A Gift for Old Sampo

Four figures cast long shadows across the snowfield.

As far as the eye could see, endless snow covered everything, leaving the world a vast expanse of white.

March 7th lifted a foot and stamped on the snow that came up past her ankles, making it crunch.

She gently raised a hand to catch a few snowflakes. They landed on her glove, but quickly melted.

The air didn't feel particularly cold to the group, but the boundless white landscape before them left them all at a loss for words for a moment.

"It really is a world of ice and snow."

March 7th sighed with feeling and instinctively raised her camera, wanting to take a commemorative photo of their first exploration on the surface.

She had just aimed the viewfinder at the distant snowy mountains when voices came from behind her.

Bai Luoming and Stelle exchanged a discreet glance, then turned in perfect unison to look out over the same snowfield and remarked in the same tone as March 7th:

"Ah, it really is a world of ice and snow."

March 7th's hand froze on her camera.

She turned and glared fiercely at the two behind her. "Are you two parrots?!"

Seeing how angry March 7th was, Bai Luoming offered no explanation. He simply tilted his head and blinked innocently.

"Ehe."

"What do you mean, 'ehe'?!" March 7th felt her fists start to itch.

Stelle, however, paid no attention to her anger. Instead, she rested her chin on her hand and gave the question serious thought. "Well, 'ehe' means 'ehe,' just like it sounds."

Hearing Stelle's explanation, Bai Luoming looked at her in excitement and even raised a hand to wipe away a nonexistent tear.

"An explanation like that—sure enough, we're best friends!!"

Watching the two of them clown around, March 7th clenched her fists and decided to put them both at the top of her list of people who needed a lesson.

She was just about to speak when Dan Heng's calm voice rang out, cutting short the trio's antics.

"Let's take care of business first."

He had already opened his portable terminal and was comparing the coordinates provided by the Express with a three-dimensional map of the surrounding terrain.

"We've arrived at the designated coordinates, but the terrain here doesn't match the old records in the data bank at all." Dan Heng closed the screen and swept his gaze across the snowfield. "Areas that should have had vegetation and structures are now completely covered in ice and snow. We need to explore the surroundings and confirm whether there are still any signs of human life here before we can look further for clues to the Stellaron."

As Bai Luoming listened to Dan Heng, he looked into the distance. Judging by the current situation, the plot shouldn't have deviated much. Old Sampo should be making his appearance soon.

Thinking about the gift he was going to give old Sampo when they met, Bai Luoming could hardly hold back a laugh.

Dan Heng checked the environmental readings on his terminal and warned the others, "We haven't detected any enemies for now, but don't let your guard down. The readings for abnormal energy in the air are high. There are likely Fragmentum creatures nearby."

March 7th waved a dismissive hand. "Relax. Just look at our team's lineup. It's already stacked."

She pointed to herself first and puffed out her chest. "Me, with my one-of-a-kind Six-Phased Ice, good for both offense and defense!"

Then she pointed at Stelle. "Her, with a Stellaron inside her body! Ordinary people wouldn't even dare dream of a setup like that!"

Hearing her name, Stelle immediately stood up straight. She didn't say anything, but the pride on her face said it all.

March 7th turned her gaze to Dan Heng. She paused for two seconds, trying hard to find the right words. "Dan Heng... uh... has... a mysterious past that nobody knows about."

Dan Heng merely gave her a silent look, neither denying it nor playing along.

Finally, March 7th's gaze landed on Bai Luoming. She got stuck.

"And then there's our... uh... anyway, our team is really strong."

Bai Luoming came to her rescue. "You can introduce me as the team's professional logistics specialist," he suggested seriously.

He paused, then added, "I'm mainly in charge of eating too much, sleeping too much, and doing no work. I also handle a few unexpected incidents for the team."

"All right, Bai Luoming... has a very important role too!"

Having finished her introductions, March 7th planted her hands on her hips and confidently concluded, "So the four of us make a very capable team. Anyone who dares give us trouble will be out of luck!"

No sooner had she finished than Bai Luoming and Stelle exchanged another glance and chimed in unison, "Out of luck."

The confidence that had just lit up March 7th's face quickly crumbled.

She stared at the two, who had worked together so seamlessly, and asked irritably, "How long have you had these parrot symptoms?"

Bai Luoming and Stelle both said "ehe" again, then casually looked away, one at the sky and the other at the ground.

March 7th was certain of it now. Those two were doing it on purpose.

She raised her hand, ready to give each of them a smack, but they nimbly dodged to either side.

"Keep up."

Dan Heng's voice rang out again, putting a stop to their horseplay.

March 7th could only put it on her tab for now. Before leaving, she made sure to warn them, "You two had better not let me catch you off guard!"

Stelle moved close to Bai Luoming and whispered, "Should we keep going?"

Bai Luoming cautioned her, "Know when to stop. If March 7th really gets angry, things won't end well."

The four of them set off in the direction Dan Heng had chosen.

Dan Heng walked in front, calmly observing their surroundings and letting no hint of anything unusual escape him. March 7th followed behind, recording the terrain features along the way.

Stelle, meanwhile, was like a treasure hunter, constantly turning over snowdrifts beside the path with her bat, hoping to find chests, trash cans, or other recyclables underneath.

She poked through several snowdrifts with her bat, only to find clods of earth frozen as hard as stone and a piece of rusty scrap metal.

March 7th tried to dissuade her. "Don't pick up everything you see. What use is any of that?"

But Stelle tucked the piece of metal into her pocket and declared with conviction, "You don't understand. Your first pot of gold on an unfamiliar planet is often hidden in inconspicuous places like these."

Bai Luoming nodded in wholehearted agreement and even proposed, "We could start a 'Jarilo Snowfield Resource Recycling Group.' I'll be the leader, and you can be the deputy leader."

"What? Why do you get to be the leader? You don't even want to dig through trash cans!"

Stelle's expression froze when she heard Bai Luoming, but she quickly recovered and protested loudly.

"Have you ever seen a boss who still had to do the work?"

"That's sophistry!!"

As she spoke, Stelle rolled up her sleeves, intending to give Bai Luoming a good beating.

"Don't stray from the route."

Dan Heng's words, spoken without so much as a backward glance, stopped Stelle in her tracks and brought their great entrepreneurial venture to an immediate end.

The group continued for a while longer before Dan Heng stopped beside the remains of a structure mostly buried in snow.

Dan Heng crouched down and brushed the snow off the remains to examine them closely.

"There should have been some kind of man-made facility here in the past, but it was abandoned a long time ago. There are no signs of recent activity on the surface."

This discovery at least proved that the old records in the data bank weren't entirely worthless. A highly developed civilization really had existed on Jarilo-VI.

Nearby, March 7th was taking photographs for evidence when she suddenly glimpsed a snowdrift not far away move slightly out of the corner of her eye.

The movement was so small that it would have been almost impossible to notice without looking closely.

She was just about to warn everyone when she noticed that Bai Luoming was already looking in the same direction.

That spot was very likely where Sampo was hiding.

However, the shape of the snowdrift was slightly different from the game scene he remembered, making Bai Luoming frown.

He first examined the area around the snowdrift carefully and confirmed that there were no obvious footprints, but he noticed an unnatural unevenness on the surface of the snow.

Bai Luoming's eyes lit up. He had finally found Sampo's hiding place, but he didn't alert him.

He suddenly turned to Dan Heng and held out his hand.

"Mr. Dan Heng, sorry for the trouble, but could I borrow Cloud-Piercer for a moment?"

Following up on Bai Luoming's earlier discovery, Dan Heng looked at the snowdrift and handed over the spear without asking why.

Bai Luoming took Cloud-Piercer. The shaft felt slightly heavy in his hand. He tested its weight, adjusted the angle of the tip, and lined it up.

The next second, he gripped the shaft with both hands and abruptly exerted his strength.

Aiming at the snowdrift, he drove the spear down hard.