Yang Yi didn’t dare stop for even a second—he ran at full speed toward where the Nyxstar was docked.The flames on the Courage behind him had gone out, the ship returning to its previous icy stillness.He had to move fast—if he slowed down even a little, he’d become a frozen corpse.When he was about four hundred meters away from the Nyxstar, a sharp crackling filled his ears—zzzzzt, zzzzzt—a chaotic current sound. That could only mean one thing: a swarm of Ice Hive Worms was chasing him!Yang Yi reacted instantly—he tore off his blindfold and used his Third Eye to look behind him.The swarm was close, less than three hundred meters away—thousands of them, maybe tens of thousands—impossible to count.The buzzing of electricity grew louder and louder as the distance closed rapidly.Two hundred meters!One hundred meters!The worms’ flight speed was nearly triple his running speed!At this rate, they’d overtake him in moments!Yang Yi’s eyes narrowed. He drew out the Pale Worm Hand Cannon, ready to use it to buy himself some time——but then a burst of brilliant fire erupted straight ahead.The flames roared fiercely, dispelling the white mist. Even from where he stood, Yang Yi could feel the warmth.Moments earlier, a flaming arrow had struck the Nyxstar’s prow squarely, igniting the layer of oil there and triggering a massive blaze.The front of the ship was now engulfed in flames, driving away the fog and flooding the area with blinding light.That was Suna’s doing—she had poured some Pale Worm grease onto the deck earlier.When she’d heard the strange zzzzzt sound, she had immediately loosed a flaming arrow and set the bow aflame.The Life Furnace sat nearby, mounted on the outer wall of the captain’s cabin, facing the prow.If the fire wasn’t contained soon, the whole bow would be scorched to ruin.Fortunately, things didn’t progress that far—because the Ice Hive Worms wouldn’t ignore a fire like that!They had been chasing Yang Yi, but the moment the flames flared up, they changed course, rising sharply and rushing straight toward the Nyxstar.Yang Yi noticed immediately. He dropped flat onto the ground as the air above was ripped apart by the shriek of countless wings. The swarm of worms flew over him, diving headlong toward the blaze.“The searing chaos must be purged!”“How vile this heat!”“Embrace the cold—it alone grants peace to all…”“Eternity…”Yang Yi’s eyes widened—he could hear them. Whispering. Disjointed, maddening murmurs from above.The worms were conscious.Once their numbers reached a certain threshold—they could speak![Bizarre whispers. Sanity -10]At the ship’s bow, a battle to extinguish the flames had begun!Thousands of Ice Hive Worms dropped like living grenades into the fire, crashing against the deck and bursting apart into clouds of freezing mist.The front blaze was smothered instantly, and the fire began to recede—closer and closer toward the Life Furnace.There was no denying it—once they gathered in such numbers, these creatures were terrifyingly efficient fire extinguishers.In just seconds, more than half the flames were snuffed out. Frost began to form on the deck, preventing reignition.Soon, only one place still burned—a dazzling light radiating from the Life Furnace!Its open mouth gaped like a bottomless pit, drawing countless Ice Hive Worms toward it—Yang Yi rose to his feet and watched, awestruck.The swarm formed a long, unbroken blue stream—charging straight into the furnace. The flames soared skyward.The fire grew so intense that sparks spewed from the furnace’s chimney, bursting like fireworks into the sky.The worms acted like fanatical martyrs—mindlessly devout, driven by faith to purge heat and freeze everything before them.No flame could stop them. Every blaze would be extinguished by their cold devotion.Except this time——they had become the fuel!The first wave of ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Ice Hive Worms that entered the furnace were instantly ignited, their bodies flaring with blinding white fire.That light lured in more of their kin, who then burned in turn—each wave fueling the next—an endless, self-perpetuating loop of death.Minutes later, the furnace itself began to glow dull red, on the verge of melting.But the worms clung to its surface, sacrificing themselves—melting into the metal, cooling it down…And thus the death cycle was born.The Life Furnace had become a crematorium for the Ice Hive Worms—an incredibly efficient one. Each worm was vaporized the instant it entered, reduced to ash, and blown out through the chimney.From inside, crazed voices shrieked—sharp and grating, like ice scraping glass.“I did it!”“Praise the Lord of the Hive!”“I bring eternity!”“I—”[Fanatical voices. Sanity -20]Yang Yi’s head throbbed. Alarm jolted through him—he began searching for Suna.Sparks rained skyward from the furnace chimney, clearing the fog for hundreds of meters around.There—he spotted her.Suna was standing barely a dozen meters from the Nyxstar, closer than he was, staring blankly at the inferno at the ship’s prow.“Damn it!”Yang Yi immediately checked her sanity.SunaSanity: 47 / 80 (Status: Madness – Obsession)She was walking forward—slow, deliberate steps—drawn toward the clash of fire and ice, as if entranced.Yang Yi sprinted toward her, tackled her to the ground, and they rolled several times over the frozen surface.“What are you doing!?” Suna snapped, frowning.“What am I doing? Look at your sanity!” Yang Yi barked, pressing her down with his left arm so she couldn’t move.“My sanity? What about it?”“You’re—wait…”He froze. Her sanity value had jumped back up—to 52.That—was impossible. Had he misread it?“How long do you plan on holding me down?”Her voice turned cold, snapping him out of his thoughts.“Sorry—my mistake!”Yang Yi scrambled up and helped her to her feet.“These Ice Hive Worms make a horrible sound when they burn. We should move farther away.”They backed off to a safer distance. The voices no longer reached them.But then Suna suddenly recited something—her tone rhythmic, deliberate.It was in the universal human tongue, a language she had spent 500 conch coins to learn.“In the pure white palace where all has come to stillness,the Lord of the Ice Hive invites thee to share eternity…”Yang Yi felt his skin crawl. “What did you just say?”“I heard it,” Suna said quietly. “When those worms were burning—they kept repeating that line.”“Then you must’ve misheard!” Yang Yi shot back, instantly rejecting the idea. He glanced at her sanity again—still stable. Only then did he exhale.This ‘Lord of the Ice Hive’… probably another vile being, like that thousand-limbed Spider Mother—hideous and disgusting.[Attempting to recall the shadow of a Great Being. Sanity -10]Just the memory cost Yang Yi ten sanity points.“Your right hand?”Suna finally noticed how he was hiding his arm in his sleeve.“It’s fine. Got frozen off.”Yang Yi revealed the stump—blackened, frostbitten, and bloodless.Suna touched it lightly—it felt like solid ice, cold and hard.“You’ll need to amputate it,” she said with a frown.“It’s fine. I can heal it—with magic,” Yang Yi replied.“Magic…” she murmured.

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