"After all, the homeowners are all dead."

Her icy blue eyes flickered. Shen Xue didn't seem to want to talk about this. She just rummaged through a pile of charred weeds, found an oil lamp with a broken casing, lit it with a tinderbox, and then went into a stone house that was probably a kitchen. She pushed aside another pile of weeds and lifted up the exposed stone slab.

"This is it."

The deep snow raised the oil lamp, illuminating the surrounding environment for us to see.

In the blackened stone house, the traces of life from the past have faded, leaving only an empty space filled with ashes and dust, and a passageway with a downward-sloping stone staircase that can only accommodate one person at a time.

"You seem very familiar with this place. Are you sure no one will notice?"

“No, I’m sure of that.” Miyuki nodded. “For some reason, people in the city usually avoid this place. Only occasionally do homeless people or children wander in, but they are driven away afterward, and a wall has been erected at the entrance to block them out.”

"Moreover, I made a point of checking before I came, and at least before I opened this stone door, I didn't find any other footprints near the ashes."

This is almost identical to what I just saw.

Shen Xue added, "Besides that, there's another point that ensures the safety of this secret passage. As far as I know, it actually ends at a heavy sliding hidden door, which connects to the very center of another secret passage. Unless someone notices something unusual or keeps walking along the wall cautiously, it's practically impossible for them to find it."

"Aren't there still those wild mages in the city?"

I said, "Although we don't know their skill level yet, as long as we have keen senses, we can find that hidden door by exhausting all possibilities, right?"

At least I can do it when I'm serious.

Although concentrating perception and penetrating the obstruction of objects is somewhat costly, it is actually not a difficult or mysterious technology.

In response, Miyuki gave me a complicated look: "...Sometimes I really don't know if you're really that amazing, or just too slow-witted."

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"...It's nothing. In short, unless the Frost Tower people get involved, those guys who can't even start a basic fire won't amount to anything."

That's when I remembered that there are things like mage towers in the north.

Indeed, there are only two mage towers still in operation on the mainland. One is the Frost Tower located on the northern snowfield, and the other is the Prophecy Tower on Yong'an Island, which I heard from employees in my family's workshop.

We academics, who spend most of our time in the safe zone south of the mainland, even the teachers who impart knowledge, have rarely seen a truly intact pagoda of a monk. At most, we have only learned a few things from miscellaneous books that have been passed down from more than a hundred years ago.

As for Frost Tower... if I remember correctly, the one who went to the Wan Jin Merchant Guild Auction House to search for a replacement for the lost [Heart of Frost] was the current tower master of Frost Tower. And before the beast tide arrived, he hurriedly returned to the tower to resist the impending cold wave.

Although it was only a brief encounter, the image of the other party unleashing a magical ring to attack the thieves and creating a massive iceberg in the center of Piss City at night remains vivid in everyone's memory. It's unclear what the situation is like over there now, whether the cold wave has subsided, or if anyone is taking advantage of the free time to wander aimlessly through this city.

Let's put such distant matters aside for now.

All we can say is that even if this happens, we can only try to take it one step at a time.

If all else fails, I'll do what my mentor did and just pull the door open to go back to the miniature garden. Anyway, I've already recorded some scattered safe coordinates inside and outside the city, so I shouldn't end up bumping into trees or walls. Next time I come here, I'll just be careful not to get caught.

After waiting a moment for the lingering musty smell at the entrance of the secret passage to dissipate, Alice jumped in first. After taking a few steps inside and confirming that there was no danger, she turned around and waved to us.

"Come down! There's only one road here."

"It's very dark inside. Can you see anything?"

Illuminated by the oil lamp, I followed her carefully into the room, when suddenly I felt a pair of hands reach out from in front and quietly pull my right hand.

Alice, who had half-turned her head, seemed to be grinning, but her eyes, barely adjusted to the darkness, could only make out faint outlines and those eyes that seemed to be faintly glowing: "Hehe, you underestimate me. My eyes are different from yours now; at least this dark environment has no effect on me at all~"

"That's really impressive."

"Hmph, so Master, just come with me without worry. I'll point out where you need to be careful... Ah, here, here! Watch your step! There's a small patch of ice here, probably formed from water leaking out above."

As instructed, I tentatively stepped on the ice with my front foot and indeed felt a slight chill and slipperiness from the sole of my foot. Fortunately, I was prepared and did not fall. Instead, I used the slight force from the front to lightly step across the ice.

"Actually, we can be considered safe here."

The last one to follow, Miyuki, seemed to have changed her disguise again before covering the stone slab. It was quite a while before we heard a dull closing sound from behind, followed by the approaching lights: "The secret passage is a kind of independent space that will not be easily discovered by the outside world. Here, you can use ordinary methods without worrying about being discovered."

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