There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

"Waaah!"

Lu Qing was caught off guard by the cold wind and fell to the ground, her bottom hitting the ground hard, and she subconsciously let out a whimper.

"Ok?"

A voice came from the room filled with cold wind, and the next moment, the wind and snow stopped abruptly.

"Half-elf? Wait, the bloodline in your body seems rather special..."

Ignoring the cold, Lu Qing opened her eyes and looked into the other room that the ring had penetrated.

However, when she saw the interior of the room, she was somewhat surprised and said:

"Ice, the ice cube is talking?"

------------

Chapter 81: Ice Creatures

Looking through the ring pierced by the Ring of Penetration, one could see in another room beside Lu Qing that a creature with an ice-blue body was standing inside, with two orange-red pentagrams that looked like eyes silently watching her.

Lu Qing wasn't sure if the thing in front of her could be considered a living being, but if she hadn't misheard, the one she had just spoken to should be this very thing.

The creature had no feet; its entire body was constructed from square blocks of ice, making it look like four ice blocks stacked on top of each other.

However, some ice blocks are coarser, while others are finer; they can be roughly divided into legs, body, neck, and head.

On the upper part of the head, there are two orange-red five-pointed stars, which look like starfish and are probably the other person's eyes.

"Ah... Qiu~"

Feeling the cold around her, Lu Qing couldn't help but sneeze cutely, shaking the snow off her head.

Noticing this, the ice creature slid forward two steps, and an ice stick slowly emerged from its body, passing through the ring.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't expect anyone to use that item. I couldn't control the blizzard," the ice creature said apologetically.

The next moment, the ice and snow in Lu Qing's room floated up and entered the ice sticks extended by the ice creature.

In no time, there wasn't a single snowflake left in the entire room.

However, the temperature in the room did not rise, and with her clothes soaked from the snow, Lu Qing felt even colder.

"......"

After a moment of silence, the ice creature spoke: "This is all I can do. The temperature here will rise in a little while."

Hearing the ice creature's words, Lu Qing looked up at it and asked:

"You...you know this place very well?"

Wearing wet clothes is very uncomfortable, but Lu Qing only has this one set of clothes and there is no way to change.

As for taking it off, that's even more impossible; who knows if there are any surveillance cameras or anything like that here.

Lu Qing crouched down, trying to warm herself up.

As for her question, the ice creature answered her without hesitation: "Of course, I've lived here for ten years."

"ten years?"

Although she had long suspected that this guy had been here for quite some time, Lu Qing never expected it to be ten years.

"Can you tell me where this is?" Lu Qing asked again.

She knew, of course, that this was the Demon King's prison, but she knew nothing more specific about it.

If what the ice block just said is true, then it must know quite a lot of information.

"This is the Demon King's Castle, a place specifically for imprisoning captured creatures. Any creature that is captured will be kept here," the ice creature explained.

After a pause, the other party continued:

"Most of the creatures captured here are various magical beasts and wild animals. It is rare to find elves, dwarves, or humans, because most of the captured creatures are intended to be tamed and used as part of the Demon Castle's fighting force."

"That's why the conditions in this cell are quite terrible. I think you need to be well prepared, young lady; life here won't be easy..."

The ice creature explained the entire prison situation to Lu Qing in detail.

There's not much to say, to sum it up...

It's so cold at night that water can freeze into ice, and so hot during the day that the light rays distort.

In addition, the wild animals in the cages would become very noisy when it was almost mealtime, because they were hungry.

As for mealtime, it was at noon every day, which was the hottest time of the day, and the entire cage was like a steamer.

There is only one meal a day, and the food provided to each creature is different. However, there are also some creatures that do not need to eat, such as the ice creature who is talking to Lu Qing.

As for the amount of food, it was only enough to keep you from starving to death; generally, except before going to the battlefield, it was impossible to get a full meal.

This is to prevent the creatures in the prison from rioting. As long as they are hungry enough and unable to exert their strength, they won't be able to break the prison fence, let alone riot.

As for this ring of penetration, it was actually left behind by the previous prisoner of Lu Qing's cell.

He was a master alchemist who was accidentally drawn into a war between demons. Because of his alchemical abilities, the demons did not kill him but captured him.

That alchemist was a ruthless person; he refused to work for the demon no matter what, and was imprisoned here ever since.

The Ring of Penetration was made by the other party using brass that he had secretly hidden away. The original plan was to use this thing to escape from prison, but it ultimately failed.

This useless gadget was created so that the hole it made would be restored once it was removed. It's only good for chatting with the ice creature in the next cell.

The alchemist was frustrated for a long time because of this, and he tried every means to escape from the prison, but he failed in the end.

"Where is he now?" Lu Qing couldn't help but ask.

In fact, she had already vaguely guessed it. After all, the other party was no longer here. If all the attempts to escape had failed, there was only one possibility.

Seeing Lu Qing's expression, the ice creature nodded and said, "That's right, he's dead. After failing to escape from prison again, he was executed by the warden."

Lu Qing, who already had some guesses in her mind, didn't react much. After all, she didn't know the alchemist and there was no need for her to be sad for him.

As for the Ring of Penetration, well, it's not very useful to Lu Qing; it's really just a chat tool.

"By the way, why were you locked up here?" Lu Qing suddenly asked after thinking of this.

"I... who knows? I was just staying at home, and then that damned demon king dragged me here." The ice creature's expression immediately became agitated upon hearing Lu Qing's words.

"Ten years, do you know how I've spent these ten years?"

"There's nothing in this prison except for those wild beasts that roar all day long!"

"You said you needed some ability from me to capture me, but after leaving me here, you never cared about me again."

"I'm not human, so what deep hatred do I have for demons? As long as the request isn't too outrageous, I'll agree to it. But he never even comes looking for me!"

When the ice creature got to this point, it was clear that it was very depressed. If Lu Qing thought about it carefully, she would realize that being locked up in a cell alone for ten years was indeed a very painful thing.

“Um…” Lu Qing opened her mouth, then, remembering what the other person had said when they first met, asked:

"When you first saw me, you said my bloodline was somewhat special. What did you mean by that...?"

------------

Chapter 82: Illness

"Hmm, did I say that?" the ice creature asked, looking puzzled.

"You said it, and I remember it very clearly," Lu Qing said, looking at the ice block in front of her with certainty.

"........"

The two stared at each other for a moment, and the ice creature was the first to give in, replying:

"Alright, I did say that. The half-elf bloodline in you is not ordinary elf bloodline; it is much stronger than that of ordinary elves."

You harbor a degree of caution towards the ice creature, as you wouldn't easily trust someone you'd only recently encountered, even if both of you were imprisoned. However, the creature still possesses a degree of credibility, and you believe its statement isn't a lie. It's just that the creature seems to be concealing some crucial information.

The text on the notice board was updating rapidly. After glancing at it, Lu Qing refocused her attention on the creature in front of her.

She was indeed somewhat wary of the ice creature in front of her; she could believe what the ice creature said, but she wouldn't trust it.

As for whether to continue asking questions, the answer was definitely no, because Lu Qing knew that no matter what she asked next, the ice creature in front of her would not answer her.

"By the way, what should I call you?" Lu Qing asked, standing up from the ground with her arms crossed.

Continuing to squat on the ground and curl up into a ball would make her warmer, but Lu Qing's legs were almost numb from squatting, and the ground was very cold, so it would be very uncomfortable to sit on it.

With no other option, she had to stand up from the ground.

A cool breeze blew past her legs, causing Lu Qing's bare legs, exposed beneath her skirt, to tremble.

"It's so cold."

"Just call me Ice Demon Beast," Ice Demon Beast replied to Lu Qing's question.

After saying that, the other person turned their head to the iron window not far away, looked at the sky outside for a while, and then said:

"It should be around six o'clock in the morning now. If we hold on for another two hours, the temperature will rise significantly."

"I'm about to die..." Lu Qing squatted down again, feeling the cold around her.

"Achoo! Achoo!"

Unable to hold back her sneezing twice in a row, Lu Qing felt a little dizzy, and at the same time, her stomach was growling with hunger.

"I can't take it anymore, I need to rest for a while," Lu Qing whispered.

With great difficulty, Lu Qing reached the stone bench, curled up on it, and slowly drifted into sleep.

"This is really bad," the Ice Demon Beast said, looking at the sleeping Lu Qing.

......

"Eek..."

With a strange sound, Lu Qing slowly opened her eyes and looked outside the cell.

A small demon with wings on its back flew to her cell door, holding a wooden plate, and placed it on the ground.

The chill in the air around her had long since dissipated, and what Lu Qing felt now was an extremely stuffy heat.

The originally damp clothes were no longer so unbearable; the remaining dampness actually made Lu Qing more comfortable in the hot environment.

She was woken up by noise, Lu Qing was absolutely certain of that, because even now her ears were still filled with all sorts of shouts.

Clearly, as mealtime approached, the creatures in the other cells had begun to stir.