The Cold Cicada King or Han Ningbing?

Chen Mo felt the gazes around him and grew slightly uncomfortable.

Still, he held out his right hand, which had only three fingers.

He lightly clasped the slender hand in its white lace glove.

"Hello. I'm Chen Mo."

As their hands met, he felt how soft hers was, delicate and boneless, cold to the touch.

The woman seemed interested in Chen Mo's aloofness, a hint of delight in her cool eyes.

"I heard Captain Gu say you came from Prosper City too?"

Han Ningbing's voice was lovely, ethereal yet cool.

"That city... was very dangerous. I almost didn't make it back."

"How did you survive?"

Her words drew glances from everyone around the campfire.

In the little Rocksolid Convoy, the two newcomers had naturally become the center of attention.

Chen Mo gave a perfunctory nod.

"Got lucky. Escaped with my life."

"I'm tired. Going to get some rest."

With that, Chen Mo stood and headed toward the blue Dump Truck.

Whispered discussions rose around him among the Rocksolid Convoy.

"Why's this guy so stuck-up?"

"A stunning beauty like that, and he acts like he doesn't even see her."

"She's practically throwing herself at him. He's not even as handsome as me."

Gu Xiaoshi looked into Han Ningbing's eyes, his dark face flushed red, then waved everyone away.

Chen Mo lay back in the driver's seat and let out a long breath.

He had little interest in women, but something about this woman always felt familiar.

Li Xia's timid voice came through the truck's speakers.

"Master... you're back."

Chen Mo closed his eyes, his brow furrowed.

Forget it. Stop thinking about her. I need to deal with the cold poison first.

Chen Mo sat up and slowly circulated the transcendent power within him.

This had become his daily ritual since his escape.

Even with the faintest hope, he refused to give up.

It's working!

Under Chen Mo's guidance, a trace of power so faint it was almost negligible.

Finally broke through the cold poison's blockade and began flowing slowly through his body.

It was only about a tenth of what he had at his peak.

But this was a good sign!

Yet before Chen Mo could celebrate, he noticed a problem.

As his transcendent power circulated, the cold poison that had been spreading slowly actually followed his meridians and crept a little closer to his heart.

Chen Mo gave a bitter laugh.

"Drinking poison to quench my thirst?"

Would using my transcendent power hasten my death every time?

Chen Mo withdrew his transcendent power, slowly lay back, and took a crystal glowing with golden light from the Dump Truck's glove compartment.

Over the next few days, Han Ningbing kept appearing beside Chen Mo, seemingly by chance or by design.

When Chen Mo cleared snow off the truck's roof.

She would bring him a cup of hot water.

"It's cold. Have something warm."

When Chen Mo roasted potatoes by the campfire.

Han Ningbing would sit beside him and smile as she pulled a bottle of cola from her fitted down jacket.

"I saw Gu Chenshan and the others drinking this. I wasn't sure whether you had any cola."

Chen Mo accepted it without expression.

No reason to turn down something free.

The woman seemed entirely unbothered by his indifference and continued doing as she pleased.

This made the others in the convoy look at Chen Mo rather differently.

Especially Shen Qinghe and Gu Xiaoshi.

Neither of them had received so much as a friendly look from Han Ningbing these past few days.

So someone who treated them with disdain could be just as humble before someone else.

Late at night.

The campfire in front of the Dump Truck blazed brightly.

Chen Mo sat before it, peeling potatoes with the Mountain-Cleaving Blade.

Han Ningbing watched him with a smile, her eyes full of tender amusement.

Chen Mo had grown used to this strange woman, too.

Over the past few days, he had received plenty of food and drinks from her.

More importantly, he had absorbed Energy Cores, and the cold poison's blockade had loosened.

Now Chen Mo could use half his transcendent power.

That half was almost equivalent to seventy percent of his former strength.

Chen Mo felt that if he could recover completely.

He would not be far from breaking through to level two.

Naturally, none of this escaped Gu Chenshan and Shen Qinghe.

Once everyone in the Rocksolid Convoy learned that Chen Mo was a Transcendent.

They accepted it. A Transcendent winning a beauty's favor was not so hard to swallow.

That saved Chen Mo quite a bit of trouble. For instance, there were no longer any survivors watching him now.

As Chen Mo peeled potatoes.

He thought of Red Hare.

I wonder if that stupid donkey got away.

And the Starfire Convoy.

If Lin Lu, Old Yang, and the others escaped, they should be nearly at Camel City by now.

They probably know by now that I'm not of the Beast Tamer Sequence.

I wonder what they think of that.

The cold poison within him was growing worse.

It had spread along his shoulder to a point an inch above his chest.

At this rate, he had only about a month left to live.

A fresh fragrance of thawing greenery drifted into Chen Mo's nose.

He knew who it was without looking.

Han Ningbing moved close to him, graceful as a startled swan.

This time, she removed her white face mask.

A breathtakingly beautiful face was revealed before Chen Mo.

There was nothing sultry about it, only an exquisite, untouchable coolness.

Her skin was whiter than snow, her features flawlessly delicate.

Her misty, arched brows seemed almost furrowed, her tender eyes almost joyful.

She looked like an exalted immortal maiden from a cultivation world.

Even Chen Mo, who had little interest in women, stared in a slight daze, unwittingly stealing a few extra glances.

Han Ningbing tilted her head, her bright eyes curving with a faint smile.

"Something on your mind?"

Chen Mo slowly shook his head, lowered his gaze, and tossed the peeled potato beside the fire, but spoke anyway.

"Just thinking about the past."

Han Ningbing was used to it. This man had been the same every day.

She rested her chin in her slender, lace-gloved hand and began speaking without prompting.

"I never knew my parents."

"For as long as I could remember, I couldn't see anything. My world was pitch-black."

"Then, when I was seventeen, one day I suddenly regained my sight."

Chen Mo turned toward Han Ningbing. Her face was calm, as though she were telling someone else's story.

She paused and met his eyes, that unyielding coolness still in her gaze.

"Do you know? The day I regained my sight, the doctor told me my body was failing completely. I had two weeks left at most."

"I'd planned to spend my final days taking a good look at this world. But then the Tide Cry came."

"Pretty tragic, isn't it? But look, I'm still alive and well now."

She extended a slender finger and pointed to her heart.

"So as long as this is still beating, never give up hope."

"We have to keep living, don't we?"

Her story was moving enough to kindle fresh hope in any survivor.

Chen Mo stopped nudging the potatoes and turned to stare at her flawless, beautiful face.

"I'm an orphan. I know how you feel. I've suffered just as much as you."

As he spoke, Chen Mo suddenly smiled, abandoning his usual icy demeanor.

"So, should I call you Miss Han Ningbing."

"Or the Cold Cicada King?"

Lurking underground for over a decade, then living only two or three weeks after emerging.

Wasn't that exactly what a Cold Cicada did?

Firelight flickered across Han Ningbing's face, and the faint smile on her lips deepened.

Her eyes held a trace of amusement, along with a hint of eager anticipation.