animal meat, encounters were all thanks to luck. Out of base, who could say they would definitely hunt mutant animals? There were countless zombies wandering around okay?

  People opened up the car and let Zhang Yi lift the body with the wind. Once the animal was definitely dead, they rushed with knives to cut up the sheep.

  The sheep was three meters tall, much larger than normal. They also found out that the sheep was very meaty! Enough to last for a year.

  The wool and sheepskin were removed. Yan Fei made a metal plate to pack the meat. Anyway he had collected a lot of metal, only a portion had been used for the large ’umbrella’, now he could continue grabbing more.

  With the sheep, their return speed was a lot slower. The snow was blowing, the wind howling, the bad weather blocking their field of vision. Luo Xun barely managed to navigate back with his compass……

  "Brother Luo and the others have not come back……" Li Tie put down his phone – still had not called.

  A phone was indispensable while not in base. Only the owner could call for help, transmitting a signal via satellite to the military. But how likely was it that someone could actually launch a distress signal and wait for rescue?

  Whether the military would send search and rescue staff in time was also an issue. Anyway they rarely heard of anyone coming across and accident and being rescued after sending a distress signal.

  Yesterday Luo Xun and company had left base early to hunt for crystal cores. Originally expected to return today, but it started to snow before noon. It grew worse and worse as time passed. When Li Tie and the others came home it was difficult to walk. They became nervous as a blizzard started and there was no sign of anyone at home. They feared that they would never come back……

  If they had known, they would not have let them go!

  The thought pounded through their hearts, especially Wang Duo had tried to rush out several times with red eyes to find the others, even leaving base to investigate.

  "No, I have to check it out!" Wang Duo stood up while Han Li and Wu Xin held him down.

  "What are you doing? Do you know where they are?"

  "But I can’t wait at home!" Wang Duo tried to shake them off.

  Li Tie could only comfort him, "Don’t forget about their abilities. We would go out only to meet our deaths, but they have a metal user to build a shelter, fire user to keep them warm, water user……They can sustain themselves on water for a few days without food. Don’t forget how powerful they are!"

  Wang Duo took a deep breath and sat back down on the chair. "I……have little left……only him……"

  After the apocalypse, he lost contact with his family, he dared not inquire about his hometown. If he received news of losing Zhang Yi……he did not know how he would live.

  The others could not help but exchange glances before sitting down. Wang Duo was considered lucky, meeting Zhang Yi after the end of the world. Although the man’s mouth was foul and shady……but he was good to Wang Duo. Although he usually ordered Wang Duo around, other knew that when the two were alone together……*Cough* they were so sweet that people felt cavities form.

  Now……if they really did not come back……

  The group looked at each other in silence, then sighed. By all accounts, although they were on the same team, their relationship was not close to wearing the same clothes. Now there were so many good things in the squad, a lot of food and supplies, if their teammates did not come back……if they switched teams the others would not be happy with them.

  But Li Tie and the others were clear, even if they ’inherited’ these good things, they could eat and die on base. But they would be worried about being targeted at any time. In particular, the base was restructuring, they were afraid that it would not just be ability users seeking trouble but also the military.

  Even without those other possibilities, once they thought of never seeing their teammates and neighbors again……they definitely did not want anything horrible to happen to them.

  Puppy lay listlessly on the ground, her chin propped on her paws. Her two masters had gone for a long time but the other day left again……Although they had been home for a number of days……why was the wait so long?

  The dog did not understand her own thoughts, only hoped that her two irresponsible masters came home earlier.

  There was unbearable silence in the room while the north wind roared outside the window. The heavy snow showed no sign of stopping, but seemed to growing worse and worse, it was becoming a trend.

  After what seemed like a long time, Puppy suddenly straightened. Her tail was upright, ears perked up and then started barking towards the balcony.

  "What’s the matter?" Some of them nearly fell out of their chairs in fright.

  He Qiankun’s mind turned faster and he pointed at the window. "Could it be Brother Luo coming back?"

  "……We are on the 16th floor……" It was impossible for Puppy’s ears to be that sensitive, right?

  "Something happened outside?"

  They rushed to the window, but they dared not open the window. The wind whistling through the iron shelves made rattling noises. Due to the iron shelves they could not see outside, not to mention it was nighttime with a blizzard at night.

  The dog continued barking and everyone became uneasy. However the students were reluctant to comfort her – after all she was not their dog and they were not familiar. The dog was large enough, if they got bitten……after 10 minutes the dog stopped barking. Li Tie and the others breathed a sigh of relief, but her ears were still alert, seemed about to restart at any moment.

  Sure enough, five minutes later she growled at the gate!

  Li Tie and the others froze then their eyes brightened. "They really came back?!"

  "Yeah, dog ears are really powerful!"

  The others wanted to follow but suddenly the dog hit the gate. They heard a soft thump sound as if she bumped into something.

  "What, what’s going on?"

  "Uh, it looks like……"

  The sound of scraping metal came from outside. Li Tie and company hurried over to the gate.

  Luo Xun and the team were carrying a pile of things with a few large metal boxes floating behind them. He greeted Li Tie and the others in pleasant surprise. "Hurry, put things away."

  "All right!"

  Wang Duo rushed to hug Zhang Yi and passionately french kissed him in front of the men, women and children. Zhang Yi froze at first but did not break away. The onlookers began to whistle and cheer.

  "I say, please put the stuff away first, you can have love time while at home!" Xu Mei was at the back. Seeing the two men being so loving pricked her single woman heart. She wanted to go up and kick them.

  "Right, we are going to die of cavities." Song Lingling grinned at the two embracing men.

  They were at the 15th floor door. People hearing movement in the hallway and were peeking out.

  Fortunately the team moved quickly. Wang Duo and Zhang Yi separated and helped move everything into the hallway.

  "Brother Luo, what are in the big iron boxes?" They had not brought so much last time? Even crystal cores……there could not be that much? What took up the space initially used for gasoline and mushroom juice?

  Luo Xun grinned at the boxes. "All good things, if we have no space in the fridge, we can freeze outside the window."

  "Put it outside the window?!"

  "Frozen?!"

  "Is it meat?" He Qiankun swallowed his saliva.

  Xu Mei had a smug smile and patted the box. "Want to know? Open and see for yourself."

  But the box had no openings other than Yan Fei no one could open it. They looked pleadingly at the metal user.

  Yan Fei smiled and opened the nearest box.

  "Ah, ah! It’s really meat. Brother Luo how did you get this?"

  "That’s right! It’s snowing so hard out there!"

  After everyone had entered the room, Luo Xun explained what had happened. They had met this crazy sheep by accident. Who knew they could bump into a mutant animal on such a day? How could they have killed it without Yan Fei and their plan?

  Then again, their ancestors hunted prey with similar tricks right? Thinking of the last encounter, it was not overly difficult since they were not super intelligent. In the case of zombies it was much easier to use traps, poisonous mushrooms and so on to deal with zombies.

  The team started splitting their spoils. Although Li Tie and the others did not go – they still got a portion of mutton since housekeeping was part of their tasks. Also eating mutton would nourish the body in winter.

  They had a lot of duck meat at home, now adding mutton, it seemed that this winter would be a great year!

  After counting the cores……there were nearly 30,000! Everyone also got at least 4000 level two or three nuclei after setting some aside for the team fund. It was definitely enough to pay a few months worth of monthly fees. It was also enough nuclei for the team to use for the month. It would not be a problem even if they did not leave base for the rest of the winter.

  The team sat inside chatting about the past two days, what they saw outside. Yu Xinran was sleepy in Song Lingling arms, Puppy was laying against Luo Xun’s leg, her eyes opening from time to time.

  Wang Duo and Zhang Yi sat on the same chair, the former’s arms were around the latter’s waist with no intention of letting go. His eyes would slide close then open, he looked similar to the dog……

  Luo Xun stifled a laugh and spoke, "Let’s finish for today. Everyone go back and rest."

  Today was colder than before, the wind blew through their clothes and with the blizzard it was hard to find their cars. After finding the vehicles it took awhile for the engine to start. The wheels were almost submerged in snow and they used up time using the metal balls to flatten the path ahead. They barely made it back to base, the weather conditions were horrible.

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