18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 500

"Why even ask why?" Little Joe ditched his usual dopey strongman act, his eyes

now ice-cold and menacing. "A Little Joe who doesn't want to be the Big Man ain't a good Little Joe at all."

Mikey had been leaning on Big Bro for decades, even relying on him to defend their turf. Without Big Bro's connections, where would he get any military might?

The chance to strike had been elusive, but as fate would have it, a formidable foe barged in, and Big Bro had already taken out the fourth and fifth in line.

If he didn't make his move now, he'd be the next to bite the dust.

Special abilities? He wasn't dumb enough to expose his mind.

What good were special abilities if you could just crush them? Then the Arctic would be his for the taking.

Mikey hit the floor, his dying gaze fixed on Little Joe. So, he had been using him all along!

Little Joe didn't care for that look in his eyes. He squatted down with a smirk and said, "You got nothing, so what makes you think you could be the Big Man?"

The allies he had secretly bought were all his own plants.

Little Joe wasn't much for talking; a bullet sent Mikey to the great beyond.

Blood splattered across his face, and as he wiped it off and tasted it, a gruesome smile crept over his lips. Then his eyes turned to Stella, lying there, badly injured and unconscious.

Kill her, and it would all be over.

Sure, a lot of people had died at the base, but none of them were his people. Their deaths only made things easier for him.

With weapons in hand, starting over would be a breeze.

He stood up slowly, ready to finish Stella off.

But out of nowhere, Snowflake, lying in a pool of blood, sprang to life.

Not only was its movement swift, but it also bit into Little Joe's throat with the precision and ferocity of a lightning bolt.

"Ahh..."

Armed soldiers rushed over, but no one dared to shoot recklessly. What if they hit the Big Man?

The incident was so sudden that everyone's attention had been elsewhere, never expecting the seemingly dying Snowflake to be faking it.

The wolf is the craftiest of them all.

"Bang!"

A gunshot sounded, hitting Little Joe square in the head.

see Jasper, who was thought to

came several

didn't speak, fighting through the pain as she ran to Jasper, pulling both man and

the two, covered in pig's blood, clung to each other,

"Are you okay?"

"Are you okay?"

spoke at the same time, hearts pounding with

have cost them their lives. Winning was partly luck, and the mere thought of it sent shivers down their spines! Stella knew that surveillance was everywhere and that there were eyes watching

both a danger and an

is a part of human nature, especially for the rulers of a post-apocalyptic world. They were all too aware of their own ambitions and the envy

to

regrettable side effects of using Arcadia, making them think they had an

she set them

in the Union Base, where all sorts of characters could be found. Faced with such

dared

was chilling

tightly, unable to control the trembling

never wanted to go through such an

Snowflake, lying on

to reality and crouched down to check

lot of blood loss but no

wolf, stopping the bleeding, stitching the wound,

stripped off

all

but thankfully,

gear

situation

at any moment, they didn't linger in Arcadia. Fully equipped, they emerged from their

but the third sub-level was eerily quiet. Stella collected the snow,

top, there were

of Big Man, Mikey, and Little Joe

still be lurking in the shadows, and Russian forces could

at any moment.

stay long, instead searching

limped along, keeping close

long to find the control

bodies lay there, their attire indicating high

for time, Stella didn't destroy the equipment but instead

footage could be

but even the power supplies

room, the commotion above

likely breached the perimeter.

now would likely lead to a

were not in a condition to