Yin Zhu stayed in the Snow Woman's dream for three days, while the cat stayed in the Snow Woman's dream for a full week.

This was beyond Yin Zhu's expectations.

She thought that Nekomata had long been accustomed to the dark and gloomy ghost world, and that his biological clock should be more normal than hers, but she did not expect that Nekomata's perceived time would pass even faster.

Logically, time should only seem to fly when you're experiencing something happy, right?

Thinking about this, Yin Zhu suddenly realized: it was because the environment in the Snow Maiden's dream was harsh that the cat had the illusion that time was passing by in an eternity. Even though not much time had passed, her body felt like several days had gone by.

After figuring it out, Yin Zhu briefly explained the principle to the cat again.

"So that's how it is..."

The cat lowered her head and pondered for a moment before slowly recounting what had happened after she got lost from Yin Zhu—after emerging from the snow, she shook off the snow and headed towards the icicle forest.

The difference was that the cat jumped directly onto the icicle without being noticed by the woman in white.

Because of their previous experience of entering this place, the cat always remembered the trouble she and her friends had encountered. She knew that once they entered the snow village, the snow outside would become thicker and thicker, and they would want to stay in the snow village for a long time. So they simply jumped to the top of the icicle and waited for the false snowstorm to stop as soon as possible.

In Maoyou's memory, she stayed here for half a month the first time, and the wind and snow naturally dissipated.

Yin Zhu suspects that other monsters traveling with Nekomaru inadvertently caused Shirayuki Emi's death, which stopped the snowstorm. Nekomaru, who missed the whole thing, mistakenly believes that enough time will pass for the snowstorm to end.

To verify this, Yin Zhu specifically confirmed with the cat, "When you were first trapped, didn't you notice the seventh rule?" Yin Zhu was referring to the final rule of the Snow Woman's domain: [When someone's life comes to an end, the snowstorm will cease, and that will be your only chance to leave.]

The cat's eyes narrowed slightly: "Of course we noticed. At first, we thought it meant killing the villagers, since they all smelled human."

After all, cats are monsters.

"As a result, the guy who killed the villagers was instantly frozen into an ice pillar. At the time, a woman named Snow White was shouting, 'Don't hurt them!'" Nekomata's expression was somewhat frightened. "We ran out of the village, but after walking for a while, we returned to that village. But can you imagine? The villagers who were killed in that village—they actually came back to life!"

Yin Zhu nodded, she could totally imagine it.

This is what the map looks like after the update. All the NPCs have respawned and are exactly the same as before.

“We also had monsters who suspected it referred to ourselves, but so many monsters died along the way, yet we didn’t see any changes at all.” The cat recalled that story, his tone full of bewilderment.

Strictly speaking, the cat has never managed to escape on its own.

Whether then or now, Neko is always carried by her teammates, with the pros carrying her to victory, while she, as always, crouches atop the ice pillar, waiting for the opportunity to escape.

Yin Zhu carefully considered the importance of her information and finally decided to tell Mao You about the Snow Woman's situation: "Actually, escaping from the Snow Woman's realm is not simply about killing time. It's because we are in the Snow Woman's dream. She keeps reminiscing about her wonderful life before she became a Snow Woman. Only when she wakes up will the wind and snow briefly stop. So we need to push the stagnant time in the Snow Mountain Village forward so that we can escape."

For Yuki-onna, being awake was too painful, so she preferred to sleep eternally. However, because of her resentment towards humans, she became a snow fairy and could not leave this world forever.

There's no need to tell the cat about that.

After all, most of the demons and monsters in the ghost realm have stories of great suffering and hatred. Pure demons are a very small minority; most are ghosts and monsters born after enduring hardship and suffering.

Putting aside other things, the cat demon in front of Yin Zhu alone had experienced the fate of being harmed by humans, then killing humans in retaliation, being abandoned by the mountain god, and finally becoming a ghost. For Yin Zhu, these ghosts were basically all more miserable than her, with no limit to how miserable they could be, so there was absolutely no need to compare who was more pitiful.

If I had to say, they were both quite pitiful, and also quite terrifying.

Their fate is pitiful, and their existence is terrifying because they have become a nightmare for humans, often feeding on them.

"So that's how it is..."

The cat then gestured for the others to stand further away, stepped out of the pool, and then performed a rapid shake of its fur that made the entire cat appear blurry to the naked eye.

In an instant, water droplets flew everywhere, splashing and splattering all around.

The woman in charge of hygiene at the pool quickly prepared a mop and went over to wipe up the water stains to prevent other guests from slipping on the wet floor.

Next, it was lunchtime, which I will skip.

Clutching the milk cup provided by the hot spring resort, Yin Zhu followed the cat demon happily to the office where Hua Ji was.

Of course, "office" is Yin Zhu's term. It's an additional high-rise building with a sign that reads "Floral Tower" at the entrance. It's not connected to the hot spring resort. It occupies a large area and seems to have many rooms connected together. It's also very spacious, about three or four stories high, so there's no need for the cat to shrink its body to enter.

Even if it's a little small, the cat can probably still get in, since cats are liquid.

However, the cat shrank slightly this time, transforming from a giant cat into a large cat only one meter tall. It lowered its voice and said to Yin Zhu, "Hana Hime is also a very dangerous great demon. You should be careful to use polite language when you speak, and don't provoke her."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!