“Bang—!”
On a snow-covered plain frozen cold, a fist-sized snowball hit a girl squarely in the face.
“Got you! Got you!” A group of boys and girls in the distance cheered, swiftly taking over the ice lake in front of Amai and sliding across its frozen surface. “Get lost, little cripple! This is our practice spot!”
Amai brushed the snowball off her face. She looked no older than thirteen or fourteen, dressed in patched-up clothes, but her spirit was no less fierce than those strong boys. “I found this spot first! Why should I leave?”
“Your leg’s like that, and you still want to practice the Ice Dance? Can you even jump? Can you even slide?” The kids laughed and pointed at her. “What if you mess up during the Royal City performance? Want to get everyone killed? Be realistic and quit early. Pack up and head back to your old home planet!”
“You, you…!”
“You what, huh? Little cripple stuttering again— stutter! Stutter!”
Amai’s chest heaved violently. Suddenly, she bent down and scooped up a handful of snow, throwing it with all her might at them.
Ignoring their screams and curses behind her, she limped away swiftly as if chased by a pack of fierce ghosts.
After more than ten minutes, the girl stopped panting in front of a wooden hut. Perhaps feeling a sense of safety here, she bit her lip and lowered her head to wipe her eyes.
At that moment, a sudden gust of wind swept across the snowfield, bringing with it an unusual aura. Even the surrounding snow pines shook their branches.
A chill gust blew into her collar, making Amai shiver. She looked up, puzzled—
What she saw was extraordinary. Above her hut hung a half-transparent, eerie vortex she hadn’t noticed before.
The vortex whipped the wind and snow into a frenzy, distorting and twisting the light around them.
This sudden anomaly was unlike anything she had ever seen, abruptly cutting off Amai’s sobbing.
In the next second, the vortex twisted and spat out two people!
Amai’s mouth gaped open as a man dressed like a cowboy fell first, landing squarely on her hut’s roof.
“Crash—!”
The entire hut shook violently, then the man let out a painful cry as he tumbled through the large hole he’d smashed in, falling inside.
“Is this your house?” A clear, calm voice came from beside her.
Amai turned to see a boy with golden hair and golden eyes who had floated down lightly beside her, looking at her with a friendly expression— a boy younger-looking than herself, with a strangely shaped cat perched on his shoulder.
Though he wore a simple white robe, he looked nobler than any aristocrat she had ever seen. It was as if he illuminated her barren and dilapidated home, making it glow with grandeur.
More importantly, those golden eyes seemed to hold a mysterious power that made Amai’s heart skip a beat. She couldn’t even form a word, dazed and unable to look away.
“Ow, that hurts like hell…” A low, lazy voice came from inside as the cowboy-dressed man rubbed his head and pushed the door open.
Beiyuan followed the voice and gently hugged the Yan King, who was whining from the cold. Slowly stroking his fur, he asked ambiguously, “So she escaped?”
Amai, still stunned, didn’t understand. But Sinsid clearly knew what he meant.
The man picked up a spider leg clenched tightly in his hand, glanced around, then clicked his tongue with disdain. “She must have chosen to break off her leg and escape halfway. I should’ve caught her, but she slipped away.”
“Not your fault,” Beiyuan shook his head. “The spatial turbulence inside the vortex is really unstable. I suspected it when I went in.”
The vortex’s interior felt like being tossed in a washing machine. It was hard to distinguish anyone, let alone the Ghost Spider Lady.
Thankfully, Beiyuan now had some experience from this attempt.
Next time, he’d fare much better… though hopefully, there wouldn’t be a next time. This roller coaster was not for him.
“She’s good at hiding, and her aura is even weaker when severely injured,” Sinsid rubbed his chin. “But I’ve been fighting her for years. If her landing spot isn’t too far from us, I can definitely track her down.” He smiled slightly, weighing the spider leg in his hand, already forming a plan.
Beiyuan understood and looked around at the tall snow pines nearby.
The towering trees took root in the vast white snow. Occasionally, the sound of falling snow echoed from deep in the forest, the snowy world cold and silent.
This was clearly no longer the Western Corridor Plains, and perhaps… not even within Wanzu Li anymore.
Beiyuan had a vague premonition but wasn’t certain. He asked Sinsid, “How do you plan to find her?”
Sinsid: “I’ll use this leg as a tool.”
Beiyuan: “How long will it take?”
Sinsid estimated, “Two hours, if there are enough materials.”
He requested wood and stone, common enough in Wanzu Li, but here… Beiyuan’s gaze involuntarily shifted to the little girl present.
Amai had been watching with a look that said, “What are they talking about?” “I don’t understand, but it sounds impressive.” “Should I say something?”
Now that Beiyuan finally noticed her, she curiously and expectantly observed his expression in secret.
Sinsid found this amusing and told Beiyuan, “I’ll go find the materials. You better scout the area. If she’s nearby, we can deal with it on the spot— no trouble at all.”
There seemed no better plan. After a brief discussion, they decided to split up.
Amai glanced around, then back at her fragile hut. She carefully took out the most important storybook inside, then limped after Beiyuan.
“What are you two going to do?” Amai tried to speak to Beiyuan, exhaling warm breath into the snowy air, lowering her voice to be polite.
But she immediately regretted it. She recalled how her grandfather had warned her before leaving the Old Home Planet: the Imperial Star was no ordinary place, especially near the Royal City. One flying stone could kill two nobles out of three people.
These were dangerous people. A single wrong word could mean never coming back.
She also remembered Beiyuan and Sinsid’s extraordinary arrival and felt anew how formidable the Imperial Star truly was.
Those who appeared here were all extraordinary. A lowly poor girl like her couldn’t just meddle and expect to be heard.
Thinking this, Amai slowed her pace, planning to quietly return to her hut.
But unexpectedly, Beiyuan slowed down and waited for her, answering, “We’re going to hunt a prey that’s very dangerous to ordinary people.”
“Oh…” The girl murmured, still confused. “What’s your name?” Though she knew she should back off, the question slipped out.
The golden-haired boy showed no surprise and replied naturally, “Beiyuan.” He glanced at the hesitant girl and added, “Sorry for damaging your house. We’ll fix it for you later.”
Amai’s mouth opened in surprise. “…You really plan to fix my house?”
“Of course. Sinsid is very good at that. He works fast, don’t worry.”
Beiyuan’s spiritual power had stretched to its limit, but he still hadn’t found a trace of the Ghost Spider Lady.
He had to admit she probably risked the spatial turbulence rather than be caught.
Her survival instinct was incredibly strong.
Meanwhile, Amai whispered quietly, “But he doesn’t even have a tool. How is he going to cut down trees…”
Before she finished, she heard the sharp crack of gunfire in the air. The ground trembled, and a nearby snow pine visibly toppled with a thunderous crash.
Amai froze.
Beiyuan glanced towards the sound, muttering softly, “Oops, forgot to tell him to be quieter. We might not even be in Wanzu Li anymore…”
He stopped abruptly and looked at Amai. “Do you know ‘Long Qiaozhong’?”
Still stunned, she instinctively answered, “Of course I do. That’s the most famous landmark in the Saan Clan Royal City. A thousand years ago when the bell tower was built, it wouldn’t ring or move. Then a dragon flew by, swished its long tail, and the bell rang. Ever since, it’s been called ‘Dragon Strikes the Bell,’ said to be only ringable by a dragon.”
“But later, many said it was just a story. Now, it’s just an ancient, stopped bell tower.”
“If you want to visit, leave this pine forest and find the nearest hover station. It’s about half an hour to the Royal City. Long Qiaozhong is in the central district. The tallest building there— you can ask anyone.”
When Amai finished, she suddenly realized she had talked too much.
—Saan Clan Royal City?
That name confirmed it for Beiyuan: they had indeed arrived at the—Real World.
The scenes Beiyuan had glimpsed when the Ghost Spider Lady fled into the vortex were exactly from the Real World.
The bell tower was the most obvious landmark.
Even though Beiyuan had never been anywhere but his desolate star in his previous life, he had seen photos of the tower many times on StarNet and recognized it immediately in the vortex.
“The Real World…” Beiyuan’s expression grew complicated.
Honestly, he had almost fully accepted the role of a Wanzu NPC. Now suddenly back to the place he first knew, he felt a little lost.
The only consolation was that this wasn’t his previous life’s homeland.
There was no familiar scenery here, so although surprised and moved, he quickly adjusted and didn’t let it affect his state.
Half an hour later, after scouting the pine forest and confirming no sign of the Ghost Spider Lady, Beiyuan and Amai returned to the hut.
Sinsid was already there, sleeves rolled up, busy working on the materials he had gathered.
“How’s it going?” Sinsid asked when he saw them.
Beiyuan hesitated briefly before answering bluntly, “No sign of her. But we confirmed one thing: this isn’t our original world anymore.”
Sinsid blinked, then muttered absentmindedly, “I thought so. Some things I’m used to seeing just don’t exist here… Another world?”
“This whole experience is surreal. I need to calm down.” The cowboy’s hand stopped moving. He murmured like reciting a mantra, trying to soothe himself.
Beiyuan gave him some time before asking, “Accepted the fact?”
“To be honest, not yet,” Sinsid smiled bitterly. “But I will soon.” He frowned. “If that vortex really connects two worlds, isn’t that dangerous? Its appearance back then didn’t seem coincidental…”
Beiyuan nodded. “We’ll deal with that later. Have you finished the tool?”
Talking about that gave Sinsid a headache. He groaned, “Still missing a few things. I thought I could manage without them, but now that you say this isn’t our world, finding her is like looking for a needle in a haystack. This leg has to move by itself and lead us to her.”
“…Not impossible.” Beiyuan understood.
Indeed, monsters’ strong regenerative ability sometimes let severed limbs return to the body and reattach.
But the Ghost Spider Lady likely knew the leg was in their hands and wouldn’t summon it herself. They had to figure out how.
“Since it won’t be ready soon, you better help this little girl fix her broken roof. I’ll handle the Ghost Spider Lady.” Beiyuan picked up the spider leg with disdain.
Sinsid nodded, then watched as Beiyuan stomped the leg into the ground. The smile on Beiyuan’s face was perfect— yet chilling.
Sinsid’s hand trembled. Honestly, the only one who could make the world’s best sharpshooter lose control was this unpredictable friend.
“What are you doing?”
Beiyuan tilted his head with a smile. “I’m having a friendly chat with it, so it listens to us.” He ground the leg beneath his foot. “You don’t need to worry. Focus on your work.”
Sinsid: “…Okay.” He didn’t dare move.
Suddenly, a rushing sound cut through the air. Beiyuan glanced sideways just as Sinsid on the roof drew his gun and shot down the incoming object instantly.
They looked at the attacker— a snowball. As it shattered, a letter peeked out.
Following the letter’s trajectory, they saw a group of dozen-or-so kids who had fallen in panic.
Startled by Sinsid’s move, the kids stopped throwing more snowballs and yelled loudly at the stunned Amai, “Hey, here’s a letter from the team leader! He says you’re off the Royal City performance list in ten days. You can go back to your old home! Since you’re not performing, no reimbursement for your return ship. Figure it out yourself!”
With that, they dashed off.