Free Web NovelChapter 58: Chapter 58: Sorry, Sis Can’t Hold On Anymore...
The full moon was faint, the cold deepening.
Pale moonlight, like water, cast a white veil over this dungeon soaked in blood and sin.
The snowflakes were light, drifting one after another.
The frigid wind swept over everyone, making their already stiff hair turn even whiter; a few gnarled old trees stood by the roadside. A strong wind lashed their branches, howled through the empty castle, the wind sounding like the snarls of beasts.
Countless heads peered around Sister Xia. The instant the second flare ignited, a faint flush appeared on her bluish skin.
No one dared think about grabbing the lighter in her hand.
Everyone was gathering their strength, waiting for the snow covering the escape route to melt so they could rush out first.
Clearing a dungeon always earned you a reward, but the first one to exit would get much more than everyone else.
The flickering flame vanished in an instant, and the world returned to its icy calm.
"Sister Xia?" Someone asked in a trembling voice—at such temperatures, even speaking was a struggle.
Sister Xia stared at the lighter in her hand, despair spreading from the depths of her heart. "I don’t know!"
As she spoke, she pulled her collar tighter. The cold was only getting worse.
Her gaze unconsciously drifted to the people around her. Everyone was dressed more or less the same; if she could have just one more jacket now, it’d be less hellish.
"If anyone has something up their sleeve that can crack this ice, use it now. This is probably our only chance." Sister Xia had used up her two chances, and she couldn’t understand how the flame she’d thought could burn anything had snuffed out almost immediately.
Show your hand and you’re dead!
"Or were you just holding back?" Someone voiced doubt—after all, who’s ever seen a flame smothered just as it begins? "You’re still scheming at a time like this?"
Ordinary lighters are windproof, aren’t they.
"Damn it, fuck you!" Sister Xia cursed angrily into the freezing wind.
Her two chances were gone; now she was nothing but a fish on the chopping block, waiting to be carved up.
Without a word, she tossed her lighter away and curled herself into a squat, hugging someone’s leg for warmth. She was truly freezing. "Whoever can get it open, do it. I don’t care about being first, I just want out."
No one responded. Someone picked up the lighter from the ground.
They honestly had no props or abilities that could break the ice.
Fire and ice, opposites. He pressed the lighter,
Click—
A burst of arctic wind, and the flame was snuffed out instantly.
Click—
After twice, his body felt completely drained.
He dropped the lighter, fell silent, and joined Sister Xia squatting to the side.
Sister Xia saw him squat down and the corner of her mouth curled into a mocking sneer.
Someone else refused to believe it, kept trying—it only took two attempts, and afterwards they all huddled back-to-back, trying to resist the invasion of the cold.
Sister Xia noticed someone quietly pocketing the lighter she’d thrown, never giving it back.
She glanced at him, then withdrew her gaze. "Can’t get out anyway, what’s the point of hoarding it?"
"What now?" No evil spirits here, but they had no other solution either.
"All we can do now... is wait for dawn."
"The temperature difference in this damned place is so huge—after sunrise, the ice at the exit should melt quickly. That’ll be our chance to escape."
"When the storm ends, won’t the evil spirits come out as well?"
"That’s why we only have a split second; the moment the ice melts, we need to run!" a person said, sharing his idea.
"Ha, if I wait for daylight, I’ll freeze to death first."
At these words, silence fell over everyone.
Ding Ning stood atop the castle, expressionless, gazing at the scene below.
The wind and snow in dungeon number 9 had triggered frenzied discussion in the livestream chat.
On camera, under swirling snow, even the moonlight seemed to fade.
Snow was already piling up on the ground. Just as they’d said—dawn might bring an opportunity, but before dawn, any one of them could freeze to death in the night.
[This temperature change is insane! How do you even defend against it? Am I supposed to wear a down jacket inside?]
[It’s too awkward to go anywhere in something that thick, isn’t it?]
[Looks like next time we should prep heated thermal underwear.]
[How long could you last? Dragging so many power banks would be such a hassle.]
[Mostly, I feel like this cold is more than any heated gear can solve.]
...
Countless people were murmuring in the barrage, everyone convinced the storm was caused by the exposed exit.
The appearance of the escape route was what made the temperature in the dungeon so unpredictable.
Every dungeon played differently; before this, dungeon 9’s exit hadn’t been discovered, so nobody saw this coming.
Staring at that frozen escape door, the survivors pressed even closer.
They clung to the spot, never daring to leave for fear of missing their chance to escape.
"Hey brothers, shouldn’t we rotate the outer ring? You can’t just let me block the wind for everyone."
There were only a few dozen people. The ones on the outside started voicing their dissatisfaction.
No one in the center responded—they kept their heads down low.
Only an idiot would give up their spot in the middle now.
"Hey!"
One person on the edge stood up and reached in toward the center.
But the instant he moved, a gunshot split the snowy night.
The survivors’ hair was shaken free of much of the gathered snow.
Sister Xia leaned into Li’s ear. "Sorry, Li. Sis just can’t take it anymore."
She and Li squeezed together. Before anyone realized where the shot came from within the crowd, she reached for the music box hidden in Li’s coat.
Warm blood soaked her palm—a rare warmth in this frozen hell.
While everyone was still stunned, she quickly stripped Li’s jacket.
Once they realized the gunshot had come from her, she was already tugging off Li’s inner layer too.
In one move, she slipped both layers on, Li’s leftover body heat warming her instantly, the thickness dispersing some of the cold.
Sister Xia looked at Li’s body sprawled in the snow, reached out, and touched the blood at his wound.
She sighed in regret; now that he was dead, his blood was rapidly cooling.
Gun in hand, she glared at the others, found herself another corner and squatted down, tense and wary.
"You bitch!" someone lunged at her in fury.
"Stay back. If you don’t look out for yourself, the world will crush you." She took out the music box. Don’t push me to the point of mutual destruction.
The dungeon’s props can be used twice per day—any more than that, and you burn your life’s energy instead.
With life as fuel, you get two extra uses.
She stared fixedly at the dungeon’s exit; ever since she threw away the lighter, she’d made up her mind—to take Li’s music box.
That way, when the exit opened, she could use one last chance to trap the others—make her desperate escape.
