"Damn it! Someone found Ke Er’s location. How? After dousing the campfire, there shouldn’t have been anything noticeable. How did they pinpoint where I hid my daughter?!"
"Where are you going?" Kai grabbed Ou Tao’s arm.
"No time to explain! I have to get back to camp and save my daughter."
"Don’t run off blindly!" Kai said firmly. "Stonehammer Village stays on this snowy mountain for a reason—rich coal and iron deposits lie beneath. The underground is a web of mine tunnels. Mark the spot on the map. We’ll take you through a shortcut. Saves stamina too."
Ou Tao spun around instantly. "Good. You lead the way!"
Suddenly, Ou Tao felt his body grow heavy—not from fatigue. Uncle Rod’s sturdy frame could handle it. What was failing was his real-world otaku body. His brain was utterly drained.
"Sir, your exertion today is critical," the system warned. "Fourteen hours logged in. Since 8 AM: high-intensity snowman herding, a mentally grueling strategy duel with three elites, all-nighter till 3 AM, skipped dinner. Blood glucose at dangerous lows. Hamiyou personnel demand immediate logout. I concur. Risk includes nosebleeds, eye hemorrhage, appetite loss, lethargy—even fainting."
"I can’t log off!" Ou Tao declared firmly. "This ‘cultivation’ state must not break. Stopping now to eat or rest? It’d trigger that post-lunch crash—plummeting cerebral blood pressure, shattered focus. I have to grit my teeth and push through!"
"What’s wrong with him?" Kai frowned. His health bar was full. Stamina maxed. Mana peaked. Yet he looked starved, radiating hollow exhaustion. Truth was, since they met and reached the village, the imposing pressure around him had been fading.
"Are you okay? Once we’re in the mine tunnel, Pink Rose’s revenge won’t reach us—the chief will collapse the entrance. Rest if you’re tired. I don’t get it… your stamina’s full. Why do you seem so drained?"
"I don’t need rest!" Ou Tao roared, yanking Kai by the collar. His strength stat of 70 wouldn’t waver from real-world fatigue. "You wanted to thank me? Then lead the way!"
His unwavering tone deepened Kai’s confusion—yet she found him strikingly handsome. That fierce stance, taken solely to protect others, radiated a strange, magnetic safety. As if he’d shield her from any storm. A quiet impulse stirred in her: *I wish I could stand beside him just a little longer.*
Guided by Kai, Ou Tao reached the campfire site. He didn’t rush forward. Instead, he signaled her to crouch.
Enduring the biting wind, he scanned covertly. The iron sword stuck in the ground was cracked. Scattered cat fur. Over a dozen silver arrows embedded in snow.
The cat spirit girl had fought desperately—but couldn’t hold them off.
Outside Ke Er’s hiding spot, snowmen encircled the area: several plain ones, a few with black-and-white scarves, and over a hundred wearing black scarves.
"This bamboo rabbit was vicious—it tried to bite me!" Ou Tao recalled his first capture. That one lunged at Ke Er too. Ordinary critters wouldn’t.
Ke Er wasn’t just hated by the Bamboo Boar King—*every* ice-type monster targeted her. Likely another quirk of her strange constitution: with no outside interference, nearby ice monsters would prioritize her.
Those snowmen were just passing by… until her presence drew them, exposing her location. But the outer ring of black-scarved snowmen? Too many. Deliberately lured.
Ou Tao leaned closer—then a silver flash erupted. An arrow shot straight before his eyes.
"Good evening, Uncle~"
He looked up. A stunning dark-skinned elf perched on a branch. Black leather armor hugged her curves; hot pants revealed sun-kissed waist, shoulders, and long, toned legs. Jet-black hair fluttered under a ranger’s cloak. *Forest ranger archetype.* How could she wear so little in this frozen night? A high elf trait?
"Why attack my Sword Spirit? What’s your goal?" Ou Tao stood, eyes locked on her.
"Simple." She raised her right hand. A wrist-crossbow clicked into position beneath her sleeve, silver arrow gleaming. "See those 120+ black-scarved snowmen around your daughter? One shot triggers a chain explosion—spawning a level-80+ monster. Even with a hundred lives… she won’t survive."
