Special thanks for the generous gift of a double luxury car to PhePhe. Your support truly rides in style!

Special thanks for the Golden Tickets to Darklight_live, Jose_Douvani_Nuevo, Rikki_Gay, Bridney_Allen, greychimp, STORM76, ThothSavar, and IslandKing85. Your support means a lot and keeps the story going strong!

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Today was January 4th.

It was the third week since the extreme cold disaster arrived. The temperature had dropped to minus 40 degrees Celsius.

Unlike the freezing outdoor weather, the atmosphere in the small group was tense.

Divya, who usually spoke very little in the group, now had an unusually impolite tone, revealing her current mood.

While Vikram was still sound asleep, a situation concerning Divya and Anjali’s safety was happening.

[Divya: Shalini, what exactly do you mean? You’ve been trying every possible way to get our Shelter’s coordinates.]

[Divya: You couldn’t get what you wanted from me, so you even went to Anju to try and coax information out of her.]

Inside the two best friends’ Shelter, Divya’s brows were tightly furrowed, while Anjali kept her head down, looking as if she had done something wrong.

"Divya, could Vikram be mistaken? Savage Wolf Shelter might not be as terrifying as you imagine?" Anjali picked at her nails, speaking in a low voice.

"Shut up. We might have to start wandering around, and you’re still thinking so naively." Divya was truly angry today, not at Anjali, but at Shalini’s relentless actions.

It turned out that ever since Vikram told Divya the truth about Savage Wolf Shelter, an incredulous Divya had been struggling with whether to tell Anjali that Shalini was not a good person.

After all, Shalini and Anjali had the best relationship in the group. Even Divya, upon hearing that Shalini was problematic, had processed it alone for a long time. She was afraid of upsetting Anju, which was why she had delayed saying anything.

It wasn’t until this morning that Divya, after much deliberation, finally decided to tell Anjali the truth about Shalini and her Shelter.

Anjali, compared to Shalini, still believed her good friend Divya’s words and immediately accepted them as true.

The situation reaching this point should have been a happy one, but Anjali’s next words hit like a punch to her face, leaving Divya stunned into silence.

According to Anjali, Shalini had chatted with her the previous night, and the two had first talked about many random things.

But in the end, as the conversation was about to conclude, Shalini casually asked a question.

"Anju, do you have the coordinates of a water source? My Shelter has been short on water recently, and we’re almost out of drinking water."

"Our boss at the Shelter wants us to inquire about the location of water sources to prepare for the future."

Anjali was initially a bit reluctant to reveal it. After all, water sources were very precious; what kind of person would just tell others?

"Our boss said that if we can’t find a water source, we might have to kick some members out of the Shelter. Anju, can you help me?"

However, with just this simple plea for sympathy, Anjali’s reservations were broken.

In her mind, her little sister’s safety was far more important than a small water source, and she resolutely reported the location of the water source near her Shelter.

Afterward, she thoughtfully gave her a bucket of already-filled spring water.

When the full story of the chat reached Divya’s ears, combined with the information Vikram had gathered about Savage Wolf Shelter,

Divya immediately felt like the sky was tearing apart. The words between the lines of that conversation clearly indicated that their Shelter’s location was already known.

Even if they made the best-case assumption that Savage Wolf Shelter wasn’t as outrageous as Vikram described, this Shelter, known to many Savage Wolf Shelter members, could no longer be stayed in.

Divya looked at the Shelter she had painstakingly built, step by step, her eyes filled with a lost expression.

Her hands were still in the group chat, constantly questioning Shalini about the purpose of doing this.

[Divya: Anju trusted you so much, and this is how you treat her?]

[Shalini: Divya, don’t say that. I just asked for water source coordinates, I didn’t do anything to Anju.]

Shalini knew she was in the wrong and wasn’t angered by Divya’s taunts, only speaking in a calm tone.

[Divya: Didn’t do anything? I think Savage Wolf Shelter should already be on its way here, right?]

Divya was certain that Savage Wolf Shelter had gotten the information last night, and to prevent them from reacting, they were likely already close to their Shelter.

[Shalini: Besides, since your Shelter’s location is already known, wouldn’t it be good to just bring you into Savage Wolf Shelter?]

[Divya: Good? How is it good? To go there and be tools for the scumbags of your Savage Wolf Shelter to vent their desires?]

Shalini fell silent. Faced with this truth, she was momentarily at a loss for how to retort.

"How did Divya find out about our Shelter’s information?" On the long bench, Shalini crossed her legs and asked the man beside her.

"I don’t know, Big Sister. Not many people know about these things in our Shelter, besides the other two big Shelters."

"Unless Divya has an informant from Brown Wood Shelter or Aurora Shelter."

"Impossible. If they had such great abilities, would they still be content to stay in a small private Shelter?" Shalini rubbed her forehead, deep in thought.

[Shalini: Vikram told you?]

[Divya: So you admit it?]

Divya didn’t say where she got the information, but instead questioned Shalini.

There was a moment of silence on the other end before she continued.

[Shalini: That’s right, but aside from that, Savage Wolf Shelter is arguably the best Shelter in the entire Wasteland, with the most resources.]

[Shalini: It’s not a loss for you to come here, is it?]

Divya was stunned by her outrageous statement, and even Anjali kept rubbing her eyes, looking utterly flabbergasted.

They simply couldn’t comprehend Shalini’s statements, which were based on a completely different worldview.

In contrast to the two best friends, Shalini was very open-minded about it.

In the Wasteland apocalypse, as long as one could survive, anything was worth considering; what was a mere physical body?

To be able to secure food and clothing without worry just by relying on a bit of flesh below the navel, for her, this was a pure profit.

After all, life was like that; if you couldn’t resist, you could only enjoy it, which was understandable.

Returning to Divya’s perspective, upon receiving Shalini’s unreserved answer, Divya no longer cared about anything else; she didn’t even have the mood to question her, and began packing all the supplies in the Shelter.

"Hurry, Anju, we don’t have much time. Prioritize taking the cold-weather supplies, then food." Grabbing a thin quilt, Divya stuffed it into her backpack.

She didn’t know how far Savage Wolf Shelter was from here, but every moment they stayed here risked being captured by Savage Wolf Shelter.

"Okay." Anjali only then belatedly realized the seriousness of the situation, and without saying anything more to tempt fate, she also began to organize supplies.

Time was pressing, and the two of them packed up their few supplies in two minutes.

Divya was the first to push open the door; their Shelter was built in a natural cave halfway up the mountain.

Normally, the scenery here was pleasant, and the path down the mountain wasn’t very steep, making it an ideal Shelter.

At this moment, the two best friends, carrying large and small bags, walked out of the door into the wind and snow.

"Divya, are we really giving up the small house we worked so hard to build?" Anjali asked timidly.

Her eyes were full of reluctance for the small house they didn’t have time to take with them.

Divya was also reluctant to leave the Shelter she had built with her own hands, but she had no choice. "Let’s go. As long as we escape from here first, we’ll always find a way."

"Then where do we run?"

"We can’t just wander aimlessly, can we?" As she spoke, her gaze swept across the horizon, where the Wasteland was nothing but a vast expanse of white snow.

Hearing Anjali’s question and looking at the falling snow, Divya’s eyes were also filled with confusion; she had nowhere good to go for a while.

"Divya, let’s go to Radhika. Her Shelter definitely isn’t as disgusting as Savage Wolf Shelter." Seeing that Divya had no idea, Anjali was the first to suggest it.

Upon hearing this, Divya merely shook her head. "Radhika’s Shelter isn’t well-off. They’re barely getting by themselves, so going to them would only make things difficult for her."

She was about to say more, but unexpectedly, Anjali pointed down the mountain, her pupils constricted to pinpricks.