The cold wind howled.
A vast curtain of snow blotted out the sky and sun. As far as the eye could see, there was only endless white; the boundary between heaven and earth had vanished. The biting gale never ceased, wantonly sweeping up billions of snowflakes and smearing a boundless desolation beneath the lead-gray sky.
Transparent ice crystals were occasionally mixed into the snow curtain. When they struck the snowfield, they smashed deep pits into it, only to be buried by countless snowflakes in the blink of an eye—just like the foreign lives that came here, silently swallowed whole by this cold and merciless land.
No one knew how many secrets lay hidden beneath the thick layers of snow, nor how much lost history slept quietly below. Perhaps it would never see the light of day again until it was completely annihilated.
Deep within the chaotic snow curtain, a vague shadow faintly emerged.
Like a ghost wandering this place, it searched for traces of the living amid the blizzard, leading them toward an unknown realm from which there was no return.
The view drew closer.
The figure gradually became clearer as well.
It had a human shape and wore a broad robe made from the fur of some unknown creature. Its snowy-white color nearly blended into the surroundings.
It held a pitch-black long staff as a walking stick, trudging slowly through the snowfield of unknown depth, one foot deep and the next shallow.
A hood covered its head, whipped by the fierce wind and occasionally revealing the face beneath.
Golden fur was hung with white ice crystals. Its golden eyes were bright and lively, utterly unaffected by the environment. Judging from its appearance, it was not human.
A tiny snow-white fox lay against the side of his face. Its bright