Chapter 49. Snowy Mountains and Rivers ①: Permanent Residence...
Following the crystal-clear, ice-blue tunnel, about 500 meters in, you'll find a hollow cavern the size of two football fields put together.
One side of the ice wall in the cave is so smooth that it looks as if it has been ironed with a giant iron.
The sound we heard earlier was coming from this special ice wall.
Zhou Jie stepped back a few paces, making room in front of the ice wall, and gestured to Lin Xiaoxiao in an inviting manner: "Miss Lin, please help me decipher the sounds coming from this ice wall."
Lin Xiaoxiao subconsciously took two steps forward and could clearly hear a childish voice coming from inside:
'Those nasty people are here again.'
'Freeze them all as before, and let Darlene decide!'
'Freeze, freeze.'
...
The words she wanted to say to get the team out of the cave were still stuck in Lin Xiaoxiao's throat, unspoken.
A burst of intense, translucent blue light erupted from within the ice wall.
In the blink of an eye, everyone except Lin Xiaoxiao...
They were all frozen into ice sculptures, each with a different pose and crystal clear. Even the red-tailed dog in her arms and the treasure-hunting mouse in her pocket could not escape the fate of being turned into ice sculptures.
As the blue light faded, Lin Xiaoxiao lowered her hands from her eyes, her gaze wary. Facing the ice wall, she cautiously slowed her pace and retreated. She had only taken a few steps when she heard:
"Huh? This one wasn't frozen into an ice sculpture."
"How strange, why can't I be frozen into an ice sculpture? Is there something wrong with the spell?"
...
As the sound grew clearer, a dozen or so ice-blue orbs, each smaller than a fist, passed through the ice wall and circled around Lin Xiaoxiao with great curiosity.
As these orbs of light flew, some inconspicuous specks of light fell on Lin Xiaoxiao.
A moment later, her eyelids drooped, and her consciousness vanished into darkness in a very short time.
When she woke up again, she found herself lying in a cozy bedroom, with soft and warm bedding beneath her.
Lying inside, you can't even feel the slightest bit of cold.
Most of the furniture in this bedroom is made of natural wood.
Moreover, most of the furniture is made of wood only on the upper part, while the lower part is made of ice blocks sculpted and pieced together, just like building a comfortable room in an igloo.
Lin Xiaoxiao lifted the blanket and slowly sat up in bed, discovering that the prosthetic leg on her right leg had been removed and thoughtfully placed on the bedside table, within easy reach.
After looking around and finding no danger, she reached for her prosthetic leg, put it on, and nimbly rolled off the bed.
He cautiously observed his surroundings, and only when he saw nothing amiss did he gently push open the wooden door to the room.
Behind the wooden door was an ice staircase carved into a large C shape with an exquisite handrail. Lin Xiaoxiao climbed more than sixty steps up the ice staircase and arrived at a living room of about 50 square meters.
The living room features a chandelier, several cabinets, a soft brown swan sofa, a round coffee table, a colorful wool rug, and a simulated mechanical fireplace, giving it a low-key yet luxurious feel.
Like the bedroom in front, the living room is made of a combination of ice and wood.
"You're awake?" A clear, crisp female voice suddenly rang out.
Lin Xiaoxiao, who was furtively searching for the exit, was so startled that she almost lost her balance and fell to the ground.
Turning my head, I saw a woman wearing a thin, long-sleeved gray-blue dress, with a large pendant and a long necklace around her neck. She had a very cool and refined appearance and was about 1.7 meters tall. She was holding a rectangular tray in her hand.
The woman then placed the tray she was carrying on the large coffee table in front of the sofa and beckoned Lin Xiaoxiao, who was standing stiffly to the side, to come and sit down: "You've slept all day, you must be hungry, come and eat something."
Lin Xiaoxiao stood still, still warily staring at the unfamiliar woman in front of her: "Who are you? Why am I here?"
The woman walked around to the side, sat on the single sofa, crossed her legs, and said with a relaxed and composed posture: "If I wanted to do something to you, I could do it while you were unconscious. There's no need to wait for you to wake up. Come on, eat something."
After thinking about what the woman said, Lin Xiaoxiao realized that it made some sense.
Holding the belief that when you're under someone else's roof, you should learn to bow your head.
She chose to sit in the seat furthest away from the woman. Instead of touching the food on the tray, she took out a dry piece of bread and a carton of milk from her own pocket.
Seeing that Lin Xiaoxiao wasn't eating what she had prepared, the woman just smiled and snapped her fingers.
A moment later, a familiar ball of light appeared, carrying a round tray, and skillfully placed the tray on the small coffee table next to the single sofa.
The woman picked up the black tea from the tray, a smile playing on her lips as she watched Lin Xiaoxiao wolf down her food: "Eat slowly, no rush, it's safe here."
As Lin Xiaoxiao chewed her bread, she secretly glanced at the woman out of the corner of her eye, who was elegantly sitting with her legs crossed, leisurely drinking tea.
After Lin Xiaoxiao had almost finished her bread, the woman drank the last sip of tea in her cup and introduced herself in a gentle voice: "It's a pleasure to meet you, Agent! I am Darlene, a Little Wish Officer who lives in the Ice and Snow Secret Realm year-round."
A volunteer official? Why would I encounter a volunteer official here?
The familiar word made Lin Xiaoxiao stop swallowing and stare blankly at Darlin.
Darlene flicked the rim of the teacup with her finger, and the teacup made a crisp sound.
A ball of light emerged from mid-air, skillfully picked up the teapot, and poured tea for her. Darlene took the teacup and asked in a gentle tone, "Do you want to know why I know your agent's identity?"
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded quickly: "Yes."
Darlene took a sip of her hot tea: "Because you are the most special of all the agents. As long as they have no ill intentions towards you, the divine radiance emanating from you is like a guiding light, bright and dazzling."
The most unique of all the agents?
Does this mean she's not the only representative of a deity in this world?
Lin Xiaoxiao's breathing became erratic, and her heart pounded uncontrollably. She had an almost intuitive premonition that all her previous unsolvable questions would be answered by this wish-granting official—T. Darlene.
Lin Xiaoxiao suppressed the jumble of thoughts in her mind and tentatively asked, "Could you please help me answer my question?"
Darlene playfully bounced her raised foot, a mischievous smile on her face: "Sure, as long as you can afford the payment."
Reward? What reward? The power of faith?
Lin Xiaoxiao tentatively offered a bottom line: "How about 100 points of low-level faith power?"
Darlene extended her index finger, painted with ice-blue nail polish, and gently waved it from side to side in front of her: "Not enough, I need 1000 points of medium faith power."
Lin Xiaoxiao bit her lower lip with some difficulty, as she currently only had 300 points of low-level faith power available.
The 10,000 points of medium faith power in Task 3 are locked until the task is completed, and cannot be used at all.
He pondered in his heart what else, besides the power of faith, he could exchange information with Darlene.
Darlene rested her hand on her cheek, a mischievous smile playing on her lips, watching Lin Xiaoxiao's distress with an air of schadenfreude.
Suddenly, Lin Xiaoxiao remembered a resource she had obtained from the gambling market.
She looked up and said to Darlene in a firm tone, "I offer you 200 points of low-level faith power and 20g (diamond-grade) of ice fragments to answer my question."
Darlene remained unmoved when she heard about the power of faith, but when she heard about the ice fragments, her pupils involuntarily contracted.
It was that brief moment of pupil contraction that Lin Xiaoxiao, with her sharp eyes, noticed.
As she prepared for the next transaction, her mind instantly calmed down. Just that one contraction of her pupils, coupled with the right words, gave her at least a 60% chance of success.
Darlene waved her hand dismissively, "That's not enough. I've changed my mind. I need 3,000 points of medium faith power. If you can't come up with that, then this deal can't be done."
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded after hearing Darlin's conditions.
Then, supporting himself on the sofa, he slowly stood up, making a gesture as if preparing to leave: "I'm sorry, I can't provide the faith power you need. Please tell me the location of the exit, and I'll leave!"
The two remained in this stalemate for more than ten minutes, one standing and the other sitting.
Lin Xiaoxiao felt a dull swelling and stinging pain at the point where her right leg came into contact with the prosthesis.
Darlene, sitting opposite, seemed to admit defeat and waved her hand helplessly: "Fine, we'll stick to the conditions you gave me before: 200 points of low-level faith power and 20g of ice fragments as the terms of the trade."
Seeing that Darlene agreed, Lin Xiaoxiao, holding onto the edge of the sofa, breathed slightly and shakily sat back down in her original position.
The conversation that lasted for more than five hours resolved Lin Xiaoxiao's previous doubts.
Why would Mao Chang envy her for having a broken leg? Because it's a necessary prerequisite for becoming an agent.
The body parts that were taken away were the necessary price to establish a connection with the gods.
The more bodies that are taken away, the more it represents the gods' high regard for them.
The gods will keep an eye on the agents who are valued (just like before, when Lin Xiaoxiao was deep underground and the goddess appeared to rescue her).
As for the three identities of Wish Officer, Attendant, and Servant: only the Wish Officer belongs to the ranks of priests. As long as they regularly pay a 'appropriate amount' of offerings, they can rely on a portion of divine power for a long time.
Followers are selected by completing designated tasks and bear the curses of the gods. They not only have to offer tribute regularly, but also need to find suitable conditions to break through the curses. Only by upgrading to a Wish Master can they get rid of the endless curses.
Attendants: A race on the verge of death, who gain powerful divine strength by sacrificing their own souls and signing a slave contract. After overcoming their predicament, they are assigned to work under the Wish Master until they gather enough resources to redeem the contract, thus gaining the stepping stone to becoming a follower.
Divine agents are different: they have no mission requirements, the gods will come to their rescue in times of danger (at a cost), they can make some decisions on behalf of the gods when necessary, and they can borrow the power of the gods when they reach a certain level.
The agent is also known as God's favorite.
As for why Lin Xiaoxiao only had a vague understanding of many things after becoming the god's agent, we have to talk about the strange actions of the previous [treasure chest merchant] (agents).
[Special Analysis: The Treasure Chest Merchant profession has always been an agent of Lady Luck; once you acquire this profession, it will automatically level up!]
A normal successor would seal away their basic skills, memories, instructions, legacy, etc., after passing away, waiting for the next successor to inherit them directly.
However, the [Treasure Chest Merchant] class has a unique skill that allows them to put everything into treasure chests, package them as goods, and sell or trade them.
But then a few oddballs appeared: a love-struck fool who would give everything for love, a gullible idiot who believed everything he was told and was easily manipulated, a fool who was kept in captivity and used as a treasure trove, and a coward who would agree to anything when threatened.
Four unreliable "predecessors" in a row have caused Lin Xiaoxiao, the new agent of the gods, to not only have a knowledge gap, but also to lose her professional skills as a [treasure chest merchant] to the point where she can only sell basic daily treasure chests.
Not to mention the support spirits that create and repair items...
Then came the questions about the secret realms. Lin Xiaoxiao learned from this Darling Wish Officer that many secret realms of S rank or higher were actually hidden in the dark.
The reason why those secret realms have not yet been exposed is because there are many followers and servants moving around in them to maintain them.
The secret realms that occasionally come to light are all places that humans discovered accidentally and were forced to open to the public.
As for secret realms below grade B, there is absolutely no need for maintenance; they are simply left to develop unchecked until they reach grade A, at which point someone will take over management.
Towards the end of the conversation, Darlene was almost at a loss for words because Lin Xiaoxiao was asking her questions, as she didn't know the answers to some of them.
For example: the origin of the world's hidden realms; how many divine agents are there in this world; how many wish-granting officials are there...
During this time, Darlene casually revealed the reason why she was in this secret realm: 'The reason I've been living in this A-level secret realm is because it's particularly suitable for raising ice and snow elves.'
'The reason I agreed to the deal with Lin Xiaoxiao was because the Ice Soul Fragments could accelerate the cultivation of the 'Ice and Snow Sprite'.'
Finally, when asked about her frustration, Darlene almost impatiently exchanged contact information and then kicked Lin Xiaoxiao out of her residence, saying bluntly, "Get out of here, don't delay my breeding of ice and snow elves."
When Lin Xiaoxiao was kicked out, she still had the audacity to use her remaining 100 points of low-level faith power to exchange with Darlin for two mature, but mediocre, [Ice and Snow Elves].
Then, she stood in the blue light and floated upwards along the ice-blue passage.
I don't know how much time passed, maybe a minute, maybe three minutes, before I passed through a thin, jelly-like film.
Lin Xiaoxiao returned to the familiar hollow cave, where her teammates were frozen into ice sculptures, as well as the Tide Squad.
She turned to the elves who had come up with her and nodded: "Please restore them to their original state."
One of the little elves dispelled its light and floated to eye level with Lin Xiaoxiao. Its tiny arms were crossed over its chest, its chin slightly raised, its small face filled with arrogance and impatience: "They can be restored, but I will erase some of their memories. Miss Darlene hates being disturbed!"
Lin Xiaoxiao fully agreed with the elf's solution: "Good."
After learning of the existence of these elves, she roughly guessed the target of the Tide Squad, which was most likely: these 'ice and snow elves' that could increase the attack power of water and ice mages and grow together.
Asking her to come and decipher Elvish was also an attempt to find an opportunity to capture these elves.
A dazzling blue light flashed, and everyone inside the cave returned to normal, being moved outside in a coma.
Immediately following Lin Xiaoxiao's instructions, the little elf knocked her unconscious and laid her down outside the cave.
Finally, after a dazzling blue light, the entrance to the cave disappeared, turning into a normal iceberg and snow wall.
After finishing all her work, the little elf returned to the igloo 3,000 meters underground and sat obediently on Darlene's shoulder.
At this moment, Darlene had changed into a royal blue robe shimmering with light. Unfazed by the terrifying chill emanating from the Ice Soul, she twirled it between her fingertips and asked, "Safely sent away?"
The little elf nodded obediently: "Yes."
Darlene's lips curled slightly: "That's good. Pack your things, we're getting ready to leave!"
This damn mission is finally complete. Being locked up in an A-level secret realm was truly unpleasant. It was worth it to have spent more than a year guarding this wretched secret realm. I'd better hurry back and demand my reward from that bastard.
The little elf nodded: "Give me thirty minutes."
Darlene waved her hand, and the little elf led its little brothers to pack their things, preparing to leave this broken secret realm.
Two hours later, Lin Xiaoxiao woke up in Xiao Weizhi's arms, with Xu Yilang's wailing echoing in her ears: "No! Why? Why did the cave entrance disappear? It was definitely there last time I came."
Xiao Weizhi sat down beside Lin Xiaoxiao, one hand protecting her waist and the other holding the back of her head, keeping her firmly in his arms. He coldly watched as Xu Yilang woke up and broke down, grabbing his hair and wailing.
He sensed movement in his arms, loosened his grip slightly, and looked down to ask, "Awake?"
Lin Xiaoxiao rested her head on Xiao Weizhi's collarbone, yawned widely, and asked in a sleepy voice, "You're awake. What's wrong, Mr. Xu?"
Xiao Weizhi glanced at Xu Yilang, who was frantically pounding on the ice wall and whom three or five teammates in the tidal wave couldn't hold back, and replied softly, "His plan failed, and he couldn't take it anymore, so he broke down emotionally!"
Lin Xiaoxiao buried her head in the crook of his shoulder, shook her head to clear her mind a little, and remembered the two little ones she had forgotten. She asked anxiously, "Where are Redtail and Treasure Hunt?"
Xiao Weizhi pointed to Cheng Cheng, who was overjoyed and holding the red-tailed rat, and Chen Yijin, who was carefully holding the treasure-hunting rat: "Where is it?"
Having confirmed that Red Tail and the Treasure-Seeking Rat were unharmed, Lin Xiaoxiao closed her eyes with a sense of peace and continued to rest in Xiao Weizhi's arms.
Zhou Jie trudged through the snow, his feet sinking deep into the ground, and approached in a deep voice, "Can we talk, Captain Xiao?"
Xiao Weizhi looked up at Zhou Jie, a playful smile on his lips: "What does Captain Zhou want to talk about?"
Without hesitation, Zhou Jie stated his purpose: "The cave has disappeared, so the translation task cannot be completed. Can the agreed-upon payment be cancelled?"
Xiao Weizhi gave a cold laugh: "According to Captain Zhou's logic, should I make up the difference in price for this A-level pioneering order? The problem is, failing to complete this mission has nothing to do with Dragon Fang!"
"Eliminating Pioneer Code 338: Once both parties agree to a transaction, unless it is the fault of the transacting party, the initiator must unconditionally pay the compensation."
Lin Xiaoxiao nestled in Xiao Weizhi's arms, straining her ears to listen intently to his conversation with Zhou Jie.
She didn't dare to look up and interrupt, afraid that Zhou, who was as cunning as a lotus root, would discover that she had two Ice and Snow Elves that Xu Yilang had been dreaming of.
Zhou Jie gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and softened his stance again to negotiate with Xiao Weizhi.
After more than ten minutes of verbal exchange, the two sides finally reached a conclusion: the A-level pioneering order would be given to Longya as a gift for making friends.
Hai Chao will also provide an additional 500,000 gold coins as 'lost wages' compensation.
Because Xiao Weizhi didn't want the gold coin card, it was agreed that after returning to the capital, Haichao would find someone to exchange the gold coins and then send them to the Xiao family.
Having achieved a satisfactory result, Xiao Weizhi, beaming with joy, led his friends from Longya away from this place.
Even considering Xu Yilang's obsession, Zhou Jie gently patted his shoulder and said, "Let's keep looking. We'll find it someday."
Xu Yilang forced a smile: "Captain, I'm fine, we can look again."
Xu Yilang's eyes were bloodshot as he kept looking in the direction the Dragon Fang snowmobile had gone.
For some reason, he had a very strange yet strong feeling that the woman had something he wanted.
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