Building My Empire in the Frozen Apocalypse (Riley Carter) novel Chapter 719

Chapter 719 Warmth by the Fire

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Chapter 719 Warmth by the Fire

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Everyone from the arrow shed was ordered to eat. A group of elderly survivors, their fingers swollen from shaving arrow shafts nonstop, sat around the warming basins with bowls of thick broth in their hands.

They took a sip, glanced toward the stone walls, took another sip, then stared at the tool shed again, half-convinced the peace around them was nothing but an illusion.

C.P. lay beside the tool shed. A pile of cooked meat chunks and a few low-grade beast cores pulled from Riley’s storage sat on the ground right in front of it.

It sniffed the cores first, then lifted its gaze toward Riley.

Riley leaned against a wooden pillar of the shelter, still looking worn out. Her left arm hung limp at her side, and she held half a loaf of toasted bread in her right hand. She caught C.P’s stare and glanced up.

“What are you looking at?”

C.P. finally lowered its head and crunched down on the core.

Flickers of red and blue flame seeped out between its fangs before vanishing quickly. It had burned through too much power lately to unleash its full fire aura like before. Riley had no intention of sending it back to hold the front line tonight.

Getting it fed, rested, and healed up was enough for the day.

Neeko sat nearby, holding a wooden bowl bigger than her face and sipping broth slowly. She was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open, yet she refused to move far from Riley. She glanced up at her after every two small sips.

Riley noticed and tapped the edge of her bowl with her bread.

“Finish eating and go sleep.”

“I’m not tired,” Neeko mumbled.

She yawned the second the words left her mouth.

TartKing let out a quiet laugh.

Neeko’s ear tips twitched. She ducked her head and kept drinking her soup.

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10:46 Mon, Sep 21

Chapter 719 Warmth by the Fire

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A soft rustle of leaves suddenly came from the row of living stakes behind the main house.

Riley turned her head.

Twiggy shuffled slowly into view.

It had been guarding the rear defense line nonstop until TartKing treated its wounds and had the kids pull broken bone shards and metal splinters out of its trunk. It had finally stopped working for the night, its root treads pressing lightly over the snow, leftover vines still hanging from its body.

Riley studied it closely, her brows lifting slightly.

Twiggy had grown. It used to only reach above her waist, but now it stood nearly chest-high. Its trunk had darkened from pale green and light brown to a deep earthy teak tone. Its once- thin branches had thickened, and tiny fresh green buds sprouted from its broken wound points.

It walked up to Riley and slowly lifted one slender branch.

Clutched in the vines were a handful of charred wooden spikes and several bone spikes pulled from monsters.

Like a student turning in finished work.

Riley took the small pile and examined it. “Did you pull these off the rear wall?”

Twiggy’s canopy nodded gently.

One of the kids who’d been helping it quickly spoke up. “It means these spikes are still usable. We can line them up in the outer north trench tomorrow.”

Twiggy tapped the child lightly with its branch.

The kid fell quiet at once, beaming with pride.

Jack sat on a wooden bench, holding his bowl in his right hand. “That rear line only held these past few days because of Twiggy. It planted its roots deep in the snow and never moved an inch. Once monsters tried tunneling up from underground, it snared them with its roots and dragged them right out for us to shoot down.”

Joseph fell silent for a moment. “We’ve all been forced to grow into this fight.”

Jack took a sip of broth. “We didn’t have a choice. If we didn’t push ourselves hard, we wouldn’t have survived. We can’t keep hiding behind Riley’s protection forever.”

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10:46 Mon, Sep 21

Chapter 719 Warmth by the Fire

He glanced over toward Anna as he spoke.

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Anna stood beside the stacked food supplies, dividing midnight rations and tomorrow’s morning portions for every person in camp.

Lily held a small jar of seasonings to her chest like it was the key to a wine cellar.

A few young survivors crowded around her. “Lily, do we have any of that liquor that keeps you warm tonight?”

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