Lord of Winter: Beginning with Daily Intelligence

Aik took out a glass test tube from the leather pouch at his waist, unscrewed the cap, and carefully dripped a drop of purple development liquid.

The moment the liquid touched the powder, it boiled furiously.

"Sss——" A puff of black smoke rose, accompanied by the stench of burnt feathers.

Aik made a retching sound in his throat, which was muffled by the gas mask.

He stared at the rapidly discoloring reaction liquid in the test tube, his fingers trembling slightly.

"Captain..." His voice tightened, "This isn’t sand, there is soul remnants."

He used the tip of the trowel to brush away the surface powder, revealing the same stark white beneath: "This is bone ash."

A brief silence spread through the team.

Aik took a breath and finished speaking, "The whole expanse is paved with ground-up dead people, these plants drain the living and will decompose the corpses along with them; this place really eats people without spitting out bones."

Several knights instinctively lifted their feet, as if fearing the ground beneath them might suddenly come alive.

The team continued to advance inland.

Passing through that somnolent crowd of root-carved humanoid figures, the scenery suddenly broadened.

Towering trees lined either side of the path, their bark presenting a uniform and pure golden hue, the leaves rustling softly in the breeze like layers of thin gold foil.

A young knight couldn’t help but speak softly, "It’s quite beautiful..."

Reyno smacked his helmet with a backhand slap, "Shut up."

He drew a dagger and walked to the nearest tree, "Inspect the sample."

The blade cut into the bark, and warm crimson fluid sprayed out violently, covering Reyno’s visor and flowing down through the cracks in his armor.

The trunk convulsed intensely, erupting with a piercing and distorted shriek, like a person having their throat slit while screaming.

The ground split open, bundles of golden aerial roots burst forth, crazily entwining around Reyno’s legs and joints.

The ends of the roots split open, revealing fleshy sucking mouths that gnawed on the alloy leg armor, making a teeth-clenching hiss.

Reyno’s heartbeat accelerated for a moment, burning the roots on his legs with Fighting Energy, and looked at Aik.

And Aik swallowed and immediately responded, "Carbon-based structure, high lipid content, alchemy flame will do!"

Reyno stepped back half a step, making way for the firing position, a heavily armed flamethrower soldier stepped forward.

Orange-red alchemy flames roared out, instantly engulfing the screaming golden tree.

A dense cracking sound emanated from the flames, the smell of burning grease was nauseating.

A few seconds later, the trunk ceased its convulsions, collapsing into a charred mass, the roots entangled around Reyno’s legs quickly withered and fell off.

Reyno kicked away the ashes at his feet, shook his boots, and looked back at the team, "Remember, burn on sight, don’t skimp on fuel, keep moving."

......

When the assault team left the scorched forest, the air temperature noticeably rose.

It wasn’t the heat of the sun, but a stifling humidity often felt in an enclosed space repeatedly breathed through.

The building area emerged ahead, but the atmosphere was exceedingly strange.

It appeared soft and bloated, like a whole mass of flesh forcibly ripened.

The houses weren’t constructed, but grown.

Huge body-like contours interwove, resembling thighs, arms, and some undeveloped organs, bound together by thick roots, swelling into oval fleshy pods.

The surface was covered with a translucent membrane, slightly undulating with breath.

The so-called windows were just narrow slits.

The tissue around the slits would occasionally contract and close, resembling blinking eyelids.

Warm and humid air carried a sticky, fishy smell, as if stepping into the body cavity of a giant creature.

A thick layer of semi-congealed mucus coated the ground, each step caused the boot soles to stretch out fine threads before breaking, creating a slight but discomforting sound.

The street sides were filled with residents, their lower halves fused with the architecture, their bodies fixed to the walls, showing only their upper torsos.

Heads hung low, motionless, resembling rows of forgotten wax figures.

Reyno raised his hand to signal a slowdown, just as the team closed in within twenty steps, those wax figures simultaneously moved.

Heads lifted, faces originally blank began to writhe violently, muscles shifting and regrouping under the skin, as if an invisible hand were kneading soft clay.

Within seconds, the first face completed its morphing.

It was Reyno’s face, not only the features, but even the old scar below his left eyebrow was perfectly replicated.

Seeing this, Reyno’s breath paused.

Then, the change spread.

Tens of thousands of faces simultaneously formed, turning into familiar faces known by the knights, fallen comrades, distant family members, even the knights themselves.

The air began to vibrate.

"Buzz——"

Tens of thousands of mouths opened and closed at once, like countless chaotic tones layered together forming a low-frequency resonance.

"Why..."

"Give yours... to me..."

"I also want... I also want..."

The sounds reflected and echoed down the street, mixing into an indiscriminate babble storm.

A young knight’s gun muzzle dropped, staring at the familiar face ahead, throat tightening, "Mom..."

The roar drowned out everything at this moment.

Just then, the armored command vehicle rolled over the ground’s mucus, forcibly squeezing to the front of the lines.

The tread’s vibration interrupted the eerie resonance.

The bulletproof turret atop the vehicle rose, activating the alchemy amplification array.

"Woooo————!!!!"

The sharp high-frequency whistle tore through the air with a clear physical impact.

Aerosol deterrent mixed with frost leaf extract and sound frequencies specifically designed to disrupt mental resonance.