Chapter 262: The Frozen, Gloomy City
Even after the city was frozen over, it wasn’t a completely lightless polar night.
The light source must have been deliberately set up by Nightfall Citadel, keeping people from becoming completely blind.
Still, the overall environment was dim.
And in the various corners of this dim city, two bright red lights would flash from time to time. Though they vanished in an instant, they appeared so frequently it was hard to pretend you didn’t see them.
Faye Yardley rode Bella through the city, soaring up and down to avoid all the red-eyed Frost Beasts.
She didn’t stop until she reached a residential area filled with villas.
Fortunately, while the area showed some signs of damage, it was mostly intact.
It seemed the disaster had struck so quickly that the remaining elderly and children hadn’t had time to cause any destruction.
Faye Yardley wasn’t sure whether to be grateful to the game system or not. If a large number of able-bodied adults had been left behind, suddenly plunged into endless darkness with the onset of the polar night and extreme cold, some would have inevitably stopped following orders. So-called public decency and social norms would have surely been cast aside.
Looking at her own home, Faye Yardley sighed. "I’m going to dig this villa out. You two can go explore the surrounding area."
They had moved quickly, already crossing more than half the city. For now, apart from a few Frost Beasts, there truly was no one else around.
Cole Kensington drew his weapon. "Let’s dig together. This ice won’t be easy to break through."
Eamon, who was still sitting dazedly on the ground, naturally chimed in with his agreement.
Faye Yardley took out Light Wound and began to trace a circle around the villa, slicing through the thick ice as if it were tofu.
Excavating the entire villa was no easy task; after all, it had two basement levels.
If Light Wound hadn’t been so incredibly effective, the difficulty would have likely increased exponentially.
While Eamon lay on the ground in a daze, Cole Kensington had already taken down several Frost Beasts that had wandered over.
The very first one he killed dropped a rhombus-shaped red crystal, which he gave to Faye Yardley.
[Acquired: The Frigid World Ice Crystal ×1]
From that moment on, he took the initiative to hunt Frost Beasts.
Not every Frost Beast dropped an Ice Crystal, but he was guaranteed to get one for every ten he killed, so Cole Kensington’s haul was quite substantial.
He didn’t understand why Faye Yardley was so insistent on excavating the villa; after all, it wasn’t like it would be useful. But her stance was firm, and Cole Kensington knew that as a slave, he had no right to persuade her not to undertake such a thankless task.
So, he figured the best he could do was hunt as many beasts as possible and provide good support.
As for Eamon, that useless rookie... who cared what he was doing?
While the three of them were busily working, the people on the city’s outskirts had been surrounded by Frost Beasts, and a desperate battle for survival had begun.
Meanwhile, after entering the gates of Nightfall Citadel, Ethan Yardley and his group first sent the youngest children to a daycare facility, then took the slightly older ones to Dreamland Park.
As long as one was willing to pay, they could even enroll the children directly in Nightfall Citadel’s schools.
Adults were not allowed to accompany children into the schools or the daycare.
Here, the standard for adulthood across all races was the age of fifteen.
None of their group chose to enter The Frigid World, opting instead to go into Dreamland Park with the older children.
Other than the daycare, which was one-hundred-percent safe, the schools weren’t particularly secure either—not unless a student’s learning ability was so exceptional that it moved the teachers of Nightfall Citadel and earned their special attention.
Otherwise, no one would care if you got bullied.
That was why Ethan Yardley and his group ultimately chose to enter Dreamland Park together.
Over on Zachary Pierce’s side, however, many of the children around the age of ten decided for themselves to go to the schools. They wanted to learn useful skills rather than be constantly protected like helpless kids.
As for the tuition, Zachary Pierce’s group would have to front the money, and the children would try to earn scholarships to pay them back.
Zachary Pierce ultimately agreed to their choice. After all, even if they entered the other attractions, he couldn’t guarantee they could protect the children.
There were some harsh realities the children needed to face on their own. They couldn’t be protected forever.
After much grunting and effort, Faye Yardley finally finished excavating her villa and stored it in her backpack. She felt both exhausted and relieved.
A weight had been lifted from her heart.
Faye Yardley had little interest in anything else here.
On second thought, however, she figured she could go to the old container port and dig up a few shipping containers to take with her.
’After all, if I can take a whole house, there’s no reason I can’t take a shipping container full of goods.’
’It’s freezing out here. The contents should just be frozen solid, not rotten or spoiled, right?!’
"Miss," Cole Kensington said, "we can’t find any more Frost Beasts nearby. Let’s go hunt somewhere else. These Ice Crystals ought to be useful."
Faye Yardley nodded. "You’re right. We should be hunting Frost Beasts."
’But after Nightfall Citadel took over this area, do they really just charge an entrance fee and that’s it?’
’Or will the items we take from here be priced separately when we leave?’
Though she couldn’t figure it out, Faye Yardley decided to head toward the container port anyway.
And, as expected, they gradually began to encounter other people.
Some people might be timid and submissive when facing Frost Beasts and Otherkin, but the moment they encounter their own kind, they find a sudden, inexplicable courage and decide to rob them.
Before Faye Yardley even had to lift a finger, Cole Kensington cut the would-be robbers down.
"Cowards!"
Eamon didn’t quite understand Cole Kensington’s remark.
A cold smirk touched Faye Yardley’s lips. "Yes. Exactly. It’s a mystery how they’ve survived this long."
’We can kill Frost Beasts with ease, yet these people who jump out at us either don’t dare to fight them or simply can’t win. Why on earth would they think we’d show mercy to robbers just because we’re the same race?’
Of course, the forms and strengths of the Frost Beasts varied greatly.
The weakest ones generally wouldn’t initiate an attack, but the stronger a beast was, the more aggressive it became.
Faye Yardley hurled Light Wound like a large projectile weapon. In an instant, the head of a massive Frost Beast was sliced clean off.
Cole Kensington went over and dug the Ice Crystal from the Frost Beast’s corpse. This one was a different, brilliant azure. At the same time, he pulled Light Wound free.
"Hand over the Ice Crystal and that blade!"
A group of people emerged on the roof of a nearby frozen building, glaring at Cole Kensington with malice. The dark muzzles of their guns were all aimed at him.
The expression on Cole Kensington’s face remained unchanged.
But Faye Yardley had already slipped through the darkness, appearing silently behind them. "What was that you wanted?" she asked, her voice chillingly calm. "Say it again."
"Who’s there?!"
They spun around in unison, only to be met by a pair of eyes that shone brightly even in the dim surroundings.
"Who the hell are you?!"
"You want my things, but you don’t even know who I am?" As she spoke, Faye Yardley dodged a sneak attack. In the same motion, her own dagger swung back, slitting her attacker’s throat.
Once the fighting started, Faye Yardley became a phantom in the gloom, her sharp dagger sending them to their deaths one by one.
No matter who you are, when you make a choice, you must be prepared to face the consequences—good or bad.
"Let’s go."
Not long after they had gone, Frost Beasts emerged from beneath the ice and devoured the corpses one by one.