Building My Empire in the Frozen Apocalypse (Riley Carter) novel Chapter 81

Chapter 81 The Crimson Oath

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“Our base is just a crappy wooden fence right now, but that guy’s got stone walls already. This is a major score, no doubt.”

There were a few sharp intakes of breath on the other end of the call. The scrawny guy grinned, smugness oozing through his voice.

“Dead serious. This one’s a cash cow. Anyone who can put up stone walls this early has to be sitting on a stockpile. Probably even has some high–grade blueprints stashed away.

“Just get here when you can, but keep it down–we don’t want to spook ‘em. Ping me when you’re close. I’ll keep poking around this mine, see if there’s any other ore nearby.”

He dismissed the system panel with a flick of his wrist.

“Heh… stone walls… Pull this off, and I’ll be next in line for lieutenant.

“Mmm, easy money, sweet and slow…” he half–sang, humming some mindless tune under his breath as he hefted his pickaxe again and turned to head deeper into the dim tunnel.

What he didn’t notice were the two cold, watching eyes glowing faintly from the shadows behind him.

Riley rose slowly from her crouch.

She’d only come to scout the mine. But now sh

Her settlement was compromised.

And she’d just been marked as prime loot.

Before the scrawny guy–Rat–could

“THUNK.”

overheard everything.

glance up, a gust of air whistled past his ear.

A hatchet buried itself into a crevice in the rock wall behind him, so close it sheared off a few greasy strands of his hair. The sudden chill of the blade raised every hair on his neck.

“Don’t move.”

Riley’s voice was colder than the damp mine air.

Rat froze. All the bravado from a moment ago evaporated, replaced by raw, knee–shaking fear. His hands shot up, and he started to sink to his knees.

“P–please, ma’am, don’t hurt me! It’s a misunderstanding, I swear! I’m just a prospector!”

Even as he whimpered, his eyes flickered sideways, sizing Riley up.

The light was bad, but he could make out enough: a woman, young, slight build. She held some kind of glowing blue weapon, but she didn’t look especially strong.

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Chapter 81 The Crimson Oath

“A prospector?”

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Riley let out a low, humorless laugh. She was about to say more, loosening her grip slightly to yank him away from the wall.

But in that split second, the fear in Rat’s eyes vanished, replaced by something vicious and mean.

“Stupid bitch–die!”

His right hand shot to the small of his back and came up with a sharpened triangular file. Using his kneeling motion as cover, he stabbed it like a serpent toward Riley’s stomach.

It was a cheap move, the kind he’d pulled back in his old life running cons and street fights. That fake- surrender–then–strike routine had caught plenty of people off guard.

If this had been some ordinary survivor, that moment of hesitation might’ve been the end of them.

Too bad for him, he was facing Riley–22 Strength, a veteran who’d clawed her way through a hell- difficulty dungeon.

“Nice try.”

Riley didn’t even bother dodging.

The hand that had been gripping his collar simply shifted, her fingers clamping around his wrist with impossible speed and force.

“CRACK.”

“AAAAAGH-!!”

A gruesome crack resounded down the tunnel, accompanied by a shrill, guttural scream akin to a dying hog.

Rat’s wrist snapped grotesquely backward into a ninety–degree angle, and the tool clattered onto the stone floor.

Then Riley heaved, lifting him off his feet like a ragdoll before slamming him hard into the rock wall.

“WHUMP.”

The impact knocked the air clean out of his lungs. He gasped, vision swimming, bile rising in his throat.

Before he could suck in a breath, the hard toe of her boot pressed down on his chest, crushing his ribs with a pressure that threatened to snap them.

“Trying to pull up your system panel?”

Riley had seen his left hand twitching erratically–clearly trying to navigate his menu to alert his crew.

She leaned in harder.

TUETO

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