Chapter 105: Chapter 105: If You Don’t Freeze, You’ll Starve

Everyone’s eyes went wide, their mouths slightly agape. Their faces were filled with shock and disbelief as they stared intently at the figure on the ice wall. All their earlier mockery and doubt vanished in an instant, replaced by utter astonishment.

"She... she climbed up?!"

"Wh-what kind of Superpower is that?!"

"Oh my god, she really has a Superpower!"

Gasps echoed through the group. The people who had just been mocking Sue Lawrence for being useless now felt their faces burn with a mixture of shame and shock, leaving them speechless.

Dominic Trent frowned, but his expression quickly turned to one of relief. ’So she does have a Superpower,’ he thought. ’But it doesn’t seem as useful as my spatial Ability.’ The thought that he would still be the most sought-after person in the future calmed him down considerably.

But if there was one person who was far from calm, it had to be Jason Sterling.

The sneer on Jason Sterling’s face froze completely. His pupils contracted violently, and it felt as if the blood in his veins had turned to ice.

He stared intently at Sue Lawrence nimbly scaling the ice wall. The disdain and mockery in his eyes shattered, replaced by an incredibly complex storm of emotions: shock, disbelief, resentment, and a sliver of panic he was unwilling to admit even to himself.

’Isn’t Sue Lawrence useless? In my last life, she never awakened a Superpower, not even at the very end!’

But then another thought occurred to him. Everyone had been awakening their Superpowers earlier this time around. Maybe it wasn’t impossible for Sue Lawrence to suddenly have one...

Sue Lawrence, however, ignored the astonishment of the crowd below. She ducked into the pitch-black ice cave, her body moving lithely through the narrow crevice and into the fire escape stairwell on the other side.

It was still pitch-black inside. Her headlamp flickered in the low temperature. Using the superb balance and climbing ability of her gecko-like Superpower, she quickly scouted the path ahead. After confirming the passage was clear, she returned the way she came and landed steadily at the bottom of the ice wall.

She dusted the ice shards off her hands and spoke calmly, "I got through. The fire escape ahead isn’t blocked. We can go straight up to the roof."

Her simple sentence sent the entire group into an uproar.

"You can... you can really get through? She actually scouted it and came back!"

"That’s incredible! Her Superpower is so useful!"

The ice was slicker than a slide; no one could climb it without tools. But Sue Lawrence did. Whatever her Superpower was, it was incredibly useful right now!

The way everyone looked at Sue Lawrence had completely changed. Their initial disdain, contempt, and doubt had transformed into shock, awe, and an indescribable sense of admiration.

Silas Hawthorne stood to the side, a hint of a smile in his icy eyes. His thin lips curved slightly, and his aura grew even more steady and composed. It was clear he had anticipated Sue Lawrence’s performance.

Everyone was lost in their own thoughts—some shocked, some admiring, some jealous, some conflicted—but no one dared to delay any longer.

"Since the passage is clear, let’s break through this ice wall and get moving!" Silas Hawthorne said in a low voice.

Everyone immediately refocused. Dominic Trent had a spatial Ability, so many of the tools they couldn’t carry were naturally with him. Dominic Trent took the tools out of his space, and they all began to chisel at the ice. As for Sue Lawrence’s Ice Ability, Silas Hawthorne didn’t let her use it.

With people harboring ill intentions around, he knew it was best to keep a low profile.

About two hours later, they finally chiseled out a hole large enough for one person to squeeze through. They climbed through one by one and continued heading upstairs.

Sue Lawrence walked in the middle of the group, her expression serene, as if her astonishing feat just now was nothing more than an everyday occurrence.

The group continued up the fire escape stairwell. In the pitch-black corridor, the beams of their headlamps swayed, and the low-temperature alarms on their suits beeped incessantly.

By the time they finally broke through the thick layer of ice and emerged outside, it was already noon the next day.

After being trapped underground for so long, nearly dying in that ice cavern, they had been helpless and despairing just a moment ago. Now, they were out. Many of them were ecstatic, some even cheering loudly.

"This is great! We’re saved!"

"We’re out! We’re finally out! We can go back to the base! I can’t wait to have a bowl of hot soup!"

"C-rations! I won’t even complain about C-rations anymore! Bring ’em on, AAAAAH!"

Everyone shouted and roared, venting the emotions of their rescue.

But at that moment, though the sun hung in the sky, they couldn’t feel any of its warmth. Many of them put on the extra cold-weather gear Dominic Trent had provided, layering it over their anti-cold suits to prevent frostbite.

After all, the temperature was far too low. Only Sue Lawrence’s Liquid Nitrogen Anti-cold Suit could guarantee protection against such extreme cold.

A few people asked impatiently, "Shouldn’t we head back right away?"

’Head back?’

Theodore Frost wanted to head back too, but he was now facing a difficult problem.

After so much time had passed, the terrain outside had changed once again.

Not only had the snow deepened, but the strong winds had carved out treacherous gullies and ridges. On top of that, every exposed part of the buildings was coated in a thick layer of ice. Without navigation, no one could tell which way to go.

A snowfield was like that—an endless expanse of white that offered no sense of direction.

The people who thought they could just walk back to the base alive fell completely silent.

’Which way should we go?’

’Where is the way home?’

Everyone looked lost and confused.

Jason Sterling also asked, "Which way should we go?"

Theodore Frost was trying to find a signal, but there was none. Absolutely no signal. The temperature was too low, exceeding the critical threshold, and communications were down.

His expression soured as he looked toward Silas Hawthorne.

"What do we do?"

Jason Sterling’s expression changed. He keenly sensed something was wrong and quickly asked, "What’s the matter?"

The urgency in his voice finally made the others around them realize something was amiss.

The soldiers Theodore Frost had brought with him were one thing, but the group of people Jason had brought out on the mission were all dumbfounded.

"What’s wrong?"

"What happened?"

"Don’t tell me we can’t leave?"

You had to admit, these people had a sharp intuition for danger; they immediately grasped the critical point.

Theodore Frost immediately had a bad feeling. They weren’t part of the same system; he was afraid they were going to cause trouble. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

But there was nothing he could do. The facts were laid bare. He could only look to Silas Hawthorne, hoping he had a way to placate these people.

Silas Hawthorne’s response, however, was to state the plain truth.

"Communications are down. We can’t find our bearings. Can any of you tell which way leads back to the base?"

"What? We’re lost?"

"No signal?"

Everyone was aghast.

It was as if their newfound hope had been instantly extinguished by a bucket of cold water. Everyone’s expression turned grim.

"How can this be? We just got out!"

"Aren’t your military’s machines supposed to be the most precise and durable? How can there be no signal?"

"What kind of bullshit is this?! No way, I’m going back. At least we won’t freeze to death down there!"

’At these temperatures, if we can’t find the base, we’ll really freeze to death out here!’

The crowd erupted in anxious clamor, but Silas Hawthorne’s deep voice cut through it all. "There’s no food here. If we don’t freeze, we’ll starve. We have to move!"