Thousandwise’s diary ended there. Pages rustled like dry leaves as Nana Shi flipped on. Most entries were trade ledgers between the Northland and the continent’s states.

“Figures. Even reality catches the bug when a plot drops the chain at the worst time.”

Disgust first, then words. Reality was crap. Nana Shi muttered with half-lidded eyes. Her face stayed an ice mask.

“But from these entries, Host, you can tell the Ice Emperor’s side in the Northland has serious issues, right?” The System caught the tossed diary like a startled sparrow and asked softly. “Got any leads now?”

“I do. They’re still only guesses.”

Her mood was flat as a frozen lake. Nana slid her dead-fish eyes toward the System and raised one finger. “From Thousandwise’s notes, Biyanhan has a problem. Not a small one. The Northland’s politics are a blizzard. As ruler, she’s gone without a trace. It’s hard not to think she was erased days ago, snowed over without a sound.”

“Eh?” The System stared at its host’s serious face, dazed. “That can’t be. We’re talking about the Ice Emperor. She once faced Moragus head-on. Someone doing all that without a ripple? That ghost doesn’t exist.”

“That’s why it’s just one guess.” Nana’s voice stayed unhurried, a slow drip from an icicle. Paired with those emotionless eyes, it made you doubt she was even trying.

The System: “...”

“Think. The sigil-bearers in the Northland and the Ice Emperor vanishing happened almost at the same time. If she isn’t dead, what else fits?”

“You mean... the Ice Emperor got tangled by something thorny?” The quick-witted System caught the thread like a fish biting a lure.

Close, not quite.

“Heh. Few things on the continent can really nettle the Ice Emperor. But few isn’t none. My guess? Someone grabbed a handle on her. Knife at the throat. A threat.”

Otherwise, by what Nana knew of Biyanhan, that woman wouldn’t watch the Northland spiral like a wind-vane in a storm.

One hitch gnawed like cold through boots. What handle could make the Ice Emperor yield? Second, what’s the aim behind it?

If it’s about land or resources, Nana didn’t buy it. The Northland has treasures, sure, but the continent isn’t bare rock.

No one risks angering a hard case even the nations fear, just for a few rare herbs.

And the Northland bites. Day-night swings like a whip. Without the Ice Emperor’s blessing or solid warmth, you can’t last long out there.

If the sigil-bearers came not for land, not for ore, then why?

Her brow knotted. Thoughts spun like snowflakes, then melted to nothing.

“In any case, I’ll relay this to my master first,” the System said, opening its in-brain comm like a lantern in wind.

Half a minute later...

“Huh?... Weird. Why’s Master so slow today?” The System scratched its tiny mental head, frowning. “Is the Northland signal this bad?”

The Master had never timed out before.

“What’s wrong?” Nana Shi, thoughts stalled and going nowhere, leaned in. “Something happened?”

“Mm... no... maybe just bad wireless. Master’s comm isn’t connecting... busy with something urgent?” The System’s small murmur fluttered like a moth, and a jolt shot through Nana’s mind like lightning through a winter tree.

“Damn it. Problem.”

“Eh?! What happened?”

Nana’s face darkened like a sky before snow as she shot out the door. The System, still fussing with its brain-comm, blanked out.

“Host, what’s up? Why the sudden sprint?”

“We took the bait.”

“Hah?” Took the what?

System: still confused ×2.

“What bait did we take?” Everyone was standing right here. Nothing had happened. Right?

“You really are a pig.” Nana threw a glare back, iron on iron. “The sigil-bearers in the Northland are smoke. The real target is the continent.”

“What!” The flip stunned the System like a slap of cold water. It couldn’t catch its breath. “How?”

“They pulled us to this birdless wasteland so they could move on the continent,” Nana said, and in the pause she drew several Amber Talismans from her pocket.

“But the continent still has its rulers.” Even if the Host wasn’t there, it shouldn’t crumble, right? The System watched the talismans burn to ash like falling fireflies and tried to soothe her.

“That’s exactly what worries me.” Her face went storm-dark. “Haven’t you thought their target is Chronos City?”

Half the continent would cheer to see her Chronos City burn.

“But that’s impossible.” Chronos City’s tech defenses are top tier on the globe. Even if those sigil-bearers aimed at it, with Yan Xiao’s research, they can’t crack it fast.

Back in Moragus’s reign, Yan Xiao was called the Smiling Yama by the nations. Her sway nearly matched Nana’s.

And for the six months Nana lay comatose, Yan Xiao kept Chronos City intact. That alone shows her strength like steel under silk.

“But Yan Xiao’s body is a fatal weak point. Everyone knows it—nations, Northlanders, all of them. If a mole already burrowed into Chronos City, then what?”

Silence fell like heavy snow.

If that happens, impregnable tech turns to paper screens. Response plans crumble like sand. Leaderless Chronos City stands naked on the stage. Even without Nana’s words, the System felt the danger bite.

“But these are still just your guesses, Host.” A mole in Chronos City... no way. Before leaving, Nana had purged two waves of traitors. The System refused to believe.

“Then explain the Ice Emperor vanishing in thin air, and sigil-bearers showing up to wreck the Northland at the same time.” Nana stopped on a dime. Her voice went knife-cold, a blade forged in frost. “You don’t really think someone wants a place with only thirty percent usable land, where the mercury hugs minus dozens, do you?”

“It’s a lure-the-tiger-from-the-mountain play.”

“Uh...”

“And remember. I ripped Chronos City from that old undying’s hands. Can I swear he has no lieutenants like Shi Qianshi, who could serve the Queen of Time in silence for a thousand years? I can’t.”

“I’ve been a thorn in humankind’s eye for eight, nine years. Call me a second Moragus and it wouldn’t be wrong.”

“In a world that would love me dead by dawn, you still dare call what I know ‘just guesses’?”

“Don’t kid me. This isn’t children playing house.”

“If Chronos City falls, what about Nesting Phoenix?”

That’s her everything.

Anything that could brush her life with danger—guess or thought—has no right to exist in this world.