Split Zone No.13

Volume 3

190 Ice Sculpture Huan Qing

Damn it, she’s getting closer and closer to me.

Nie Zun spoke just when I thought I could no longer bear it and would scream for her to go away.

“Let’s go and have a look outside.” I realized she was gone after he spoke.

The three of us stood up.

“How do we get out?” I looked at Nie Zun with raised brows.

Nie Zun simply shrugged. “I don’t know. Let’s just have a look.”

We started exploring the room again. We tried using MF, but every single object in this space absorbs MF, and there was no way else to pass. There was no exit in sight either.

I wiped sweat off my face. “We’ve been looking around for so long but there’s no exit in sight. Hey, Nie Zun, do you really know where the exit is?”

Nie Zun did not look the slightest bit perturbed. “I don’t know.”

I was so annoyed at this. Gaoqin Jiuye said, “Since we arrived through here, do you think we can go back from here too?” He pointed at a vat of water beside us.

My face wrinkled. “Bro, the water wasn’t boiling when we just arrived. Look at that boiling water now.”

Gaoqin Jiuye shrugged. “We won’t die from being scalded anyway.”

I smiled at him and pointed at the vat. “Good idea, great idea. You’re right, we won’t die from that. How about you jump in first?”

Gaoqin Jiuye glanced at Nie Zun with a mischievous smile. “How about you go first? You’re the strongest here, right?”

Nie Zun looked at that boiling water and said, “It’s too hot, I’m not going.”

A clean rejection.

There’s no way we can stay here forever and wait to turn into mummies. So, after about an hour or so of trying to figure out what to do, we eventually decided to jump into that boiling water.

The pain of a burn and the pain from a cut are different, but the pain of being scalded was the hardest to bear. I don’t think there’s anything that can compare to jumping into boiling water. There was no way to describe this.

The good thing was it didn’t last long before we were back in the icy river. I was overjoyed as I immersed myself in that icy water after being scalded in boiling water.

Even though we were in icy water now, the scalded skin still needed some time to heal. I was sure my tears and mucus would have flowed into the water. It was way too painful.

As I was floating casually in the water, thinking about how we can reach the ice without shattering it, a ray of light appeared in front of us. It looked like we were nearing the water surface.

We looked at one another before swimming towards it.

I asked Gaoqin Jiuye immediately as we broke through the surface, “Why didn’t we think of how to get out from here earlier? We can’t reach the ice here.”

“That’s right.” Gaoqin Jiuye frowned. He touched the ice around us, and to my surprise, the ice did not shatter. Just when I wanted to try it for myself, I realized that Nie Zun was already out of the water and standing on the ice.

Gaoqin Jiuye stretched a hand towards me. “What’re you blanking out for? Don’t you find it cold?” He then pulled me out of the water with him. Gaoqin Jiuye let me go as we reached the ice, looking slightly disgusted.

I glanced at Nie Zun and found him staring at me. What’re you looking at? I then happened to look at the icy surface, and I ended up scaring myself.

My face, neck and skin were all wrinkled and broken. It was also extremely red. I looked just like a female ghost. That was the result of being scalded.

I looked up angrily at the two of them with perfect-looking skin. “How did you guys heal so quickly...”

Gaoqin Jiuye shot me a look. “Don’t you know how to use MF to quicken the pace?”

I’m so annoyed. But I still did it anyway. Before long, my skin was as good as new.

“Where’s this place?” Nie Zun asked. This was the first thing he said after he decided to leave that enclosed room. I guess that’s just how he is. He doesn’t talk very much.

I pointed my chin at all the ice surrounding us. “You see it right, we’re in a glacier.”

“It’s really cold here.” Nie Zun looked around. Right. My Nie Zun has become a childish little kid now. Gaoqin Jiuye was not amused as he looked at Nie Zun, as if deep in thought.

“Let’s go towards that glacier, see if there’re any paths over there. We dropped down here through the ground. Look above you, it’s all blue sky. There’s no way we can find an exit above.”

Gaoqin Jiuye looked up at the sky. “No sun again.”

I only realized when he said it that there was no sun here, only an azure sky.

“Let’s go. Take a look in front.” Gaoqin Jiuye set off for that glacier. I followed closely behind. Nie Zun caught up only after he took in the sights around him.

We walked in silence. There was no wind or snow here, but an unnatural cold permeated the air in this bizarre environment. The icy surface below us seemed to continue forever, as if it was a path leading us to a glacial hell.

After walking for quite a distance, we realized that the glacier did not seem to be getting any closer. It seemed as if all our efforts had been wasted. We were still very far from the glacier.

“Why does it feel like this is a mirage.” I frowned as I broke the silence. I could no longer stand this silence.

Sadly, none of them were keen to engage me in conversation. They simply kept their eyes on the glacier in front.

My lips twitched. The Split Zone is weird, the people here are weird. Weren’t these two at loggerheads before? Now that I look at it, they are a great match when they’re together in silence like this.

Two cold, arrogant individuals.

You guys should call yourselves Gaoleng Jiuye and Nie Leng. (T/n: The Chinese character for ‘cold’ is leng, and Li Shen replaced a character in their names with leng.)

As I was still annoyed at being ignored, I realized we had already arrived at the foot of the glacier.

“What’s... happening here.” The glacier wasn’t small, but it wasn’t huge either. It seemed like a fake glacier, looking like a mountain was perfectly encased inside it under that smooth and dazzling exterior.

“It seemed to be so far away, but we arrived here so quickly.” Gaoqin Jiuye smiled mysteriously as he eyed the glacier with suspicion.

“There seems to be someone inside.” Nie Zun pointed a finger at the glacier right in front of us.

I could not see a thing through that shiny and reflective surface ice. I focused MF onto my eyes to see better, and what I saw ended up confusing me.

“Huan Qing... Why is he here?” I pointed at the standing figure embedded in the glacier. Huan Qing was still in his white suit, and it wasn’t easy to spot him in this glacier. Gaoqin Jiuye frowned. “This glacier isn’t hollow. Why would he be frozen in there? And we can see him from here.”

How would I know...

Nie Zun turned to me and asked, “You know this person?”

I nodded. “He’s my friend.”

Nie Zun smiled. “Then let’s get his corpse out of there. He won’t be having fun there alone anyway.” His eyes were gleaming with a wicked expectation as he looked at Huan Qing.

My lips twitched again. He didn’t sound like he wanted to save Huan Qing by getting him out. I wonder if it would be better for Huan Qing to just stay in there... But of course, there’s no way I would let Huan Qing stay here alone in this godforsaken place. So, we had to get him out first.

I lifted my left hand and pointed it at the glacier. “Scorpion Ray, shatter this ice.”

A great weapon would need a cool phrase to go with it. Ever since the Scorpion Ray embedded itself into my arm, I did feel a sort of resonance with it. It had never disappointed me.

A bright light emanated from my left wrist, producing countless needles of light that flew towards the glacier.

I didn’t hope for much at first, since I expected for the MF to be absorbed by the glacier. However, those needles actually pierced right into the glacier. The scene shattered like it was glass.

This isn’t a glacier, it was a mountain of mirrors. The icy surface that enclosed the mountain shattered into pieces upon Scorpion Ray’s attack.

Originally trapped in the ice, Huan Qing’s figure could now be clearly seen.