After reaching a safe place, Xu An pulled Zhou Haimei over, and the latter finally woke up completely.
"What was that just now?" Zhou Haimei's voice trembled slightly.
"It should be a mutated octopus monster, we can't beat it," Xu An said decisively, without the slightest hesitation.
"You calm down first, and we'll find Li Xin and the others to rendezvous later."
Zhou Haimei had no objections. The two found a cave sheltered from the wind, and Xu An took out a cup of hot water for Zhou Haimei.
However, the boiling water, which was still scalding hot in the space, turned into cold water the moment Xu An took it out.
Zhou Haimei was not surprised at all that Xu An could produce a cup of hot water anytime, anywhere.
After all, ever since she knew Xu An's ability was spatial, Zhou Haimei had been tired of saying the word "envious."
"I don't know how many more monsters like this are inside. If they are all like this, how can we kill them? It's simply sending food to the monsters." Zhou Haimei leaned against the wall, complaining as she took the water Xu An handed her.
Although she took it quickly, the moment it reached her mouth, she felt the water had already cooled down.
"It's so cold here."
"There shouldn't be many large octopus monsters like this. If all the monsters were like this, the lighthouse wouldn't let us come out to die for nothing, and the monster manual doesn't specify how many points you get for killing this kind of octopus monster. But I think it shouldn't be low."
Zhou Haimei shivered from the cold and didn't speak further.
In her heart, she thought that even if the points were enough, one had to be capable of killing the monster first, otherwise, no matter how much was said, it would be useless.
Xu An also felt the continuously dropping temperature. "We have to leave quickly. The temperature here is constantly dropping. Let's go rendezvous with Guan Shan and the others, and then we can figure out where to go next."
Zhou Haimei got up and packed the bags on the ground, putting away the water cup. After the two finished packing, they prepared to leave.
As they walked, Zhou Haimei shivered all over. "An'an, it's so cold."
"Just bear with it a little longer. Once we find everyone, we can set up the camp, and it will be better."
Zhou Haimei was so cold that she was almost losing consciousness.
Since awakening her ability, possibly due to her fire-element ability, Zhou Haimei's physique had become extremely sensitive to the cold.
It was the first time she had encountered a situation like this.
Xu An used her ability to create a protective shield around Zhou Haimei, blocking the wind and snow from the outside.
After a while, Zhou Haimei felt warm all over again.
She reached out her hand to feel the gradually rising temperature around her and found that the biting cold wind around her was being blocked.
The wind that had been stinging her face no longer blew against her.
She regained some consciousness and looked at Xu An, "An'an, did you put a protective shield on me?"
Xu An felt like she was playing a game, and Zhou Haimei was the healer.
However, Zhou Haimei really seemed to be suffering from the cold, her lips were purple, and she was in a daze.
Xu An threw a hand warmer to Zhou Haimei.
She felt more comfortable holding it.
"But I noticed you're much more afraid of the cold than before."
Before entering, Xu An and the others had undergone cold resistance training.
Xu An knew that Zhou Haimei's body had undergone changes after awakening her ability.
But at that time, Zhou Haimei was not as afraid of the cold as she was now.
Xu An thought for a moment and then said to Zhou Haimei, "Try to wrap yourself with your ability and see if it helps."
Zhou Haimei did as Xu An said and tried it.
She felt the flames around her like warm mist enveloping her entire body.
"It really works, An'an! How did you know?"
"I suspect your current aversion to cold is related to the ability you awakened."
"If you activate your ability, perhaps the elements within your body will be activated, and conversely, it will provide you with heat."
Xu An looked at the boundless ice field, identifying the direction as she explained to Zhou Haimei.
She turned her head to look around. Although she didn't want to admit it, her poor sense of direction seemed to have acted up again.
She looked at the roads around her, which all looked the same. She was truly lost and looked at Zhou Haimei beside her. "Mei-jie, can you find the direction we need to go now? I really can't find it."
The weather here could change every hour.
Xu An looked at the sky, which was gradually darkening. "We need to hurry and meet Li Xin and the others. If it gets any later, it might be too late."
Zhou Haimei's sense of direction was slightly better than Xu An's, but only slightly.
But at this moment, there was nothing they could do. Apart from the sound of wind and snow, there were no other sounds around. It was eerily quiet, almost too quiet.
But Zhou Haimei still listened intently to the wind whistling past her.
Because she could judge the position of objects around her from the direction of the wind.
The surroundings gradually quieted down, and Zhou Haimei's ears were filled only with the howling wind and the sound of wind blowing across the ice.
Zhou Haimei recalled the route they had taken to get here.
It was as if she was constructing a road in her mind, and they were currently walking on it.
"We should have come from the north. Li Xin and the others headed towards a valley in the southeast. We are currently in the opposite direction. If we take this path, we should be able to catch up with them," Zhou Haimei said to Xu An, pointing in a direction.
"Okay, then let's go in the direction you said." Xu An didn't hesitate. For someone with a poor sense of direction, not voicing any objections was the greatest contribution she could make.
By the time Xu An and Zhou Haimei found the Li Xin siblings, they had already set up their tents.
As Xu An had guessed, this was indeed a valley sheltered from the wind, and they were not affected by the cold winds here.
"This location is quite good, but I don't know if there will be a beast tide. We saw several groups of people encountering beast tides on our way back from the safe house, but we didn't engage and just ran," Li Cheng looked at Xu An and informed her of their journey.
Xu An's gaze fell on the tent set up by Li Cheng and the others. It looked quite sturdy, and it was more than enough to sleep three people.
She glanced at the sky, which had already turned dark.
"Well, don't worry about the beast tide. We're not in a hurry, we still have a month. It's not too late to hunt wild beasts after we're prepared," she said.
Hearing Xu An's words, Li Cheng knew that she definitely had other plans.
Li Cheng felt much more at ease looking at Xu An's confident demeanor.
Guan Shan's face remained expressionless from beginning to end.
"But how did you shake off that octopus monster? Did you kill it?" Li Xin asked.
Zhou Haimei smiled and patted Li Xin's head. "No, we ran. That octopus monster was too fierce, we couldn't kill it at all."
Afterward, everyone expressed understanding. After all, it was good enough to escape from such a monster, and no one really expected to be able to kill it.