Snow fell heavily over the land, blanketing everything in a thick, frozen sheet. Lin lay sprawled across the ice, gasping, his heart racing beyond control. The air he breathed felt like blades piercing his chest. Terror gnawed at him from within as he watched a strange sight unfold before his eyes.
The colossal serpent that had attacked him… was transforming.

Its crystal-white skin shrank slowly, as if the layers of frost were cracking under the weight of something monstrous. Its limbs stretched and bent. And then—before Lin—a woman emerged.

A woman with skin as pale as snow, hair as white as winter’s wrath, and eyes burning red like fire. Two white horns adorned her head like a crown of ice. Her beauty was cruel, unearthly, as if she embodied the essence of frost itself. Her movements were delicate and deliberate, as though the ground recoiled beneath her feet, the snow twisting, the ice melting wherever she stepped.

She smiled—a faint, enigmatic smile that sent a jolt of dread through Lin’s chest. Every step she took toward him felt like the march of a nightmare. Every second in her presence gnawed at his soul.

She drew near, her body swaying with eerie grace, until her cold breath brushed his ear. Her voice cut through the air like a dagger:

> “Ssssss… Do you know why I spared you?”

Lin, body paralyzed, trembled before her. His eyes, wide with terror, could not look away. His mind whirled in panic, searching for answers but finding only silence in the presence of this icy being that towered over him.

There was something in her eyes—something he couldn’t name. Time itself seemed to freeze. A sickening realization twisted inside him: Am I weaker than I thought? Will I keep facing these horrors forever?

She smiled again, the corners of her lips like cracks in a mirror, and said in a voice colder than death:

> “Because… you were the only male among them.”

His heart stopped.

As if his bones had turned to ice, a shiver of pure dread coursed through him. Before he could move, before he could even understand, her hand touched his neck—gently, yet with the force of a curse.

And then, the world faded.

His senses unraveled. Thought slipped away.

…

When he awoke, an unbearable cold clung to every cell in his body. He lay upon a frozen floor, surrounded by hundreds of crawling white corpses—husks, animated only by glowing ember-like eyes. Their bodies twisted slowly, as though waiting for something, lifeless yet writhing with unnatural energy.

But in that moment, something shifted within Lin. A strange sensation crept into his chest. It was as if the frost and the dead spirits around him were beckoning him, whispering to him, Submit…
Was he part of this world now?
Had he become one of them?

Before him, a circular arena of ice rose from the ground. Seated in the stands were dozens of women, their glowing eyes locked on him, waiting for bloodshed to begin. But what was worse—this cruel frost, or the creatures now watching him?

Every corner reeked of death.

He looked on, stunned, as he saw her—seated atop a throne of ice at the center of the dark chamber.
Her.
The white woman who had haunted him since the beginning. She wore a simple dress spun from strands of ice, her bare legs brushing the ground as if the frost itself worshipped her. In her eyes gleamed a mystic force. On her lips—a mocking smile, like one who gazes at something broken.

And yet… in Lin’s heart, something stirred.
A voice, screaming from the darkness inside him.
This isn’t the end.

She spoke, her whisper like a fingernail dragged across glass:

> “So, the lone male has finally awakened.”

She raised her hand.

The arena split down the middle.

From its depths emerged malformed figures—twisted human shapes, crawling, their bodies sealed in icy shells, moaning soundlessly. They writhed toward Lin, inviting him into this grotesque contest.

But their eyes… they held only cruelty. They mocked his struggle, daring him to face their cold reality.
Inside him, terror clashed with pressure.
Even the ice seemed to move within him, as if his very soul was beginning to transform.

His eyes widened. His heart trembled.
He couldn’t move.
Every twitch of his muscles felt like it would shatter him completely.

And yet—

From the core of that fear, something else began to rise.
A sensation not born of hope, but of something darker.
The cruelty of this world was opening its gates to him… and offering its power.

Flashes of memory blurred through his mind. Old images. Fogged recollections. But one truth rang clear in his thoughts:
Survive—or die.

A choice more dreadful than anything he’d ever faced.
And with each moment, he edged closer to the brink of chaos.

The world fell silent.
Frozen in awe.

She watched him from her throne, smiling her cruel smile. As if this was all a delightful show.

> “If you wish to survive… show them what you’re capable of.”

She snapped her fingers.

The icy chains binding Lin shattered.

And with a wave of her hand, he was thrust into the arena—into her savage and enchanting world.

Lin, gasping, trembling, felt something black stirring inside him.
The thought of death was no longer frightening.
It was becoming instinct.

Then, from deep within his chest, a searing pain erupted.

Something ancient…
Something vile…
Was awakening inside him.

Whispering, hissing, singing—

Kill… kill… kill… kill…