Chapter 162: Cold Lake.

Chapter 162: 162: Cold Lake.

Ryan understood the assignment. Immediately, he pulled away from the kiss.

While Kael stared at him in confusion, Ryan passionately took him by the hand and stared straight into his eyes.

"I love you," Ryan said. "I love you so much that I’m going mad."

"...." Kael was confused. "Really?"

Ryan cast him a cold look. "Play along," he muttered.

"Oh..." Kael caught himself before saying, "I do too... I love you so much that I can’t even think straight at all..."

The two held each other’s hands passionately as they confessed their feelings in the most dramatic way possible.

"I love you so much that I don’t even know what to do with my life..."

"No, I love you more."

The two continued their dramatic confession while June and Simon watched them in silence.

"Their acting is pretty bad... Are you sure it’ll work?" Simon asked.

June turned to the crabs, who were still completely tuned in to the performance. "Well... I guess it’s working..."

After they had gone on for a while, June turned to the crabs, who were completely invested, and broke their attention.

"Excuse me. So, as you can see, our couple here are lost, and we don’t know the way to find our dear friend so we can leave." June gestured toward Ryan and Kael. "So, I don’t know if you could help us find our way out of here...?"

Simon stared at him. "Do they even understand our language...?"

"If they can watch that, they should. It’s an anomaly dungeon, after all. Anything is possible at this point." June muttered back while holding a forced smile toward the crabs.

The crabs stared at each other before looking down at Ryan and Kael, who nodded in agreement with what June had requested.

They stared at each other again before turning around.

Four of them slowly bent down in front of the group.

"Do they want to fart on us?" June blinked.

"I think they’re offering us a ride," Ryan said.

"Oh." June nodded. "Makes more sense..."

The crabs offered them a ride, and the four of them finally climbed onto their backs. To their surprise, the crabs actually carried them.

The ten crabs moved in one direction, journeying through the harsh sun and sand while heading toward a destination June and his team weren’t sure about.

But they trusted the process and made an emergency plan to escape in case the crabs weren’t as genuine as they seemed.

Fortunately, June had baited them into believing that Kael and Ryan were the real deal. They had instantly become fans of this couple pairing.

And as fans, they were determined to take their favorites to their destination.

---

Soon, the crabs arrived at a destination. They stopped at a desert spot that looked almost exactly like everywhere else.

"Where is this...?" Ryan asked as they looked around. The sun was directly above them now, so close that it felt like they were burning.

"Is this some sort of setup?" Kael was rather worried.

"Look there..."

June had caught sight of something and instantly pointed down toward it. Slowly, they all looked down, only to see a rather fascinating sight.

In the middle of this hot, dry desert was a pool of water sitting in a small hole.

The body of water wasn’t too big, but it was large enough for over five people to swim in. Most shocking of all, they could immediately tell that the water was freezing cold.

They could feel the icy chill coming from it, with cold mist oozing through the atmosphere.

"What the hell is a freezing stream doing in the middle of a desert?" Kael raised an eyebrow.

"It’s an anomaly dungeon. Anything is possible." Ryan restated the point as they climbed down from the crabs.

As soon as they got down, the crabs all turned around and instantly began leaving. Soon, they were out of sight.

"Why did they leave like that?" Kael asked.

"Probably because their job is done here." Ryan turned to stare at the stream for a while.

The four of them made their way down to the stream and soon stood close to the water. They could feel the chill coming from it.

It was cold.

Extremely cold, like ice. Cold enough that mist oozed from its surface.

"Why do you think they dropped us here?" Ryan inquired. "Do you think it’s related to Nyx in some way?"

They knelt close to the water as June stared through it for a while. "I suppose... it should be, since they brought us here."

"Maybe it’s a portal?" Simon suggested as they stared through the water. They could only see their reflections staring back at them.

"Who wants to try first?" Kael asked. "Jumping in there and seeing if it takes you somewhere?"

"One would certainly freeze if it doesn’t take them anywhere. They’d probably go to hell," Ryan said as they continued staring through the water.

June was quiet as he examined the energy of the lake. Just like Simon had suggested, he could feel another dimension surrounding it.

And he had a strong feeling that Nyx was on the other end.

Slowly, he brought out his hand, stretching his fingers toward the lake.

"What are you doing...? What if it’s dangerous?" Ryan asked, stopping him.

But June shook his head. "Don’t worry, I’ll be fine." He stared into the water. "I have a feeling that he’s in there somewhere... At least, I can feel an energy beyond this..."

"So, like Simon said, there might actually be a portal beyond this..." June slowly brought his fingers closer to the water. "So maybe I can find something if I just..."

They watched as June gently dipped one finger into the water. He slowly ran it through the chilling surface, trying to see if he could feel or see anything.

Nothing happened.

His fingers continued moving through the water while the others watched.

"Can you feel anything?" Simon asked curiously.

June remained quiet as he continued running his fingers through the water. He closed his eyes, then opened them almost immediately.

"I feel..." He hesitated, his fingers still moving through the water as a blue light began swirling around them. "His energy..."

Immediately, the light grew massive, transforming into a surging wave of water that swallowed June whole.