After getting bigger, Oreo had become an outstanding barrier against the wind, especially given the advantages brought on by her graceful, streamlined animal physique…
Even the storm could not affect Oreo’s speed in the slightest. On the contrary, Oreo seemed to be able to ride with the fierce east wind to increase her pace even further, almost soaring as she took giant strides.
Hiding behind Oreo, Su Mo’s body was half-bent as he tried his best to remain within the slipstream that Oreo had created and maintain his balance.
It was his first time snowboarding. Even if his two legs were stiff, Su Mo could only strengthen his resolve and do his best to hold on.
If he were to directly face the oncoming air resistance with his own physical body, while travelling at a speed of up to sixty kilometers per hour, it goes without saying that, if they hit an obstacle, there would be no other end for his fragile human body other than a bloody and gruesome death.
“Oreo, I’m counting on you!”
The blessing of the ice and snow allowed Oreo to possess an unreasonable amount of physical fitness in this terrible weather, which also served as their final lifeline.
With Oreo pulling him over yet another tall slope, Su Mo’s heart was filled with emotion as he watched the scenery around him become more and more familiar, but he did not dare make a sound lest he affect Oreo’s running and concentration.
At this point, the saltpeter mine had already been buried under the heavy snow, with only a small part of its tall slope revealed and exposed to the sky.
Calling for Oreo to stop, Su Mo took out the pointer. After confirming the direction, he pointed forward and the man and dog went forth once again.
The direction that his little sister was located remained unchanged, pointing directly toward the direction of the kobold castle. Based on his estimation of the distance, it just so happened to be within one kilometer of the kobold castle.
His heart was filled with anxiety but, luckily, Oreo’s speed today was even a little faster than Earth Tiger’s.
By the time they reached the area that was first indicated by the pointer, Su Mo could see the brightly lit kobold castle in the distance.
Not far off from that was some sunken ground.
“We’re indeed family after all. As expected, Sis also chose the underground shelter option!”
The location of the shelter was right before his eyes and, seeing that it was so close that even the kobolds on the tower might notice, Su Mo swiftly unfastened the snowboard on his feet as well as the ropes on his body before quickly running over.
In the distance, the doors of the underground shelter opened and closed, as if there was someone inside who was observing the situation on the outside from time to time.
Unfortunately, before Su Mo could even get excited, he saw the wooden door of the underground shelter opening and closing wildly in the direction of the blasts of wind, as if it was an automatic door.
Furthermore, there were two neat rows of footprints in front of the door. They were the kobold footprints!
“F*ck, speak of the devil…”
After so many days, Su Mo had not resorted to swearing even when he lacked food and clothing but, at this moment, he completely lost all restraint. What remained were feelings full of—
Anger!
With a hint of trepidation, Su Mo took quick strides and dashed straight into the underground shelter.
Sure enough, he saw plenty of evenly distributed snow in the shelter along with some footprints that had not melted.
“The footprints of the kobolds. There are probably three of them, and they’re probably kobold warriors!
“The wooden walls and floor of the shelter are still intact, and there are no traces of a fight.”
He laid down on the ground. Taking off his mask, Su Mo cautiously sniffed the area around the footprints.
“There’s no fresh blood on the ground, and no smell of blood either. It’s highly likely that after encountering the kobolds, Sis immediately chose not to resist and was quietly kidnapped.”
Taking out the pointer, he tried to reset the input, but the same prompt abruptly appeared from the pointer, announcing that it could only be used again in 24 hours.
As Su Mo turned around, the arrow was still stubbornly pointing toward the direction of the kobold castle, only without the distance indicator.
“Sis is definitely in the kobold castle, but I just don’t know what kind of condition she’s in right now!”
Observing the weather and the fact that there were still kobolds patrolling the castle, Su Mo’s gaze turned distant. He summoned the game panel straightaway.
At this point, even if it was a blizzard, there was only one way left if he wanted to save her.
Fight his way in!
Only by making the kobolds panic would he have the ability to attack the castle and save her.
As for the candidates for the rescue mission, there was basically no question in his mind. Su Mo saw Zhong Qingshu’s image in his list of friends, as well as the trace of heroism in her delicate features.
As they were already good friends, Su Mo immediately made the call.
Listening to the beeping of the dial tone and standing in his little sister’s shelter, Su Mo’s heart started to calm down.
“There was no fight, which means that Sis fully understood the current situation. There’s no shortage of food in the kobold castle, and there’s a high chance that they won’t just kill people for food.
“Given our previous experience cooperating, I’ll be able to fight my way in as long as it’s before daybreak. It’s not an issue.”
“Now, all I need is a team. A team good enough to storm our way in, no matter the cost!”
Su Mo’s gaze conveyed waves of killing intent. At this moment, even if he had to use the Underground Shelter as a token of exchange, Su Mo would not hesitate to do so.
Let alone using supplies to hire a team in order to storm the kobold castle.
It was already about one o’clock in the morning. Under the blizzard’s assault, the shelter in the west was probably also fighting against the disaster. However, only a few seconds later, Zhong Qingshu answered the phone.
“I need your help. I’ll owe you, I’ll owe you my life!”
“What help?”
“Enter the kobold castle and save my sister!”
After a short silence, he heard Zhong Qingshu’s affirmative reply, and Su Mo was overjoyed. After saying that he would go look for them, he hung up the phone.
In this kind of weather, even Su Mo thought that they would be lucky to escape with their lives if they attacked the kobold castle.
In the eyes of other people, there were likely to be no survivors.
However, at this exact moment, retreat was no longer an option. Only by entering the castle as soon as possible could he ensure his little sister’s survival.
“Oreo, can you hold on?!”
He fed Oreo an entire bottle of psychic energy water and saw Oreo nod without any hesitation. Once again, Su Mo jumped on his snowboard and secured the hemp rope around him.
They knew the road to the shelter in the west as he had already driven Earth Tiger there before. There were very few obstacles, and it was even within the great plains. Oreo clearly remembered the way there.
On this snowy day, the man and the dog dashed off once again for another long distance journey, heading toward the shelter in the west.
This 50-kilometer road was much easier to travel on compared to the basin. With no obstacles on the great plains, Oreo’s speed increased to another level.
They reached the terrifying speed of eighty kilometers per hour.
Even if he was driving Earth Tiger, Su Mo would not have the confidence to maintain this speed for long periods.
However, Oreo was different. As if sensing Su Mo’s anxiety, Oreo continued speeding up all the way till she reached a speed of 90 kilometers per hour before maintaining this cruising speed.
Not even twenty minutes later, Su Mo saw the shelter clearly for the first time.
While it had similar simple earthen walls to resist the brunt of the storm, unlike Feng Mengyue’s shelter, this shelter was dug about one meter deep into the ground. The foundation of it was very deep, with only its roof considered above-ground.
At the same time, by the camp’s simple entrance, Su Mo saw the three torches that stood in front of the shelter, looking as if they could be extinguished by the wind at any given moment.
Beneath the light of the torches, he could see people he had previously rescued; Chen Shen’s men, along with Zhong Qingshu, as well as…
The pregnant woman who had been holding her child back then.
There were more than twenty people standing in front of the shelter’s camp under the storm. Seeing Oreo dashing over at high speed, an expression of fear was etched all over their faces.
A giant, three-meter long, wolf was something that had never been seen or heard of even on Earth.
Zhong Qingshu had thought that Su Mo would be driving Earth Tiger over. Seeing Oreo instead, she could not help but take half a step back.
The pair of wild beast and human streaking across the plains made for an extremely impactful image.
When Oreo got closer to them, Su Mo prepared to undo the constraints on his feet in order to go over and invite this group of people to join the team by offering them some benefits.
To his surprise, the group of people came forward first.
“Hurry up, Almighty Su, saving a life is the priority!”
“Brother Su, you saved my life. It’s my duty to help you deal with the kobolds!”
“Brother Su Mo, you don’t have to say anything. We all know that you’re a good person. When we came to the wasteland, what we wanted was to work together, so just give us weapons and we’ll definitely lead the way!”
Each and every one of the refugees was sincere. Their faces were thin and, under the cold night sky, they were wearing the shabby cotton jackets that Su Mo had given them previously, their faces full of emotion.
In particular, there was a farmer in his forties who was holding a stone axe with a passionate expression on his face. It was as if he had every intention of attacking the kobold castle fearlessly armed solely with that axe.
Looking at this bunch of people, Su Mo stood on his snowboard as his eyes started to moisten underneath his mask. His emotions were pouring out in waves.
Disasters were ruthless, but there was kindness in humanity.
He had not expected that the seeds he had planted in the past would come to bear fruit in this way.
“Let’s go, Su Mo. Saving a life is the priority!”
After seeing that Oreo was not making any movements, Zhong Qingshu walked over as well and patted Su Mo on the shoulder, signaling him to hurry and set off. Every second counted when saving lives.
Despite the tumultuous storm, seeing the morale and fighting spirit on the plain faces of so many refugees, Su Mo could not help but feel a surge of emotion. He let out a loud shout.
“Brothers, Zhong Qingshu and I will head over first, then I’ll get Oreo to come back and pick up the rest of you. We’ll wait till everyone is in place before we take action!”
“As for weapons!”
After speaking, Su Mo looked at the people who believed so much in him and decided not to hide anything. He simply pulled out the four rifles and one machine gun that he had on him and placed them on the ground. Disregarding their shocked expressions, he raised his voice and said, “We have weapons and ammunition. Follow me today, and no matter who kills the kobolds later on, I won’t take any of the treasure chests they drop!”
“Furthermore, we have explosives. Today, we’ll let them know what human wrath and fury is like!”
As his words fell, some hope was suddenly mixed into what was originally just hot-blooded bravado, and the atmosphere became even more explosive.
All of the refugees were standing on their feet now, including the women. They looked at the rifles on the ground and started to examine them, their eyes full of curiosity.
The Huaxian youths were never lacking in courage and confidence, following Chen Shen’s lead, they picked up the rifles and the machine gun.
The entrance to the shelter’s camp suddenly burst forth with unprecedented cheer and spirit.
Instructing Zhong Qingshu to stand behind him on the snowboard, he tied the hemp rope to his body properly. Oreo’s two legs kicked against the ground and, suddenly, they were dashing wildly into the distance.
Rushing across the plains during such a disaster, Su Mo experienced absolute hope for the future for the first time.
It was just like what the youths in the May Fourth Movement stated: (T/N: a Chinese anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on 4 May 1919)
No one can control the future, but I can, because youths are the future!
No one can be forever young, but I can, because youthful hearts will remain forever young!
Youth was not about believing in fate; youth was about believing in yourself! It was not about believing in success, rather, it was about believing that you would not be defeated.
This was what youth should be like, and this was what youth had always been like.
In front of the shelter, a group of “young” people gathered. From this moment on, the prototype of a team that was destined to be engraved into the history of the wasteland was…
Born!
