Building My Empire in the Frozen Apocalypse (Riley Carter) novel Chapter 714

Chapter 714 Scars of the Survivors

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Lily added, “It also shoves its vines into the cracks of the wooden walls to trap small monsters. It doesn’t hold them for long, but it buys the crossbow shooters enough time to reload.”

Anna turned to Riley. “These past few days, Twiggy has been stuck reinforcing the back walls and fixing the wooden shelters nonstop. It can’t talk, but it’s busier than all of us.

“Last night, a section of its living wooden stakes got bitten clean through. It almost got dragged outside by the monsters. Neeko and C.P. rushed over just in time to save it.”

Riley’s brows twitched faintly.

She pictured the little treant slowly watering the farmland in her mind.

It used to love squatting in the woodland subspace, fiddling with seeds all day. Its tiny leaves would sway for ages whenever the wind brushed past.

“As for the griffin,” Lily explained, “it ran into a venom–spitting monster while we were holding the original outer defense line. It got badly injured. Neeko moved it into the small round wooden house in the yard to

recover.”

Riley nodded.

She figured Neeko had sent the griffin to heal inside the woodland subspace instead. That made sense–it was the safest place for it to recover from its wounds.

Riley’s gaze swept over Anna and Lily.

Anna’s hair was tied back roughly with grass rope, her sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Fresh scrapes and cuts covered her forearms. She had keys, a short dagger, and a string of wooden tags hanging from her waist, each carved with the names of the warehouse, mess tent, medical hut, and arrow workshop.

Once, she’d only been in charge of trivial daily chores. Now she’d been forged anew by fire and snow. Just standing there, she looked steady and utterly reliable.

Lily still reeked of alcohol and black oil. Her hands, which once guarded every wine barrel with great care, were now caked in gray grime under the nails. Two short hatchets hung at her waist, and a basket full of firebombs sat right beside her.

No one seeing her like this would’ve guessed she was once the brewer who’d mope for ages over a failed batch of fruit wine.

Riley studied the

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both for a moment and spoke softly. “You’ve all worked so hard.”

Anna froze for a split second.

Lily ducked her head, swiping the back of her hand quickly across her eyes. “It’s nothing. The ones who’re still alive have got to keep going.”

Joseph coughed lightly, pulling the conversation back to the serious matter at hand.

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10:09 Fri, Sep 18

Chapter 714 Scars of the Survivors

“I’ll report the casualty numbers.”

Riley straightened her posture slightly.

TartKing ughtened her grip on Riley’s arm.

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Joseph picked up a crumpled piece of hide from beside the map. Lines of names and numbers were scrawled across it in charcoal. Some smudged from melted snow, then traced over again to stay legible.

“Before you left, we had 33 residents in camp. Later, more survivors from near the camps of various guild members began gathering here. We started with 21 extra people, then rescued more bit by bit. At our peak. 87 people were staying inside these walls.”

He paused there.

Outside the wooden shelter, a group of people hurried past, carrying wounded members, their footsteps fast and frantic.

Joseph continued grimly, “We’re down to 62 now. Twenty–five dead.”

Riley let out a quiet sigh.

She’d seen countless deaths fighting her way out of the dungeon..

Yet these 25 lives still weighed heavily on her chest. Real people, now reduced to cold numbers on a sheet of paper.

Joseph gripped the hide tightly, his voice dropping lower. “Nine died the first day the outer wall broke; we

couldn’t reach them in time. Six more passed while we were moving the wounded. Four fell defending the eastern snow gully.

“The rest… some died from untreatable severe wounds, others from frostbite infections. Neeko did everything she could, but she’s stretched too thin. She couldn’t save everyone alone.”

“I wanted to save them all,” Neeko whispered.

“This isn’t your fault,” TartKing reassured her instantly.

Neeko’s lips trembled, but she said nothing.

Riley stared at the list of names for a long moment before speaking: “What did you do with the bodies?”

“We recovered all we could and laid them to rest in the old warehouse behind the main house.” Anna’s tone was somber. “For the ones we couldn’t retrieve… we only have their names written down.”

Riley nodded slowly.

It was a heartbreaking toll, but logically speaking, the outcome was far better than she’d expected. Eighty- seven unarmed native survivors, holding out against endless monster hordes with no player main force and no Riley to lead them personally.

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