"Whooo—"
Frigid wind howled, biting to the bone.
The snowflakes carried by the gale were anything but soft. Shards of ice whipped and swirled like invisible rakes scraping across the earth, carving countless furrows and ridges into the blanket of white.
Cheng Shi shuddered.
His consciousness hadn't even returned before his body began reacting. The unexpected cold set him trembling, muscles contracting involuntarily. It didn't take long before he snapped fully awake.
There were no slls to catch, no sounds to parse — only an endless blizzard roaring and howling its welco to the arriving players.
Cheng Shi opened his eyes. Then imdiately shut them.
No particular reason — too bright.
The sun hung in the sky, yet it resembled the giant phantom sun Hu Xuan transford into: all brightness, no warmth. For a split second, Cheng Shi wondered if this brutal environnt had forced Hu Xuan to reveal her true form.
But on second thought, among the five silhouettes he'd glimpsed... Hu Xuan didn't seem to be among them.
'She didn't match in?'
'No — more accurately, it was impossible for her to match in!'
Cheng Shi frowned, braving the blizzard to pull out a fur cloak. He draped it in front of him and squinted his eyes open. Since the cloak blocked his forward view, he could only see the two figures beside him.
Neither was from the group who'd prayed together monts ago. But Cheng Shi wasn't surprised — under these circumstances, encountering prayer partners would have been the truly bizarre outco.
To his left stood a man with a sowhat wild, eccentric expression. His garnts were resplendent — vivid colors, intricate patterns, high collar, cinched waist, billowing sleeves, and a long robe. With the wind catching his hems, at first glance he looked like he was cosplaying a dieval nobleman.
To his right was another man — fair-skinned, curly-haired, with a refined high-bridged nose. He had a scholarly appearance and wore himself with composure, dressed in an old-fashioned suit that gave him the air of an academic. Yet his behavior was surprisingly lively.
The reason being: Cheng Shi spotted him already atop a low building nearby, prying loose a half-person-length object resembling a lightning rod from the snow-covered rooftop.
Cheng Shi frowned, scanning the surroundings with scrutinizing eyes. Only after taking in the vast, empty snowfield and the buildings of varying heights around it did he realize their spawn point was a plaza. A blizzard-swept plaza.
So what was that broken rod?
He couldn't make out the rooftop details clearly, but his instincts told him it wasn't a lightning rod at all. It looked more like a sundial needle — the kind many ancient civilizations used for tikeeping.
He wasn't certain, but his right-side teammate soon confird it, trudging back through the howling wind while leaning on his "staff," laughing:
"Even if a sundial needle can't be used for tikeeping... pah, it makes a perfectly fine walking stick... ah, pah pah pah, sorry, this wind is brutal...
"Looks like we've arrived in the northern reaches of the Land of Hope. Here's hoping this trial isn't too grueling — wind and snow notwithstanding.
"And what should I call my friend?"
'It really is a sundial needle!'
'So this teammate is...'
Cheng Shi studied this cheerful teammate, gaze sharpening. His left hand — hidden behind the wind-blocking cloak — instantly produced a pocket watch. He glanced at the ti: just past twelve. High noon.
High noon, sun overhead, and yet a blizzard this intense? The weather was bizarre beyond asure. No wonder this teammate had preemptively grabbed a "hiking stick" for self-defense.
The friendly teammate was still approaching. He picked up the pace and extended his hand toward Cheng Shi with a brilliant smile.
Cheng Shi returned an equally brilliant smile but didn't shake hands. Instead, he lifted the fur cloak to indicate his hands were occupied.
"Cheng Shi. Nice to et you."
The cheerful teammate blinked, then his eyes widened:
"Your na happens to be the sa as a friend of mine. What a coincidence! I wonder if you know him — he's a Fate Weaver. Quite famous, too."
Cheng Shi arched a brow: "Oh? Famous how?"
"Ah, so you haven't heard. Hmm, where to begin...
"To properly explain, you first need to know about a certain con artist. Na's Zhen Yi.
"Oh? Judging by your expression, you've heard of her. Good — then we can continue.
"The Zhen Yi you know and my friend have a bit of... that kind of relationship. Yep, your expression is priceless — exactly what you're thinking!
"Ha! Shocked, right? When I first found out, my face was even more exaggerated than yours."
As he spoke, this outgoing teammate actually began scooting closer, seemingly intent on squeezing under Cheng Shi's one-person-sized fur cloak to share cover from the wind.
"..."
Cheng Shi eyed this overly familiar teammate with a bewildered expression.
'Since when did I have a friend like you?'
'When exactly did we et?'
'Who even are you?'
Just as the teammate was about to press up against him, Cheng Shi abruptly stepped back to create distance, then offered a polite smile:
"Unless I'm mistaken, I am the friend you just described.
"So — how should I address you, my 'old friend'?"
"..." Now it was the cheerful stranger's turn to fall silent.
He looked up in bewildernt, blinked several tis, then blurted in shock: "It's really you?"
Cheng Shi's tone grew more teasing: "Why? Have we been apart so long you can't even recognize ?"
"..."
The teammate's smile froze on his face. He awkwardly jabbed the sundial needle into the ground and muttered under the cover of the howling wind: "Not bad looking, but that attitude's just like The Prisoner's..."
Of course, Cheng Shi didn't catch that. He only saw the man mumble sothing, then stand there with a strained laugh.
Sensing no hostility, Cheng Shi breezily let it slide and partially lowered his cloak to peer ahead through the blizzard.
At the windward end of the plaza stood three more teammates. None stood close to each other, and none appeared inclined to change that. They stood motionless in the howling snow like sculptures — so still that if their eyes hadn't been scanning the area, one might genuinely mistake them for newly erected statues.
The gale raged. Snow stung the eyes. Squinting against it, Cheng Shi could only make out their rough silhouettes — faces were impossible to discern. But even from shapes alone, he discovered that among these three were familiar faces!
And not just one, but two!
One "old acquaintance" and one "new friend"!
Standing to his front-left — directly ahead of the dieval nobleman — was the sa burly [War] assassin Cheng Shi had prayed alongside at the Grand Marshal's campsite: Gap Light Iron Thorn, Da Yi!
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