At the sight of Clark.
’To deal with a monster of this size, you’d probably need a nuclear bomb, a heavy-duty bunker buster, or some other superweapon on that level...’ Seraphina Sullivan thought with a sense of helplessness.
Weapons of that caliber were obviously beyond her reach right now.
Sharon Lynn pressed close to Seraphina Sullivan, her little face deathly pale.
Her wide eyes were filled with terror.
She stared at the dark purple, mountain-like figure moving slowly through the distant city ruins, her voice trembling violently.
"Seraphina... that big monster... it’s just been there this whole time... Does... does this mean... we can’t get past it? Are we going to die here?"
Seraphina Sullivan could feel the little girl’s fear was almost palpable.
She immediately took Sharon Lynn’s small, ice-cold hand in her own, her voice firm and decisive:
"Don’t talk like that! We’re definitely going to survive, and we’re definitely getting through.
That big monster is just there for now. We’ll wait for it to leave, or... we’ll figure out a way around it!"
She looked to Flora Sullivan for support.
Flora Sullivan nodded at once, doing her best to sound confident:
"That’s right! Don’t be scared, Sharon!
It’s so huge, it has to be slow. We’ll find another way and sneak past it.
We can definitely do it!"
Despite their words, all three of them knew how difficult a detour would be.
The map showed this city was a key hub on the route to Shelter 3. Going around it meant venturing deep into unfamiliar, and potentially more dangerous, wilderness, which would significantly increase both their travel distance and time.
Seraphina Sullivan looked up at the sky.
Before she knew it, dusk had fallen.
The orange-red sunset cast a tragically beautiful yet eerie glow over the apocalyptic ruins.
In the distance, Clark’s dark purple form cast a long, unnerving shadow in the setting sun.
"It’s getting dark."
Seraphina Sullivan said grimly.
"Whatever we do, we have to find a safe place to spend the night.
We don’t know what comes out at night, so we can’t travel then."
For Players like Seraphina Sullivan and Flora Sullivan, a few days and nights of non-stop, high-intensity activity might have been manageable.
But Sharon Lynn was just an ordinary little girl.
After surviving a crash, terrifying encounters, and a long journey, she was reaching the limits of her mental and physical endurance.
The three of them carefully drove away from the city ruins. On the edge of a relatively intact suburban neighborhood, they found a two-story house that was fairly well-hidden, its doors and windows still mostly in one piece.
After carefully clearing the house inside and out and confirming no monsters were lurking,
the three of them went inside, quickly shutting the doors and windows and using furniture to create a simple barricade.
Seraphina Sullivan made a show of "searching" the house for a while, then "unexpectedly" pulled several well-sealed cans of meat, some compressed biscuits, and a few bottles of water from a cabinet she’d "found."
Of course, she had transferred all of it from her Space into a regular backpack ahead of time.
Sharon Lynn was already starving, and her eyes lit up at the sight of food.
Forgetting everything else, she took the food from Seraphina Sullivan and began to eat in small bites.
A little color finally returned to her face.
While Sharon Lynn ate and recovered her strength,

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