The Snow Queen wore the same expression as always—grave, without a trace of warmth.

She gripped her staff and walked to a position about ten paces away from the two of them, studying the rose seedlings in their hands.

The seedlings had grown quite large by now. Their vivid green stood out sharply in this cold, white expanse—a striking incongruity. If they truly were to blossom, what a breathtaking sight that would be.

She looked at them for a long, long time. Those calm, waveless eyes seemed to be gazing through the flowers at something else entirely…

“What are you looking at?” Cheng Weicai asked, his voice hoarse.

Ed’s eyes went wide, startled—he hadn’t expected the old man to speak directly to a game character. What was he trying to do?

The woman raised her gaze slightly and regarded the old man before her. She was silent for a moment, then replied: “These flowers… are curious. Each time I see them, certain images surface in my mind—flickers of memory… But I cannot grow them myself. Everything that draws near to me—person or object—freezes into ice.”

“Have you lost your memories?” Cheng Weicai asked again.

“How could a game character lose her memories?” Ed interjected. “She wants the rose because of the game’s settings. Whatever the settings dictate, she does. She’s not a real person. The system set things up so players would grow roses for her—that’s why we’re here doing all this. Everything happening here exists to satisfy her requirements. It’s all just settings!”

Cheng Weicai stared at the woman, dazed. “…Is that so? The people in the ocean—did they die because they failed to satisfy your requirements?”

The woman’s expression remained blank.

Cheng Weicai pressed urgently: “Do you know them? Do you remember them? Do you know who you are? Why did you let them die?”

Ed’s eyebrow twitched. “Hey, old man! What’s gotten into you? This woman is a game character! Not a living person!”

Cheng Weicai himself didn’t know why he was asking. He gazed at the woman with a sorrowful expression and thought: perhaps… perhaps it was because all of this was too difficult to accept.

The woman’s gaze drifted lightly across both of their faces—no anger, no confusion—just that faint, weightless sweep of her eyes. Then she dropped these words:

“In six hours, I will return.”

Six hours again.

……

Cheng Weicai and Ed settled into a new round of waiting.

The fire brought warmth, the ice provided water, the soil allowed the plants’ roots to grow fully. The rose seedlings were lush and thriving, and before they realized it, the plants had reached half a meter in height.

Between the leaves, flower buds the size of a thumb had emerged—pale green sepals, round and adorably plump.

Ed felt both excited and anxious.

He had observed carefully: his rose bud was slightly larger than Cheng Weicai’s, and at its tip he could already see just a hint of red. Cheng Weicai’s bud, by contrast, showed only a bare receptacle and sepals—no petals visible.

So there was a very good chance his rose would bloom first.

He had to maintain this advantage.

Almost without thinking, Ed began adding fuel to the fire more and more frequently, hoping to raise the temperature and coax his rose into blooming a step sooner.

Cheng Weicai noticed. He looked at Ed, a word on the tip of his tongue, then swallowed it.

The truth was, in the period just before flowering, too much heat or moisture could cause a bud on the verge of blooming to wither and drop prematurely.

But now that they were in the final stretch, he really had no reason to warn his opponent. He had something else to worry about—how to protect himself once Ed’s bud withered and Ed lost his mind.

That would be genuinely difficult.

He couldn’t harm anyone, and yet he had to keep this fragile plant safe from harm… Had those people down in the depths faced the same dilemma? Was that why they had all died here?

Cheng Weicai let out a silent sigh.

How had he drifted back to thinking about this without even noticing…

“Ha! It’s open! My rose has bloomed!” Ed suddenly cried out in delighted surprise.

Cheng Weicai was taken aback. How could it be so fast?

But the moment he looked over, he saw Ed’s face change color!

“AAAAAHHHH!!!”

Ed screamed in terror, pointing to one of his fingers—clamped fast by the split-open bud!

—