Chapter 104: Warmth and Ash
The heavy, snow-laden air of the mountain ridge vibrated with the deep, mechanical hum of the two modified transport trucks as they approached the perimeter of the research center.
Inside the leading cabin, the windshield wipers creaked rhythmically against a rapidly forming layer of thick frost. The journey down from the Dead Man’s Switch had been a grueling, silent blackout run, but the sight of the bunker’s entrance brought a collective, unspoken sigh of relief to the cabin. It had been less than twenty-four hours since the strike team had departed into the freezing dark, yet the sheer density of the violence they had witnessed made the trip feel like a lifetime.
"Base, this is the strike team," Lin Qing said into the comms, her voice clear despite the static of the lingering blizzard. "We are at the perimeter line. The mission is accomplished, the convoy is intercepted, and our beds are fully loaded. Open the gates."
On the other end of the line, the relieved voice of Sun Hao crackled back almost instantly. "Copy that. Initiating the hydraulic sequence now. Welcome home."
Slowly, the massive, reinforced steel blast doors began to open, parting the thick drifts of snow and slicing through the howling midnight gale. Han Zheng and Da Yong guided the two heavily weighted vehicles into the secure expanse of the loading bay. As the massive doors sealed shut behind them, cutting off the freezing wind, the sudden transition to warmth was almost shocking to the senses.
Waiting for them in the loading bay were Sun Hao, Zhao Ming, and Dr. Zhou. They all looked visibly exhausted from the tension of waiting, but their faces lit up at the sight of the intact vehicles.
Dr. Zhou stepped forward immediately, a large basket cradled in her arms. She had anticipated the brutal toll of the mountain storm and had prepared activated chemical heat packs wrapped in thick towels, handing them out to the soldiers the moment they stepped down from the high truck cabins.
"Put these against your chest and neck," Dr. Zhou instructed gently, passing a warm pack to Lieutenant Chen, whose face was still raw from the cold winds of the canyon. "The core temperature drops faster than you think out there."
As Lin Qing climbed down from the passenger side, Dr. Zhou walked alongside her, lowering her voice slightly to provide a quiet update on the internal state of the sanctuary. "While you were gone, everything remained stable inside. The other two researchers are still securely tied up. I’ve been making sure they are fed regularly and letting them use the bathroom facilities under Sun Hao’s direct supervision. There hasn’t been any trouble from them."
Lin Qing nodded, her eyes tracking the massive crates of salvaged automatic rifles, unexploded mortar rounds, and green-painted ammunition boxes stacked high in the truck beds. "Good. We need to keep a tight lid on security until we know exactly what Gao Feng’s remnants are doing."
Recognizing the sheer exhaustion weighing on the combat team, Sun Hao stepped up to the edge of the flatbed, rolling up his sleeves. "Commander, Sister-in-law —leave the sorting to us. Me, Zhao Ming, and Dr. Zhou will stay down here in the loading bay to catalog the weapons and organize the crates. The rest of you need to head straight back to the residential suite. Get out of that frozen gear and get into the hot water before your joints freeze up."
Han Zheng offered an approving nod, acknowledging the pragmatism. The strike team left their heavy gear by the vehicles and made their way through the corridors toward the residential sector, the ambient heating of the facility slowly thawing their frozen skin.
When the heavy doors slid open, the contrast was absolute. The space was warm, lit by the steady glow of the facility’s auxiliary power, and completely separated from the lawless apocalypse outside. Sitting in the middle of the carpeted floor were the children: Gu An, Su Xiao, and Han Ye.
The children stood up with visible comfort, their faces flooded with relief.
Han Ye’s eyes locked onto Han Zheng’s tall frame the second the commander stepped through the threshold. His eyes flicked down to the faint traces of soot on Han Zheng’s coat, evaluating the battle damage and measuring his father’s physical condition.
Despite their youth, Gu An and Su Xiao had grown incredibly sensible in this harsh environment. They could see the exhaustion etched into the lines of the adults’ faces and the raw, frostbitten skin around their eyes. Rather than crowding them, the kids stepped back politely, letting the group head into the bathrooms to wash away the ash and grime of the canyon battlefield in the steaming hot water.
Nearly an hour later, the strike team emerged, completely clean and dressed in fresh, dry clothing. The lingering chill from the mountain had finally left their bones. As they gathered around the large low table in the living room, Lin Qing sat down on the edge of the plush sofa, her mind still turning over the long-term survival logistics of the base. She looked over at Sun Hao, who had just walked up from the loading bay after finishing the initial cargo count.
"Sun Hao," Lin Qing called out, leaning forward. "How are the winter crops holding up under the new lighting schedules?"
Sun Hao smiled, wiping a stray drop of sweat from his forehead. "You don’t need to worry about that, Sister-in-law. They are absolutely thriving. The automated nutrient cycles are perfectly balanced, and the growth rate is actually ahead of schedule. The soil chemistry is completely stable."
The tension in the room dissipated further as Zhou Ming carried in a massive pot of freshly prepared hot food, the savory aroma filling the living room. The adults and the children sat down together, sharing a quiet, substantial meal. For the first time in an entire day, they ate without the sound of howling wind or distant gunfire.
During the meal, the conversation naturally turned toward the details of the ambush. Lieutenant Chen, Xiao Li, and Da Yong provided a comprehensive update to Sun Hao and Zhao Ming, detailing the destruction of the vanguard convoy, the sudden intervention of the high-tier intelligent zombie, and the narrow escape through the panicked mercenary looters at the bottleneck.
Han Ye sat perfectly still beside his father, his expression an unreadable mask of stone. While the other children ate quickly, comforted by the adults’ presence, Han Ye’s mind was working at an advanced capacity.
His eyes darted from speaker to speaker, absorbing every syllable of the briefing. He analyzed the behavior of the intelligent zombie and the collapse of Gao Feng’s supply lines, mapping these movements against his memory of the previous timeline. The presence of the intelligent zombie this early was an anomaly, and he knew the threat metrics of the mountain were accelerating faster than the team realized.
Once the meal was finished and the dishes were cleared, the living room settled into a quiet, domestic routine. To keep the children’s minds occupied and maintain some semblance of normalcy, Sun Hao gathered the kids around the smaller study table on the opposite side of the room. He had taken over the role of teaching them their standard school courses as best as he could, setting up notebooks and speaking in a low, encouraging tone as he guided them through a mathematics lesson.
Han Ye sat among them, holding a pencil in his small hand. He played the part of the obedient student flawlessly, solving the basic equations with a deliberate slowness so as not to draw suspicion, though his focus remained entirely detached, his ears tuned to the low murmurs of the adults across the room.
Lin Qing remained sitting on the living room sofa, watching the peaceful scene with a quiet warmth in her chest. Leaning back against the cushions, she pulled the communication device from her pocket, turning it over in her hands.
As the device whined, a sudden, high-priority data transmission log flashed across the screen. It wasn’t a live broadcast, but a compressed backup file that had been automatically uploaded to the local mercenary network right as the mutiny reached its absolute peak.
Lin Qing’s relaxed posture instantly vanished. Her fingers froze over the console as she began to read the decoded text strings.
The report was stark. Gao Feng was not dead, and the threat to the mountain had not vanished with the destruction of the convoy. According to the encrypted logs, the moment Gao Feng realized that Lin Tao’s internal rebellion had compromised the primary defensive walls, he had completely abandoned the mercenaries to their fates.
Working with a highly coordinated, ruthless efficiency, Gao Feng had gathered a tight cadre of his absolute closest, elite enforcers. They had emptied the camp’s central vault, loading multiple high-tier armored tactical vehicles with their most advanced weaponry, core energy supplies, and rations. They had fled the camp through a hidden southern extraction route before the fire could reach them.
They were out there right now—hidden somewhere in the vast, freezing mountain wilderness, heavily armed, completely unhinged, and looking for a new stronghold.
Lin Qing scrolled further down, her eyes narrowing as she found a secondary broadcast log originating from the main camp’s central command tower.
Following Gao Feng’s cowardly flight, Lin Tao had officially, if unofficially, assumed command over the remnants of the primary mercenary base camp. However, the data revealed that his victory was entirely hollow.
Between the desperate looting caravan that Han Zheng had forced his way through on the pass, the massive theft committed by Gao Feng’s fleeing inner circle, and the structural damage caused by the fires of the rebellion, the base camp was left completely destitute. Lin Tao was currently presiding over a ruined fortress with virtually no food, minimal ammunition, and barely any capable fighters left alive. They were starving sitting ducks at the base of the ridge.
Lin Qing lowered the device, her face turning pale under the living room lights as the full weight of the new reality set in.
Han Zheng, who had been watching her from across the room, noticed the sudden shift in her energy. He stood up silently, walking over to the sofa and looking down at the screen in her hands.
From the study table, Han Ye’s pencil paused against the paper. He didn’t look up, but his eyes narrowed slightly in the dim light.
The sanctuary was warm and safe for tonight, but the war for the mountain had really just begun.
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