Panic surged through him, only to be met by his body's refusal to respond. He tried to sit up—nothing. He strained to lift an arm—his fingers barely twitched. Even breathing now felt like a task measured in shards of pain.
Fighting the fear clawing at the edges of his mind, he forced his gaze upward.
The room around them was a tomb of frost.
Thick sheets of ice veiled the stone walls, distorted the wooden beams, crept across the floor in serpentine tendrils. Even the air sparkled faintly, shimmering with suspended frost particles, as if they were submerged in a living glacier.
"…What… is this place…?" he breathed.
But even as the words left him, the realization took shape—slow, cold, and absolute.
The chill wasn't just from the air.
It was the very surface beneath him.
His back was pressed against something slick, frigid… solid.
He forced his gaze downward and confirmed his dread.
An ice-covered slab. Just like the one beneath the Queen.
'This… this has to be a freezing chamber… some sort of ancient ice storage...'
A cold sweat, if such a thing could exist in that temperature, would've broken across his brow.
His instincts screamed: this place wasn't just for keeping things cold—it was for keeping things preserved.
Corpses. Bodies. Silence.
Desperation welled up inside him.
With everything he had left, he summoned strength into his right arm. His fingers trembled, spasming, inching through the biting air toward Genie's shoulder. He reached—
—but stopped just short. His hand hovered above her, shaking uncontrollably, useless in its half-frozen state.
No.
Not like this.
He grit his teeth and tried again, this time commanding his legs to move, to shift, to rise—to save her.
But his legs, too, remained unmoved, as if welded to the slab.
His chest rose and fell with labored breath, mist swirling with each exhale. The air around him felt heavier now, each second ticking away like a countdown to something darker.
They were trapped. Buried in ice. Entombed while still alive.
Jade felt his limbs lay as heavy and stiff as stone. Even his gums felt frozen, brittle beneath his tongue. For the first time in his life, Jade was gripped by a cold that gnawed relentlessly at every cell of his body — a bone-deep frost that refused to relent.
His gaze drifted involuntarily to the Queen's lips — blue, lifeless, frozen in eternal stillness.
"You… have to wake up… Your Majesty…" His voice was barely a whisper, cracked and trembling.
Still, Queen Genie remained motionless, a silent statue in the icy chamber.
The heavy silence was broken by a slow, creaking groan as the door to the freezing chamber swung open.
A man stepped inside, his heavy fur coat brushing silently against the floor, boots muffled by thick snow. Jade's breath hitched, panic clawing at his chest. Swiftly, he shut his eyes and tilted his head back, pressing it against the cold ceiling — feigning unconsciousness.
Thud. Thud.
The man's footsteps echoed, deliberate and slow, closing the distance.
'Who is he?' Jade cracked one eye open just a sliver.
The man was older — perhaps in his late fifties — his face weathered but hard. In one gloved hand, he held a small, gleaming, pointed object.
He approached the Queen's side with steady purpose.
Jade's heart thundered.
'What is that…? What does he intend to do?'
The man bent down, the needle glinting ominously as he raised it toward Queen Genie's pale hand.
'No…!'
Jade's breath caught, a silent scream trapped in his throat.
Suddenly, the chamber door burst open again.
"Have you administered the injection yet?"
The voice was bright, almost cheerful — unsettlingly so.
Jade recognized it instantly.
The older man paused, needle poised.
"No. I was just about to," he replied quietly.
A younger man strode in lightly, his eyes sharp and calculating as he studied the Queen's still form.
"Leave her be," the younger man said coolly. "The plan has changed."
"The plan… changed?" The older man's confusion was clear.
"The Elder has given us new orders," the younger man said, a twisted delight flickering in his gaze.
"What are they?"
A slow, cruel smile spread across the younger man's lips.
"She's not one of our villagers, is she? Originally, we were going to experiment on her for a few days, then bury her deep in the mountains. But now — there's a more profitable option."
Jade's heart thundered in his chest, each beat a frantic drum of alarm and disbelief.
'They were going to use Her Majesty as an experiment… then bury her?'
A surge of frustration and helpless fury coursed through him, coiling tight in his chest like a live wire. His body remained frozen, immobile—an unbearable prison. He gritted his teeth, every muscle screaming to break free.
Then, almost imperceptibly, his legs twitched.
Finally — a flicker of life sparked through his numb limbs. His muscles began to stir beneath the frost. But Jade forced himself to remain still, pretending to be unconscious, even as hope flickered within him.
"And what is this profitable option?" the older man asked cautiously, voice low.
The technology teacher who is the younger man shrugged, a cruel smirk playing on his lips.
"I spoke with one of our overseas buyers — the usual clients." He glanced down at Genie. "She's not from this village. Once shipped across the sea, no one will ever find her. We'll run just enough tests to keep her barely conscious, just enough to keep her alive. Then we sell her."
The older man's eyes widened in shock, disbelief painted across his weathered face.
"You're going to… send her abroad?"
"Shhh."
The technologist pressed a finger to his lips, his smile dark and secretive.
"This stays between us — our little secret."
For a long moment, the room was heavy with silence. The weight of the plan settled like a shadow over them all.
Then, the technologist's gaze snapped toward Jade.
Jade's eyes shot shut again, heart pounding wildly beneath the frozen veil of his feigned unconsciousness.
"I've observed this one for two days now," the technologist said coldly, voice low and calculating. "His physical endurance is exceptional. He'll be perfect for long-term trials. Keep him."
The older man raised the needle, glinting ominously in the dim light.
"Then shall I use the drug on him instead?"
"Yes. Go ahead. I'll bring a different one for her later."
"As you command."
Without another word, the technologist turned sharply and strode from the freezing chamber, his heavy boots echoing off the stone walls. The door creaked shut behind him, sealing the cold silence once more.
'He's gone…'
Jade's body stirred beneath the icy paralysis. Every muscle tensed, every nerve ignited with a surge of desperate will.
Unaware of the danger lurking just feet away, the older man stepped forward casually, confident in his control.
Then, with the suddenness of a storm, Jade exploded into motion.
He leapt from the cot like a coiled spring released, charging forward with raw fury.
"You—!"
The man barely had time to react before Jade's fist crashed into his abdomen with bone-crushing force.
"Urgh…"
The older man doubled over, gasping for air, the needle slipping from his grasp and clattering onto the cold floor.
Without hesitation, Jade snatched it up. His mind raced — no time for doubt.
With a swift, merciless motion, he drove the needle deep into the man's neck.
"Gah—!"
The man's eyes widened in shock, pupils dilating wildly as his body convulsed violently, then crumpled lifelessly to the ground.
Jade wasted no time.
"Your Majesty!" he cried, rushing to Queen Genie's side.
His trembling hand seized hers — shockingly cold, like ice against his skin.
Genie stood perfectly still, as if she had been turned to ice—frozen in time and space.
Jade's fingers trembled slightly, but with swift precision, he slipped the small, sharp object he had picked up earlier into his pants pocket. The cold metal felt unnervingly heavy against his skin.
Carefully, he reached out and grasped the Queen's shoulder, lifting her onto his back with practiced ease.
A sharp chill radiated from Genie's body, the icy cold pressing against Jade's back like a living frost. The biting cold seeped through his clothes, but there was no time to dwell on it.
Without a second thought, he sprinted toward the heavy door of the ice chamber and flung it open with all his strength.
The door groaned as it swung wide, revealing a narrow, steep staircase swallowed by shadows.
"This is...!"
Jade's breath caught in his throat.
The wooden beams lining the walls were unmistakable—the same weathered wood he had seen inside the schoolhouse's interior.
'So, after collapsing in that room… I've been trapped all this time in the schoolhouse's basement ice chamber.'
The small, pointed object shifted slightly in his pocket, a steady reminder of his purpose.
Straining under the weight of the Queen on his back, Jade began to ascend the stairs, each step creaking under his effort.
At the top, the staircase opened into long corridors stretching endlessly left and right—dim and silent, fading into darkness.
His gut tugged sharply toward the right.
'Right side.'
Without hesitation, guided by an instinct he didn't question, Jade broke into a run down the shadowy corridor, clutching the Queen tightly.
After what felt like an eternity racing through the endless hallway, a brilliant light suddenly burst into view, flooding his vision with a warm glow.