Annan walked slowly and cautiously in the dark corridor.
[TN: Annan is still possessing Bella’s body.]
After she concentrated, the world before her stretched long and wide again. Her vision was complimented with a dim yellow hue, and the speed of time seemed to slow down tremendously.
This place was the residence of Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke. Therefore, it was unlikely that there would be any enemies.
But after all, the job she “applied for” was the Winter’s Hand.
As the official transcender agency of the Austere-Winter Dukedom, which also served as the secret service, maintaining vigilance might add merits to the interview.
However, there was a movement in front of Annan’s eyes the next moment.
Is it really coming?
Annan narrowed her eyes slightly, and her hands silently turned into bestial claws.
Although it was a dark corridor, a human-shaped silhouette could be seen moving due to the werewolf’s vision.
It appeared to be about 1.7 meters or so, and the figure was relatively thin.
Although he disappeared from Annan’s vision immediately when he stopped, the man made a move again as Annan got closer.
He reached out and grabbed Annan’s neck silently.
There’s no killing intent.
Is it part of the exam?
Annan did not stay passive in her thoughts.
The moment the man reached out and grabbed Annan, she immediately swiped in front of her and crouched.
She tightly hugged the opponent’s calf with both hands, then immediately got up. Utilizing the strength from her waist, she leaned backward and threw the man to the ground.
“Ugh…!” The man groaned in pain.
“It’s fine now, Bella.” The old man’s flat voice sounded in the darkness, “He has no malice.”
“Yes.” Annan replied obediently.
Otherwise, she would not just throw him only.
However, the Wolf Kiss ritual would have to be postponed if the man caught her.
After all, she had to undergo a certain amount of training before going to the “exam”.
The light filled the narrow corridor again as the old man squeaked the door open.
Annan saw the young man lying on the ground, groaning as the sun illuminated the place.
It was a young man with light brown hair, fair skin, and freckles on his face.
He appeared to have thin cheeks, and the cheeks had even sunken inward. His spirit did not look good, and his forehead was bruised and bleeding from Annan’s backward throw.
But when he stood up, his gaze towards Annan became somewhat eager.
“Hi, my name is Thoreau Nick.” The young man made a low, indistinct voice and extended his right hand slightly toward Annan as if he wanted to shake hands but did not dare.
Meanwhile, he kept staring at Annan’s face.
The strange eagerness made Annan feel a little awkward.
I beat you up, so why are you so enthusiastic about me?
Is this person a pervert?
“He’s your senior. Like you, he hasn’t passed the Wolf Kiss ritual. You two will work together in a moment.” The old man on the side spoke without a hint of emotion, “Just like you, he is also a homeless person.”
“Are you a werewolf too?” Annan heard the “teacher” and looked at the pale and thin man.
She whispered, turning her right hand back into a human hand, and shaking hands with Thoreau Nick.
“No, he is not.” The old man replied coldly, “Even in the entire ‘Winter’s Hand’ organization, you are the only werewolf.”
“I’m the child of a murderer. Both of my parents are murderers. They died very early.” Thoreau Nick whispered shyly, “I don’t have the money to study swordsmanship, so I go to make money. However, when I have the money, the teacher still won’t let me learn it because of my low social status. So, I secretly learn it from the side.
“But in the end, I was discovered and was beaten out by the teacher.
“Teacher said if I learn swordsmanship, I will use it to kill someone. Later, when they spread the word, it became that I would definitely kill a person. So, they kicked me out.”
“Driven out?” Annan froze for a moment, then realized that it meant being exiled out from the barrier.
“After that?” She asked subconsciously.
It was the old man standing behind them who answered Annan.
He put his two hands on the shoulders of Thoreau Nick and Annan, respectively, and replied calmly, “I picked him up later. I saw that he had an excellent talent for the path of transcendence, so I led him to this path.”
“Yes!” Thoreau Nick’s voice was a little louder.
In his eyes, Annan seemed to see a sparkling flame. “Only the teacher is willing to take me in, and only the teacher is willing to teach me the knowledge of killing…”
It was a light yet fanatical voice, “The teacher is my benefactor! For the teacher, I can even offer my life!”
“Murdering is an untouchable line for civilians. But for us, killing is just one of the means,” said the old man slowly.
There was no expression on his face. His deep pupils were cold as ice, “But you must never kill people for fun. Those who let their desires inflate can’t pass the Wolf Kiss ritual.”
“Yes, I understand, teacher…” Thoreau Nick’s voice suddenly became much lighter.
He lowered his head, and his eyes became uncertain and cowardly again.
But facing him like this, the old man did not react.
Sensing that this was an opportunity, Annan could finally spit out the doubts in her heart, “What is the Wolf Kiss ritual?”
The old man was silent for a while, then turned away silently.
Thoreau Nick reacted quickly, hurried over, winked at Annan, and motioned her to follow quickly.
They followed the old man through two corners and entered the basement.
Annan immediately sensed an intense chill.
It was like stepping into a cold room… No, it was even colder than that.
Even when walking, Annan could feel creaking at her knees. Her joints were screaming like a computer turned on in the cold winter or the fan making a whirring noise.
She subconsciously wrapped her whole body in fur and couldn’t help but hunch her waist and try to curl up.
To Annan’s surprise, neither the old man nor Thoreau Nick reacted to the chill.
The old man seemed to ignore the cold altogether. Thoreau Nick’s hair was starting to frost, but he did not complain or was surprised.
Suddenly, Annan realized something.
This was probably where the Old Grandmother hibernated.
After they got down to the bottom, the old man turned on the light and said plainly, “We have arrived.”
After a short delay, the iconic light green sparks of the “Green Fire” ignited, leaping across the room.
Then, a bunch of bright orange-yellow light bars illuminated the entire basement.
Annan’s pupils shrank slightly, crouching on the ground. Her tail wagged uneasily.
Although Annan guessed long ago that this might have something to do with the Frost Beasts, she never expected that there would be so many of them.
It almost felt like a chicken farm.
They were now in an underground warehouse of about one hundred square meters.
The wall was painted red, and a large “3” was labeled on the wall.
There were seven rows and seventeen columns of iron cages on the four walls.
Each cage was one meter wide, one meter high, and three meters deep. In each cage was a translucent, pale white wolf soul like a soul beast.
After the lights came on, the Frost Beasts, lying on their backs, stood up from their cage and opened their eyes.
Their pupils were incomparably pure ice blue.
“The so-called Wolf Kiss ritual is to let you sleep here after the Frost Beasts are released.”
The old man said slowly, “After you fall asleep, you will enter a nightmare, in a state of completely losing positive emotions. The nightmare is composed of your memories of the last few days. As long as you break free from this nightmare, you will pass the Wolf Kiss ritual, and you can become an excellent transcender.”
Hearing this, Annan was suddenly stunned.
She realized a severe problem.