“Yes,” Lou Mingyue added. “Even the last one was a day before me.”
Mo Sigui sighed. Saving Lou Mingyue was like reaching into the gates of hell. As for the others…
“They can’t be saved?” Lou Mingyue asked.
Mo Sigui turned to look at her calm face. “I’m afraid I can’t help them.”
Lou Mingyue clenched her fists and remained silent for a while before suddenly turning away.
“Although it’s cruel, I still want to tell you…” Mo Sigui said gently, “You should burn them.”
Lou Mingyue had been merely upset before, but hearing this, her heart felt as if it had been carved out with a knife. “They chose to enter the ice cave to slow down the poison, to buy some time for survival. And now you’re telling me to burn them?!”
“You entered the ice cave three days after being infected. If the freezing worked, when we rescued you, your condition should have been similar to Ling Gu’s. However, the freezing didn’t completely stop the poison’s progression,” Mo Sigui had to state this cruel fact. “When we brought you out, you were barely clinging to life.”
“Perhaps it’s because I didn’t get deep enough into the ice cellar?” Lou Mingyue refused to accept fate, her beautiful eyes reddened as she stared at him intently. “Wouldn’t it be better closer to the mystical ice?”
Mo Sigui remained silent.
Those people had been poisoned before Lou Mingyue. Even if the mystical ice could truly freeze the plague curse, their condition wouldn’t be much better. Mo Sigui doubted his ability to pull them all back from the brink of death. Moreover, he was certain that freezing couldn’t completely control the poison’s effects. Leaving them in the ice cellar would eventually lead to disaster.
Mo Sigui didn’t want to be so cold-hearted, but this matter was of utmost importance.
Lou Xiaowu suggested, “Brother Mo, could you rescue one more person closest to the mystical ice? We could confirm if they can’t be saved before…”
“This poison fears fire,” Mo Sigui, seeing Lou Mingyue’s ashen face and tearful eyes, suddenly realized his blunt words were too cruel. He changed his approach, “Alright, Little Wu and I will go in and rescue one more person.”
“I’ll go with you,” Lou Mingyue’s voice was weak, but her tone brooked no argument.
“As you wish,” Mo Sigui gave her a deep look, then took the fire sable fur coat hanging on the rack and went out.
Lou Mingyue closed her eyes to compose herself briefly before also taking a fire sable coat and following.
Fire sables were rare, extremely agile, small in size, and intelligent, making them difficult to capture. Their fur was exquisitely beautiful, and coveted by countless nobles. Obtaining even a single pelt was incredibly challenging! The Lou clan’s two fire sable coats had been painstakingly collected over more than twenty years, regardless of cost, before they could be made.
“Second Sister,” Lou Xiaowu ran out. “Let me go instead.”
However, Lou Mingyue left the courtyard without looking back.
Lou Xiaowu understood her second sister’s personality. Once she made a decision, she rarely changed her mind. Lou Xiaowu admired her second sister; she dared to face the sleeping forms of their clan members, while Lou Xiaowu herself was unwilling and afraid to look.
Lou Xiaowu found some food, ate a little, and brought some to Ling Gu.
As dusk approached, the sound of hoofbeats echoed from the foot of the mountain.
A group of five people rode through the snow.
One of them gave a loud whistle from afar. Lou Xiaowu, halfway up the mountain, heard the sound and immediately ran down.
The five riders waited for a moment as the main gate slowly opened.
“Sixth Aunt!” Lou Xiaowu jumped out, rushing towards the leader.
Lou Xiaowu’s sixth aunt was named Lou Xin, a woman nearing forty.
“Little Wu,” Lou Xin dismounted. “Why are you opening the gate? Where are the servant girls who guard the gate?”
Though she asked, her tense voice showed she had already guessed the answer.
“Everyone has gone into the ice cellar. Only Ling Gu and I remain. Brother Mo and Second Sister have gone into the ice cellar to rescue people,” Lou Xiaowu said glumly.
Lou Xin’s heart sank. Given Lou Xiaowu’s personality, if there was even a glimmer of hope, she would surely be eager for praise right now. Yet she appeared so downcast…
“Let’s go inside and talk,” Lou Xin said, leading her horse through the gate.
When they had set out, there were thirty-nine people. Although only she and Lou Xin were from the Lou clan, seeing the estate in such a desolate state made Lou Xiaowu’s heartache.
Her gaze swept over the group, suddenly stopping on one person. She exclaimed in surprise, “Mei Shisi!”