Chapter 56: Crisis in the Snowfield

Qiaomu Cao’s previously smug expression shifted in an instant.

If Ye Chen had only been speculating based on that faint sound, Qiaomu Cao’s knowledge was far more direct—he could feel with certainty what he had stepped on.

Without hesitation, he swung the arm holding the suitcase, shoving hard at Ye Chen’s chest, while his gloved hand slapped forcefully against his own body.

Yet, due to the difference in their physical strength, Ye Chen was not pushed aside and remained standing right next to Qiaomu Cao.

He was about to say, “Don’t move. Let me help you pry off the trap,” when Qiaomu Cao roared, “Stay away from me!”

In the next moment, under Ye Chen’s startled gaze, Qiaomu Cao’s entire body turned black.

Could this be the “Full-Body Rubberization”? Was he planning to use his ability to withstand the trap?

Seeing Qiaomu Cao’s resolute expression, Ye Chen chose to trust him and quickly stepped back.

Bang!

The trap beneath them triggered, and fine, densely packed snow erupted from underfoot. But instead of the expected explosion, a white layer of frost rapidly formed over Qiaomu Cao’s foot.

The frost spread swiftly from the foot upward, making a hissing sound as it climbed his calves and reached his waist. The freezing slowed, but still crept up to his chest before finally halting.

In the blink of an eye, more than half of Qiaomu Cao’s body was encased in ice, his immobile black figure trapped beneath a shell of white frost.

A term flashed through Ye Chen’s mind—“Frost Trap!”

As the name implied, this trap did not detonate upon activation. Instead, it instantly froze the victim in place, severely restricting their movement.

Some hunters even carried these frost traps during winter hunts, as they could immediately immobilize prey for a perfect capture. Unlike explosive traps, which could damage the animal’s hide and lower its value, the frost trap left the prey unharmed.

However, frost traps were highly dependent on weather. In summer, their effect was greatly diminished; even if an animal stepped on one, the thin layer of ice could be easily shattered, and the prey might escape.

But now, things were different.

The ice on Qiaomu Cao’s legs melded with the ground, anchoring him firmly in place. His lower body was completely frozen and unable to move.

Ye Chen’s scalp tingled as he watched. If he hadn’t dodged in time, he’d be in the exact same predicament as Qiaomu Cao, or perhaps even worse.

Or rather, the difference was that the damage he’d sustain would be far greater.

Ye Chen was just about to help Qiaomu Cao out of his predicament when a sharp whistling sound sliced through the air.

From a distance, a grappling hook shot forward, latching precisely onto the suitcase’s handle.

Qiaomu Cao, distracted by the ice around his legs, was caught off guard by the sudden force. The suitcase was yanked from his grasp, arcing through the air toward the roof of a nearby house.

“Damn it!”

“We’ve been had!”

Both men instantly realized their opponent’s intention—to immobilize Qiaomu Cao and snatch the suitcase.

“Forget about me! Go after the suitcase! The frost trap can’t beat me—hurry!” Qiaomu Cao yelled anxiously at Ye Chen.

Ye Chen gazed at his companion, worry etched in his eyes, but Qiaomu Cao nodded back with firm resolve. Even now, he wore a crooked, cheerful grin—though the inky-black smile looked odd in such a situation.

Ye Chen spun around, abandoning his books and non-stick pan, grabbing his healing serum and racing after the suitcase at full speed.

Frozen from the waist down, Qiaomu Cao struggled to move but found his strength was useless. He hammered at the ice with his rubberized fists—thud, thud, thud—but left not a mark.

With the wind and snow intensifying, the ice around him only grew thicker.

Qiaomu Cao understood that if he didn’t break free soon, once his inner energy was depleted, his rubber protection would fade. His muscles would then be at the mercy of the cold—frostbite, or even losing his lower limbs, was a real possibility.

“What a vicious trick!” He took a deep breath and muttered, “Seems I’ve got no choice but to use that move.”

He pressed his fists together, and suddenly, two bulges appeared on his rubberized forearms. The bulges moved up and down, as if two pumps were inflating him.

In moments, Qiaomu Cao’s body temperature soared, white steam rising from his skin. The ice imprisoning him began to melt from within; with a slight effort, cracks spread across the block.

A steady cascade of cracking sounds erupted, and then—bang!—Qiaomu Cao vanished from where he’d been stuck, leaving only a flurry of shattered ice spinning in the air. The black rubber man was already sprinting a long way down the street.

…

Ye Chen was now sprinting down the street, darting into alleys and emerging again, hot on the trail.

He’d seen the suitcase yanked onto a rooftop. Atop the building stood a hooded, cloaked figure, cloak billowing in the fierce wind, face obscured.

The figure seized the suitcase, turned, and began leaping nimbly from rooftop to rooftop, fleeing at an astonishing speed.

Without hesitation, Ye Chen gave chase in the direction the cloaked figure had gone, mind racing as he ran:

The right weather and the right trap were the keys to a perfect hunt—every wilderness hunter knew this. It was one thing to understand the principle, another to apply it.

To bury a frost trap in the middle of the road, using the snow of the outer city to conceal it, was a clever idea. It certainly wouldn’t have worked in the inner city.

Yet, even in the outer city, wasn’t the trapper worried someone else might stumble into it? If an unsuspecting passerby had triggered the trap, it would have drawn attention and foiled the plan.

No, the opponent didn’t seem like someone who set traps at random. Their target must have been precise.

There was an obvious problem—the cloaked figure’s goal was clearly the suitcase Qiaomu Cao had collected from the inner city patrol bureau. But even Qiaomu Cao didn’t know what was inside. How did the cloaked figure know to target it?

Unless…unless the cloaked figure knew from the very beginning what was in the suitcase.

Which meant there was another possibility—they’d been tailing Qiaomu Cao all along.

In other words, Qiaomu Cao had been followed since he left to pick up the item from the inner city patrol. Maybe he’d even been under surveillance since entering the inner city that morning.

But the enemy couldn’t make a move in the inner city, so they left ahead of them, laying the trap in advance along a route they knew we’d take.

So when the two of them returned to the outer city, they walked right into the snare.

Ye Chen felt this was the closest he’d come to the truth.