The internal clock on the main panel mocked Lin Fan: 04 Hours, 05 Minutes until the Glacier Leviathan, a Tier 3 sub-surface predator, was scheduled to intersect with his shelter's foundation. The threat was existential; a creature of that size and tier could crumble the structural integrity of the entire building, burying his fortress.
His only defense lay in the materials currently encased in the icy carcass of the Cryo-Stalker just outside his door. He needed the Crystalline Hide to forge the necessary defensive armor, and he desperately needed the Scavenge Points (SP) that processing the entire carcass would yield.
"Risk assessment: 90% necessary, 10% suicidal," Lin Fan muttered, his voice cold and analytical. "Acceptable."
The Scavenging Kit
Lin Fan was back in the airlock, his movements economical and precise. This time, he was less soldier and more surgeon.
He wore the same layered thermal gear, but his tools were different. His primary weapon was the reliable Mossberg 590 pump-action shotgun, loaded with heavy tungsten slugs—optimal for penetrating the tough, frozen flesh or dealing with unforeseen, close-range threats.
His essential tool was a Diamond-Tipped Industrial Saw, powered by a compact, high-output battery pack—the only tool capable of cutting through the Cryo-Stalker's crystalline plating before the sub-zero temperatures seized the mechanics. He also carried a heavy-gauge steel pry bar and the climbing axe for leverage.
He cycled the airlock, the familiar HISS signaling the transition. The vault door opened, and the environment hit him like a physical fist. The cold was more intense than before, the atmosphere thick with tiny, abrasive ice particles.
[External Temperature: -70°C. Wind Chill: -95°C.]
Lin Fan stepped out, pulling the heavy door shut and engaging the manual security locks. The Aegis-1 Sentry Turret, mounted above, swiveled slightly, its thermal sensors scanning the empty, frozen cityscape.
Butchering the Beast
The Cryo-Stalker lay just five meters away, a colossal, grotesque mound of frozen muscle and jagged ice. Its internal heat had long since dissipated, and its blood had flash-frozen into black, brittle glass shards around the corpse.
Lin Fan approached the carcass, its sheer size dwarfing him. The task was daunting. He needed to extract the hide—a massive, articulated sheet of material—before his battery-powered saw gave out, or worse, before the Leviathan arrived.
He activated the industrial saw. The diamond blade whined, biting into the monster's icy flank. The sound was harsh, immediately amplified by the dead, frozen air.
The first cut was the hardest. The hide was tough, dense, and instantly dulled the blade. Lin Fan leaned into the cut, sweat already freezing on his brow despite the micro-heaters in his suit. He worked with brutal efficiency, following the natural seam lines of the creature's anatomy, stripping the massive sheets of crystalline hide.
He couldn't afford a clean, aesthetic job. This was harvesting.
ZZZZZZZ-CRACK!
He managed to peel away a large section near the foreleg. The System immediately registered the acquisition.
[Tier 1 Material Acquired: Crystalline Hide (1.5 sq meters).][Target Requirement: 3.0 sq meters.]
Lin Fan quickly tossed the heavy, frozen hide into his Dimensional Storage. The time-stop property meant he didn't have to worry about the hide cracking or freezing further.
He moved to the creature's back, where the plating was thickest. This was more difficult. He had to use the climbing axe to chip away the thicker crystalline armor before the saw could reach the flexible membrane beneath.
CHINK. CHINK. ZZZZZZZZ.
He worked for what felt like an eternity. His fingers, despite the heated gloves, were stiff and clumsy. He risked frostbite every time he adjusted the saw blade. The immense danger of his position—exposed, making noise, drawing attention—was a constant, throbbing pressure.
The Blinding Chill
[Time Remaining until Intercept: 02 Hours, 45 Minutes.]
Lin Fan had almost reached his required quota. He had 2.8 square meters of hide, along with a decent pile of crystalline shards and frozen tissue for ancillary SP.
Just as he was about to make the final cut, the environment turned hostile again.
The thermal feed inside his helmet suddenly went white with static.
"Damn it," Lin Fan hissed.
A Micro-Blizzard hit the building. It wasn't a global event, but a localized burst of super-cooled air and snow—a flash freeze. Visibility immediately dropped to zero. The wind went from a high howl to a deafening, whipping roar that threatened to knock Lin Fan off his feet.
The tiny ice particles hammered his helmet visor, threatening to short out his heating system. His industrial saw sputtered, complaining about the sudden temperature crash.
This is it. The environment wants me dead.
Lin Fan abandoned the precision cut. He jammed the pry bar under the remaining hide and pulled with all his strength, tearing the final piece from the frozen muscle tissue.
[Tier 1 Material Acquired: Crystalline Hide (3.1 sq meters).][Target Requirement Met.]
"That's enough!"
He quickly gathered the remaining salvageable crystalline shards, tossing them into his Dimensional Storage for the residual SP, and began a desperate, blind scramble back toward his vault door.
He couldn't see the ground; he could only feel the sheer ice under his boots. He relied entirely on the Sensory Array's internal GPS system to navigate the short, five-meter distance.
Left foot. Right foot. Where is the door?
He found the massive, cold steel of the vault door not by sight, but by slamming into it shoulder first.
THWACK.
He fumbled for the manual release button for the airlock, his gloved fingers shaking violently. The wind screamed in his ears, ripping at his gear.
Finally, the airlock clicked open. He lunged inside, falling onto the cold steel floor.
The Reckoning and the Final Push
Lin Fan didn't bother sealing the airlock. He tore off his helmet, gasping the filtered, warm air, which felt like a burning luxury after the outside hell. He immediately slammed his hand onto the external button, sealing the vault door with a mechanical CRUNCH.
He then cycled the airlock and staggered back into the main shelter chamber.
[Time Remaining until Intercept: 02 Hours, 15 Minutes.]
He had successfully bought himself two hours of crucial preparation time.
He immediately brought up the System.
"System, process all Crystalline Shards and secondary materials for SP."
[Processing Crystalline Shards...][Scavenge Points Gained: +250 SP!][Total SP: 650!]
650 SP. Combined with the 3.1 square meters of Crystalline Hide, this was enough for a game-changing defense.
Lin Fan ignored his aching muscles and the residual cold seeping into his joints. He moved straight to the workbench, pulling out the massive sheets of hide and accessing the Tier 2 catalogue.
He located the blueprint he needed:
[Tier 2 Item: Cryo-Armor Suit (Host)]
Material Required: 3.0 sq meters Crystalline Hide, 100 SP.
Component: High-Density Foundation Support Pillars (Blueprint): Requires 500 SP, 50kg Steel Block (Tier 1).
The choice was clear. The armor could wait. The Leviathan would attack the foundation.
"System. Create five High-Density Foundation Support Pillars."
[Cost: 500 SP. Confirm?]
"Confirm!"
Lin Fan watched as the creation box hummed, swallowing the 500 SP and the Tier 1 steel Lin Fan had generated earlier. This time, the resulting pillars were massive, dark-gray carbon-steel tubes, each three meters long and reinforced with dense, internal dampeners—designed not for decoration, but to stabilize a collapsing structure.
[Time Remaining: 02 Hours, 05 Minutes.]
He had 105 minutes to descend into the maintenance basement of the building—a cold, dark place outside the protection of his sealed apartment—and weld those five pillars into the four corners of his apartment's supporting structure.
Lin Fan grabbed his welding torch and the heavy support pillars. His heart was a furious drumbeat in his chest. The risk was immediate and extreme, but the payoff was survival. He was going to reinforce the belly of the beast to survive the Leviathan's coming siege.
(Author's Note: The SP is secured, the support pillars are created! Lin Fan has to weld his defenses into the cold, dark basement before the Leviathan arrives! Will he make it? Don't miss the ultimate showdown in Chapter 9! Like, comment, and drop a Power Stone if you are ready for the foundation battle!)