Mutants - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Frostcloak Bruce

The current world lacked comprehensive wireless coverage. Most of the infrastructure had been destroyed a century ago. Apart from the government and a few powerful organizations capable of setting up their own networks, only super-conglomerates could afford wireless radio conditions. And once you entered a hazardous area like the Deep Red Sector, you needed satellite radio spectrum, which had its own rate of depletion that had to be calculated.

Sui Xin did the math.

It wasn't radio. The energy consumption for radio was much higher. The two of them were currently depleting energy at a nearly identical rate, which clearly indicated they were using the same type of device. However, the consumption was only a quarter of what radio would use. At this rate of energy drain, it had to be the closed-circuit walkie-talkies used on the black market.

The conglomerates didn't prohibit these devices. In fact, they often sold their own obsolete products to the black market at high prices. But according to regulations, their use was strictly forbidden during missions. Everyone was ordered to use the officially distributed radio equipment—because their communications needed to be controlled and monitored by the conglomerate. Even if the information couldn't be transmitted in real-time, it would facilitate later investigations. Once connected to the main network, the data could be reviewed, allowing them to learn some details without having to retrieve the bodies.

However, most people weren't absolutely loyal to the conglomerates. Their line of work was a dance with death, and everyone had their own selfish motives. So, many of them owned closed-circuit communicators.

The communication range was only a three-kilometer diameter, generally used for private contact within a small area. It was also slow and prone to lagging…

Yet these two were using them, and Sui Xin was certain both were sitting with their backs to her.

1. They didn't want the corporation to know what they were discussing.

2. They didn't want her to know.

3. The matter was highly confidential, not even for others to know, which suggested Ye Chen and Jenny had a deeper, more intimate relationship.

Considering these three points, Sui Xin had a rough idea.

This really wasn't about gossip.

The two had likely deduced the high mortality rate of this mission from her words and actions and were planning to desert.

Or, they were planning to desert but didn't want to be hunted by the conglomerate, which meant they'd have to fake their deaths or shift the blame for their desertion onto someone else.

In fact, Sui Xin hoped it was the latter. That was her objective, after all.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have needed to proactively reveal that she might have been set up by the higher-ups, which was detrimental to her.

Her words and actions were primarily because this operation was just too strange. Something was definitely fishy.

Three days ago, the Think Tank at the Tianxi Group's M City branch had suddenly initiated a review of Project B05. Sui Xin had thought it was absurd at the time. Internally, even the lowest-level analysts considered this project a lost cause. It was completely unnecessary to invest more resources, especially since the eight previous exploration teams had already cost over ten million Alliance Credits.

Of course, the frontline combat personnel were the least valuable. If they died, they died. The main issue was that the first three exploration teams had been accompanied by some tech personnel, ruin excavation experts, analysts, and mid-level managers. At the time, the mission wasn't considered that dangerous, and the outpost was still sending back information, not completely out of contact. The purpose of sending a group of people was to aid in development. Thus, these technical personnel alone were extremely valuable. Add to that the cost of long-range transport aircraft for each trip, armored vehicles, and other resources—ten million Alliance Credits was actually an understatement.

This sudden reactivation, followed by a swift conclusion based on massive data that the project was a failure, yet proposing that the area's environmental changes were peculiar and might indicate a new development, requiring another exploration…

From the start of the meeting to this conclusion, it all happened in a single meeting lasting less than an hour, without even a review process.

This was not normal. It felt more like… something prepared in advance, a meeting that was just a formality. The process was irrelevant; the goal was to push this operation through.

Strange.

Sui Xin had sensed something was wrong even before the meeting, but given her consistently mediocre performance within the analyst team, it shouldn't have been her turn.

But!

She was here.

---

At that moment, in the break room of the mid-level Think Tank office at the Tianxi Group in M City.

A few young analysts checked the time while eating their meals. One of them suddenly mentioned, "The little quiet gourd should be reaching the outpost soon."

"Not necessarily. Maybe halfway there…"

One of them made a throat-slitting gesture, a grin spreading across his sharp, monkey-like face.

"It's so strange that the little gourd was sent out this time. Based on her performance, she shouldn't have been chosen. She's neither high nor low."

"Yeah… So, someone internally recommended her?"

One person's sharp gaze quickly swept over them.

The others immediately burst into laughter.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Although we all have the right to make internal recommendations, what good would something like this do us?"

"Besides, it's not like we don't know… She was just tactless, wasn't she?"

One of them discreetly glanced down the hallway toward a certain high-end office.

The others fell silent, a mutual understanding passing between them.

The newly appointed head of the Analysis Department, who had been parachuted in, had run into Sui Xin, who happened to be delivering documents on his first day.

She wasn't stunningly beautiful, but there was something special about her. Quiet, seemingly obedient, yet with a touch of old-fashioned stubbornness—a slightly aloof, academic, quiet gourd.

Like a fresh appetizer, the kind you wouldn't mind trying.

After all, compared to the cheap, beautiful vases kept by the corporation, a little cabbage like this, who held a mid-level position and was a bit of a challenge to obtain, was much more flavorful.

That very day, the new department head had specifically sent the quiet gourd an email notification for nighttime overtime, even providing a specific location—his residence.

As it turned out, the quiet gourd had coincidentally applied for an internal analysis mission. Since the analysis mission was of a higher priority, she was technically following regulations. The department head said nothing on the surface, but the next day, the quiet gourd's name was on the list.

It was impossible for these two events to be unrelated.

"It's her own fault."

"It's a pity, though. She sensed something was wrong with this meeting from the start. Her internal evaluation scores had been steadily improving. For such a hardworking person to suddenly have her scores drop, it was obviously to avoid this operation, but in the end…"

"Hilarious. As if she thought no one else could see through it. She's still too young."

"Indeed, but it's still a shame."

After their discussion, the group reached this conclusion and unanimously expressed their regret.

Inside the office, a young man emerged from the break room, tying the belt of his bathrobe. He sat down lazily in a chair, unconcerned about the chest hair exposed at his chest. He checked some emails he had received that morning, dealt with a few, and then glanced at the young analysts on the monitor, still chattering away obliviously. A contemptuous smirk touched his lips. He casually opened the internal recommendation letters and, as expected, saw a large number of recommendations. Sui Xin wasn't the only one recommended, nor did she have the most recommendations. Her performance alone wasn't particularly outstanding, so why were so many people wary of her?

The young man glanced at her profile information and raised an eyebrow slightly.

The youngest, and of the most humble origin.

No wonder.

With such a lowly background, others naturally wouldn't want her to be promoted to a mid-level analyst position.

He chuckled, then saw a naked, blonde, sexy woman walk out of the break room. He immediately beckoned to her as if summoning a dog.

···

After a while, even Ye Chen and Jenny were getting drowsy. Inside the vehicle, Lin Dan and the others were snoring loudly. They were used to it, but Ye Chen shot a quick glance at Sui Xin. This person was an office worker; she shouldn't be used to this kind of environment. How could she be asleep?

She's not faking it, is she?

He was suspicious and took a closer look, only to be dumbfounded.

Jenny saw his strange expression and instinctively looked over, also a bit bewildered.

Seriously, has this person never had any field training?

Just a moment ago, she looked worried and utterly hopeless, and now she was sleeping with earmuffs on.

And judging by the model, those earmuffs were completely soundproof—this consultant clearly couldn't stand the snoring.

They were huge, fluffy bunny-ear earmuffs.

As she slept, her head bobbed, and the bunny ears trembled along with a duang, duang, duang motion.

Danger could erupt here at any moment, and she was the one who had analyzed that extreme cold would descend tonight!

And she just fell asleep like that?

So, are all the mid-level people in the Think Tank this clueless?

Ye Chen said nothing, signaling for Jenny to get some sleep. Jenny glanced at Sui Xin's bunny-ear earmuffs before turning away and closing her eyes.

Ye Chen, meanwhile, stared out the window at the Gobi desert world.

About half an hour later, Ye Chen prepared to switch shifts with the now-awake Lin Dan and Chucks. It was exactly 9 PM.

"Is it morning?" Lin Dan, still groggy, opened his eyes and looked at Ye Chen.

Ye Chen thought the idiot must have slept like the dead. What morning? It was only nine o'clock.

Wait, he noticed that the light on Lin Dan and the others had indeed brightened, and the light was coming from outside.

He whipped his head around. From the front passenger seat, he could see the space outside the cave entrance… a cold, white-blue halo was descending, like the reflective glow on a snowy day. And as this light descended, a layer of white frost quickly began to form on the ground.

And this frost was spreading rapidly, about to enter the cave!

Ye Chen was experienced. Seeing with his own eyes that even shards of mirrorstone, as hard as diamond, were freezing over instantly, he was terrified—this level of freezing was even more intense than the medium-level refrigeration in the corporation's cold storage.

He rapidly tapped to activate the armored vehicle's thermal circulation pre-heating function and pressed the group alarm. A siren blared inside all the vehicles.

Everyone jolted awake.

Jenny turned her head and saw the person with the bunny ears was still sound asleep.

Swish. Knox ripped off Sui Xin's earmuffs. "Wake up!"

Sui Xin woke with a start, subconsciously touching her small ear, which had been scraped by the earmuffs. Her pale little face was dazed, but she snapped awake upon seeing the situation outside, pressing against the window to look out.

The vehicle's systems had activated, preparing to generate heat to circulate through the internal pipes and pre-warm the vehicle to prevent it from freezing solid. But in the time it took to pre-heat, the white frost had already entered the cave and was rapidly crawling up the vehicle.

Starting with the tires!

Hiss, hiss, hiss.

Seeing it with your own eyes, you could almost imagine the sound of the frost forming.

The black tires turned white, and the frost quickly climbed up the vehicle… inch by inch.

The temperature inside the vehicle was indeed dropping noticeably.

"Holy shit!"

"It's so obvious."

While the others were feeling the cold, Ye Chen shot a quick glance at Sui Xin and saw her letting out a yawn.

It was clear her constitution was truly poor.

"But who turned on all the car lights?"

"Conserve energy! The thermal circulation is about to start!"

Just as someone was complaining, Sui Xin's face turned pale. She pointed a trembling finger outside. She was genuinely scared, not faking it.

That light wasn't from the cars. It was something else.

The moment she saw the sudden, abnormal increase in cold white light, combined with the prerequisite of frost and low temperature, she had an almost intuitive guess.

Looking outside, she was right.

She felt like tearing her scalp off.

Ye Chen had already noticed. His face was contorted as he lowered his voice, "Increase the power, thermal circulation, dammit, hurry!"

"There's a Frostcloak Bruce outside, quick!"

His voice was almost a mumble, extremely hoarse with fear.

And outside the car window, the cold white light radiating from the cave entrance carried a chill. A mysterious entity, seven or eight parts translucent, a fusion of light and vapor, shaped like a five-meter-long winter overcoat—a "spectral body"—floated into the cave as if blown by the wind. Its form constantly shifted, as if moved by different breezes, elegant and composed, yet utterly terrifying.

As it drew closer, the speed of the frost formation increased several times over, and it was searching for…

Organic life forms covered by the low temperature.

All the poor souls in these few vehicles were its targets.

It floated, and soon found a vehicle… that one had the lowest temperature, its favorite. So it opened its wide body and gently descended, covering it from above.

The people in that vehicle only saw its light as a divine embrace, gently taking them…

The car windows rapidly iced over, turning completely white.

The extreme temperature was destroying the molecular structure; the glass was undergoing fission!

Bang!

The moment the glass shattered, the terrifying cold arrived as promised. Before the people inside could be critically injured by the invading extreme temperature, someone couldn't take it anymore. Screaming, they simultaneously aimed their guns at the Frostcloak Bruce covering the vehicle and fired wildly.

Bullets flew, shattering windows and piercing the vehicle's body, but… they passed right through the cold cloak.

It sighed, like a soulless master, and instead grew even gentler as it passed through the windows and holes…

Sui Xin and the others only heard screams from that vehicle, and then, abruptly, silence.

Even the screams were cut off mid-cry.

Frozen.

Everyone in that vehicle was frozen.

Was the Frostcloak Bruce absorbing their life force by freezing them?

No one knew. Sui Xin had never studied this aspect, and the frontline combat personnel had never witnessed such a terrifying existence, only heard of it.

Before the days of Frostfall, one would naturally never see the elegant emissary of death known as a Bruce.

But tonight, they had.

And then, Sui Xin suddenly sensed a light outside the car window. She turned her head stiffly. She was almost face-to-face with the creature. It had finished its elegant feeding on that vehicle. Then, it unfurled the cloak that had enveloped the car, its open, upward-facing form now aimed directly at them.

The S501 Desert Crawler. It had taken a liking to it.

Ye Chen frantically mashed the energy controls, cranking it to the maximum, while Jenny's fingers flew across the console, adjusting vehicle data and activating various systems in an attempt to increase the heat through equipment activation.

Energy consumption? To hell with it!

A Bruce had descended, a being of lethal cold. It was certain death!

No, no, the thermal circulation wasn't fast enough. Its low-temperature spread was too fast.

They were all going to die.

In that moment, Sui Xin had only one thought—whoever sent me to this godforsaken place is a bastard!

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