Ice Age Apocalypse: I've Stockpiled Billions of Resources

The light and shadow distorted, and a feeling of weightlessness washed over me like a tide, only to recede in an instant.

Gravity recaptured the body.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three muffled thuds.

Lin Luo felt his back hit the hard floor, followed by the sound of Tian Xiaoyu and Natasha falling heavily beside him.

The suffocating stench in the air disappeared, replaced by a rich, almost pungent, fresh plant scent, mixed with the smell of dust and old wood.

Ignoring the pain, Lin Luo immediately rolled over and knelt down, the muzzle of his Gauss rifle sweeping rapidly around him.

This is not underground.

Sunlight streamed in through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, so bright it hurt the eyes.

This is a spacious luxury suite with thick handmade carpets on the floor. Although they are covered with dust and dried vines, you can still vaguely see the luxury of yesteryear.

Half of the glass in the French windows was broken, and thick green vines, like pythons, crawled in from the outside, wrapping around the leather sofa and crystal chandelier.

"Safety."

Lin Luo confirmed there was no immediate biological threat, lowered his gun, and gasped for breath. The rhomboid crystal on his chest was burning hot; he could feel the heat scorching his skin even through his combat suit.

"vomit……"

A loud retching sound came from the side.

Natasha lay on the floor, her hands digging into the carpet until her knuckles turned white.

Her face was as white as a sheet of paper, completely devoid of color.

"Natasha?" Tian Xiaoyu shook her dizzy head and crawled over to support her. "Did you faint from the teleportation? This isn't the first time you've been through a time tunnel."

Natasha did not answer; her body was trembling violently.

Sweat dripped down her high, straight nose onto the dusty carpet, leaving small dents.

She looked up, and her once sharp blue eyes were now filled with fear.

This fear is not the tension of facing a powerful enemy, but a kind of deep-rooted, genetic, absolute submission and trembling of the inferior to the superior.

“That…that thing…” Natasha’s voice was hoarse, her teeth chattering, “It’s not an ordinary mutant.”

Lin Luo took out a bottle of high-energy glucose water from his backpack, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to him: "Drink some first."

Natasha took the bottle, her hands trembling violently. She spilled half of it onto her collar before managing to drink a few mouthfuls. The sugar entered her bloodstream, calming her trembling slightly, but the terror in her eyes remained.

“I have spider sequences in my genes.” Natasha leaned against the sofa with a broken leg, breathing heavily. “In the Mars terraforming lab, I was the perfect hunter. Even against mutated creatures of the same size, I could suppress them with biosignals.”

She took a deep breath and scratched several cracks into the leather sofa with her fingernails.

"But the moment that thing appeared, my blood ran cold."

"Bloodline suppression?" Lin Luo frowned.

“It’s not just suppression.” Natasha closed her eyes, as if the huge compound eye was still staring at her. “The pheromones it emitted were like…like an oracle. Every cell in my body was screaming, begging me to kneel down, to sacrifice myself as food for it. It felt like a worker ant seeing its queen, unable to muster even the slightest thought of resistance.”

Tian Xiaoyu was astonished and subconsciously touched the goosebumps on her arm: "Is it really that weird? I think it's just a bit big and ugly."

“You don’t understand.” Natasha suddenly opened her eyes and stared at Tian Xiaoyu. “If Lin Luo hadn’t pulled us away immediately, even if I had a mechanical exoskeleton, even if I had heavy weapons, I would have been frozen in that second. It didn’t even need to do anything. As long as it released a wave of biological pressure, I would have just stood there like an idiot waiting to die.”

As a cyborg with some arthropod genes, Natasha's perception of that monster was a hundred times more acute than that of a pure human.

In that instant, she saw not just a giant spider, but a king at the top of the food chain.

That pure, brutal, and unparalleled level of life made the power she was so proud of seem as insignificant as dust.

That monster was definitely a top predator that emerged from the battles following Earth's great recovery.

Lin Luo checked the cooling progress of the crystal and said with a serious expression, "Natasha's feeling was right."

He pulled up his tactical tablet, which displayed the data from the last three seconds.

"In the instant before the time tunnel opened, the surrounding magnetic field strength surged eight hundred times. That spider wasn't just relying on physical strength; its bioelectric field was ridiculously strong. If I had been 0.1 seconds slower..."

Lin Luo pointed to a red curve on the tablet, which represented the simulated survival probability.

Zero.

“If we’re even 0.1 seconds slower, its mental attack will destroy our brain nerves first, and then that thorny leg will string us together like a candied hawthorn.” Lin Luo’s voice was cold. “We might be facing the overlord of this area.”

A brief silence fell over the room.

The wind blowing in from outside the window carried the fragrance of unknown wildflowers, but it couldn't dispel the gloom in everyone's hearts.

The Earth has changed.

This place is no longer the gentle home they remember, but a gladiatorial arena of frenzied evolution. In this enormous petri dish, humanity, once the dominant species, is now as fragile as a snail without a shell.

Tian Xiaoyu stood up and walked to the broken French windows.

This should be around the 30th floor of a skyscraper.

Looking out, the once bustling city of Jinghai has been submerged in a sea of ​​green. Skyscrapers have become a massive concrete jungle, with countless vines forming green bridges between the buildings. In the distance, several strange birds with wingspans of several meters dart through the clouds, emitting piercing cries.

The streets have long since disappeared, with only occasional road signs and car wrecks remaining as evidence that this place was once human territory.

"This godforsaken place..." Tian Xiaoyu swallowed hard, her palms sweating profusely. "We just escaped from the jaws of death, but now here..."

She turned to look at Lin Luo, her eyes somewhat unfocused: "Lin Luo, do you think there might be something else hidden in this building...? Like a relative of that giant spider, or a python that can swallow an elephant whole?"

When Natasha heard the word "spider," her body stiffened abruptly, and her face, which had just regained some color, instantly turned pale again.

"Sister Xiaoyu!" Natasha cried out, hugging her knees and curling up into a ball. "Please stop! Please stop!"

The Russian Valkyrie, who was usually decisive and ruthless on the battlefield, wielding a Gatling gun to mow down swarms of insects, was now as vulnerable as a frightened little girl.

The fear of facing death and being genetically crushed had just broken through her psychological defenses.

“Now when I close my eyes, all I see is that compound eye, and all I see are legs… a dense array of legs…” Natasha buried her head in her knees, her voice trembling, “I really can’t take this anymore. If it happens again, I’ll go crazy.”

Seeing Natasha's expression, Tian Xiaoyu realized she had spoken too quickly and awkwardly scratched her head: "Hey, I was just... just saying it offhand, doing a risk assessment. Look, this place is sunny and bright, there's definitely no shady stuff here."

She walked over and awkwardly patted Natasha on the shoulder: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I'm here. If anything comes out, I'll go up and punch it first, and then I'll shield you behind me."

Lin Luo watched this scene and sighed softly.

He walked over, half-squatted in front of Natasha, and reached out to stroke her cool blonde hair.

“I understand.” Lin Luo’s voice was deep and strong. “That feeling of powerlessness in the face of absolute power can indeed be devastating. But we survived, and that’s the most important thing.”

He drew his tactical dagger from his waist, twirled it in the air, and the reflected sunlight fell on the wall.

“On Mars, we fought against the deathly rules of the universe. Here, we fight against the raging life force.” Lin Luo stood up, his gaze sweeping through the floor-to-ceiling window towards the vibrant yet perilous green jungle. “Everything that is alive has a weakness. Every living thing can be killed.”

He turned to look at the two women, his eyes resolute.

"Whether it's mutated spiders, velociraptors, or even this damn post-apocalyptic ecosystem, as long as we still have guns and as long as I can still open the time tunnel, nothing can truly trap us."

"Now, check the equipment and confirm the coordinates."

Lin Luo's voice returned to its calm, commander-like tone.

"We not only want to survive, but also to take back what belongs to us in this wasteland."

Natasha looked up at Lin Luo's tall and straight back.