"That puts my mind at ease." The old man's forehead wrinkles seemed to have lessened somewhat. "What's your name, young lady?"

A short while later, the old man returned and whispered the intelligence to Li Changzhou.

"The owner of this tavern is called 'Della,' who used to be a warrior searching for 'great power,' and later opened a tavern here."

One of the men who had been pulled aside by the old man in the stables glanced at the bar and said, "Della, what a beautiful name."

"Let me remind you again, Andy," the old man said firmly, his eyes fierce. If he had seemed like a playful old man while chatting with Della, he was now like a bear. "When you're out and about, there are three types of people you shouldn't mess with: old men, women, and children, because—"

“Because they are either experienced or possessors of ‘great power.’ Okay, old man, you’ve been saying that to me every day since I joined the team,” Andy interrupted, sounding slightly annoyed.

He suddenly grinned and put his arm around the smallest person in the group: "Tali is a woman, but also a child. Do you think you can scare me?"

Andy burst into laughter, and his laughter was quite 'sociable' in the pub, not disturbing anyone around him at all.

Tali pushed him away: "But my captain is..."

The old man glared at Tali with murderous intent, and under that gaze, Tali felt as if she had a horse's leg stuffed in her mouth, suffocating.

Everyone tried to ward off the chill from outside, while the old man vigorously rubbed his wrinkles.

A short while later, Della herself brought over a huge wooden plate.

"Horse bone soup, roasted horse meat, and flatbread." As she named each item, the corresponding food was placed on the table. "There's plenty of soup; go get it from the fireplace yourself."

The horse meat was piled up, and there were some dried spices to dip it in.

Two jugs of horse bone soup, different in style—the kettles on the fireplace were also of various styles, clearly from different owners, just like the horse meat.

"It's so cold, Miss Della, do you need anyone to help you keep warm at night?" Andy chuckled.

Della smiled.

But before she could speak, the old man growled in a low voice, "Andy!"

Andy pursed his lips, picked up the kettle, and poured himself a glass of water.

"This is horse bone soup?!" Andy exclaimed again. "How is it any different from the boiled water I made by melting snow?!"

“Of course it’s different,” Della laughed. “I used the snow from in front of the tavern.”

"Isn't that even worse?! Those who stepped in horse manure might have stepped in this snow too!"

Della shrugged, her gesture effortlessly charming: "Good luck, and may you get to eat the snow I've stepped on."

Just as she was about to leave, Li Changzhou called out to her.

"What is it, my next husband?" Della put down her plate, sat down directly next to Li Changzhou, and gazed at him with her hand on her cheek.

The eyes of those around them, whether intentionally or unintentionally, were all drawn in this direction.

Glancing at the other person's calloused hands, Li Changzhou asked calmly, "Has any particularly beautiful woman visited Fengxue Town recently?"

“Yes, but not recently. I came to Snowstorm Town three years ago.” Della’s watery brown right eye opened and closed slowly, while her left eye stared at Li Changzhou like a corpse.

"Thank you." Li Changzhou took out a block of solid ice from the animal pouch at his waist and placed it on the table.

"Handsome and rich," Della leaned closer, her warm breath brushing against Li Changzhou's still-cold face. "It's so cold, don't sleep alone tonight. I'll tell you a story."

Andy's expression gradually became exaggerated, and he was about to speak.

boom!

The door was kicked open again.

Della remained close to Li Changzhou without moving, her face gradually turning away as her eyebrows furrowed.

As the door opened, a fierce, cold wind blew, causing everyone in the tavern to shiver and curse angrily. Even the old man muttered a few curses under his breath.

But soon, everyone fell silent.

There were more than a dozen people who came in. Some had no heads, some had broken arms, some had no legs, and a few were crawling on the ground.

Della's expression changed, and she slowly stood up, a smile that was not genuine slowly spreading across her face.

Apart from her, there was no other creature in the tavern that dared to move.

“Pat,” Della smiled, “how was the harvest?”

The only man, whose body was intact except for an icicle sticking out of his chest, said somewhat irritably, "Nothing to show for it. We all fell to our deaths when we went down into the cave. What's there to eat?"

They went inside the house.

The kettle on the fireplace boiled, making a sharp sound.

A man near the fireplace was startled.

Pat, and those who were already dead, slowly turned their heads to look at them.

"How come there's a living person here?" Pat asked Della, but his eyes remained fixed on the man.

They turned around and walked towards the man.

"...Help, help me!" the man screamed hoarsely.

No one paid him any attention. The rest of the people remained motionless, like frozen ice. Li Changzhou's gaze shifted slightly as he caught up with the dead.

A corpse lying prone on the ground, its body broken in two, suddenly looked at him.

Li Changzhou felt the person next to him suddenly catch their breath.

"Help me!"

The man stood up, shouting and yelling, and looked away from the corpse on Li Changzhou.

The corpses walked slowly forward, knocking over a living person along the way. The living person fell stiffly to the ground, like a sculpted statue.

The man being stared at by the corpse had his facial muscles twitching violently with fear.

“You…you…” The man looked around at all the living people in the tavern, his eyes bloodshot, his expression gradually becoming ferocious.

Li Changzhou was very familiar with this look; he often saw it when he was in charge of organizing the Earth.

The look in their eyes that says, "Once arrested, there's only the death penalty, so they indulge themselves and try to drag as many people down with them as possible."

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