Her white hair and skin as fair as snow gave her the appearance of a Snow Maiden.
Could this be the special phantasm, the Snow Maiden, that the tour guide mentioned?
If so, then it was clear that this sudden avalanche was also related to the Snow Maiden.
After all, they harbored ill will towards humans, so it was perfectly normal for them to want to cause an avalanche and kill them.
But why would a Snow Maiden appear in a human scientist’s secret room?
Su Xing frowned, finding it difficult to understand.
Fortunately, the two Snow Maidens outside merely passed by the doorway of this utility room.
They didn’t seem to intend to come in and check, and quickly walked on.
Seeing this, Su Xing secretly slipped out the door and followed them.
Rather than blindly wandering around this unfamiliar place she’d never been to, it was better to follow these Snow Maidens.
As soon as she reached the corridor, she was stunned.
The corridor was a full six meters wide, with several cylindrical culture vats lining both sides.
Although the vats only contained blue liquid, it wasn’t difficult for Su Xing to imagine what they once held.
“Crackle! Pop!”
Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass came from a distance.
The two Snow Maidens were startled and quickly ran towards the source of the sound.
Su Xing and the little fox were equally surprised; they exchanged glances and quickly followed.
They soon arrived at the location. What had broken was a culture vat, and pale blue culture fluid was spilled all over the floor.
Five Snow Maidens gathered together, looking angry.
Coincidentally, this was the end of the corridor itself, with only one door left.
The Snow Maidens exchanged glances and tiptoed towards that door.
Su Xing frowned, picked up a stone from the ground, and threw it towards a fork in the corridor on the other side.
The Snow Maidens heard the commotion and immediately abandoned the door, rushing in the direction of the sound.
Su Xing, seizing the opportunity of their departure, quickly dashed to that door, pushed it open, and entered the room.
“Ugh!”
As soon as she entered the room, she was grabbed by the neck by a figure she couldn’t avoid.
Su Xing quickly said, “It’s me! It’s me!”
The person released her, and at the same time, the people hiding in the corner also emerged.
Su Xing looked closely and saw that the one who grabbed her was Evincel, and the two hiding in the corner were Quinn and Kaka.
The four children who had been engulfed by the avalanche were gathered here.
Kaka excitedly darted to Su Xing, “Su Xing! Was that you who lured those Snow Maidens away?”
Su Xing smiled and ruffled his curly hair, “Come, tell me, was it you who broke that culture vat?”
Quinn looked timid, and he wasn’t clumsy.
As for Evincel, it was clear from earlier that he was skilled.
That left only the impetuous Kaka to cause such a mess.
Kaka coughed and scratched his head sheepishly, “Actually, my phantasm accidentally punctured that glass.”
Is your porcupine fish that powerful?
Speaking of which, Quinn, standing nearby, cautiously asked, “Um… Su… Su Xing, is that fox your ph-phantasm?”
The little fox let out an “Ying” sound upon hearing this, puffed out its tail, and arrogantly circled Su Xing.
With Quinn’s reminder, Kaka also noticed the small fox at Su Xing’s feet.
He remembered Su Xing saying earlier that she hadn’t awakened yet.
With Kaka’s mind, he naturally didn’t think Su Xing had lied to him before.
He asked in surprise, “Su Xing! You awakened a phantasm on your own?!”
At these words, even Evincel couldn’t help but look over.
He naturally understood how difficult it was to awaken a phantasm alone.
It seems this glib girl has some talent?
Su Xing blinked, admitting without hesitation, “That’s right, I’m just that much of a genius! Okay, enough about me, tell me what you all did before?”
She rolled her eyes
“Quinn, you tell me.”
Kaka was too impetuous, probably couldn’t remember details.
Evincel was a man of few words, and probably wouldn’t obey her orders.
So even though Quinn stuttered, Su Xing still asked him to narrate what had just happened.
Quinn nodded frantically in agreement, “Ah… ah, okay! The few of us were standing together, so we were trapped in the same place. Then, we all awakened our phantasms earlier than you and had a deeper level of fusion, so our physical condition is better than yours, and we’ve been conscious for a while.”
So that’s how it was, Su Xing suddenly realized.
No wonder these people woke up earlier than her.
However, the fact that they had all awakened phantasms truly surprised Su Xing.
One must know that the proportion of Phantasm awakenings on Mercury is less than one percent.
The fact that all five of them awakened was quite a coincidence.
She knew about Kaka.
Evincel was already very powerful, so her awakening made sense.
It was Quinn, though, who surprised her; he looked so frail, yet he had also awakened.
This caught her off guard.
“Wait, let me ask something,” Su Xing couldn’t help but interject, “Are you all… fifteen years old?”
Quinn and Kaka nodded.
Evincel scoffed but didn’t retort, which gave Su Xing her answer.
She smiled and said, “Then maybe we can even go to the same Phantasm Academy and become Great Phantasm Masters together!”
Hearing talk of the future, Kaka and Quinn couldn’t help but feel a longing, and their taut nerves relaxed a little.
Children of this age had great imaginations about becoming adults.
“Whether we can get out alive is still up in the air, let alone if you idiots could become Great Phantasm Masters; pigs would fly before that happens.” S
eeing their foolishly happy faces, Evincel, as expected, poured cold water on their enthusiasm.
Thick-skinned Kaka was completely unfazed. He smiled foolishly and said, “Evincel, we’ve had an adventure together, so how about we go to the same academy then!”
Evincel gave a disdainful glance at the foolishly happy Kaka, mockingly adding with ill intent, “Even if you get out safely, you might not necessarily make it home smoothly.”
Su Xing pulled Kaka behind her, her expression still smiling, “We’re missing now, so the outside must be full of search parties. Don’t worry, everyone, we’ll be found eventually.”
“Tsk.”
Evincel frowned unhappily and said no more.
That simpleton Kaka completely missed the underlying tension between them and said optimistically, “Yeah! We’ll be rescued sooner or later. Now we’re companions, so we should help each other well!”
“Who are your companions!”
Evincel jumped as if his tail had been stepped on, shouting, “I have nothing to do with you freeloaders!”
Su Xing also casually released Kaka’s hand, which she had been holding, and took a step back, looking at Quinn again, “Continue.”
Quinn stood to the side, his face still pale, his expression full of worry.
Hearing Su Xing’s words, he seemed to snap back to reality, “Ah… Then we, the few of us, rushed from the other side of the corridor towards here, and when we encountered Snow Maidens on the way, we hid in here. We found that many Snow Maidens seemed to be coming from another fork in that corridor; there must be something at that junction.”
Su Xing frowned, about to say something, when her ears suddenly twitched.
Evincel also became serious, shushing, “Someone’s coming.”
“Click.”
The door opened.
The next second, Evincel did as he had done before, restraining the newcomer just as he had restrained Su Xing.
The person who entered was a man, about forty-something, bald, wearing glasses, clearly a scholar.
This man was only about 1.6 meters tall, just short enough for the equally tall Evincel to grab him by the neck.
The man was caught off guard, his neck clutched, and he jumped in fright, “No! No!”
Evincel saw he wasn’t a Snow Maiden, loosened his grip slightly, and asked him, “Who are you?”
The man took a few deep breaths, then replied, “I am Keno, the administrator of this experimental base, and the life assistant to Mr. and Mrs. Raile and Mina.”
Su Xing gestured for Evincel to let go and let her ask.
Evincel impatiently threw Keno to the ground and then leaned against the doorway, blocking it.
Su Xing squatted in front of Keno, smiling gently, “How can you prove you’re their life assistant? You know, my companion here is the type who would rather kill by mistake than let anyone go.”
Evincel glanced at Su Xing but didn’t refute her.
Keno frantically fumbled through his jacket pocket and quickly pulled out a yellowed photograph,”This is a photo of me with them when I was young; it should prove my identity, right?”
Su Xing took the photo. It showed three people in white lab coats: a white-haired, bespectacled man; a short-haired brown-haired woman, also wearing a lab coat and glasses, who was the life assistant.
Standing next to the two was Keno, visibly ten years younger.
All three were smiling broadly at the camera.
The three people in the photo indeed seemed to have a good relationship, but Su Xing had never seen the famous scientists’ appearance.
She was too preoccupied with making a living to pay attention to such important figures; she had only heard their legends.
She showed the photo to Kaka and the others.
Kaka regretfully shook his head, indicating he didn’t know.
Evincel simply closed his eyes, indicating his stance.
Quinn, however, excitedly took the photo, his fingers gently tracing the faces in the picture, then affirmed, “Yes, this is Ra… Raile and Mina.”
Kaka, familiar as ever, slung an arm around Quinn’s shoulder, “Hey! I didn’t expect you, Quinn, to be so interested in science!”
Su Xing looked at Quinn thoughtfully, then turned to Keno, “This base has been abandoned for a long time. Why haven’t you left?”
Keno sat up awkwardly and pushed up his glasses, “As you can see now, this base was never really abandoned; it was just moved from above ground to underground.”
Su Xing wasn’t interested in ancient history; storytelling could wait until they were safe.
She rubbed her chin and asked with a smile the questions she most wanted answered, “What’s with those Snow Maidens outside? Can we get out of this godforsaken place?”
Keno sighed deeply and then uttered words that might cause a sensation, “Those Snow Maidens outside were actually created by Raile and Mina.”
“That’s impossible!”
Su Xing and the others hadn’t even reacted yet when Quinn angrily interrupted Keno, “Don’t talk nonsense and slander them! How could they do such a thing?”
In his agitation, his stutter was even momentarily cured.
Keno gave a bitter smile, “I know Raile and they are renowned in the outside world and have many fans, so it’s normal not to want to believe it, but the truth is, this is the truth. Otherwise, how do you explain why there are so many Snow Maidens under their experimental base?”
Su Xing looked at Quinn with a half-smile, warning him, “Interrupting others isn’t nice, you know.”
Then she looked back at Keno, “Please continue.”
Keno said, “Our purpose here back then was to explore the effect of temperature on life. You know, at low temperatures, many organisms’ lives can be preserved longer, like fruits and vegetables. So what about humans? Can human active cells also exist eternally under such low temperatures?”
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