With Bai Jie and the others joining, the total number of people in the base surpassed one hundred.
This winter was long.
And it was cold.
Standing outdoors amidst a vast, snowy expanse, one always felt incredibly small.
Duty room.
Li Yu and Third Uncle were on duty.
Actually, Li Yu had always known that Third Uncle used to be a soldier for many years; in his impression, Third Uncle was always a man of few words.
During that trip to the Official Building in the neighboring town, when he dealt with Slanting Bangs and his group, and several times they went out together before, Third Uncle displayed strength that amazed him.
However, he never delved deeper; no matter what Third Uncle had experienced in the past, Third Uncle was still his Third Uncle.
Indoors, it was warm.
But somewhat dry.
Third Uncle pulled a persimmon from his pocket and was gnawing on it.
Li Yu looked at Third Uncle and suddenly said, "Third Uncle, let's spar later; please guide me."
Third Uncle swallowed the persimmon flesh in his mouth and said unhurriedly, "Although I don't know how you train, your marksmanship is good, and your close-combat ability is actually very efficient, simple, brutal, and lethal with one strike."
"Alright, after our shift ends, we'll find a place to practice."
Li Yu looked expectant; he was also very curious about how strong Third Uncle's actual strength was.
The next day, the villa gym.
A clear space was made, and Third Uncle and Li Yu stood on opposite sides.
Neither of them held anything; Third Uncle was completely relaxed, his fists slightly placed in front of his chest.
Li Yu, in loose loungewear, smiled and said to Third Uncle, "Third Uncle, I'm coming over now."
"Come."
Third Uncle still looked like an old farmer.
Li Yu's eyes instantly became stern, and he rushed forward, sweeping with a knee.
Third Uncle retreated slightly, blocked with his right hand, and then chopped his hand directly towards Li Yu's neck.
Li Yu twisted his body, and executed a Monkey Steals Peaches backward.
Third Uncle's expression slightly hardened; he rolled backward, quickly ran a few steps, then directly took off his upper garment and threw it at Li Yu's head.
Li Yu was a bit stunned; this was actually allowed.
He directly flicked the clothes with his hand, but just as he flicked them open, Third Uncle's leg sweep knocked Li Yu to the ground.
Slap!
The moment Li Yu fell to the ground, he endured the pain, grabbed Third Uncle's right leg with his right hand, and pulled it down forcefully.
Slap!
Third Uncle also fell to the ground.
Both were a bit speechless.
Li Yu, sitting on the ground, called a halt and said, "Third Uncle, this doesn't fit your image in my mind. This is just too..."
Third Uncle, expressionless, said indifferently, "Aren't you the same?"
Li Yu spoke as if constipated, "But, but you are..."
Third Uncle shook his head and asked, "Do you think moves are important? The combat technique I learned has only one principle: killing. It doesn't matter if the methods are despicable or not."
"Besides, why not use a gun if you can, why not use a knife if you can? I've also realized that the two of us can't really compare anything. We are both killers; such close-quarters combat has little meaning."
"You wouldn't dare to go for the kill, and neither would I."
Li Yu raised an eyebrow and said, "Then you just now, you still tried to chop my neck with your hand."
"And you kicked my balls."
"..."
The two of them couldn't determine a winner; both aimed for the fastest way to kill an enemy. In their minds, the so-called combat moves held little significance.
Because in different environments and situations, the methods needed are different. In short, use all means to kill the enemy.
This made it impossible for them, as relatives, to fully unleash themselves in the match.
They stood up, having given up. In just a few minutes, they clearly understood one thing: they were the same kind of person.
There was no way to compare.
But Li Yu still asked Third Uncle for advice, "Third Uncle, besides throwing clothes, are there any other rather insidious moves? Teach me."
"What do you mean by 'insidious moves'?"
"Ah, yes, yes, those little tricks."
"Hmm, besides the normal groin strikes, eye gouges, soccer kicks, and attacks to the back of the head and spine, there's one move I've used that works best, and that is..."
"Holy crap, that's awesome!"
In the gym, an occasional sinister laugh echoed, followed only by sounds of 'I see'.
The wind and snow outside never stopped.
A thousand miles of ice, ten thousand miles of snow.
Under this blizzard, several hundred kilometers away from Li Yu and his group.
Safe City.
There were no longer any guards at the gate; the gate was directly locked.
The large lock on the door was also frozen.
The accumulated snow on the ground was already over a meter high.
In the houses outside Safe City, there was complete silence.
Some houses, already low-lying and not built very high, were half-submerged in ice and snow.
The entire land was a vast expanse of white.
On the ground, not a single living thing could be seen.
Thud!
A figure jumped down from a house opposite Safe City.
This house was quite tall; it was the tallest house near Safe City. This place used to be a small inn.
Eight stories high, 24 meters tall.
After the figure fell, the accumulated snow on the ground was smashed into a human-shaped pit.
"Damn it."
A furious curse, the man roared in rage.
He hadn't expected not to die even like this. The place where he happened to jump down had particularly thick snow, over a meter deep, which actually prevented him from dying from the fall.
He only suffered a slight scrape.
The man struggled in the snow for quite a while before finally standing up.
He was gaunt, skin and bones, his hair like weeds, covered in snowflakes.
If Mr. Wang were here, he would definitely recognize this person as the one who escaped from that courtyard back then.
What was unexpected was that this person had not frozen to death even now.
However, looking at his overall condition, he was actually quite close to death.
"This damn apocalypse, zombies are one thing, but it's also so damn cold, and being so cold is one thing, but I can't find anything to eat. Just let me die! Ah!!!"
The man roared, but there was still no one around, not even a single zombie appeared amidst his roars.
This winter was truly a bit cold.
Snowflakes flew, and the man lay in the snow, spread-eagled.
He seemed to have given up everything; in fact, he had nothing to give up, because he had nothing now.
The snow kept falling, slowly descending onto his body, from his ankles to his arms, to his chest.
In this extreme cold, he was so cold that his body went numb. After jumping down, he stood up, then lay back down.
He actually felt a trace of happiness.
After lying for two minutes, he couldn't get up, and he didn't want to get up anymore; he was tired.
He hadn't eaten for several days; he was already seeing stars from hunger and felt weak all over.
Amidst the flying snowflakes, he didn't feel any cold in his body, as if he were numb.
His heart also felt nothing.
As if he had emptied his mind, everything was white; the snowflakes were white, the sky was white, everything before his eyes was white.
As his consciousness lingered, he felt himself lying among white clouds, his body becoming incredibly light, floating up.
He saw himself on the ground, the snowflakes had already submerged him, leaving only the tip of his hat.
Soon, nothing could be seen.
It seemed, there was no feeling at all.
It seemed, it was quite good.
