With the A.R.R.M. humming softly, having consumed 300 SP to deliver the final components, Lin Fan stood ready for the assembly of his ultimate exploration tool. The Cryo-Skimmer Advanced Chassis—a masterpiece of tungsten-chromium alloy, forged in the creation chamber—lay before him, lightweight yet possessing phenomenal tensile strength.
The Apex Vehicle: Assembly and Launch
Lin Fan utilized the last hour to finalize the integration. The process required installing the propulsion coils, the inertial dampeners, and, most crucially, connecting the vehicle's primary power intake directly to a dedicated transfer conduit linked to the A-Rarity Stabilized Energy Core. The Skimmer would effectively have infinite, sustained power.
The finished vehicle was low-slung and menacing, resembling a stealth fighter stripped of wings. It hovered two feet above the ground using magnetic levitation coils, designed to glide effortlessly over ice, snow, and fractured concrete. Its canopy was a single sheet of polymerized diamond, offering maximum visibility and Tier 3 protection.
Lin Fan loaded his essential gear: his Cryo-Armor, extra thermal packs (redundancy was survival), and the A.R.R.M.'s latest output—a batch of hyper-refined Cryo-Rounds for the AR-15, capable of delivering localized flash-freezing kinetic force.
He cycled the internal lift and ascended to the building's rooftop platform—a heavily reinforced area he had discreetly built into the building's upper maintenance structure weeks ago.
The thick, retractable alloy doors of the platform parted, revealing the vast, silent, frozen expanse of the city under a low, grey sky.
Lin Fan settled into the cockpit. The controls were intuitive, linked to his System Matrix. He engaged the levitation coils. A faint, electric hum filled the air.
[Cryo-Skimmer: Fully Operational. System Link: Online. Power Source: Core Perpetual.]
"Time to explore," Lin Fan stated, his voice calm over the internal comms.
He engaged the main thrusters. Instead of a fiery blast, the Skimmer emitted a controlled wave of super-cooled air, instantly freezing the small patch of rooftop ice beneath it. The thrust was silent, smooth, and immensely powerful.
The Cryo-Skimmer launched vertically, ascending quickly above the ten-story apartment building. From this altitude, the sheer scope of the Global Freeze was overwhelming—an endless, white wasteland punctuated only by the skeletal structures of frozen skyscrapers. Lin Fan set the autopilot coordinates for BRF-7 (Bio-Research Facility), 15 kilometers away.
Across the Frozen Wastes
The journey was a blur of speed and environmental mastery. The Skimmer reached velocities that would have been suicidal for any wheeled vehicle. It skimmed across frozen rivers and pulverized the crust of snow on major highways, traveling virtually unseen.
Lin Fan experimented with the fusion of his personal elemental ability and the vehicle's mechanics. Focusing his cryogenic energy, he channeled it through the propulsion system. The Skimmer's speed immediately spiked, the super-cooling effect reducing air resistance and maximizing magnetic glide.
This is the difference between a survivor and a sovereign.
He encountered minor obstacles—large ice shards from fallen buildings and deep, frozen fissures. He didn't slow down. He simply concentrated his power, using the Cryogenic Manipulation to instantly smooth or bridge the ice fractures ahead, turning the jagged terrain into a temporary, seamless roadway.
The isolation during the journey was profound. The Global Sensor Network detected only scattered, low-tier mutant life, and no sign of The Iron Hand. Their defeat had been complete. The region was a strategic void, waiting to be claimed.
[Distance to BRF-7: 5 Kilometers.]
The closer he got, the more unusual the environment became. The ice color shifted from white to an unnatural, sickly pale green—a subtle sign of the bio-chemical contamination surrounding the research complex.
BRF-7: A Frozen Hive
Lin Fan slowed the Cryo-Skimmer to a silent hover as he approached the BRF-7. The facility was an enormous, low-profile complex of reinforced concrete wings, partially buried under a glacial drift. It appeared abandoned, but the complex energy readings on the Skimmer's sensors told a different story.
The complex was secured not by doors, but by layers of frozen, chemically tainted ice.
Lin Fan landed the Skimmer on a large, flat slab of frozen concrete fifty meters from the main entrance airlock, setting the vehicle to silent, automated overwatch. He grabbed his AR-15, charged with Cryo-Rounds, and stepped out in his Cryo-Armor.
The air here was subtly different—tinged with the sharp, metallic scent of frozen chemicals. The sensors confirmed high levels of stable, complex organic reagents inside the facility.
The jackpot.
Lin Fan moved toward the airlock, ready to use his plasma cutter. But before he could reach the door, the facility responded.
A low, mechanical GROAN echoed from within the concrete structure. The pale green ice covering the main facade cracked open, not due to pressure, but due to internal movement.
The Bio-Sentinels
From the cracked ice emerged four figures that were neither conventional mutants nor simple machines. They were synthetic, humanoid creatures—tall, gaunt, and moving with the silent, jerky precision of automatons. Their skin was translucent, revealing internal mechanisms and veins pumping a thick, pale green fluid.
[Threat Detected: Bio-Sentinel (Synthetic Mutant - Tier 3 Defense Protocol) - 4 units.][Resistance Profile: Immune to Cryogenic Cold. High resistance to Kinetic Energy. Weakness: Directed Plasma/Chemical Disruption.]
They were the research facility's last line of defense—creatures designed to survive its own worst biological outbreaks. And they were coming for him.
The four Bio-Sentinels spread out, forming a tactical semi-circle. Their arms mutated instantly, turning into biological cannons that pulsed with the sickly green energy of bio-plasma.
The first Sentinel fired. A jet of highly corrosive, super-heated bio-plasma streaked toward Lin Fan.
He didn't run. He raised his left arm. He channeled the full power of his Cryogenic Manipulation, not to freeze the Sentinel, but to instantly freeze the trajectory of the incoming attack.
FLASH-CRACKLE!
The bio-plasma jet hit an invisible wall of super-cooled air, losing its molecular cohesion and shattering into harmless, frozen green dust ten feet in front of him. The attack was negated.
Lin Fan had proven his mastery over the environment. Now, he needed to prove his superiority over this synthetic foe.
He raised his AR-15, sighting the exposed joint of the lead Sentinel. He wouldn't waste Cryo-Rounds on the armor.
"Tier 3 defense? Meet Tier 3 offense," Lin Fan snarled, and squeezed the trigger.
The first expedition had begun, and the price of the Evolution Serums would be paid in high-stakes combat against engineered death.
(Author's Note: The Cryo-Skimmer is deployed, but Lin Fan faces the Tier 3 Bio-Sentinels—synthetic foes immune to cold! He must rely on superior firepower and tactical genius to penetrate the BRF-7. Will he secure the Evolution Serums? Don't miss the high-tech firefight in Chapter 15! Drop a Power Stone if you're excited for this new level of combat!)