N-A-A Chapter 30 Heavy Snow
Chapter 30 Heavy Snow
Lu Siye looked at the uncle, and his gaze changed.
It wasn't the same kind of scrutiny of strangers as before; it was something else entirely.
The gaze of something that shouldn't be here.
His right hand curled slightly, and purple light gradually gathered.
That dream just now felt so real.
It looks so real, it doesn't seem like I made it myself.
Those images, every detail, were so clear as if they had just happened yesterday, abnormally clear.
He had many dreams about the past, but none of them were like this.
Never before had I felt like an outsider standing in God's eye, seeing everything clearly.
He could see clearly even things he hadn't noticed at the time.
The middle-aged man leaned against the edge of the pool, his expression calm, even with a hint of a smile.
"You are not an ordinary person."
Lu Siye said.
The man neither denied nor admitted it.
"Xia Lan?"
Baozi asked.
"No, Xia Lan doesn't have this function."
"Invading minds, that's like Zero's fighting style."
Baozi's hand has already been lifted out of the water.
He leaned forward slightly, blocking Lu Siye and the uncle.
It wasn't intentional; it was an instinctive action to protect one's companion.
The uncle stared at the faint yellow light emanating from the steamed bun's palm for a moment, then looked away.
He didn't make any defensive or offensive moves; he just leaned there, motionless and unperturbed.
"Do you think," the older man began, "that you are qualified to become the Four Symbols Warriors?"
Lu Siye and Baozi exchanged a glance.
Four Symbols Heroes.
The word sounded so out of place coming from a stranger who had just invaded their minds, like hearing someone discussing quantum physics in a market.
"What's it to you?" Baozi said, the light in his palm shining even brighter.
The uncle smiled.
"That really has nothing to do with me," he said. "I was just asking. Old people get curious."
He stood up, picked up the towel from the rock, slowly dried himself, and put on his clothes.
His movements were very natural, not at all like someone whose secret had just been exposed.
After he finished dressing, he turned around and glanced at them.
"Go out."
Then he turned and left.
Lu Siye and Baozi were left soaking in the hot spring, looking at each other in bewilderment.
"Who exactly is he?" Baozi asked first.
Lu Siye shook his head.
His mind was racing, going over every detail related to the uncle from last night until now.
Outgoing and friendly.
Talkative but not noisy.
What they said makes sense, but it's not something just anyone could say.
His physical fitness is beyond that of an ordinary person.
Open a gym at the foot of a snow-capped mountain where nobody comes.
It can invade other people's minds, reveal their deepest obsessions, and then sit by and watch like a bystander.
"Not Xia Lan," Lu Siye said.
"It's not zero either," Baozi said.
The two of them fell silent at the same time.
It's not Xia Lan, nor is it Zero, so what is it?
The phone rang at that moment.
Baozi paused for a moment, then pulled her phone out of her pocket by the pool. She glanced at the screen, and her expression changed.
"Xiaoman" (Grain Buds).
He answered the phone, but before he could even speak, a chilling sound came from the other end.
zero.
Baozi's face turned pale instantly.
He pressed speakerphone, and Xiaoman's voice came through the phone.
"Baozi! Where are you! Come back quickly! There's a..."
The signal is lost.
Lu Siye had already stood up from the water.
Water was pouring down his body, but he didn't wipe it off; instead, he grabbed his clothes and put them on.
His soaked clothes clung to his skin, making him shiver from the cold, but he didn't stop moving.
"Walk."
It was already getting dark when the two rushed out of the gym.
The sun had set behind the snow-capped mountains, leaving only the last orange-red afterglow on the mountaintop.
They ran very fast.
Baozi couldn't keep up with Lu Siye's speed, but he gritted his teeth and ran for his life.
Lu Siye neither waited for him nor shook him off.
He ran ahead, glancing back every now and then to make sure the steamed buns were still behind him.
The hot spring hotel is at the other end of town, about two kilometers from the gym.
They ran the two-kilometer distance in less than seven minutes.
You could see a crowd gathered at the hotel entrance from a distance.
There weren't many, only seven or eight people, craning their necks to look inside, but none of them dared to approach.
Someone was shouting, "Have you called the police yet?" Someone else said, "Yes, we have, they said they'll be there soon." Someone was filming a video with their phone, the flash going off.
Lu Siye pushed through the crowd and rushed in.
The hotel lobby was in a mess, with several scratches on the walls.
At the end of the lobby, at the entrance to the corridor leading to the hot spring area, Xiaoman stood there.
Her hair was loose, draped over her shoulders, with a few strands clinging to her face.
She held a short knife in her left hand, with a dark purple mark on the blade.
A zero stood in front of her.
Not the kind of small zero.
Its body resembles an elongated human figure, standing over two meters tall, with slender limbs.
Ba Ling.
It stood there, blocking the middle of the corridor, its head slightly tilted.
Lu Siye's gaze swept past it and swept into the depths of the corridor.
Wen Ranran is not here.
At the end of the corridor is the hot spring area, from which steam rises, creating a white mist.
Xiaoman saw them, and a glimmer of light flashed in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by tension.
She didn't shout, but simply shook her head slightly, signaling them not to come closer.
"Where's Ranran?" Lu Siye asked.
Xiaoman's lips trembled slightly.
"It was taken away by another one."
Lu Siye's right hand clenched tightly.
He took a deep breath.
Let's deal with this one first.
The steamed buns have already gone around to the side.
He wasn't moving fast, but his steps were light, making little noise as he stepped on the broken glass and wood chips.
Xiaoman also moved.
The blue light in her hand transformed from a ball into a sharp cone of light, pointing towards Zero's chest.
Her positioning was excellent; she and the steamed bun formed an angle, trapping the zero in the middle.
Three people, from three directions, surrounded the Tyrant Zero in the middle.
But they never fought together.
Lu Siye took the initiative.
Lunar erupted, and his body vanished from its original spot, reappearing behind Zero in the next instant.
His right fist, enveloped in a layer of dark purple light, slammed down towards Zero's back.
The fist hit.
But his body remained completely still, and the force of the shock traveled from his fist back to his arm, making his entire arm go numb.
Zero turned its head, and the halo around its face rotated.
Then he flew out and crashed into the wall of the front hall with a loud bang.
A layer of dust was shaken off the wall and fell down in a soft rustling sound.
His back was in excruciating pain, and it took him several seconds to catch his breath again.
Baozi's attack arrived at this moment.
"Earthquake Cloud Collapse Cannon"
His Xia Lan technique is earth-attribute.
A highly concentrated mass of earth-attribute primordial energy burst forth and struck Ba Ling in the chest.
Zero's body only swayed slightly.
It tilted its body slightly to the side, then raised its right hand and aimed it at the steamed bun.
Zero Kill.
"Baozi, get out of the way!"
Lu Siye called out.
Baozi lunged to the side.
Zero Fiend brushed past him and struck the wall behind him.
A large hole was blasted in the concrete wall, and debris flew out and hit a car parked outside.
The roof of the car was dented, and the alarm went off, its shrill sound giving one a headache.
Xiaoman rushed forward while the zero-attack bun was in the gap.
She was much slower than Lu Siye, but her attacks were more precise than his and Baozi's.
"Water Bend Nebula"
The short sword pierced into Zero's ribs, and blue primordial energy flowed along the blade, exploding within Zero's body.
Zero let out a roar, twisted his body, and flung Xiaoman away.
Xiaoman fell to the ground, slid several meters, and only stopped when her back hit the corner of the corridor.
Her dagger slipped from her hand and fell about two meters away.
There was blood at the corner of her mouth, not much, but a trace of red could be seen overflowing from the corner of her mouth and flowing down her chin.
She tried to stand up, but before she could get halfway up, Zero's hand was already outstretched.
Five slender fingers spread out, and purple light shone from their fingertips.
It's not an attack, it's a net.
A net woven from purple light enveloped Xiaoman.
Barrier.
Ba Ling has the ability to release a special zero-force barrier, which will suppress the vital energy and restrict the movements of those trapped inside.
Xiaoman struggled inside for a moment, and her movements noticeably slowed down.
The blue light in her palm dimmed, changing from a bright blue to a pale blue that was about to go out.
Baozi unleashed his Xia Lan technique again at this moment.
A yellowish-brown light exploded on the ground, sending shards of rock flying, but this time Zero didn't even dodge.
It stood there, unmoved as the pebbles pelted it.
Its attention was entirely focused on Xiaoman.
Lu Siye got up from the ground, shook his numb right hand, took a deep breath, and focused his attention on the mark on his palm.
The white box floated quietly in the gray space deep within my consciousness.
He condensed his primordial energy into a needle and pierced a small hole on the surface of the box.
Black mist seeped from his palm, condensing between his fingers and forming a dark purple sphere.
Zero Kill.
He aimed his hand at the Tyrant Zero, no, at the purple barrier surrounding Xiaoman.
A purple orb shot out from his palm, leaving an arc in the air before striking the barrier.
The two purple forces collided, causing the barrier to tremble violently and several cracks to appear on its surface.
Then the entire barrier was covered with cracks like a spider web, and then shattered with a cracking sound, turning into countless purple light spots that dissipated into the air.
Xiaoman stumbled out of the barrier, knelt on the ground, and gasped for breath.
Her face was very pale, her lips were purple, but her eyes were bright.
She glanced at Lu Siye, then at the dagger lying not far away, gritted her teeth, crawled over, and picked it up.
The three of them stood together again.
All three of them were injured, but the Tyrant Zero stood there, completely unaffected.
"We need to change our tactics," Baozi said in a low voice, panting heavily. "We can't win by brute force."
"I'll freeze it," Xiaoman said, her voice a little weak. "You guys buy me some time. Ten seconds, ten seconds at most."
"Its zero-kill is very fast, you won't have time," Lu Siye said.
"So you have to stop it."
Lu Siye glanced at the steamed bun.
Baozi gritted his teeth and nodded.
Lu Siye glanced at the sky outside again.
It was completely dark.
The wind was blowing in from outside, and it was bone-chillingly cold.
"Use the terrain," Lu Siye said, "to lure it outside."
"The open space by the frozen lake offers a wide view, allowing us to see its zero-elemental damage in advance."
"Baozi, use earth element to block its line of sight, so it can't see what Xiaoman is doing."
Baozi nodded.
Xiaoman nodded as well.
Lu Siye made the first move.
Lunar erupted, his body vanished from its original spot, reappeared behind Zero, and kicked it in the back of the knee.
The kick was delivered with full force, but Zero only swayed slightly before turning around, purple light gathering on his face.
He jumped back a step, and Zero Sha brushed past him, just touching the tip of his nose, the heat making his face burn.
He didn't stop, but took a few steps back, made a running gesture, and then turned and ran out of the hotel.
Zero's attention was drawn to him, and she took a step to catch up.
Its strides were enormous, each step equivalent to three of Lu Siyue's, but its speed was not fast; Lu Siyue's Moon Chase was much faster.
Baozi followed behind them, throwing Xia Lan techniques onto the ground as he ran.
Zero stumbled and leaned forward, but quickly regained his balance and shattered the stone slab blocking his path with a single step.
Xiaoman ran at the very back.
She was the slowest; the injury to her right arm hampered her balance.
But she didn't stop or slow down; she gritted her teeth and followed behind, the blue light in her right palm shining brighter than before.
They ran to an open area by the frozen lake.
The open space is on the north shore of the frozen lake. It is a flat, gravelly area, about the size of a basketball court.
Behind you is a pine forest, in front is a lake covered with a thin layer of ice, to your left is a gym, and to your right is a path leading up the mountain.
There were no obstructions or barriers; the wind blew across the lake.
Zero caught up.
It was moving faster than it was in the hotel, probably because it was in an open area without obstacles.
It stopped in the center of the open space, scanned the three people one by one, and finally stopped on Xiaoman.
It could probably sense that of the three, Xiaoman was the most dangerous.
It's not because she's the strongest, but because she's accumulating something that poses a threat to it.
A purple light gathered in its palm, brighter than ever before.
It aims to resolve Xiaoman in one go.
"Baozi, now!" Lu Siye shouted.
Baozi pressed his hands to the ground, his palms touching the frozen, hard soil.
"Earthly Roots - Flying Sand"
The ground began to shake.
Then, around zero, a ring of earthen walls rose up from the ground.
It wasn't a neat, orderly wall, but rather jagged stone pillars.
Together, they form a dense ring of obstacles around zero.
Zero's view was blocked.
Its head turned back and forth, trying to find a target in the gaps between the stone pillars.
But the earthen walls of the bun were too dense; all one could see was a hazy expanse of gray stones and the occasional glimmer of light shining through from behind them.
Zero Fiend shot out from the cracks in the stone pillar.
A purple beam of light pierced through a stone pillar, breaking it in half. The upper half collapsed with a crash, smashing to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.
Baozi's body trembled, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
His Xia Lan technique and his Yuan Qi are directly connected; when the stone pillar was shattered, his body also suffered a backlash.
But he did not let go.
He gritted his teeth and poured more of his vital energy into the ground.
New stone pillars rose up beside the broken old ones, taller and denser than before, completely blocking Zero's view.
Xiaoman has moved.
When she reached the edge of the frozen lake, the lake water had already begun to change under the influence of her vital energy.
The ice cracked, and lake water gushed out from the cracks, forming a swirling current following the direction of her vital energy flow.
The water flow grew stronger and faster, forming a huge whirlpool on the lake's surface. The center of the whirlpool was aimed at Zero, who was trapped in the array of stone pillars in the center of the open space.
Her vital energy was being rapidly depleted.
Her face was as white as paper, her lips were bloodless, and she was trembling slightly, but she did not stop.
"Watery Cliff - Frozen Soul"
The water surged up from the lake surface like a giant water dragon, carrying shards of ice and icy air, rushing towards Zero.
Zero sensed danger.
Its body jerked violently, smashing through the two stone pillars blocking its path, and finally it saw Xiaoman.
And there was that giant wave rushing towards it, carrying pieces of ice.
The circle above its head emitted a purple light, which was aimed at the water dragon.
Zero-kill shot out.
But the stone pillar containing the steamed bun rose up again.
It changed the trajectory of Zero Kill.
The purple beam of light struck the upper half of the stone pillar, causing it to break and the upper half to fall, smashing into Zero's raised arm.
Zero's arm was slammed down, and Zero's attack went astray, grazing the edge of the water dragon and striking the pine forest in the distance.
Several pine trees were snapped in half, and the sound of the trunks breaking carried far into the night sky.
Then the water dragon arrived.
A giant wave, carrying shards of ice and icy air, poured down from above, completely engulfing Zero.
The water began to freeze the moment it came into contact with Zero's body.
The entire water mass froze in an instant, and Zero was frozen inside a huge block of ice, remaining in a posture of looking up at the sky.
Lu Siye rushed forward.
When Yue Zhui unleashed his full power, his body left a trail of afterimages in the air.
He concentrated all his strength into that punch, leaving no room for retreat.
The fist slammed into the ice.
Cracks appeared on the surface of the ice.
One, two, four, eight.
Cracks spread outwards from the point where the fist landed, eventually covering the entire block of ice.
The entire block of ice collapsed at the same instant, shattering into countless tiny ice crystals.
Zero's body disintegrated along with the ice.
The body fragments were scattered all over the ground, bounced a few times, and then turned into a pool of dark purple liquid.
The liquid seeped into the cracks of the gravel ground, into the frozen soil, and disappeared.
The battle is over.
Lu Siye knelt on the ground.
He braced himself on the ground with both hands, panting heavily.
Baozi slumped to the ground, leaning against a stone pillar that hadn't completely collapsed yet.
His mouth was covered in blood; the backlash from his earth-attribute Xia Lan technique was severe.
Xiaoman lay on the edge of the frozen lake, half her body on the shore and half on the ice.
The wound on her right arm had stopped bleeding; it hadn't healed, but rather the bleeding had stopped.
Her right hand was still in the same position as when she released the Xia Lan technique, but the light was gone.
Her lips were moving, as if she were saying something, but the sound was too soft and was carried away by the wind.
Lu Siye supported himself as he stood up.
His legs were shaking, and his back ached so much he couldn't straighten up, but he managed to stand up.
He walked over to Xiaoman, squatted down, and placed his hand on her forehead.
My forehead is burning hot, abnormally hot.
The aftereffects of overdrawing one's vital energy include uncontrolled body temperature, which, if not treated promptly, may damage the brain.
"Don't move," he said. "Rest. I'll call for help."
Xiaoman's eyes twitched, and her pupils focused several times before finally aligning with his face.
Her lips moved slightly, making a very soft sound.
"Ranran..."
Lu Siye paused for a moment.
He stood up and looked at the steamed buns.
Baozi leaned against the stone pillar, her eyes closed, her chest rising and falling, but very little, her breathing shallow.
His vital energy was also exhausted, and he would not be able to fight again for a short time.
The same applies to Xiaoman (Grain Buds).
Both of them were incapacitated; they could barely stand up, let alone fight.
Wen Ranran was taken away by another Zero.
He turned around and walked toward the path leading up the mountain.
"Brother Lu..."
Baozi's voice came from behind.
"You're all alone..."
"You all take a break."
Lu Siye did not turn around, his voice was very calm.
"I brought her back."
He walked down the path.
The road was narrow, only wide enough for one person to pass through, and on both sides were dense pine forests.
The wind blew down from the mountain, stinging my face.
He closed his eyes and let his consciousness wander out.
The art of detection.
He didn't have much primordial energy left, so he dared not use too much. He could only minimize the range of his detection, enough to cover a small section of the mountain road ahead.
There are marks on the ground.
They weren't footprints, but drag marks.
The marks were deep, and the gravel had been turned up.
The trace of zero.
He followed the trail upwards.
The road became steeper, the pine trees denser, and the wind stronger.
The altitude is increasing, the temperature is decreasing, and the air is becoming increasingly thin.
His breathing became difficult, and he had to exert himself to breathe in each breath.
The pain in my back worsened under the influence of the cold air.
But he didn't stop.
The trail turned at a fork in the road, leaving the main road and turning into a narrower path that was almost completely obscured by pine branches.
He crawled inside, and pine branches scratched his face, hands, and clothes, leaving shallow cuts.
He could no longer feel the pain, or rather, the pain had become so intense that his body was numb, and he couldn't distinguish which scratches were from pine branches and which were from the previous battle.
The path ended at a cliff.
It was about 40 or 50 degrees Celsius, covered with a thick layer of snow.
There was a wide skid mark on the snow that stretched all the way to the edge of the cliff and disappeared into the night.
He stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down.
Below is an abyss.
I couldn't see anything, just pitch blackness and the faint sound of wind coming from the depths of darkness.
The wind blew upwards, carrying a chilling smell that sent shivers down your spine.
The smell of zero.
He heard a sound.
It came from below the cliff; it was far away and very faint, but you could hear it.
It was the sound of a child crying, intermittently.
Wen Ranran.
He crouched down, preparing to walk down.
Then he heard another voice.
It wasn't a cry, it wasn't a gasp, it was a buzzing sound.
It was as if something was gathering strength, accumulating energy, and absorbing all the light and heat from the surroundings.
The air vibrated, the ground trembled slightly, and gravel rolled down from the edge of the cliff.
He looked up and saw the purple light.
He didn't have time to think.
There was no time to think about why this zero would do that.
Did they know they had no way out, or did they receive some kind of order?
His body reacted before his mind.
As the moon rose, he lunged to the side, into the pine forest, covered his head with his hands, curled up into a ball, and hid behind a thick pine tree.
Then the world exploded.
Zero Strike struck the snow layer above the cliff and the rock face below it.
The rock face cracked, the snow lost its support, and began to slide.
It started slowly, then got faster and faster.
It carried snow, ice, gravel, and broken wood, producing a deafening roar.
avalanche.
Lu Siye hid behind a pine tree, clinging tightly to the trunk with both hands.
Snow poured down on his head.
It was cold, cold to the bone.
His body was covered in snow, from his feet to his knees, to his waist, and to his chest.
The snow was surging upwards, as if an invisible hand was pulling him down.
He heard the sound of trees breaking, one by one, bones snapping.
Then he felt his feet sink into the ground.
It wasn't the snow that collapsed, but the ground beneath his feet.
The rock he thought was very solid, the one he was standing on, was washed away by the avalanche.
His body plummeted downwards, his hands were torn from the tree trunk, and he was covered in snow as he slid down the cliff.
He can't grasp anything.
His hands scraped across the snow, his fingernails digging into the ice, but the ice was too thin to support his weight and shattered into powder.
His body was accelerating, getting faster and faster.
The sound of the wind rushing past his ears quickly turned into a sharp whistling sound.
It was so fast that his eyes could no longer open, so fast that only one last thought remained in his mind.
Then the back of his head hit something.
A muffled thud came from inside his skull.
A white light appeared before my eyes.
The white light grew brighter and brighter, engulfing all his consciousness.
His body was still falling.
Then everything went quiet.