Chapter 71: Chapter 71: The Joy of the Overbearing CEO’s Pampered Little Wife

The group filed out in a line.

This time, neither Jason Sterling nor Tiana Lynch had come along. Only that guy Ox from before was in the line, along with an unfamiliar man.

Elliot Lawrence glanced back and saw Ox staring daggers at Sue Lawrence’s back. He couldn’t help but put a worried arm around her shoulder.

With their helmets on, they couldn’t speak quietly. But if they spoke too loudly, everyone around would hear them. The only way to communicate was through the comms unit on the helmet. There were three available channels: one for squad comms, one for general command, and one that was supposedly a private, encrypted channel for personal chats. Elliot didn’t dare use it, though. ’Encrypted or not, someone could still be listening in.’

Elliot pulled Sue aside, making faces. He clearly had something to say.

Sue thought for a moment and activated her Skill, B-Rank Network Technology. She wanted to see if she could use it to create a new frequency, and to her surprise, it actually worked. A fourth channel light blinked on, and she held the encryption key.

She lowered her voice. "Elliot, I’ve opened a private, encrypted channel. You can talk now."

Elliot was stunned. He knew his sister was capable, but he never thought she was *this* capable. Hacking an encryption key? On a military-grade helmet?

He quickly said, "That guy, Ox, keeps staring at you. Be careful. I think he’s up to no good."

"Forget him. Elliot, if you need me, just switch to channel four. It’s our own private channel."

Elliot chuckled, unable to resist teasing her. "Why do you suddenly sound like one of those overbearing CEOs?"

"So, are you enjoying the ’pampered little wife’ experience?"

"Get outta here, you little brat!"

Half-annoyed and half-amused, Elliot pulled Sue onto a sled.

"But this gear really is something else. It’s pretty easy to move in..."

"Yeah, it’s good to get out and see things. We can’t just stay in the bomb shelter forever, clueless about the outside world. We’d lose our edge. Elliot, did you put on all the heat packs I gave you?"

"Don’t worry, I put them on. They’re nice and warm."

When they were changing, she had secretly slipped Elliot a pack of heat packs. She had stockpiled a ton of them, and since they’d be useless once this deep-freeze apocalypse was over, she could afford to use them generously now.

Now, both of their thermal suits were lined with a layer of heat packs. They would provide at least eight hours of warmth, with residual heat lasting up to twelve hours. It was more than enough.

Soon, the sleds began to move. They traveled directly over the ground. While not as fast as a subway, their speed was comparable to a city bus.

A little over an hour later, they arrived at an open area.

According to the map, this was already the outskirts of the city. There were no tall buildings, only the occasional tall water tower or an anti-aircraft gun with its sign tattered by the wind visible on the vast snowy plains.

Victor Keller held up a laptop. Thanks to professional winterization, the device was still functional.

"This is the place."

As he manipulated the computer, it quickly plotted a route. Victor immediately ordered everyone to start digging through the snow.

"Start here and dig down at an angle. The robots will provide a guide. Just follow it."

The words had barely left his mouth when the robots that had been pulling the sleds slowly moved over. A red light flared from their bodies, projecting two laser-like lines that marked out a nearly circular area on the ground.

"Talk about high-tech!"

Someone muttered it over the open comms, and everyone heard.

Victor Keller sounded pleased, even excited. "Our country’s technological prowess is truly astounding! Even though it’s minus sixty degrees Celsius and the snow outside is ten meters deep and still rising, we must have faith! We will definitely overcome this disaster!"

In that moment, many of them felt a surge of excitement.

To be honest, the extreme weather lately had left everyone feeling dejected.

The ultra-low temperatures, the incredible depth of the snow... especially after Zachary Lynch’s nose had frozen off, everyone felt like this was the end of the world, just like in the novels. But coming out today and seeing the power of technology, they began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, they really could survive this apocalypse.

So everyone grabbed their shovels and worked with renewed vigor. Meanwhile, one of the robots had already burrowed down into the snow.

"That’s incredible!"

"Maybe we really can get through this after all."

As the group murmured amongst themselves, Elliot was helping Sue with her work. Ox glanced in their direction, snorted coldly, and muttered, "Useless. Can’t even shovel snow without help."

The comms were open, so everyone heard him loud and clear. Many people frowned and looked around, trying to see who had spoken. Victor Keller’s voice cut in. "Everyone shut up and get back to work."

Elliot secretly switched his channel to 4 and whispered, "He said that about you on purpose."

"I know."

Sue Lawrence was completely unfazed.

"Don’t worry about him, Elliot. He wouldn’t dare try anything in front of everyone; Victor would leave him for dead out in this frozen wasteland. He’s all bark and no bite. Just ignore him, like a dog yapping."

Elliot chuckled and stopped paying Ox any mind, focusing on his work.

Ten meters of snow was no joke. But luckily, there were a lot of them—over forty people in total, including the ones Jason Sterling had brought—all digging a single pit.

They all worked together with a surprising degree of coordination. Sue eventually got pushed to the back, hauling away layers of snow. Victor Keller put Ox at the very front to dig through the toughest layer, perhaps as a deliberate punishment.

*HUFF... PUFF...*

Elliot was also at the front, now panting from exhaustion.

He was a businessman, after all, and had never done this kind of manual labor.

Thank goodness for the encrypted channel; he could still complain to his sister.

"This is impossible. The temperature is too low, the layers of snow are frozen solid. It’s so hard to break through..."

*HUFF... PUFF...*

"But that light from the robot is interesting. It doesn’t affect our clothes, but wherever it shines, the snow isn’t as hard..."

*HUFF... PUFF...* "We’re working in three shifts, but I don’t think we’ll finish today..."

Sue tossed the excavated snow into the designated area and raised a hand to wipe the sweat from her brow, only to realize she couldn’t. She had forgotten about the helmet.

"Looks like we’ll be spending the night out here."

Elliot was taken aback. "Out here? In this cold?"

Sue was about to say more when a sudden commotion erupted from the front, accompanied by Ox’s furious curses. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Motherfucker... You’re asking to die... You..."

Sue’s heart jumped. "Elliot! Elliot, what’s wrong?!"

*HUFF! HUFF! HUFF!*

The panting on the comms grew more frantic. Sue immediately broke into a run, heading for the pit and sliding straight down the slope.

A fight had broken out at the bottom. Everyone was wearing the same uniform, making it impossible to tell who was who. The only identifiers were the name tags on their arms.

She pressed the side of her helmet and shouted, "Elliot!"

In the tangled mess of bodies, one figure stiffened. Sue’s eyes locked onto him. Without a second thought, she lunged forward, launching a flying kick straight at the other person’s soft abdomen.