At the edge of the Endless Sea, the cold wind cut like knives. Salty seawater battered the frozen shore, and the splashing waves instantly congealed into tiny shards of ice.
Sang Qiyue wrapped her thin animal hide tighter around herself. Her cheeks were red with cold and filled with confusion as she clutched Ji Ming's sleeve, her voice trembling almost imperceptibly. "Brother, we've already been walking for three days. There's nothing ahead but ice plains. What are we supposed to do?"
Ji Ming raised a hand and rested it on his sister's shoulder, his gaze fixed on the distance.
An endless expanse of white ice stretched as far as the eye could see. The cold wind howled past with icy pellets, and even the sunlight seemed weakened by the biting chill. Between heaven and earth, only monotonous white and gray remained.
He tightened his grip on the dagger in his hand. His Adam's apple bobbed, but for a moment, he could not speak.
They had escaped the mining area too hastily, and their food had long since run out. If they could not find supplies soon, they might truly be trapped to death on this ice plain.
Just then, a low hum—"Bzzzz"—suddenly cut through the freezing wind. The air rippled faintly, as though some enormous object was rapidly approaching.
Ji Ming abruptly looked up. A black dot had appeared on the horizon and was growing at astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, a silver-gray starship entered his sight.
Pale blue energy patterns flowed across the hull, dazzling against the dim world.
The starship slowly hovered above the two of them, its immense shadow swallowing them whole.
On the deck at the ship's bow, a figure hurried forward. Sangqina gripped the railing, and when her gaze swept over the