Her heart grew alert, and she retreated into the cave, picking up her Pale Flame—a bright gleaming sword inch by inch, holding it in her hand.

Gripping the sword, she walked toward the cave entrance. The sound in the wind and snow seemed to grow more distinct, rustling as if a group was approaching this sheltered spot. Sophie hesitated a bit, not turning back to extinguish the campfire, as the temperature was so low, and the mountain village girl still had not recovered from her high fever...

And suddenly, the sound stopped a few meters away from the cave entrance, but amidst the grey blur of wind and snow, one couldn't see anything at all in that place.

Sophie suddenly felt a chilling sensation.

Because she clearly felt that something unknown was standing a few meters away from the entrance, watching her through the snow, yet she could see nothing—at that moment, it seemed as if everything around her had fallen into a complete silence.

The sound of the wind vanished, and she could even hear her own nervous heartbeat.

Sophie couldn't help but recall some legends about snowy nights, those legendary creatures that only appeared in Eteliria's harsh winter, such as Winter Wolves, Frost Dragons, and Pale Shadows.

She opened her eyes wide, suddenly seeing a swaying shadow behind the wind and snow—it was clearly a person.

She was startled, but still, her heart filled with courage, she pointed her sword there and shouted, "Who is it?"

The shadow swayed forward unsteadily.

Sophie took a deep breath and calmed herself, raising her sword in preparation to face the enemy. But suddenly, that shadow 'flopped' down in front of her, collapsing right there.

But what was it if not a person?

Sophie looked at it at a glance and was taken aback; it was just an empty suit of armor, scattered in the snow. But it had almost no mechanical structure inside, nor did it have any permeating dark mana, as if it was merely a rusty ordinary suit of armor abandoned in the snow.

But how could an ordinary suit of armor walk to this place on its own?

...

Fang Hong closed the Communication Crystal and shook his head.

He looked out the window, and outside the same howling snowstorm was raging, but separated by a layer of the cabin, the wind sounded only like a low whimper, the night pitch black, the sky low and thick, with barely a hint of light.

A nearby fir tree shook violently amidst the wind and snow, like a narrow ghostly shadow, teeth bared and claws extended.

The flickering light of the campfire outlined its silhouette in the snowstorm, and below was the woodcutters' camp—Lady Su Quei and her group of thirty or forty woodcutters had formed a camp around Mr. Greyrock.

There were night watchers in the camp, but no one spoke, beyond the wind, all was silent.

After venturing deeper into the Colin Main Continent, people often realized just how dangerous the severe winters here were—having left the Masongke Creek base only a week ago, Mr. Greyrock had already experienced four attacks, one of which involved encountering a Winter Wolf.

Had they not evaded in time, the losses might have been severe—a Winter Wolf being a level 40 creature, nearly legendary in Eteliria, and all legendary creatures in Eteliria had their own distinct characteristics and defied common rules.

The characteristic of Winter Wolves was their wide range of activity, always appearing accompanied by snowstorms, even disregarding the regional level restraints, having been sighted even in a rookie zone like Elpaxin.

Luckily, that Winter Wolf seemed uninterested in them, merely glimpsing at them from afar before vanishing into the snowstorm.

The next attack left two woodcutters wounded, though it was merely a case of skeletal remains; only because of negligence on a snowy night did it infiltrate the camp.

Nevertheless, this incident aroused Fang Hong's vigilance, and thereafter, he placed alchemical traps around the camp's perimeter—essentially just tripwire-triggered buzzers, but enough to guard against common large beasts and mindless undead.

After that, the camp became considerably more stable.

The captain's cabin was lit by a candle, the flame flickering unstably, gently swaying along with the floorboards beneath.

Due to the need to supply heating fully, and to provide hot water and food for the outside woodcutters, all the magic power output of the small Magic Guided Engine beneath the platform was focused on the two facilities—so there was no longer any crystal for illumination in the cabin, leaving only this compromised form of lighting.

Frankly, this makeshift magic power supply felt a bit shabby, but considering those adventurers trekking through the wilderness, it seemed relatively better.

However, Fang Hong thought that his ship should not have such shortcomings in the future. It might be smaller, but the magic power supply must be sufficient, as this snowstorm had caused the platform's Alchemy Workshop to be out of commission for several days, delaying many matters.

The heat-conducting brass pipes glowed faintly in the candlelight, while Lady Daisy lazily leaned against one warm pipe, gently nodding off with her eyes half-closed.

Her fluffy tail curled up like a sofa, allowing Miss Tata to lean back in it, engrossed in reading Light Pages, as quite a lot had happened lately, and the community seemed to have regained its former buzz.

While assembling the Magic Guided Reactor, Fang Hong casually discussed some recent news with Tata.

Most of the talk in the community was, of course, about the disaster on Fenris Isle, but what people speculated the most wasn't the whereabouts, but rather where Toragotos had gone?

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