Chapter 348: Hu Maomao

Hearing Hu Maomao’s voice, Zhang Wenda didn’t care if she could hear him and yelled at the radio, “Float! Hurry up and float! The blizzard is coming!!”

Just after he shouted, Zhang Wenda’s vision suddenly brightened. In the distance, he saw a blurry red shape slowly ascending.

At Zhang Wenda’s incredible speed, the vast distance vanished in an instant. Soon, he could see Hu Maomao’s gaunt, haggard face, and the ecstatic, thrilled expression she wore upon seeing him.

And at that same moment, he also saw the giant pillar rapidly descending above Hu Maomao’s head.

‘Faster! I have to be faster!’ At that moment, Zhang Wenda pushed his speed to its absolute limit. He could even feel the sheer force of the wind pulling at his skin.

But even so, he still couldn’t match the speed of the falling pillar. He could only watch helplessly as Hu Maomao was plunged into danger.

By the time Hu Maomao sensed what was above her, it was already too late to run.

‘What do I do? What do I do?’ Zhang Wenda’s mind raced, but despair washed over him. He couldn’t think of a single solution, because he had left Blue at home to watch the house!

“Blue! Where are you!? I need your power!”

Just as Hu Maomao was about to be crushed into a pile of gore, a rift tore open and a blue rabbit leaped out. “I’m here!”

At that very moment, an idea struck Zhang Wenda. An extremely long, red spear materialized in his hand, and he threw it with all his might toward Hu Maomao in the distance.

The red scar shot forward like a bolt of lightning, instantly piercing Hu Maomao’s body. The barbs on its irregular edges snagged her flesh, yanking her out of the giant pillar’s impact zone.

As the giant pillar crashed to the ground, Hu Maomao, like a rag doll, was pinned to a massive concrete building. Blood seeping from her chest soaked through her clothes and trickled down.

When Zhang Wenda screeched to a halt beside Hu Maomao, he found her clutching her wound, staring at him in disbelief. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m saving you! You were about to be turned into paste!” Zhang Wenda scrambled over, pulled Hu Maomao off the wall, and quickly began to distribute the piercing wound on her body.

He couldn’t distribute such a large wound on his own. Fortunately, the Youth Palace was there. To its enormous body, a wound the size of a bowl was barely a pinprick.

“You call this saving me? I thought you were trying to kill me! It hurts like hell!” Now back to normal, Hu Maomao shot him a reproachful glare.

The two, who hadn’t seen each other in a long time, didn’t exchange any touching, heartfelt words. They simply fell back into their old, easy rapport. For close friends, some things don’t need to be said.

“Just look at all this! If I hadn’t saved you, would you still be alive?” Zhang Wenda said, pointing to the massive web of black thorns that shrouded everything.

Only then did Hu Maomao take notice, looking around at the completely transformed surroundings. She couldn’t help but ask with a sigh, “So, what exactly is all this?”

It was obvious that she, having only just arrived, had never seen such a scene before.

“A blizzard. According to one of the locals, it seems to be some kind of special weather phenomenon here. The weather here doesn’t seem to be like other places.”

Zhang Wenda said, pointing to the hazy, bleeding sun in the distant sky.

Before, it had looked like a bleeding sun, but now it resembled the eye of some living creature. It was too far away for Zhang Wenda to see it clearly.

If that thing was the eye of the blizzard, and these black pillars dotting the entire plain were its fingers, then Zhang Wenda couldn’t begin to imagine what the so-called blizzard’s body, hidden in the clouds, looked like, or just how massive it was.

Hu Maomao stared quizzically at the hazy giant eye in the sky. She frowned in thought for a moment, then tentatively raised her hands and closed her eyes.

Zhang Wenda pushed her hands down. “Don’t send out those stupid brainwaves of yours. Let’s not provoke that thing for now. Come hide in here. We can leave after the danger has passed.” As he spoke, he opened the gate to his Inner World.

Hu Maomao gave Zhang Wenda a dissatisfied look, but in the end, she just shook her head with a sigh and followed him.

The sight of the familiar forest, the familiar Little Black Cat, and the familiar island instantly made the perilous environment feel much more peaceful. At that moment, Zhang Wenda’s taut nerves finally relaxed.

‘No matter what’s happening outside, at least it’s safe in here.’

He picked up a bottle of Coke from the ground and tossed another one to Hu Maomao. “So what brought you all the way out here? I’ve been chasing you for a long time.”

“Didn’t you see that huge 507 mark?” Hu Maomao took the Coke and immediately started chugging it, GULP, GULP, GULP, not even bothering to wipe away the drops that spilled on her.

Peeking through the gap, Zhang Wenda saw that the black pillars outside hadn’t changed. He turned back and continued, “Of course I saw it, but I didn’t understand the bureau’s secret code. I never bothered to learn that stuff back then.”

Hu Maomao rubbed her head and replied, “Well, that’s your fault for not learning it. It’s a mobilization code, the highest level. All departments must drop their current missions immediately and head to the target location. I saw it in a fragment of thought from someone’s mind, so I came after it.”

“So, did you find anything?” Zhang Wenda asked curiously.

“Yes. These tracks were made recently. I don’t think they’ve gone too far. If we speed up, we might be able to catch them.” A hint of excitement entered Hu Maomao’s voice as she spoke. It was clear she was thrilled at the prospect of reuniting with their own people.

Excitement was one thing, but it didn’t stop her from grabbing a block of instant noodles, tearing open the package, and starting to scarf it down.

Seeing her like this, Zhang Wenda couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity. It was obvious she’d had a rough time lately.

“There’s no rush. We’ll find them. With the situation outside, we can’t get out, and they definitely can’t travel either. Let’s eat first.”

Zhang Wenda set up a pot, snatched the block of instant noodles—which Hu Maomao had already been gnawing on, saliva and all—and threw it in. He followed it up with a can of braised pork.

“So where did you get all these supplies? How is it so well-stocked? This place even has Coke?” Hu Maomao asked, staring at the food in front of her.

“Heh, you probably won’t believe this, but my uncle prepared it all for me.” While they ate, Zhang Wenda gave her the short version of what had happened.

By the time Zhang Wenda finished his story, Hu Maomao was also nearly done eating.

Zhang Wenda handed her an apple for dessert. “And that’s about it. Nothing else major happened. What about you? What have you been through since the 1999 incident?”

Hearing this, Hu Maomao, who had just been about to bite into the apple, froze. Zhang Wenda’s words dragged her back to those dark, hopeless, apocalyptic days. The light in her eyes instantly dimmed, and it was as if all the life had been drained from her.

Hu Maomao’s voice became sorrowful and faint. “Wenda, so many people died… We’ve lost too much.”