The Eternal Winter - Book 1 - Chapter 72 - Back to the Base (Patreon)

Alexander North

It only takes me about a couple of hours of navigating my way through the city to reach the entrance, where the water is. Less time than the last time I navigated my way through. But that’s likely due to the lack of frozen ones currently around the city.

I do have the issue of barely avoiding becoming fish food when I cross the river though. Which was annoying.

After getting to the other side again, it becomes a much easier trip. I don’t find almost any frozen ones throughout the first half of the trip to the base. Which makes me question just how far out the frozen ones were drawn from towards planet hall.

After that point though, I soon run into some bees. A couple of whom appear to be wounded, likely implying that they could be the same bees that attacked us before. But in a much smaller and less organized group of only six or so bees.

And what’s rather startling is that the moment they see me, they immediately try to get away.

I narrow my eyes at the creatures before jumping up to grab one while tearing my claws into its chest, grasping at its glowing heart, and absorbing its energy. Then I repeat the process a couple more times, draining the energy out of three total bees, whereas the others manage to escape.

Okay, they were easier to kill this time. Probably because of that powerful wraith I killed and absorbed the energy of, along with the other frozen ones of the city. Not to mention their lacking numbers.

I wipe my claws on the snow-covered ground before retracting them again and continuing through the snowstorm towards the base.

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It doesn’t take me much longer to find the base, which is basically just a pile of rubble for the upper levels. Even the walls are all collapsed, and there are quite a few fissures in the ground that weren’t there before we left. Which doesn’t bode well.

“Terminal, I give you permission to read my thoughts only if I say Terminal in them with the intention of contacting you,” I mutter quietly while kneeling at the edge of one of the cliffs overlooking the base.

|Change has been confirmed. Permissions for Evolved Terminal have been updated|

Good. Wait, evolved terminal?

The thing changed its own classification?

That’s… actually, it’s not that surprising.

Terminal, help me search the area for energy signatures.

|Command confirmed. Searching area…|

At the same time, I close my eyes and begin doing the same thing. But I don’t manage to sense much until I reach the entrance to the underground portion of the base, where I find-

|Powerful energy signature sensed beneath the ground. The particular signature is difficult to determine at this distance, but an estimate has been made for it to be around 4.0 points in energy|

Okay. That’s not too bad.

Its energy is only a little bit above my own, so I should be able to take the creature on. Especially if I manage to get the symbionts before fighting with it.

The symbionts themselves should be in enhanced containers. Ones that should contain any sort of signature they give off.

I should be proof enough that it works, since I never felt any desire to eat those despite being in a room full of a few dozen symbionts. Which likely means the infected symbiont host doesn’t know about them either.

So, all I have to do is get down to that floor.

But considering the state of the stairs, I’ll likely have to take the executive staircase again. And to get there, I’ll have to pass by the spot I last saw the infected symbiont host in.

I frown at the thought before shaking my head.

No point worry about what may not come about.

Terminal, can you pinpoint the location of the powerful energy source if we got closer?

|Affirmative|

Good.

Also, maybe the terminal’s evolution wasn’t a bad thing after all. After all, it lets me silently communicate with it. And that’s incredibly useful.

My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a loud explosion sound followed by a horn blowing from the direction of the city. But when I turn to look at it, a loud roar echoes from inside of the base under me.

Okay, what’s going on?

The horn continues to sound for several seconds before the blizzard around me begins to move in the direction of the city itself, making my eyes widen in shock. Then, a loud crashing sound comes from the base, drawing my eye down there to see the infected symbiont host jumping out from the lower floors of the base.

|Source of the powerful energy signature has been located. It is standing on top of the base and running past us towards the city|

Seriously?

Well, I guess I asked it to do that. But that couldn’t have been more obvious…

Guess even if it’s awoken sapience, it still has a long way to go. But putting that aside, what does that horn signal? And why is the infected symbiont host and the storm itself rushing off in its direction?

I watch the creature run off into the distance for a few seconds before my eyes widen.

If powerful frozen ones like the infected symbiont host rushes over there, won’t the others be overwhelmed?!

Without any hesitation, I jump down from the cliff, landing with a grunt on the ground before rushing over to the base. Then I decide to follow the path created by the infected symbiont host by jumping into the hole it made down to BF1.

I need to get the symbionts before everything goes to hell over there!

The walls of the base practically fly by as I run through the halls, occasionally running into a weak frozen one that immediately runs in terror at the first sight of me. Or likely my energy.

After just a couple minutes of running, I find myself at the executive stairs, climbing down them towards the symbiont storage.

Almost there!

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