An Unexpected Event During White Night’s Watch
Little Frost shook her fist at Mu Yingying.
The wind from the punch let out a crisp whistle, blowing Mu Yingying’s bangs upward.
Mu Yingying’s expression instantly switched from a resentful wife’s face to a fawning one, a speed that could be considered the art of face-changing.
“Good Frost, I was just joking. You’re so gentle and kind, how could you possibly bully anyone?”
“Hmph!”
Little Frost gave a dainty snort and ignored her.
She bent down to pick up White Night, easily lifting her onto the back seat.
After the Carbon Fiber Material upgrade, White Night’s weight had decreased significantly, making it easy for Little Frost to carry her.
“Alright, it’s late. I should wash up and go to sleep too.”
Mu Yingying tactfully retreated to the driver’s seat and adjusted the seat’s angle. “We’ll talk about tomorrow’s business tomorrow.”
“I’ll keep watch tonight,” White Night spoke up. “I can just rest on the vehicle during the day.”
“That works.”
Little Frost didn’t stand on ceremony, but she still gave a reminder. “Don’t leave the vehicle. If anything happens, wake us both up immediately.”
“I know, Auntie Frost.”
Little Frost nodded, lay on her side in the back seat, and closed her eyes while hugging White Night’s frame.
White Night had become lighter after the upgrade, and the feeling of holding her in her arms was a bit different than before; she still wasn’t quite used to it.
However, she would get used to it after sleeping while holding her for a few more days.
Little Frost adjusted her posture slightly as she adapted to the hold, and her breathing soon became steady.
Mu Yingying was even faster. Leaning back in the driver’s seat, light snoring could be heard in less than two minutes.
The convoy gradually fell silent.
The unease brought by the Traveling Merchant also dissipated with time, and everyone fell into a deep sleep amidst their exhaustion.
White Night kept watch, her soul floating in the basket. Half of her attention was on the outside of the vehicle, and the other half was on the Compass.
The needle of the Compass pointed steadily in one direction without any deflection or shaking.
However, White Night didn’t dare to trust it completely.
After all, it was new equipment that hadn’t been tested in actual combat yet.
She had tried asking the System before about how accurate and reliable the Compass actually was.
The System’s reply was as perfunctory as ever.
[Please explore specific performance details on your own during use.]
White Night no longer had high expectations for this System.
Everything she asked resulted in ‘insufficient authority’ or ‘explore on your own,’ just like an automated customer service bot.
She was already a Level 2 RV, yet it still knew nothing when asked.
Of course, she was still essentially a Rusty Bicycle, so it was normal for her authority to be insufficient.
To pry more information out of the System, she had to continue upgrading.
The night grew deep.
The Weirdness named Xiao Qian had not made a move; she hadn’t knocked on anyone’s car door.
Perhaps she had been frightened by the Traveling Merchant’s appearance and didn’t dare to show her face.
The convoy was silent, with only the occasional sound of one or two unknown insects chirping in the distance.
White Night breathed a sigh of relief.
But just as she thought the night would pass peacefully, a strange sound came from beside her.
Little Frost’s breathing had changed.
Her originally even and steady breathing began to grow rapid, accompanied by subtle trembling.
White Night immediately turned her attention back inside the vehicle.
Little Frost’s brow was furrowed tightly, her lips were pressed into a line, and her facial muscles were involuntarily tensing.
Fine beads of sweat broke out on her forehead, rolling down one by one and wetting the stray hairs at her temples.
Her entire body began to break into a cold sweat.
Her clothes were soaked through with sweat, clinging to her body and rising and falling with her rapid breaths.
“Auntie Frost?” White Night called out softly.
There was no response.
Little Frost was still in a deep sleep, but it was not a normal sleep.
Her body was shaking, and her features were twisting. She seemed to be having an extremely painful nightmare, unable to struggle free.
White Night’s heart tightened.
‘Is this the Price the Traveling Merchant spoke of? The Price to be paid after using Good Luck?’
She anxiously called out to the System in her mind.
‘Is something wrong with Auntie Frost’s body? Scan her quickly.’
The System was silent for one second before popping up a reply.
[Scan complete, Driver Little Frost’s physical functions are all normal.]
‘All normal?’
White Night looked at the incessantly trembling Little Frost, then at the System’s cold four words — “functions are all normal” — and a sense of powerlessness washed over her.
White Night could do nothing but keep watch by her side, watching helplessly as Little Frost’s condition worsened.
The trembling became more violent.
More and more sweat poured out.
Little Frost’s arms, which were hugging White Night’s frame, tightened deathly hard.
Then, her body suddenly snapped straight.
Like an electric shock, her entire person became stiff and motionless.
White Night’s eyes widened.
A translucent phantom floated out from Little Frost’s body.
It was Little Frost’s soul.
It was a Soul Body form just like White Night’s, translucent and glowing with a faint light.
But that face was wrong.
The face of Little Frost’s soul didn’t have its usual gentleness; instead, it was incredibly hideous.
Inconceivable hatred and rage surged within her pitch-black pupils.
“Auntie Frost?” White Night called out subconsciously.
Little Frost’s soul did not respond.
Her hands formed claws, and she lunged forward abruptly.
White Night didn’t even have time to react.
Those hands gripped her neck directly.
Soul strangling soul.
White Night didn’t need to breathe, so logically, she shouldn’t be able to be strangled to death.
But the moment those hands clamped down, a terrifying sensation of suffocation swept over her.
Her soul was dissipating.
White Night’s hands instinctively tried to pry away the hands choking her, but the strength of Little Frost’s soul was incredibly immense. She couldn’t budge them at all.
Her vision began to blur.
Her consciousness was peeling away piece by piece.
Just then, the voice of Little Frost’s soul exploded within White Night’s sea of consciousness.
It wasn’t that usual gentle voice.
It was a roar filled with anger and pain.
“Why did you lie to me!?”
White Night’s soul was kicking its legs, her consciousness falling like shards of broken glass.
“I hate you! White Night!”
It was another cry.
Painer and more desperate than the first.
“White Night! I hate you! Why did you lie to me!?”
White Night heard these words.
She didn’t understand.
‘When did I ever lie to Auntie Frost?’
How long had they even known each other? She hadn’t hidden anything, and she hadn’t told a single lie.
Those words weren’t meant for her.
At least, not for the ‘current her.’
But she didn’t have time to think further; her consciousness was about to vanish completely —
Little Frost’s soul suddenly let go.
It was just as sudden as when she had arrived.
The hideous Soul Body hovered in front of White Night for a moment. The hatred on her face faded layer by layer, like a receding tide, until finally, only a sense of vacancy and emptiness remained.
Then the soul drifted backward, floating back into Little Frost’s body and merging with it once again.
Little Frost’s body stopped trembling.
Her stiff limbs slowly relaxed. Her breathing changed from rapid back to heavy, and from heavy, it gradually became steady.
The cold sweat on her forehead remained, and her sweat-soaked clothes clung to her body, vaguely outlining her tense curves.
Her expression softened.
Her brow smoothed out, and her lips were no longer pursed.
It was as if she had finally broken free from that nightmare.
White Night hovered in mid-air, motionless.
She subconsciously touched her neck.
There were no marks there.
A Soul Body wouldn’t leave bruises.
But that feeling of having her throat constricted was still vivid.
She looked at the deeply sleeping Little Frost.
Her breathing had returned to normal, and the hand hugging the frame had loosened slightly.
She knew nothing.
Auntie Frost likely had no awareness at all of what had just happened.
White Night’s mind was a chaotic mess.
‘Why did Little Frost’s soul leave her body? Why did she become so hideous? Why did she attack me? And those nonsensical words…’
‘Those aren’t things Little Frost would say…’
‘But that truly was Little Frost’s soul, coming out from her body.’
White Night thought of the Traveling Merchant.
The way he looked at her and Little Frost back and forth, and that remark — “What a sin, what a sin.”
He must know something.
There was some sort of entanglement between her and Auntie Frost that she knew nothing about.
It wasn’t from this life.
Could it be from even further back?
White Night suppressed the thought and forced herself to calm down.
The most important question right now was whether or not to tell Auntie Frost what had happened tonight.
If she told her, Auntie Frost would certainly blame herself.
She would feel that she had hurt White Night, and she would be so guilt-ridden that she wouldn’t be able to sleep. She might even be afraid to get close to her again.
White Night hesitated for a long time.
Outside the vehicle, a sliver of pale light appeared on the horizon.
It was almost dawn.
Mu Yingying turned over in the driver’s seat, muttered something in her sleep, and then fell back into a deep slumber.
Little Frost’s sweat had dried.
She lay quietly in the back seat, her breathing even and her face peaceful. The hand holding White Night’s frame was resting loosely.
It was as if nothing had happened.
White Night looked at her face for a long time.
Ultimately, she decided not to say anything for now.
At least, she didn’t want to say it yet. She didn’t want a rift to form between her and Auntie Frost.
This was the first time someone had been so close to her, and it was this Great Beauty Auntie who treated her so gently.
Even though she knew there might be danger…
The daily closeness with Auntie Frost made her lose her sense of reason, and she unconsciously became addicted to it.
It seemed that a gentle land was not only a hero’s tomb but also a shackle for a little bicycle.