18 Floors Above the Apocalypse novel 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.

He kept pawing at Jasper, his teeth latched onto his pant leg, refusing to let go.

Then he barged into Stella's room, barking insistently.

Stella looked at him, her eyes stinging with unshed tears.

Jasper came in and shooed the frantic Cooper out.

He sat down beside her, saying calmly, “If you want to go, I’m with you.”

Stella looked up, her expression serious. “This isn’t a joke. I’m afraid we might go there and never come back.”

Jasper understood. “Even in peace, evil lurks. This time it’s Snowflake, next time it could be Cooper, or Rosie after that. It could even be you or me.”

In a world where humanity had all but vanished, this was the harsh reality.

Snowflake was new, and animal instincts don’t just change overnight.

Moreover, Union Base wasn’t after Snowflake specifically. One group could annihilate another on a whim, often without needing a reason.

As the saying goes, “I destroy you, and it has nothing to do with you.”

Both knew that if Cooper was ever 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: either don’t fight at all, or take the initiative before it’s too late.

They were family, inseparable.

“Fight now, or live to regret inaction,” Stella resolved herself, her voice cold with determination. “I want them dead!”

With that, they began to strategize.

Even with Arcadia on their side, the fight ahead was fraught with danger, and there would be moments they couldn’t cover each other.

Rosie was grown up enough to hold down the fort. Should Stella and Jasper encounter danger, she could keep Cooper and the triplets alive.

As for the battle plan, they would need to adapt to the situation and scout out Union Base’s layout first.