18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 491

Stella and Jasper arrived at the spot where Snowflake had been nabbed, only to find a chunk of pork dropped on the ground.

"Not again," Stella muttered. "Snowflake's been hoarding food again!"

After being scolded by Stella a few times, Snowflake had started hiding its stash even farther away, but never imagined it would lead to being trapped.

"Who still rides snowmobiles these days?" Jasper wondered aloud. "And who else could it be?"

Unable to get what they wanted openly, the culprits had resorted to kidnapping.

"Ha, typical of the shady Union Base," Stella scoffed.

With a hundred thousand worries racing through her mind, Stella didn't rush out blindly. First off, she couldn't catch up; second, there were others back home to consider; and third, it was likely a trap. Staring in the direction where the two had vanished, her heart ached so fiercely she could scarcely breathe, her hands clenching into fists.

"I'm going to make them pay," she vowed.

Jasper took Stella's icy hand in his. "They took Snowflake to get to us. Snowflake should be safe for now. Let's head back and plan our next move."

Rosie was guarding the home front, keeping a wary eye out for any diversionary attacks.

When she saw her brother and sister-in-law return, she blurted out anxiously, "Where's Snowflake?"

Not only was Snowflake missing, but Cooper was nowhere to be seen.

She opened her mouth to ask more, but the grim expressions on their faces silenced her.

Stella sat on the couch, her face set in a grim line of silence.

She remembered Ivans saying the main base of Union Base was an underwater station, primarily manned by military forces from Western nations. Their fleet of battleships, aircraft carriers, and transport vessels... The base housed over three thousand people and was much easier to defend than to attack.

"To put it bluntly, three people taking on a base with unlimited firepower was like throwing eggs against a rock," Stella thought.

Their previous victories had been a combination of the element of surprise and assistance from Arcadia.

Now that they had Snowflake as leverage, they were practically inviting her to walk into a deathtrap. "Waa... waa... waa..."

The triplets were searching for their grandma, hungry and fussing for attention.

Stella had a headache. With Snowflake captured, and possibly Cooper too...

She looked at Jasper and Rosie, turning away as she clenched her fists even tighter.

Snowflake's life mattered, but whose didn't?

Stella retreated to her room and quietly shut the door behind her.

Cooper returned, whining anxiously.

kept pawing at Jasper, his teeth latched onto his

into

at him, her

and shooed the

her, saying calmly, "If you

up, her expression serious. "This isn't a joke. I'm afraid we might go there and

"Even in peace, evil lurks. This time it's Snowflake, next time it could be Cooper, or Rosie after that.

humanity had all but vanished,

was new, and animal

wasn't after Snowflake specifically. One group could annihilate another

saying goes, "I destroy you, and it has nothing to do

targeted, Stella wouldn't stand for it, and Jasper wouldn't stand by and watch his sister fall into danger. So the choice was clear:

They were family, inseparable.

live to regret inaction," Stella resolved herself, her voice cold with determination. "I want

they began

fraught with

fort. Should Stella

plan, they would need to adapt to the

and Cooper, unable to contribute much, howled in

things. We'll come back safe," Stella assured

hands would be a bargaining chip against

agreed, "Brother, sister-in-law, rest assured, I'll keep our home

there,

extremely careful,"

couldn't shake

submachine guns and grenades, and brought out the escape

aerospace materials and highly bulletproof, she instructed, "Rosie, if danger comes,

their submachine guns and

over an hour, they reached another

and surveyed their home through binoculars.

Base lay 20 kilometers

such harsh conditions,

take the

day to reach it on

followed, the two didn't rest during

darkness fell, they dug a hole in the snow, crawled in to hide, warm up, and replenish their

kilometers away from Union Base, they could

did spot several ships and transport vessels frozen in the

steel behemoths, and it was as if they were inviting them into a trap, leaving no

throw off the

Union Base's

formidable. Relying solely on