novelraw Chapter 857: A Rush
Chapter 857: A Rush
The frost covering the glass obscured the world outside.
When the wooden door opened, a cold sea wind burst into the captain's cabin, waking everyone.
“It’s freezing in here.”
The cold wind stung her cheeks, making it hard to breathe. Katerina had to retreat back into the captain's cabin and shut the wooden door.
After putting on her outerwear and draping a blanket over herself, she opened the wooden door again. Ophelia stepped out of the cabin with her.
Outside the window, shadowy outlines appeared, gradually growing clearer.
Ophelia radiated warmth, melting the frost on the glass, which she then wiped away.
In the distance, the brown earth and a river came into view.
“Yawn... The big boat said it can’t enter the riverbed,” Elder Sister said, climbing out of the hood.
Katerina, returning to the captain's cabin wrapped in the cold wind, added:“The river channel is very narrow. We'll probably have to go on foot.”
The temperature outside was only a few degrees, or perhaps even lower. To continue their journey, they prepared a pot of hot soup to warm body and soul and asked the Trader, Anthony, to bring several sets of clothes—even though Ophelia had said it wouldn't be cold near her.
Just as the hot soup was about to boil, the Trader, Anthony, pulled the clothes and two messages from Vinnelag out of his backpack.
The first message reported that a heavy snowstorm had hit Vinnelag two days ago, destroying numerous houses and resulting in 106 casualties. A cold front was moving south and was expected to reach the Allen Peninsula within the next two days.
Having returned to the Main Continent, they had already encountered the cold front.
The second message was a reply from Moni Alaya, the daughter of Naslam Alaya. She was immensely grateful to Lu Li for delivering her missing father's letter and, along with her husband and his family, invited Lu Li to visit.
“From now on, send one newspaper from Vinnelag each day,” Lu Li said after reading the letter.
The Trader, Anthony, noted this down and no longer spoke of payment.
Perhaps it was when Lu Li became the sole exorcist, or when he realized Lu Li's contribution points were approaching the concept of 'infinity,' that he stopped mentioning the cost of each transaction.
Food, kerosene, clothes—these supplies accumulated in the Trader's 'backpack.' Just in case, Lu Li and the others also took some fluorite and canned food with them.
Lu Li left the black crow on the Andrea. It would watch for the appearance of the misty tide. If the tide appeared, the crow would catch up to them and inform everyone.
After finishing the warming meat soup, they donned their windproof cloaks, took a wooden boat to the shore, and stepped into the wasteland where a piercingly cold wind raged.
Ophelia fully radiated her aura and warmth, which inevitably quickened the clicking of the Mind Level counter, but it also scattered the malicious gazes lurking in the wasteland.
Even Prusius displayed his deformed new tail, following behind Lu Li and Katerina, who looked like heretics in their cloaks, trying to make the team look 'unapproachable' from every angle.
Ophelia's presence made the journey through the wasteland less dangerous. For now, at least, their only obstacle was the blizzard that came with the biting wind.
A howling wind swept across the land, and the slanted snowflakes blurred into white streaks, reducing visibility to just a few dozen meters.
The nearby Hyde River kept them from getting lost in the blizzard as they moved upstream.
Snowflakes landed on them, melting and soaking into their clothes, sapping their warmth. Katerina had already begun to shiver in the blizzard.
Lu Li moved closer to Ophelia and said:
“Ophelia, a little more warmth.”
A dark red glow emanated from the cracks in Ophelia's scorched body, radiating heat like a bonfire.
But in the raging blizzard, even a bonfire would have struggled against the chill.
Only the side facing Ophelia was warm; the rest of their bodies remained ice-cold.
After two hours in the blizzard, they had to warm their frozen bodies in a shelter formed by rocks. Beads of ice, like wild berries, had even formed on Prusius's fur.
After drying their clothes and drinking hot soup to warm their seemingly frozen insides, they stepped back into the blizzard.
They had covered less than thirty kilometers the entire day, and the steadily dropping temperature indicated they were nearing the heart of the blizzard, as well as the approach of nightfall.
There were nearly three hours until evening, but darkness would fall sooner in the blizzard. They had two hours at most.
Thus, they faced a choice: continue on, hoping to find shelter before dark, or stop and head for the village of Poido, located a few kilometers to the east.
“The village, of course! I’m so cold I’ve gone numb...”
Katerina could no longer bear the onslaught of the bitter cold.
Rustle—
Lu Li unfolded the map, the blizzard wrestling with him for it.
Ophelia moved closer, shielding it from the wind and snow.
“We’re going to Poido village,” Lu Li said, folding the map but keeping the compass out.
But even with the compass, they lost their way several times in the blizzard. In the end, the Trader, Anthony, brought them a more detailed map, which they used to painstakingly navigate by landmarks until they finally entered Poido village.
In the dim light, shrouded by the blizzard, Poido village was just a dark silhouette. They entered a house on the edge of the village, escaping the raging wind and snow.
Because of Ophelia, they no longer lit fires, using only two oil lamps and a piece of fluorite for light.
“I hope the weather is better tomorrow,” Katerina said. She had changed out of her wet clothes and was now drying her hair and sipping hot water next to Ophelia, who glowed like a bonfire.
“It might be worse.”
His wet, black hair hung over his forehead as Lu Li read the information sent from Vinnelag.
The snowfall in Vinnelag was ongoing. Scientists had already declared it the first snow of the Severe Winter, after which the land would be locked in ice for its long duration. Anomalies would either hibernate or hunt more frequently.
“It’s better than forcing ourselves to keep going,” Katerina said, pulling off her boots to reveal pale, swollen, and wrinkled feet.
“We need to light a fire.”
Although Ophelia was more useful than a fire, they couldn't exactly roast their feet over her.
The abandoned house had a fireplace. They broke apart tables and chairs, cleared the chimney, and lit a fire.
The fire in the hearth, warmer and brighter than the fluorite and the lamps, blazed to life, and everyone relaxed around it.
After a short rest and a meal, the exhausted travelers fell into a deep sleep, occasionally waking in the middle of the night to the sound of an even more intense and piercing blizzard outside.
The next morning, everyone gradually woke up.
Lu Li opened the door, and a thick layer of accumulated snow tumbled into the room.
White snow covered the ground, and sparse flakes drifted down. In the distance, everything was shrouded in fog.
Before a new blizzard could start, they left the hut and stepped out into the pale wasteland.
The calm lasted until noon, then the blizzard began again.
Despite facing the first blizzard of the Severe Winter, they were still lucky—the Light Stealer hadn't appeared, and neither had the misty tide.
More importantly, their journey was halted in the afternoon by a colossal shadow that emerged from the blizzard.
They had arrived in Rylstein.
Ophelia brought back news that anomalies had occupied the town, so they carefully hid in a hut on the outskirts, waiting for night and the subsequent dawn.
Then, tomorrow, they would be able to reach the Tashufik Excavation Site, known as Sugra-Dno.