Chapter 117: Breaking the Ice

Soon, amidst Chang Qing’s loud pleas for the "sisters to show mercy," Ling Lan and Bai Ge finished their work.

"Moving around like that is quite tiring," Ling Lan said, shaking out her arms.

"That jerk should be behaving himself now, right?" Bai Ge scoffed. She leaned over to look, only to find Chang Qing lying on the ground, his face so bruised and swollen that he looked more like an onion than ever.

"One down, one to go." Bai Ge glanced toward Yi Chen’s direction, but all she could see was a circle of crystal-clear ice walls, preventing her from observing the battle within.

On the other side, Xue Man sensed Chang Qing’s status and felt both disappointed and speechless. Chang Qing hadn’t even been of any use before being taken down by the women... That lecherous, sleazy man was utterly unreliable; she would have to rely on herself! Thinking this, Xue Man immediately launched an attack on Yi Chen.

*Swish! Swish!* Several beams of white light flashed as ice blades flew toward their target from various tricky angles. These ice blades were razor-thin, capable of shattering stone and slicing bone, far sharper than ordinary physical blades—they were Xue Man’s specialty.

However, they all missed, embedding themselves into the ground without even touching the hem of Yi Chen’s shirt. Xue Man was quite astonished. The ice walls acted as a barrier to Yi Chen’s vision and perception, creating a "black box" effect, but to her, it was like a glass case—she could see every move he made inside. Yet, she hadn't detected any movement, and he had already evaded every one of her attacks!

*Impossible. There must be a mistake somewhere... Could he really be that fast?*

Refusing to accept it, Xue Man channeled her power again, conjuring more ice blades to repeat the tactic. Still, she missed! Yi Chen looked relaxed; if it weren't for the fact that his position had shifted slightly from a moment ago, Xue Man would have truly believed her control had failed and that all her shots had gone wide.

After a brief shock, Xue Man had a new idea: *If you’re so fast, what if I restrict your feet? Can you still dodge so easily?*

Seconds passed, and when the third wave of attacks didn't come, the corners of Yi Chen’s mouth curled upward. It seemed the purple-haired "magical girl" was thinking of a counter-strategy. He couldn't stay trapped inside these ice walls forever, being toyed with by her. He touched the ice surface, estimating its hardness to be greater than bulletproof glass. Ordinary attacks wouldn't work, so just as he felt strange patterns flickering across his arms and was preparing to break out by force, he felt a chill beneath his feet.

He didn't know when he had stepped into a pool of cold water. Just a moment ago, this had been a dry stone floor...

The water surface suddenly froze, erupting into ice blossoms over a foot high! Yi Chen’s shoes and pant legs were frozen solid, pinning him firmly in place.

"Good guy, you’ve got a trick like that!"

"Now, where will you run!" Xue Man shouted, swinging her short staff.

Several ice blades came menacingly, stabbing straight at Yi Chen’s head! Xue Man was confident in the effect of her binding. The *bang-bang-bang* sounds of the blades hitting their mark brought a smile to her face, revealing two deep, sweet dimples.

However, amidst the clouds of white frost and shattered ice, Xue Man’s smile quickly froze. Hell, her target was completely unharmed!

Xue Man’s attack hadn't been entirely without effect on Yi Chen, though. Back at the Ivory Tower, his school uniform jacket had already been shredded by the possessed students. After this round of attacks from Xue Man, the few remaining rags of cloth on his body were torn even further.

Through his exposed upper body, Xue Man could clearly see strange, menacing black patterns extending from his arms to his chest. What were those? Xue Man’s heart skipped a beat; she immediately associated them with the corpse spots of a zombie. Yi Chen was a living person—how could something like that appear on him?

"It’s about time to stop."

As soon as Yi Chen finished speaking, he leaped up with a roar. The ice blossoms on the ground were shattered into deep pits beneath his feet! Xue Man’s eyes widened in terror. Yi Chen was moving freely; the moment of entrapment seemed to be nothing more than an illusion. He had done it on purpose! He had let her feel a brief spark of hope, only to crush that hope just as easily.

*Boom!* With a loud crash, the ice wall in front of her was shattered by a single punch, and Yi Chen surged out like a bolt of lightning. He had found her!

Xue Man shivered. At this point, the outcome was decided; the gap in strength between them was too vast to continue. Yet, her stubborn nature drove her to keep running. She wasn't willing to let it end so quickly. There had to be a chance!

As she weaved around, she stepped into the very ice-wall formation she had set up. Yi Chen’s shadow appeared on every wall, but they were all afterimages. Her eyes couldn't keep up with his speed! Suddenly, Xue Man felt as if she had shifted from the hunter to the prey; the initiative had completely flipped.

A fierce gust of wind rushed toward her! Before she could react, her shoulders were gripped by a powerful force, and she was shoved, flying several meters until she slammed into an ice wall. Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the surface of the ice.

Xue Man felt a sharp pain in her internal organs, and her bones rattled. It was fortunate that it was the ice she was familiar with behind her; had it been a concrete wall, she would have already been coughing up blood and losing consciousness.

Yi Chen raised his fist. With no strength left to resist, Xue Man couldn't help but close her eyes, thinking, *This is the end.*

*Boom!* Yi Chen’s fist grazed her ear, slamming into the ice wall instead. Feeling the vibration and shattering of the ice layer, Xue Man, who had always been fearless, truly experienced Yi Chen’s astonishing power for the first time. There was simply no way to describe it in words. The pressure he exerted was on par with the Lurker when it had defeated her.

In that moment, Xue Man even morbidly imagined: What would it look like if Yi Chen and the Lurker clashed? Wouldn't it shake the earth and collapse the heavens?

"I lost. Go ahead and do it," she said, hanging her head in total surrender. In the struggle between victor and loser, the winner decides the fate of the defeated.

Yi Chen chuckled, "Lost once, and you’re already looking for death?"

Xue Man could hear the sarcasm in Yi Chen’s voice, and it annoyed her. "Even if you don't kill me now, I failed my mission. If I go back, that monster will kill me anyway." She knew they had only been released by the Lurker because it deemed them useful. If she lost her value, she would be useless, and most likely become its next meal. Being eaten by a monster was worse than being finished off by Yi Chen, who was also an infected.

"Foolish. Then why would you go back?" Yi Chen released her shoulders.

Xue Man suddenly lost her balance and nearly fell. She was a bit dazed; what Yi Chen said made sense—why should she go back to her death?

"But... where else can I go?" Xue Man was lost. As an infected, her powers had led her to be captured and experimented on by the Future Group. Although the Lurker and Ouyang Hong had released her, she had never truly been free. Not to mention whether the Future Group or the Lurker would track her down later, for a special existence like her, if she didn't serve someone or seek a patron, there was no suitable place for her to hide.

"You can join my team. If you’re worried about any side being detrimental to you, I can provide you with sufficient protection," Yi Chen said, extending an olive branch.