Magic Space: Struggling to Survive in the Apocalypse

Chapter 285: Extreme Cold 31

Around the fire, the group roasted a pile of sweet potatoes. The sweet, fragrant aroma of honey-sweet potatoes instantly filled the forest.

"I did a quick count. We have over eighty argali sheep now. If we run into another base later, we can trade them for grain," Wyatt Vaughn said, picking up a sweet potato. He broke it in two and gave half to Evelyn Ford.

"We still need to be careful. It would be trouble if we ran into bad people. We were lucky to meet good people today."

"Yeah, we’re not short on food right now. We shouldn’t take any risks."

They had already spent the afternoon chopping plenty of branches and wood. They would be able to set off on time at seven tomorrow morning.

Taylor Vance stared at a sweet potato in his hand for a long time. "Let’s set aside fifty-five pounds each of the sweet potatoes and cassava. We’ll still need to farm and grow crops when we get to Frelia. The wind on the prairie is biting cold. Once the sweet potato wine is heated up, everyone can have some."

He then turned to Evelyn Ford and asked, "Do those people at Norvane Base have weapons?"

"The old man at the gate has a rifle with live ammunition. The guns everyone else carries are fake—toy guns from a carnival balloon-shooting game."

"HAHAHAHA..." Quincy couldn’t help but burst out laughing. "Toy guns? Talk about putting on a brave front!"

Wyatt Vaughn shot him a glare. "I actually think it’s a pretty good idea. Most people can’t tell a real gun from a fake one anyway. As long as it can scare off the enemy, it doesn’t matter if it’s real or not—it’s a good gun."

Evelyn Ford smiled and finished her sweet potato.

It was windless inside the forest, making it a little warmer than out on the prairie. It was getting late, so everyone returned to their respective carriages to rest.

With a new stock of food, everyone was in high spirits. Evelyn Ford got Mina and Lola back from Quincy, fed them and gave them water, and then lay down.

"These honey-sweet potatoes are delicious," Evelyn Ford couldn’t help but sigh.

’The sweet potatoes I used to hoard weren’t very sweet, and they were the long, skinny kind.’

Evelyn Ford raised her hand, and a long, slender sweet potato materialized in her palm.

’No wonder no one outside could smell it when I used to roast sweet potatoes at home. I thought it was just because my house was well-sealed.’

Ronan Kendrick lay down beside her. "Tell me about your life before."

Evelyn Ford made the sweet potato disappear and looked at him, amused. "It’s a bit tragic. I’d rather not revisit it."

"Then let me tell you about my life," Ronan Kendrick said, reaching out and pulling her into a tight embrace.

"After the apocalypse began, I was locked in a laboratory. They injected me with all sorts of drugs, trying to ’ripen’ the blood in my body before transferring me somewhere else. Before I lost consciousness, I killed a lot of people—the lab staff, and even my comrades who had been injected with drugs and turned into monsters. But I fell into a coma for half a year. When I woke up, I found that two people had escaped."

Evelyn Ford watched him in silence.

"I remembered there was a human experimentation facility on Broken Cloud Mountain. I thought they might have hidden there, so I went after them. But I found nothing... and then I found you."

Ronan Kendrick lowered his head, and their eyes met.

"Later, I guessed they had hidden in a base, which is why I went to one with you. And just as I expected, I found them there. They were the world’s leading geneticists, but in reality, they were just butchers who created gene-edited humans for the rich. ’Gene-edited humans’ means they were programmed before the embryo even formed, altered into monsters that were neither human nor beast. That’s why I was put in a lab the moment I was born, forced to survive on nutrient solutions. You know my blood has restorative properties. If they drank it, they could stay young and vital. But my blood wasn’t ’mature’ yet. A good test subject reaches maturity at twenty-five."

Evelyn Ford’s eyes reddened. As a medical student, she could imagine the horrific things Ronan Kendrick had endured, but hearing him say it out loud was still incredibly painful.

"I’m very fortunate to have this ability," he said.

Ronan Kendrick took Evelyn Ford’s hand and pressed a kiss to her fingertips.

"My life has been worth it."

Evelyn Ford wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, her heart aching with a bittersweet sorrow.

"No one will ever be able to hurt you again."

Ronan Kendrick’s lips curled into a smile. "Evelyn, my head hurts a little. Can you kiss it better?"

"Where does it hurt?"

Ronan Kendrick pointed to his forehead. "It hurts all over. A kiss from you will make it stop."

Evelyn Ford leaned in and gently placed a kiss on his forehead, then held him, her heart aching for him. "Let me give you a check-up. Or maybe some acupuncture?"

Ronan Kendrick...

"It doesn’t hurt anymore. Let’s get some sleep."

Evelyn Ford’s heart ached for him so much that she spent a good while comforting and coaxing him.

The next day, Evelyn Ford woke to the smell of meat.

"Such a feast for breakfast?"

Taylor Vance and the others were already making breakfast. They had even managed to make hand-pulled noodles, with a large bowl for everyone.

"When I was little, my family owned a noodle shop. Making hand-pulled noodles is my specialty. I never wanted to take the civil service exam; I just wanted to go home and inherit the noodle shop."

No one could believe that someone as capable as Taylor Vance would only want to run a noodle shop.

"He’s not lying. I can vouch for him. We’ve known each other for many years," Zion Lowell said after taking a bite of noodles, quickly giving a thumbs-up.

"This is delicious! If we ever settle down, you can open your noodle shop again, and I’ll come work for you."

Taylor Vance smiled. "You’ve been working for me your whole life. Haven’t you had enough?"

"Can’t be helped. I was born to work for someone else."

Everyone was amused by the exchange.

Wendy ran over and hugged Evelyn Ford. The two hadn’t had much time to talk the night before, and Wendy had been worried sick.

"Miss Ford, I told my dad yesterday I wanted to ride a horse to find you, but he said I’d be more trouble than I’m worth and just get in your way. It made me so mad!"

"Of course not. Our Wendy is the most capable person I know."

Officer Graham smiled helplessly off to the side.

Before they set off, Evelyn Ford gave Quincy an acupuncture treatment and removed the stitches from Peter Owens’s wound.

They had to cover sixty kilometers today. With the sweet potatoes, they wouldn’t need to stop for lunch; everyone would just roast them on the stove.

Fortunately, the day’s journey went very smoothly, and the weather was good.

Inside the carriage, Evelyn Ford swapped in a new storage battery, then lay down on the bed and found a comic book to read.

Ronan Kendrick sat beside her, shelling sunflower seeds. The sun was somewhat warm, and the sliding window was open. Looking up, you could see a snow-capped mountain in the distance.

"There’s a lake up ahead."

Hearing this, Evelyn Ford glanced outside. There was indeed a very small lake, but its surface was frozen solid.

"This expanse of grassland is called the Kaelan Prairie. If I remember correctly, this lake is known as the Eye of Kaelan. But there’s another story—that the Eye of Kaelan is the sun of the prairie, because when the sunlight hits it, the whole surface glitters with golden light, like the sun at high noon."

But now, all that remained were a few abandoned vehicles, with several skeletons inside.

The Mammoth came to a stop, and Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick got out.

When the others saw the lake and the vehicles, they all ran over to investigate.

"How did these people die here? There are no signs of a struggle. It’s like they died in their sleep."