Volume 2: Winter’s End
Defeat in front of Ye Qian and Lie Yang means losing the possibility of turning the tables. The members of this hunter squad obviously understand this truth. Some look slightly dismayed, while others appear more composed, like the silver-haired man.
In the battle, the silver-haired man had his left arm broken by Ye Qian, yet there is no sign of pain on his face, only a hint of regret. “It’s a pity. The preparations were more than sufficient. Ye Qian of the human race and Lie Yang of the Zerg race, if successful, we would have gained fame in a single battle.”
Lie Yang circled the silver-haired man, then grinned. “I’ve heard about you, the White Moon Hunter Squad, beast tribe, and the main form is a swan, right?”
The man with silver hair also smiled, acknowledging it. His expression remained indifferent as if waiting for death. Apparently, they had heard about the methods of Lie Yang and Ye Qian long before the confrontation. Being hunters, they were more accustomed to treating life and death with indifference compared to ordinary people.
Shu Xun (⊙⊙) “Swan!” Shu Xun completely didn’t expect this form, as the hunters looked too fierce, completely different from the swan image in his imagination. Shu Xun even doubted whether the definition of swans had changed over time in the current era.
Ye Qian lifted a hand and patted Shu Xun’s small head, casually saying, “You can’t eat this kind of goose.” Obviously, Ye Qian mistook Shu Xun’s exclamation for excitement, still in that state of excitement when seeing food.
Originally composed hunters: “…” They suddenly felt a bit chilly. What’s going on? Saying this was worse than not saying anything.
Lie Yang also forced a smile, slightly horrified, glancing at Ye Qian and Shu Xun.
Shu Xun: “…” I didn’t want to eat it at all! But still, he cooperated and made an “Oh” sound, then continued to brighten his eyes, looking at the hunters. “Down jacket!”
Hunters: “…”
Ye Qian contemplated for a moment and coldly said, “This is fine.”
Hunters: “…”
In the end, Shu Xun didn’t get the swan’s down jacket but gained seven convenient flying transportation devices. The reputation of the White Moon Hunter Squad was quite high, and it seemed someone had started a live broadcast. In this situation, obviously, no one could accept a death by being plucked bare.
With the urgency of time, both sides reached a temporary agreement to travel together. Shu Xun also saw the swan in beast form, which indeed differed from the image in his mind. It was much larger, with wings spread out to more than two meters. Other than that, there wasn’t much change, looking warm and chubby… Hmm? Shu Xun shook his head, shaking off the last four words.
The giant white swans could bear the weight of an adult, but the way to ride them required holding onto the swan’s two feet and hanging below during flight. Clearly, the beast tribe also had its pride; unless very close, they wouldn’t allow others to sit on their backs. Ye Qian and the others had no interest in crossing those boundaries.
Soon after, six huge white swans soared into the sky. Night and the others directly grabbed the swans’ long claws with one hand, using the force to lift them off the ground. Shu Xun naturally couldn’t grab the claws and remained nestled in Ye Qian’s pocket, peeking out with a pair of dark and curious eyes. As for the injured White Moon, the silver-haired man, he was also in humanoid form, using one hand to grab his companion’s foot for leverage during flight.
The speed of flying in the air was evidently much faster than walking on the road. However, this flying state was severely restricted in the game world of “Winter’s End.” Windless and snowless weather was rare in this world. Flying in a snowstorm not only made it easy to lose direction but also consumed a tremendous amount of energy. The White Moon Hunter Squad had excellent directional sense, and they had a special means of communication among their races. This was why they could find their teammates after teleporting.
In the extreme weather conditions, it took them two days to travel. This was with the help of the beast tribe, who were skilled in flying. Later, Lie Yang and Gray flew on their own. During these two days, most of the time was spent on the road, and flying at high altitudes resulted in a constantly white view during a snowstorm. This regular routine made them gradually forget everything about Micro City.
However, when they flew over Fuzhou, these seemingly faded memories became incredibly clear in an instant. Fuzhou was empty, streets covered in accumulated white snow, not a single figure or corpse in sight. Compared to the complex situation in Micro City, Fuzhou looked simpler, but it was equally inscrutable. Because no one knew where those missing people had gone in this deserted city.
As a port city, Fuzhou’s prosperity level was not below Micro City. It covered a vast area, and if they wanted to search meticulously, it would undoubtedly consume a lot of time. However, Shu Xun and the others did not plan to waste too much time in Fuzhou. According to the confidential meteorological document, from the first permanent ice sealing, the pace of this planet’s progression towards complete freezing would gradually accelerate. Soon, the second absolute ice sealing would spread, encompassing an absolute portion of this continent.
They didn’t know if other gamers had discovered this pattern, but this kind of hint was not as secretive as confidential documents. It was similar to the white paper Shu Xun had found in the forest base. Although they didn’t know the author, the reasoning seemed very close to the latitude and time mentioned in the confidential documents.
If no one discovered this pattern, then “Winter’s End” would experience the largest-scale player death since the beginning of the game, undoubtedly setting a new historical record.
According to the contents of the confidential document, this planet is set to enter a comprehensive ice-sealed state within a month, rapidly spreading from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere. The time frame is too pressing, yet Shu Xun still hasn’t deduced the conditions for clearing the game. Now it seems that the most likely condition for clearing is to investigate the cause of this planet’s journey to its end. However, for some reason, Shu Xun always has a feeling of being in the mist, an inexplicable intuition that things won’t be so simple.
Flying over the skies of Fuzhou, the group slowly descended, heading directly southeast towards the port from the north-south main street. Along the way, they collected supplies near the streets because energy consumption needed replenishing; otherwise, they might starve to death before clearing the game.
In addition to basic supplies, as they walked through the bustling central area, in the suburban residential area of Fuzhou, they found a corpse. A corpse that looked most similar to Qing Mo among all they had encountered—a teenager, sitting with legs crossed in front of a house, gazing forward with ice-blue eyes filled with clear anticipation. The young corpse was already stiff, but still vivid.
Another blue-eyed corpse, seemingly waiting for something with hopeful eyes. Due to the special circumstances, Shu Xun carefully searched the room behind the young man. The room was very tidy, with a family portrait hanging in the living room. However, the bodies of the young man’s parents were not found. Shu Xun wanted to check if the young man had the habit of keeping notes like Qing Mo, but he didn’t find any. Instead, he found a pile of lab reports and medical examinations. Looking at the information in the documents, Shu Xun fell silent for a long time.
These were neurology and psychiatry examination reports. The young man outside the door turned out to be a mentally challenged individual with intellectual disabilities, capable of growing at most to the intellectual level of a three-year-old child. The time span of these lab reports was extensive, indicating that the young man’s parents had been seeking ways to treat him, but they never expected that Winter would come suddenly. As for where the young man’s parents went later, Shu Xun found no clues.
The discovery of the second blue-eyed corpse made Shu Xun start pondering some questions. People with blue eyes seem to have a stronger adaptability to “Winter’s End.” As long as there is enough food, they can more easily survive. So where did those surviving blue-eyed people go? Did they know the ultimate fate of this planet? Is there something in common between the young man outside the door and Qing Mo from Micro Villa that led to the preservation of their bodies? Or is it just a pure coincidence that they encountered them?
Having found no more clues, they had to leave the residential area and continue towards the port.
Half an hour later, the group stood at a port in Fuzhou. This was not the largest port in Fuzhou, but it still looked crowded. Neatly arranged cargo containers filled the entire dock, which was already covered in white snow. The vast azure sea, in this snowstorm, showed no undulations. The coastal area was frozen, and the desolate wind and snow swept across, finely brushing the ice-blue sea. Amidst the reflection of the deep blue color, it appeared even colder and more piercing.
