Time passed second by second.
Nero and the other three were still crouched behind the wall. Thanks to the portable heater, their bodies had gradually warmed up.
They had already been on Jarilo-VI for some time, and on top of that had gone through a battle in between. At this moment, the four were eating the energy bars Teacher Dan Heng had brought, and were sighing over how astonishing Sampo's endurance was inside that snow bundle.
"How long has it been already?" March looked at the snow pile trembling in the distance, her tone somewhat surprised.
"It's been about one-third of a system hour, right? And he still hasn't come out?"
"His willpower is amazing!" Nero also felt a bit impressed.
Stelle spread their hands. "Maybe it's just like Nero said, maybe he likes sleeping in the snow?"
"How could anyone like that sort of thing?" March curled her lips.
"Besides, even if someone like that existed, doing it to this extent would count as self-harm, right?"
March reached her hand over the Flamespawn, feeling the heat it released.
After a brief silence, Teacher Dan Heng said, "Everything about him hiding here does indeed reek of strangeness, but… at least I personally respect all unusual quirks."
On the Trailblazer Squad's side, the atmosphere was quite good, and the presence of the portable heater spared them from enduring the overly harsh environment.
On the other side, Sampo lay in the snow bundle, his head full of question marks.
'This… this wasn't right.'
'This wasn't how the script went, was it?'
From what he knew, Nameless Guests were supposed to be a group full of adventurous spirit, experienced, cautious, and warm-hearted.
So when they saw him hiding in such a suspicious and low-quality way, they should have dragged him out, right?
And then, following the pre-planned plot, pull these people into the scene and have them join the stage play to save Jarilo-VI's Stellarion Crisis.
But things were not developing according to Sampo's carefully arranged plan.
He could hear the voices of the Nameless Guests outside. Sampo originally thought they were pretending to ignore him to lure him out, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.
It had already been one-third of a system hour since the Nameless Guests said they were leaving and their footsteps grew distant.
'They didn't really leave… did they?'
Just leaving Sampo thrown here like this?
Could it be that Nameless Guests nowadays had all started walking the "considerate and understanding" route?
Listening to the cold wind howling outside, feeling the temperature and weight of the snow on his body, the chill pierced through clothes and skin, cutting into muscle, sinking into the gaps of his bones.
Sampo felt like he couldn't take it anymore.
If this continued, he really might turn into Mr. Cold Feet
Sampo lying in the snow pile twisted his face, the more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt.
He couldn't help recalling what had happened not long ago. Aeon of Elation seemed to have given him some kind of revelation.
They were scenes like hallucinations…
Aha didn't give many clear hints. Sampo only remembered he was told to pay attention to a very good-looking white-haired kid. According to his own guess, that guy was probably a colleague.
If they were colleagues…
Sampo's expression changed.
'Crap! I set myself up as the "fun"!'
Because that kid looked way too sunny, he subconsciously ignored the possibility that the other party might be a colleague…
At this moment Sampo suddenly thought of Sparkle. Compared to Sparkle's lack of restraint, this colleague was far, far better at hiding their true nature.
'Are good-looking people's amusements always this extreme?'
Sampo sighed and decided to climb out of the snow first, then rework his plan to pull the Nameless Guests into the scene, and also have a little showdown with this unknown colleague.
Thinking this, Mr. Cold Feet stood up from the snow pile, yet before he could stretch, he froze in place.
In the distance, behind a not-yet-collapsed wall, four pairs of eyes were staring straight at him.
He could even hear their voices, "He came out, he came out! Wow, nearly half a system hour, he's way too good at enduring!"
"Being frozen that long must feel awful, look, even his face is red."
"…He spun his own cocoon."
"Hehehehehe…"
Sampo blinked, a bit stunned for a moment.
When he thought he'd become someone else's amusement, he had actually become an even bigger amusement.
If the Nameless Guests, like him, had been freezing in the cold, that would have been one thing. But looking over now, those four clearly hadn't been affected at all.
Question: What do you do if you lose before the showdown even starts?
Sampo's green eyes scanned quickly, and eventually landed on Nero's happily smiling face.
His gaze stayed only a moment. Then he quickly smoothed out his mood and expression, and walked forward, calling out to the Trailblazer Squad as he approached, "I mean, guys, aren't you going a bit too far? I thought you'd actually left! Turns out you were just watching my joke this whole time!"
Saying this, Sampo arrived in front of the four. Separated by the wall, he glanced at Nero again.
Hearing Sampo's words, Nero spread his hands, "Letting you come out on your own is better than letting you get stabbed by a spear, right? Not to mention whether you'd die or not, if the spear tip jabbed a fragile part, could you take it?"
Sampo immediately widened his eyes, looking innocent. After glancing at Dan Heng, he spoke with a completely defeated expression, "To be honest, right now I'd rather get poked by the spear tip once. It's too cold. What did you guys use to stay warm?"
Nero lifted the Flamespawn in his hand and shook it.
Looking at the Rift Creature being held and used as a heater, Sampo opened his mouth. In that instant, it felt like thousands of words were stuck in his chest, but in the end he couldn't say any of them.
This new colleague not only found amusement in him… He didn't let anything go, the Flamespawn was even more pitiful than himself.
The brief shock didn't show on his face. Soon, Sampo gave the three a smile.
Building rapport with his colleague could wait. For now, he needed to push his script forward.
Sampo glanced again at Nero. Seeing the kid looking all warm and cozy, his impression of this suspected colleague improved quite a bit.
Although he had suffered a bit, this colleague hadn't disrupted his plan…
'This kid is actually pretty nice!'
"Ahahaha…"
Sampo let out an embarrassed laugh toward the four, then said, "So the Silvermane Guard is using Rift Creatures for warmth now, huh? Um, has Captain Gepard come? I'm pretty familiar with him…"
"Who?" March asked in confusion.
"What's a Silvermane Guard?" Stelle also looked puzzled.
Dan Heng looked at Sampo but said nothing. He watched this man closely, everything about him felt suspicious.
And since earlier, he kept sneaking glances at Nero…
'Suspicious. Very suspicious!'
'On this planet… is child trafficking rampant?'
Nero also said nothing, mentally drifting elsewhere.
He was thinking that Aha sending him Sampo's photo earlier was probably meant to make him prank Sampo.
Nero was very willing to believe that Aeon of Elation would absolutely use his own followers as entertainment.
Now the prank was done, shouldn't the promised power have arrived?
Yet up until now, Nero hadn't received any notification from the system.
Aha my ass, he was tricked.
He felt like Aha had also made him into the amusement...
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