Warp Jump Initiated, Destination: The Snowy Planet Jarilo!

Xingbao's hand was still on the metal handle of the rear door.

The streaks of light beyond the holographic windows suddenly snapped.

A heavy mechanical braking sound rose from deep beneath the armored floor.

"Whirr—click."

A faint metallic scrape ran through the train's frame.

The reverse inertia from the faster-than-light jump pitched everything in the carriage forward.

The train came to a stop.

An enormous object filled the deep starfield outside.

A vast white planet.

Jarilo-VI.

The planet had no blue oceans or brown landmasses.

Only a lifeless gray-white expanse.

Viewed from orbit, great swaths of cloud looked like solidified lead, smothering the surface.

Several massive cyclones turned slowly near the equator.

Their eyes were bottomless, like black holes swallowing the light.

There was no sign of life.

The line between day and night cut across the planet like a jagged scar.

Long black shadows lay over the rising glaciers.

One glance was enough to make her chest feel as if an icy stone had been pressed against it, leaving her struggling to breathe.

The speakers crackled to life.

First came a piercing burst of static.

Then came conductor Pom-Pom's voice.

It sounded muffled and heavily nasal, punctuated by sniffling.

Clearly, Pom-Pom had yet to recover from that "cat-petting" session.

"Attention, passengers. The Astral Express has reached its target orbit, pom."

Pom-Pom's voice echoed through the quiet carriage.

"Our stop is Jarilo-VI."

"External probes report extremely harsh conditions on the surface. Average temperature... minus forty-seven degrees Celsius, pom."

"Trailblazing team, please put on polar cold-weather gear and equip portable heaters. Do not let bare skin touch any metal outside the train, pom."

March 7th shivered.

Minus forty-seven degrees.

Just hearing the number sent goosebumps up her arms.

She looked down at the wet pleated skirt still clinging to her legs.

Forgetting all about appearances, she turned and ran toward the storage room at the back of the train.

Her shoes clattered rapidly across the wooden floor.

Xingbao's hand slipped off the door handle.

She sighed, her shoulders slumping.

Her grand plan to rummage through trash cans for fingers would have to wait.

She turned and trudged to the temperature-controlled cabinet in the corner of the lounge, then pulled out a heavy gray winter coat.

Zippers rasped one after another through the carriage.

Hook-and-loop fasteners tore open.

Heavy insulated snow boots thudded against the metal floor.

Dan Heng emerged from the Data Bank, which still smelled of scorched wiring.

The burn on the side of his face had not been treated. A dark red scab marked his skin.

He held a black, high-collared polar suit.

Without a word, he pulled it on.

He zipped it up to his chin, hiding half his face.

The portable heater at his waist hummed with a low vibration and gave off a faint red glow.

Dan Heng kept his head down the entire time.

His gaze stayed fixed on the grain of the floor. He did not look at the leather sofa in the middle of the lounge, not even once.

Himeko stepped out of the preparation room.

She had changed into thick-soled boots with nonslip treads.

She also carried a small winter coat.

Its windproof fabric was bright red, with a ring of snow-white synthetic fur sewn around the collar and cuffs.

She stopped at the end of the corridor.

Her gaze settled on the center of the lounge.

Su Chen was still sprawled across the sofa.

His black high-collared uniform looked thin as paper, and his bare feet swung in the air.

Himeko took a deep breath.

Her lungs expanded, leaving a faint ache in her ribs.

She knew the white-haired little girl could conjure a black hole with a flick of her hand.

Reason told her to stay as far from this danger as possible.

But she was the train's navigator.

Letting a guest walk into a blizzard at minus forty-seven degrees in nothing but a thin uniform went against everything she believed about hospitality.

Himeko tightened her grip on the red coat.

Her fingers pinched deep creases into the windproof fabric.

She started forward.

Her thick-soled boots made dull footfalls on the velvet carpet.

One step. Two.

She walked slowly.

Two steps from the coffee table, she stopped.

Her toes touched the edge of the carpet.

Himeko held out the red coat.

"Your Excellency, Seventh Seat."

She kept her voice as steady as she could, though the last syllable carried the faintest trace of tension.

"The temperature on Jarilo's surface is extremely low."

"Please put on this winter coat."

Su Chen had an unwrapped lollipop stick in his mouth, chewing on it out of boredom.

At her voice, he turned his head.

The little round sunglasses slid down his nose, revealing eyes of pure azure.

His gaze fell on the bright red coat.

His thin white brows drew together.

He puffed out his cheeks and gave a little snort.

"It's ugly."

His clear, childlike voice made no effort to hide his disgust.

"Like a big red lantern."

Himeko's hand froze in midair, still holding the coat.

She did not pull it back.

"The blizzard out there can crack steel."

Gritting her teeth, she forced herself half a step closer. "This body of yours could get frostbite."

Himeko tried to set the coat on the coffee table.

But her hand stopped several inches short of its edge.

It was not that she chose to stop.

She could not push any farther.

An invisible wall held her and the coat firmly back.

The ring of white fur around the collar flattened in midair.

It looked as though it had been pressed against a pane of invisible bulletproof glass.

Himeko's pupils widened slightly.

An immovable force pushed back against her fingertips.

A spatial barrier.

The absolute defense that had driven even Nous's calculations to overload his mainframe.

Su Chen rolled over and sat cross-legged on the sofa.

Resting his chin in both hands, he smiled until his eyes curved into crescents behind his sunglasses.

"Keep your misguided kindness to yourself, big sis."

He spat out the plastic lollipop stick.

"The laws of physics don't apply to me."

Su Chen tilted his head, raised a pale finger, and tapped the air before him.

"Minus forty degrees or plus four hundred—it makes no difference."

"Limitless cuts off the space between me and this world."

He grinned like a little troublemaker whose prank had worked.

"Heat can't escape, and cold can't get in."

"My body temperature is locked at twenty-six degrees. Forever."

Himeko slowly withdrew her hand.

She draped the red coat over her arm again.

Her eyes lowered, she retreated to the preparation room without a word.

Humanity's efforts to survive extreme conditions looked like a joke beside this monster.

Boom—

The train began its descent into the atmosphere.

The entire carriage shook violently.

The overhead lights flickered wildly, crackling with electricity.

Dazzling fire engulfed the view outside: superheated plasma from the train's hull scraping against the atmosphere.

The shaking lasted a full three minutes.

The flames receded.

In their place was a white, shapeless haze.

A dense blizzard blocked the view completely.

Hailstones the size of fists battered the train's reinforced windows, rattling like machine-gun fire.

Thud!

The train's landing gear slammed onto the frozen ground.

The impact buckled everyone's knees.

Only Su Chen remained steady on the sofa. Not even a strand of his hair stirred.

"Pressure equalization initiated."

A mechanical voice sounded beside the door.

The heavy metal door of the passenger cabin groaned as its gears engaged.

Thick white frost crusted the edges of the door.

The hydraulic rods strained to push it outward, shrieking with metallic friction.

The door opened a crack.

"Whoosh—!"

The sound was like the roar of a starving beast.

A savage gust, laden with shards of ice sharp as blades, blasted through the gap.

The temperature inside the carriage plunged within three seconds.

Every breath instantly became a thick white cloud.

March 7th, who had just put on her thick-soled boots, staggered back a step in the wind.

She hurriedly put on her heavy goggles and clamped both hands over her collar.

Xingbao wrapped her gray wool scarf three times around her neck, leaving only her eyes exposed.

Dan Heng turned his back to the gust. The heater at his waist flashed red as it fought the cold that could freeze the blood in his veins.

Snow and wind kept pouring through the gap.

A thin layer of ice crystals soon formed on the floor.

Just then—

Whumm.

A muffled boom burst through the howling wind.

Su Chen didn't wait for the doors to open all the way.

He wasn't wearing boots.

He hadn't put on gloves.

He hadn't even zipped his thin, high-collared uniform all the way up.

He teleported straight off the leather sofa.

A black blur flashed through the gap between the doors.

Like a bullet fired from a gun, he plunged headfirst into the snowstorm raging outside.

The biting storm swallowed his small, dark figure in an instant.

Through the howling wind came a bright, unguarded cheer.

"Woo-hoo! Snowball fight!"