Chapter 455: Another Hidden Quest, and It Snows

Chapter 455: Chapter 455: Another Hidden Quest, and It Snows

"Right! Right! We have to get this back immediately!"

Dr. Ford nodded forcefully, hugging the potion canister tightly to her chest as if it were the entire world.

"Every second counts!

We have to get the formula for the Barrier Breaker Type I, the sample, and all my research data to Shelter Three at top speed!

They have better equipment and production lines there!

With this, Cataclysm-Class Monsters will no longer be an insurmountable barrier!"

No one hesitated.

The five of them immediately started packing, preparing to leave.

Dr. Ford carefully packed the sample and data. She kept the canister of "Barrier Breaker Type I" on her person.

Just as they finished packing and were about to leave the makeshift lab, a system notification once again sounded in the minds of Seraphina Sullivan and Chet Lucius:

[Ding! Detected critical plot item ’Barrier Breaker Type I Potion’ and core research personnel ’Dr. Sophia Ford.’ Triggering Phase Two of a hidden quest!]

[Quest Name: The Embers of Hope]

[Quest Requirement: Ensure Dr. Sophia Ford and her research findings safely arrive at Inland Shelter Three and are successfully handed over to the military or a designated scientific research authority.]

[Quest Reward: A Mysterious Grand Prize!]

’Another hidden quest, and the reward is a "Mysterious Grand Prize"...’ Seraphina’s interest was piqued.

’It seems escorting this doctor and her research is far more important—and dangerous—than I initially estimated.’

Chet Lucius received the notification as well. He didn’t hesitate for a second, immediately turning to Dr. Ford. "Doctor, there’s no time to waste!

We leave now!

The sooner we get out of these city ruins and into a relatively safe area, the better!

I have a bad feeling... Something terrible might happen if we stay out in the open."

His premonition wasn’t unfounded.

The system’s "warning" and "higher difficulty" notifications said it all.

"Alright! Let’s go!" Dr. Ford, also keenly aware of the importance of her research, didn’t want to delay another minute.

The group of five quickly left the lab building and cut across the silent, ravaged campus.

Traces of the previous night’s fierce battle were everywhere. A few mutilated human corpses and monster carcasses were scattered about, and the faint smell of blood and scorched flesh hung in the air.

The thugs who had tried to rob them had evidently been wiped out in the nocturnal monster attack.

Seeing the gruesome scene, Sharon Lynn’s face went pale with fright. She hugged Flora Sullivan’s neck tightly, burying her face in her shoulder, unable to look.

Flora Sullivan soothed her while vigilantly scanning their surroundings, checking for any lurking dangers.

Just as they stepped out of the campus gates, ready to find a vehicle or plan a new route, the unexpected occurred!

A cold, white speck gently drifted down and landed on the tip of Seraphina’s nose.

She instinctively looked up.

In the gray, hazy sky, fine... snowflakes? had begun to fall at some point.

"Is it snowing?" Seraphina was stunned for a moment.

"How... How is this possible?!"

Dr. Ford also looked up, her face a mask of astonishment and confusion.

"But it’s supposed to be summer!

It shouldn’t be snowing at this latitude!

And this temperature..."

Before she could finish, a bone-chilling cold suddenly washed over them.

The temperature was dropping at an alarming rate!

They could already see white mist when they breathed.

A thin layer of frost was rapidly forming on the ground.

"Something’s wrong! This weather... it’s too bizarre!" Chet Lucius’s expression changed drastically as a powerful sense of crisis washed over him.

"Over there... What is that?!"

Sharon Lynn, held high in Flora Sullivan’s arms, happened to glance back at the sky behind them and suddenly let out a terrified scream.

Everyone whipped their heads around, staring at the horizon behind the campus.

There, against the backdrop of the grim, gray sky, a white silhouette so enormous it was breathtaking was slowly and elegantly beating its wings high in the air.

It was a... a moth of unimaginable size!

Its body was pure white, as if carved from ice and snow.

Its outstretched wings seemed capable of obscuring half the sky. They were covered in intricate, beautiful ice crystal patterns, and each slow beat stirred up a blizzard of snowflakes and a bone-chilling current of air.

Wherever it passed, clouds froze, the air congealed, and the ground was swiftly covered in a thick layer of solid ice.

"Oh no!"

Dr. Ford’s face instantly turned deathly pale, and her voice became shrill with absolute terror.

"It’s... It’s a Cataclysm-Class Monster.

It’s... it’s changing the local climate!

The snow... the drop in temperature... it’s all because of that thing!!"

The white giga-moth, like a Snow Queen, seemed to pay no mind to the few "insects" on the ground below.

It simply circled over the city, as if inspecting its new territory or performing some kind of ritual.

But the mere arctic domain it passively emitted was enough to rapidly turn the area into a frozen hell, devoid of life.

The alarm bells in Seraphina’s and Chet’s minds instantly screamed at their highest pitch.

That elegant yet terrifying white giga-moth, like a Snow Queen, might not have noticed the tiny ’ants’ on the ground, but its mere presence in the sky was having a devastating impact.

The surrounding temperature was plummeting at a visible rate!

Exhaled breaths instantly turned to ice crystals. Exposed skin felt a piercing, needle-like pain, and it felt as if their very blood was freezing solid.

The ground, walls, wreckage—everything was rapidly being coated in a thick layer of white frost and icicles.

"This is bad! The temperature is still dropping sharply!

If this keeps up... we’ll all freeze to death before long!"

Dr. Ford clutched the vital potion canister to her chest, her teeth chattering from a mixture of cold and fear.

’I can’t die here!

This research is humanity’s hope!’

Seraphina and Chet hesitated for barely a second.

They exchanged a look and instantly reached a consensus: retreat to the lab!

It was the only place with a relatively enclosed space and materials to start a fire, which might buy their two ordinary mission targets some precious time to survive.

"Go! Back inside!"

Seraphina snapped, scooping up Sharon Lynn—whose little face had already turned purple from the cold, rendering her nearly immobile—and sprinting back toward the lab building.

Flora Sullivan followed close behind, activating her plant Energy to radiate a faint circle of warmth, trying her best to envelop Sharon Lynn.

Chet Lucius grabbed the swaying Dr. Ford, half-dragging and half-supporting her as he followed.

Like travelers escaping a frozen hell, the five of them scrambled back to the familiar lab building with all their might, stumbling up the stairs to their temporary base on the third floor.

Once inside the relatively sealed lab, though it was still bone-chillingly cold, they were at least shielded from the piercing, frigid wind and the relentless, sub-zero assault outside.

"Quick! Find anything that can burn! Start a fire!" Chet Lucius said urgently.