Chapter 55.2
Living Sacrifices (2)
Five days later was when the auction would be held. If he wanted to snatch his treasure back, he had to do it during this period. It was obvious that the humans knew this very well and their traps must have been set up during this time.
With such a tight schedule, it was logical that he should not attend this academic exchange.
But... he always felt that there was something not quite right somewhere.
Shi An thought about it, sent a message to Mu Heng, straightened up his things, and contacted his driver.
He arrived at Aiwen Academy just in time to catch the last wave of vehicles heading to the competition venue.
In the car, Shi An wrapped himself up tightly, complete with ear muffs, gloves and scarf, and the fire gem tucked into the inside of his shirt, but he was still shivering from the cold.
Zhao She looked at the lofty snowy mountain in front and lamented, "I didn't expect that we had just left this place not long ago and would return so soon... Although this place isn't the same as the Abyssal Rift ruins, it still feels wonderful."
Shi An sniffled and said in a muffled voice, "I don't like it here..."
Zhao She said, "... I saw that you were pretty energetic when you signed up."
He wouldn't have come if it weren't for his lost treasure!
Shi An sighed and changed the subject.
He opened his mouth and asked, "Speaking of which, what is the situation of the academic exchange conference this time?"
Thus, Zhao She informed Shi An in detail of the news he had now learned.
It turned out that this year's academic exchange conference followed a similar pattern to the Ability Academy combat tests.
The venue for the event was set in the Aiwen Snowfield.
In previous years, the Aiwen Snowfield had been closed for the season, but a canyon near the southern end was opened this year for the conference. Although this canyon was still a part of the Aiwen Snowfield, the temperature was far less extreme than that inside the snowfield. It was relatively sealed off, making it a perfect natural venue for the event.
Shi An was slightly stunned as he listened.
The Aiwen Snowfield?
Wasn't this place close to the cave he once occupied?
Although his phone had been destroyed, the picture he had taken earlier in the study was still saved in the cloud. Shi An pulled up the image and searched for a map of the Aiwen Snowfield. Sure enough, it was the same.
However, there seemed to be something subtly different about the two maps.
Shi An compared them carefully.
Both maps marked the location of the Abyssal Rift ruins. But near the very end of the Abyssal Rift site on the map in the photo, the place where his cave had been moved to on the continent with the Abyssal Rift, there was a marked rift around the curve that led to-
A small canyon in the southern part of the Aiwen Snowfield.
Shi An frowned.
He tugged on Zhao She's sleeve beside him and pointed out the exact location on the official map. "Are we going to this place?"
Zhao She looked at it and nodded. "Yeah."
***
Soon, Aiwen Academy sent people to send all the participants to the canyon outside the Aiwen Snowfield.
Shi An kept his head down as he followed Zhao She forward, thinking seriously.
The timing and location of this academic exchange were too strange, but... wasn't the trap laid by the Bureau over there on the auction house? And the news was already out, so there was no way it could be changed at such short notice.
He took out his phone and the screen lit up.
However, Shi An found that the phone's signal grid had cleared to zero.
It seemed that... there was no way to contact the outside world.
He froze and the puzzled look in his eyes deepened.
After the rules had all been announced, the students from each academy entered the canyon in batches.
The thick snow beneath their feet crunched under their footsteps and the canyon was deadly silent, with the extremely low temperature changing the sky to a light gray color that now looked frozen.
Shi An was in a group with Zhao She and Wei Bocheng.
The other two were chatting without realizing what was going on, heading deeper into the canyon, one after the other.
At this moment, Zhao She turned his head to look at Shi An, who had been silent since a while ago, and asked in confusion, "What's wrong? You have been preoccupied since a moment ago."
Shi An shook his head. "It's nothing."
At that moment, he suddenly felt a strange magic wave coming from within the canyon.
Shi An jerked his head up and looked in the direction where the fluctuation came from.
Several distinct figures slowly emerged from the white snow in the distance.
The faces of those people were unfamiliar, but the overcoats they wore were very familiar to Shi An. He had personally strapped on three sets of the same clothes and wrapped them around his frozen self.
It... was the group of mercenaries.
Zhao She also realized that something was wrong. He frowned and assumed an attacking stance, unobtrusively moving Shi An toward his back. "What do you guys want?"
The several men on the other side did not answer.
One of them had a shady look, his gaze falling on the three students before him as he slowly asked, "Just them?"
The other one cowered and said, "Yes."
"The living sacrifices to summon the dragon are already enough. As for these people-"
The man sneered, a grim look sweeping across his eyes.
"The people above have already given the orders. They made us suffer heavy losses last time. We can't let them die so easily this time."
He waved his hand and commanded.
"Take them."