Xu An glanced at Qin Chuan's eyes; they were devoid of any emotion.
They all knew what this choice entailed.
The already ravaged corpses would have to be desecrated once more.
As Xu An hesitated, Qin Chuan walked ahead and said, "The living are more important than the dead."
With that, he left without looking back, leading the way.
Xu An and Zhou Haimei, flanking Qin Chuan's path, used their bullets to lure the fast-crawling monsters towards Qin Chuan's running direction.
This subtly formed a pincer movement around the monsters.
Fortunately, these monsters weren't particularly intelligent. They only knew how to chase humans and didn't realize their movements were being orchestrated by Xu An and the others.
On the other side, Qin Chuan signaled to Xu An and Zhou Haimei with his eyes and then tore open the wound on his arm.
As blood gushed out, the monsters went mad, surging towards Qin Chuan.
Once lured onto the mudflat, the monsters saw the scattered corpses and, without hesitation, stopped and began to feast on them.
The sheer number of monsters meant that the corpses on the mudflat were quickly devoured, leaving nothing behind.
With greedy eyes, some of the monsters that hadn't managed to get a share of the corpses stared intently at Qin Chuan's still bleeding forearm with the eyes on top of their heads.
Xu An, seeing the monsters closing in on Qin Chuan, felt a premonition of disaster.
The scent of Qin Chuan's blood had clearly affected the monsters; he had been targeted.
She immediately turned to Zhou Haimei and asked, "Do you have it under control?"
Zhou Haimei paused for a moment, then nodded with firm resolve.
Even though her hands were trembling with nervousness, she couldn't show it at this critical juncture.
She had to ensure the precise timing of the bomb detonation, or Qin Chuan would meet his end today.
Just as Qin Chuan was about to be overwhelmed by the monsters.
"BOOM—"
The explosion of the bomb erupted, creating a mushroom cloud. The monsters, previously baring their teeth and roaring, were all blown into the sky,
their bodies torn into pieces.
Countless streams of blood rained down, mixing with the falling snow to create a blood-red shower.
The moment the explosion occurred, Xu An grabbed Zhou Haimei and they leaped behind a nearby reef for cover.
"Is Qin Chuan okay? He was very close to the bomb when it went off."
Zhou Haimei's nose was smudged black with bomb ash, but no one paid attention to that.
Xu An also wore a look of concern.
"He should be fine. I remember he moved before he ran, so he must have gotten away."
They remained hidden behind the reef. The bombs were custom-made by the lighthouse, designed to explode three times in succession once detonated.
While they were speaking, continuous explosions rang out from behind them.
...
A few minutes later, once Zhou Haimei confirmed that the shockwaves from the explosions had subsided, she pulled Xu An out from behind the reef.
"Qin Chuan, Qin Chuan, are you alright?"
Xu An, while swiftly dispatching a monster that wasn't quite dead yet, called out Qin Chuan's name.
They searched around calling his name but couldn't find Qin Chuan. Zhou Haimei walked over to Xu An, her expression filled with anxiety, "Qin Chuan, I didn't accidentally blow him up, did I?"
Her voice choked with a hint of tears. "An'an, it wasn't intentional. I detonated it only after I saw Qin Chuan was ready."
Xu An held Zhou Haimei's arm. "It's okay, we'll keep looking. It's okay, it's not your fault."
The plan to detonate the bomb was agreed upon by all three of them, and Qin Chuan himself had volunteered to be the bait.
Xu An didn't give up, just as she hadn't believed Qin Chuan was dead when Chu Yu had said he was in grave danger.
This time, she wouldn't believe that Qin Chuan could die so easily.
After they searched for another ten minutes in the snow, a surprised voice called out from not far away.
"An'an, over here, over here! I found Qin Chuan! He's alive."
Xu An heard the call and immediately ran towards where Zhou Haimei was speaking.
Upon arrival, she saw Qin Chuan pinned beneath a monster.
The monster was clearly killed by a single punch, its eyeballs engorged with blood. It was evident that its head had been repeatedly smashed until death.
Qin Chuan looked as though he had emerged from a pool of blood, even his hair was matted with the monster's gore.
Qin Chuan struggled to speak, "Give me a hand."
Xu An and Zhou Haimei seemed to snap back to reality and frantically pulled Qin Chuan out from under the monster's corpse.
"Are you alright?"
Qin Chuan was completely drenched in blood, and Xu An couldn't immediately discern any wounds on him.
"Were you hit by the explosion?" Zhou Haimei asked softly from the side.
Qin Chuan struggled to his feet, appearing outwardly unharmed. He shook his head at them.
Opening his mouth, his voice was hoarsely unpleasant. "I'm fine, just choked on the smoke."
Relief washed over both of them.
Seeing that Qin Chuan was unharmed, both let out a sigh of relief. "What about the blood on you?"
"It's fine, it's all monster blood. When the bomb exploded, I was preparing to run, but this thing bit my leg. I had no choice but to run with the monster attached."
"Unexpectedly, the shockwave from the explosion was too strong, and both the monster and I were momentarily stunned. Afterward, the bomb continued to explode, and the monster still wouldn't let go, so I had to kill it."
After speaking, Xu An glanced at the now lifeless monster.
She hadn't expected Qin Chuan's strength to have increased so much; he could kill the monster with his bare hands.
They helped Qin Chuan up, and the three of them took some time, taking a long detour, before finally returning to the small cabin.
As soon as they entered the cabin, Xu An started a fire. All three of them were freezing.
Qin Chuan couldn't move one of his legs. All the way back, he had to be supported by Zhou Haimei and Xu An to walk.
"There's a separate small building behind the cabin. I saw iron buckets inside earlier. I'll melt some snow for you to wash yourself. We don't know if the monster's blood is problematic, so it's best to clean your wound first to prevent infection."
Xu An and Zhou Haimei had only bathed once in the Southern Base since they had come down.
When Zhou Haimei heard Xu An say that the cabin behind could be used for bathing, her eyes lit up.
Xu An understood what she was thinking from her gaze.
She smiled and said, "Let Qin Chuan wash first, he's injured. You can go in to wash afterward."
Zhou Haimei naturally had no objections to this arrangement.