Time Stands Still

“Will you give me back my sword...?”

Red Scale hugged Yuna's thighs tightly, begging her ceaselessly with tears swirling in her eyes.

Yuna was also very helpless. Now was not the time to return or not return it to her, but that she couldn't even throw away this sword if she wanted to.

As soon as she returned the sword to Red Scale, it flew back to her. She couldn't even throw it away.

“Then... Then make it stop following you!” Red Scale grabbed the Magic Sword, trying to keep it by her side.

But with her lack of strength, the Magic Sword easily broke free of her restraints.

It even taunted her, circling around Red Scale and swiftly dodging when she tried to grab it.

“This sword is bullying people! How can it be like this...”

Red Scale couldn't hold it in anymore. Her nose soured and she cried out.

Yuna grabbed her little purse and squatted down next to Red Scale, gently stroking her hair. “How about... I'll just buy this sword from you, and I'll pay you back after I earn money?”

“How much will you give me?”

“Let me think.” Yuna tilted her head, swiftly calculating in her mind.

The redemption fee, forging equipment, tuition for her sister to become a mage, equipment for her sister...

Just thinking about all the debt weighing down on her, Yuna felt she could hardly breathe.

Although Lin Feng had told her she didn't need to pay him back, she was still stubborn about earning money to repay him.

“Fifty gold coins, is that okay? I don't have much money either, life is quite difficult, and I have a sister to raise, but I will pay you back slowly.”

“Deal!” Red Scale suddenly jumped up, all traces of tears long gone from her face, “This sword is yours now.”

The two shook hands after reaching an agreement.

Lin Feng beside them softly sighed.

This girl didn't earn much money yet she took on more debt again.

“Now that you two have agreed, let's think of a way to get out of here.” Lin Feng rubbed both their heads, but Red Scale was clearly still upset, pouting at him.

“We’re leaving?”

“Yes, you’ve leveled up, and found the treasure in the labyrinth, so there’s no point in staying here anymore.” Lin Feng gently patted Yuna's wolf ears, getting some dust on his hand, “But haven't you noticed anything strange?”

“Huh? What’s strange?” Yuna was completely confused.

Her attention had been completely on the Magic Sword just now, she didn't notice anything else.

Lin Feng glanced at Emily, but she had a look of wisdom on her face, completely unhelpful.

Rosa Linda yawned and pointed at the demon corpse not far away, “From just now until now, we haven’t encountered any demons at all.”

“That’s right. Based on the spawn rate of demons in this labyrinth, it’s impossible to not have a single one come find us for so long.” Lin Feng examined and saw that the “Time Stasis” buff on everyone had not disappeared.

It was likely the cause behind the demons not coming.

“We have to find a way to...”

Before Lin Feng could finish speaking, Yuna lightly pulled on his clothes, “Master.”

“What is it?”

“Emily disappeared.”

Lin Feng looked back and saw that she was indeed gone without a trace, even her presence had vanished.

Yuna pointed at the ground, “She was in front of me, then suddenly in an instant she...”

In a flash, before Yuna could finish speaking, she disappeared without a trace, as if she had evaporated into thin air.

“What is going on here?” Rosa Linda vigilantly surveyed her surroundings, tightly gripping her longbow.

Seeing this, Lin Feng quickly grabbed Rosa Linda, then shouted at Red Scale, “Come over quickly, grab my hand!”

He didn’t know what was happening either.

But it seemed a bit like when the labyrinth collapsed, teleporting adventurers out.

“Coming!”

Red Scale jogged over to the two, but just as she was half a meter away, she also mysteriously vanished in an instant.

Immediately after, everything went dark in front of Lin Feng’s eyes...

When he awoke again, Lin Feng found himself in a snowy land.

Other than Red Scale curled up alone by the fire, the beast girls were all huddled together around the fire pit, leaning on each other for warmth.

“Master, you’re awake?” Yuna softly said. There were snowflakes clinging to her eyelashes.

The other beast girls also turned to look at Lin Feng.

“Are you all okay?”

“We’re fine, none of us are injured, but it’s too cold here.” Rosa Linda let out a puff of hot air, hugging Lin Feng even tighter, “The labyrinth must have collapsed and spat us out. Yuna got here first, we arrived last.”

“Then why is it snowing?” Lin Feng looked up at the fine snow drifting down from the sky, deep in thought.

It was probably below freezing now.

Shouldn’t it be summer now? How could it be snowing?

It was still a long time until winter.

“We don’t know.” Rosa Linda pointed at the trees not far away, continuing, “Our campsite is gone. The clothes and tents we brought are all gone.”

“The spirit cores I saved up for a long time in the tent are gone too. This is terrible.” Yuna sneezed, and the snowflakes on her eyelashes fell off.

“As long as you’re all alright, we can earn money again.”

Lin Feng examined their condition.

The buff called “Time Stasis” was gone.

Taking the current situation into account, that spell had likely frozen the time within the labyrinth, while time outside continued flowing.

They didn’t feel much time had passed inside the labyrinth, but months had already gone by in the real world.

No wonder the campsite was gone. Some passing traveler had likely taken their stuff...

But now was not the time to worry about that. They had to figure out how to stay warm.

The beast girls were shivering from the cold. Their summer clothes were far too thin for the middle of winter.

Continuing to burn branches for warmth was not a long term solution.

A cold wind blew by and Yuna sneezed softly, murmuring, “I hate winter the most, it’s so hard to bear the cold.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the Magic Sword beside her stirred and floated mysteriously into the air.

The orange gem embedded in the sword let out a dazzling glow, enveloping them in an invisible barrier.

Lin Feng immediately felt much warmer.

“The Magic Sword has this function too?” Yuna looked up at the sword, energetically stretching.

Then she tiptoed and pulled the sword back down.

“Let’s go home first. Who knows how long the Magic Sword can last.”

Lin Feng squatted down next to Red Scale and gently shook her, “Wake up, stinky dragon, stop pretending to be asleep.”

Red Scale whimpered twice without even opening her eyes.

“She’s been like this for a while now. No matter how we call her, she won’t wake up.”

???

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes slightly and noticed two words under Red Scale’s status bar.

Hibernation.

A stinky dragon needs to hibernate too?

“If you want to sleep, do it after we get home. Sleeping here in the snow, aren’t you afraid you’ll freeze to death?”

“But I’m so sleepy... I don’t want to move at all.”

Since that was the case, Lin Feng picked Red Scale up from the ground and cradled her like soothing a child, “There there, don’t curl up into a ball. I’ll carry you.”