Chapter 300: Snow River

Chapter 300: Chapter 300: Snow River

BANG!

A muffled thud echoed.

Without the support of his Professional Level Power, Lance was now no stronger than a particularly fit ordinary person. How could he possibly withstand the charge of a Level 3 Knight?

He didn’t even have time to react before the immense force slammed him to the ground. His back hit the stone floor hard, making him suck in a sharp breath of cold air.

Before he could recover, Nieve was already straddling his waist.

The Snow Lady’s fair, small hands were like iron clamps, pinning Lance’s wrists to the ground on either side of his head.

Lance could clearly feel the astonishing strength in her grip; she was pressing down so hard that her hands were trembling uncontrollably.

’It’s over!’

Lance’s pupils dilated as he cursed inwardly.

He was in a Weakness Stage with All Attributes locked at 10. The one pinning him down, however, was a Frost Knight with a normal Constitution of 34.

The two of them locked eyes in the dim passageway.

Nieve’s long, ice-blue hair cascaded down, brushing against Lance’s cheek.

Lance was surprised to find that her normally soft hair was now laced with countless tiny, sharp ice crystals.

A bone-chilling cold radiated wantonly from Nieve, spreading in all directions.

Her usually cool and distant face showed no obvious change in expression, but Lance caught the abnormality in her eyes.

Nieve’s eyes had turned red, filled with panic and helplessness.

The ambient temperature was dropping at a terrifying rate, and a layer of white frost was even beginning to form on the stone walls of the passage.

This was a sign of a Snow Lady’s "Emotional Hypothermia Syndrome" running out of control.

Lance immediately understood why.

While waiting outside the door, Nieve must have used that buff to sense the exact moment his health bar hit zero and their contract broke inside the room.

For a Snow Lady, who is born with dull Perception and extremely weak emotional feedback, external stimuli rarely leave a mark on her heart.

But for that very reason, Lance—the man who could use a special ability to forcibly activate her senses and let her experience pain and taste—had long since become an irreplaceable anchor in her world.

In the instant she mistakenly believed Lance had died inside the room, an immense panic and pain washed over her—the feeling of losing her entire world, like a saw brutally tearing at her soul.

"Nieve is cold."

She abruptly leaned down, pressing her body tightly against Lance’s chest.

THUMP... THUMP...

Nieve pressed her ear firmly to Lance’s chest, listening to the steady, powerful beat of his heart.

She felt the familiar warmth radiating from him.

"He’s alive..."

Nieve murmured, her eyes closed.

Then, like a little wild animal, she suddenly opened her mouth and bit down hard on Lance’s exposed shoulder.

This time, she bit down very hard. Her sharp teeth pierced his skin, and she could even taste the faint tang of blood.

However, faced with this slightly harmful act, Lance didn’t try to push her away.

He simply sighed, pulled his pinned hands free, and gently wrapped his arms around Nieve’s thin, trembling back. He began patting her slowly, one pat at a time, as if soothing a frightened kitten.

Because Lance could clearly feel it.

Scalding hot drops were rolling down Nieve’s cheeks one after another, dripping onto his collarbone.

They were the tears of a Snow Lady.

A moment later, as if noticing the taste of blood in her mouth, Nieve slowly loosened her bite.

"Don’t let the contract break again..."

She buried her head deep in the crook of Lance’s neck. Her voice was barely a whisper, but it held a stubborn intensity.

"Absolutely not."

As she spoke, she wrapped her arms tightly around Lance’s neck, as if afraid that the person before her would disappear again the moment she let go.

At that moment, Lance felt the deep attachment of the girl in his arms.

"Lance promised Nieve. After you came out, you would take Nieve leveling."

The girl’s voice came out muffled from the crook of his neck.

"Lance is Nieve’s eyes, Nieve’s taste, Nieve’s..."

She paused, as if searching for the right word.

"If Lance died in there, I would have died with you."

Hearing this, the hand patting her back suddenly froze.

For a moment, a dazed look appeared in his eyes.

In all the time he had known Nieve, this was the first time he had ever heard the naturally ditzy Snow Lady use the word "I" as the subject of a sentence to refer to herself!

Lance recalled a psychology course he had taken in college during his past life.

He had actually noticed Nieve’s strange habit of referring to herself in the third person long ago.

In the field of psychology, the construction of human "self-awareness" is largely built upon physical sensory experiences.

But Nieve, due to her racial flaw, was born with extremely weak Perception.

Because she couldn’t feel external stimuli, or even pain and temperature changes in her own body, her inner self-awareness had remained in an extremely weak, dormant state.

Without vivid sensations, a complete concept of "I" could not be formed.

Therefore, she had always subconsciously described herself as an objective bystander.

However, ever since meeting Lance, under the constant stimulation of his Sensory Overload Trait, Nieve had truly begun to use her own body to genuinely experience the world’s pain and sweetness.

Through this subtle process, the dormant, subjective "I" had already begun to take root and sprout deep within her soul.

And today, because Lance had died and been reborn in the room, Nieve experienced an unprecedented level of Fear. This Fear completely catalyzed her emotional transformation.

Before this, whether it was Philis stealing her food or other people getting close to Lance, he could see Nieve exhibiting clear possessiveness and jealousy.

These were already the initial signs of her self-awareness beginning to integrate and manifest a subjective will.

And now, as she finally cried out the word "I" amidst a whirlwind of extreme Fear and attachment, this meant that the Snow Lady, who had always been adrift from the world, finally possessed a complete soul and had truly become a "person" of flesh and blood.

A flash of relief appeared in Lance’s eyes as he considered this.

He raised his hand again and gently patted Nieve’s back, his tone incredibly soft:

"Don’t worry, I won’t. I promise you, I absolutely will not die."

However.

Just as the atmosphere was becoming incredibly warm and touching...

Lance suddenly heard Nieve, who was still lying on top of him, mumble something.

"Lance’s strength... seems to have gotten a lot weaker?"

Hearing this, Lance’s heart skipped a beat.

Immediately after, the hands that had been desperately clinging to his neck began to slide down, then expertly and precisely grasped Lance’s wrists, which had lost all Power to resist.

Using the strength in her arms, Nieve slowly propped up her upper body.

Her ice-blue eyes, which had been streaming with tears just moments before, were now looking down at him, staring unblinkingly at his face.

"Nieve is going to eat Lance."

She said it in a matter-of-fact tone, her eyes filled with a possessiveness that made his scalp tingle.

Looking at her undisguised gaze, Lance swallowed hard.

’He suddenly felt that he might have celebrated a bit too soon.’

’For a Snow Lady this powerful, whose thought processes were clearly different from an ordinary person, having her self-awareness fully awaken and focus entirely on him... this might not be a fucking good thing at all!’

Before Lance could even think of how to talk her down...

His vision suddenly went dark.

The next second, a soft, cool sensation pressed against his lips without any warning.

’So Snow Ladies taste like mint.’

...

By the time he came to his senses, Lance was already struggling desperately against the scene unfolding before him. Powerless and on the verge of tears, he cried out,

"I can take them off myself!"

’If you rip my pants, how am I supposed to walk back later!’

’Tribulation Flower, I curse you!’

’Wait!’

’Who told you that was edible?!’

*HISS—*