Chen Ling led the two through the heart of the town, arriving at the desolate coastal outskirts. The buildings grew sparser, and the sea wind grew harsher.
The outlines of warehouses appeared in Chen Ling’s vision. His gaze swept over them one by one, lost in thought.
"It should be around here..."
"Chen Ling, stop being so cryptic," Zhao Yi couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer. "What exactly is this ‘transport that can take us straight into Aurora City’ we’re looking for? I don’t see anything else here..."
Chen Ling quickened his pace. "A train."
"A train? How’s that any different from the one we just abandoned?"
"The train we’re looking for doesn’t need tracks to run... and it has enough carriages."
Hearing this, Zhao Yi’s eyes widened in shock. "A train that doesn’t need tracks?! Does something like that even exist?"
"It exists."
Of course it existed. When Chen Ling went to the Soldier's Ancient Ruins, he had personally ridden that very train. If he remembered correctly, the Flame Usurpers had hidden it in one of these warehouses... Though it was later discovered by the law enforcers, it likely hadn’t been moved and was still sealed here.
Before Zhao Yi could say more, his foot suddenly stepped into a puddle. Water splashed onto his pants, freezing into shards of ice as the wind blew.
"Damn it," Zhao Yi cursed. "Was this place flooded? Why’s there so much water everywhere..."
"The water level here is abnormal. It’s much higher than when I last came."
Chen Ling glanced at the churning waves in the distance. Large chunks of ice washed onto the black reef shore with the tide, and seawater repeatedly spilled onto the main road, freezing into thick frost under the biting wind.
Chen Ling walked into the cluster of warehouses and began searching them one by one from memory. Perhaps driven by the sense of crisis brought by Winterport’s extinction, he moved extremely fast, agile even on the ice-covered ground.
Zhao Yi couldn’t keep up with his speed at all. He could only take Ling'er and hide behind one of the warehouses, where the sea wind was slightly weaker. Even so, the two were shivering from the cold.
"Big Brother Zhao Yi... how much longer do we have to stay here?" Ling'er asked, her entire body curled into a ball.
"...Don’t know. That’s up to Chen Ling." Zhao Yi stared at the red figure darting between the warehouses and murmured, "But that guy’s reliable. It shouldn’t take long... Ling'er, are you cold?"
"Cold..."
"Give me your hands. I’ll warm them up."
Zhao Yi took her small, reddened hands and exhaled warm breath onto them. The heat condensed into fine frost in the air before dissipating. He rubbed her hands vigorously, waiting until they were slightly warmer before tucking them back into her pockets.
"Better?"
Ling'er blinked. "Mm."
Looking at the doll-like girl in front of him, Zhao Yi felt his heart melt. He couldn’t help but grumble, "When I was little, I told my dad to give me a little sister. He wouldn’t listen... Later, my mom died, and he had to raise me alone while running the shop. His hair turned white from the stress... If he’d just listened to me back then and given himself a little ‘cotton-padded jacket,’ wouldn’t that have been better than fighting with me every day?"
Zhao Yi sighed heavily. The image of that gray-haired face flashed in his mind, and his eyes dimmed with loneliness.
Ling'er didn’t understand what Zhao Yi was saying. She only sensed that his mood had darkened. After a moment of hesitation, she pulled her hands out of her pockets again, pressed them against Zhao Yi’s bloodstained palms, and puffed out warm breaths with all her might.
Zhao Yi froze, then chuckled helplessly. Just as he was about to speak, his peripheral vision caught a snake-like shadow darting toward them from a nearby frozen puddle!
Whoosh!
The shadow moved too fast. Zhao Yi’s pupils contracted sharply. Without thinking, he pulled Ling'er into his arms!
A tremendous force lashed against Zhao Yi’s back, sending him flying through the air. He hung suspended for several seconds before crashing heavily onto the frost-covered ground.
Unbearable pain scorched every nerve in his body. Zhao Yi felt as if his back had been ripped open—the agony of this single strike surpassed all the knife wounds he’d suffered before combined.
"Big Brother Zhao Yi!" Ling'er, safely shielded in his arms, wasn’t hurt, but seeing Zhao Yi drenched in cold sweat, her face turned deathly pale.
Zhao Yi had no time to answer her. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he forced himself to turn and look behind him.
A tattered strand of seaweed slithered out from the puddle’s reflection, writhing and twisting in the faint icy mist. Its surface was covered in dense, eerie runes—just one glance was enough to make one’s scalp crawl.
What the hell is this thing?!
Zhao Yi had no time to dwell on the pain, because the seaweed lashed through the air again, streaking toward him at terrifying speed. This time, Zhao Yi was prepared. Clutching Ling'er, he rolled sideways like a dog, barely dodging the strike.
Crack!
The seaweed struck the ground, shattering the frost into pieces and leaving a jagged fissure in the earth. Debris flew everywhere.
The sight made Zhao Yi’s hair stand on end. If his back had taken a hit like that head-on... what kind of state was it in now?
Without hesitation, Zhao Yi hoisted Linger onto his back and ran. He sucked in a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs—
"CHEN LING!!!"
At this point, Zhao Yi couldn’t care less about pride. That seaweed was clearly no natural creature. If it was a calamity, it was a job for the professionals.
But Chen Ling wasn’t a god. He couldn’t teleport over the moment his name was called. At the same time, two more shadows shot out from a nearby puddle!
Zhao Yi’s pupils shrank. Cursing inwardly, he executed his signature move—the dog roll—twisting twice on the ground.
The whistling lashes grazed his ears, smashing the ice layer apart. Zhao Yi slid perilously across the frozen surface, disoriented from the spinning, and crashed headfirst into the neighboring warehouse.
The clatter of scattered tools echoed through the space. The pain nearly knocked Zhao Yi unconscious. He watched as the rune-covered seaweed strands emerged from nowhere, blocking all exits... Behind him was only a solid wall.
"Big Brother Zhao Yi..." Ling'er’s voice trembled.
Zhao Yi shielded Ling'er with one arm, his pale face contorted with fury. He grabbed a steel pipe from the ground and pointed it at the writhing seaweed outside, bellowing—
"COME ON!! You pieces of shit... Those cowardly law enforcers might fear you, but I don’t!!"