469: Chapter 469 Say it again, what's strange?

The platform was bitingly cold.

Yize collapsed to the ground, his legs shaking uncontrollably.

He stared at those lifelike ice sculptures, his Adam's apple bobbing involuntarily.

Chen You walked over to the nearest ice sculpture.

It was a goblin wearing maintenance overalls.

It was still holding a wrench in its hand, its eyeballs bulging outward and its mouth wide open.

A transparent layer of ice completely encased it, sealing it along with the exclamation it hadn't managed to shout out.

A rhythmic clanking of metal echoed from the end of the platform.

Chen You looked up.

Twelve guards clad in heavy frost armor were marching toward them.

They held long spears, their helmet visors pulled down, revealing only pairs of eyes emitting a faint blue glow.

A layer of frost coated the surface of their armor, falling off in flakes as they walked.

Chen You let his right hand hang naturally at his side, accelerating the circulation of his Nine Revolutions Primordial Chaos Art, as pure yang spiritual energy surged through his meridians.

This group of guards was imposing, clearly not here with good intentions.

The guards stopped ten paces away from the two.

The guard who appeared to be the captain raised his right hand.

"Seize him!" the guard captain shouted.

Two guards strode past Chen You and walked up to Yize.

They crossed their spears, the tips pressing against Yize's neck.

Terrified, Yize clutched his head with both hands and stuttered, "I… I just didn't pay for my ticket! I'll wash dishes! I'll wash them for a month!"

The guard captain ignored his pleas.

He unhooked a blue crystal emitting a frigid aura from his waist and pressed it against Yize's chest.

Blue light exploded.

A layer of frost rapidly spread from Yize's chest.

In less than two seconds, Yize's pleas came to an abrupt halt.

Still holding his head, he turned into a crystal-clear ice sculpture.

His eyes rolled in terror beneath the ice for a moment before freezing completely solid.

Chen You's hand, which had been gripping his sword, paused.

Wasn't this punishment a bit excessive?

Just for not buying a ticket, they go straight to physical freezing? Was the Source Realm's railway management law written by a tyrant?

Chen You put away his yuhuang sword and was about to speak.

The guard captain turned around to face Chen You.

He dropped to one knee on the icy ground, sending ice shards flying.

Immediately after, the remaining eleven guards simultaneously knelt on one knee, slamming their spears heavily against the ground.

"The Aurora Guard's Seventh Squad welcomes Lord Lack of Virtue!" The guard captain's voice pierced through his visor, filled with extreme fanaticism and awe.

Chen You's mouth twitched.

Although this mythological-grade title provided incredibly heaven-defying attribute bonuses, every time someone shouted it out loud to his face, he felt like they were insulting him.

"You know me?" Chen You asked.

"Your reputation has long since spread throughout the seven major cities!" the guard captain replied, raising his head, his tone excited.

"Your strict judgment of art is known to everyone in Aurora City."

"The City Lord has been waiting for you for a long time. Please, follow me."

Chen You glanced at Yize, who had turned into an ice sculpture.

"What about him?"

"Rest assured, my lord, he is currently safe." The guard captain stood up and made a gesture of invitation.

Chen You frowned in thought, but without asking further, he followed the squad of guards out of the star-rail station.

The streets of Aurora City were wide and flat, with the ground paved in black, anti-slip metal plates.

The buildings on both sides of the road were entirely constructed from massive blocks of ice.

There were no lights; the brilliant aurora in the sky provided all the illumination.

The entire city was deathly silent.

Chen You walked along the street.

Every few dozen meters, he could see several ice sculptures.

There were vendors setting up stalls on the street, patrolling city guards, and even beasts of burden pulling carts.

They were all sealed in thick, solid ice, in various poses.

This major city had come to a complete standstill.

The City Lord's mansion was located at the highest point of the city.

It was a fortress made entirely of black metal, its outer walls covered in spikes, exuding a cold, hard feeling that kept strangers away.

The guard captain led Chen You to the gate on the top floor of the fortress, bowed, and withdrew.

Chen You pushed open the heavy metal door.

There was no fire inside the great hall, and the temperature was even lower than outside.

In the center of the hall stood a massive ice crystal table, and a tall figure stood behind it.

She was composed entirely of translucent blue crystal; she had no skin, no facial features, only a rough human silhouette.

A crystal-clear ice snake coiled atop her head, its tongue flicking in and out, making a hissing sound.

"Lord Lack of Virtue." The crystal being spoke, her voice ringing directly in Chen You's mind. "I am the City Lord of Aurora City, Bingbingde."

Chen You looked left and right, dragged over an ice-sculpted chair, and sat down directly.

"Bingbingde?" Chen You crossed his legs. "That's quite a unique name."

"What do you want with me?"

Bingbingde's voice betrayed a hint of exhaustion. "Aurora City is facing a catastrophe. I need your help."

"Let's hear it." Chen You crossed his legs.

"Three months ago, an unknown curse broke out in the city." Bingbingde pointed to the ice snake on her head. "It first appeared among the miners in the lower city."

"At first, the infected only felt thirsty. Then, they would uncontrollably stick out their tongues."

Chen You raised an eyebrow.

"They would lick everything they could touch," Bingbingde continued. "Metal, ice, their companions' faces, even their own weapons."

"As time passed, the infected would completely lose their sanity, turning into monsters that only knew how to lick."

"We call them… Licker Monsters."

Chen You almost choked on his own saliva.

Are they serious with that name?

Was the naming system of Aurora City designed by a three-year-old?

"This curse is highly contagious," Bingbingde said, ignoring Chen You's strange expression. "As long as one is touched by the saliva of a Licker Monster, even just a single drop, the disease will manifest within twelve hours."

"We tried all cleansing spells, and even brought in an Oracle, but all to no avail."

Bingbingde sighed, and the ice snake on her head lowered its head as well.

"To prevent the curse from spreading to other major cities, I ordered the lockdown of Aurora City."

"Everyone who showed symptoms was physically frozen using absolute zero."

"This is currently the only way to delay the onset of the curse."

Images of the star-rail train flashed through Chen You's mind.

Yize lying on the train window, his tongue and lips pressed tightly against the minus seventy-degree glass.

At the time, Chen You thought it was an accident.

Now it seemed that might have been an early symptom of the curse?

Yize had unknowingly contracted the "Lick-Lick" curse and couldn't help but lick that bulletproof glass.

The guards freezing him on the platform with the blue light crystal wasn't because he skipped the fare, but because he had become a walking source of infection.

"Did that traveler get hit too?" Chen You asked, somewhat unsure.

"The star-rail train is an enclosed space," Bingbingde said with a grave tone. "He must have come into contact with residual pathogens somewhere."

"Lord Lack of Virtue, you traveled with him the whole way without showing any abnormal reactions, which proves that your strength is sufficient to resist the erosion of this curse."

Chen You didn't respond, instead asking.

"What do you want me to do?"