Chapter 385: Chapter 384: The Fountain
Li Ang, pushing the wheelchair and clutching its handles, made his way to the front of the palace, each step leaving a distinct footprint.
His soles pressed against the crystal-clear ice steps. Looking up, he saw the already grand and imposing palace bathed in the glow of the setting sun, presenting a charming and dazzling purplish-red hue.
Surprisingly, the palace interior was not bitterly cold; the temperature inside was even higher than outdoors. Standing on the stairs, some thirty steps up, one could even feel a faintly warm breeze blowing gently from deep within the palace.
It was unknown how the interior of this building was designed.
Li Ang stood on the stairs and glanced back. The distant convoy was clearly visible, and Carly, the physician, waved at him.
Li Ang waved back, but a crazy idea flashed through his mind.
If, at this moment, I kicked over Princess Anna’s wheelchair, sat on it myself, and sped down the snow mountain at 140 miles per hour in the name of the Red Bull Daredevil Team, wouldn’t that scene be beautiful?
Fortunately, this thought lingered for only a moment. It was dismissed by the distant, miserable howls of Magical Beasts.
The Snow Queen was right inside the palace, and the mountain was teeming with Magical Beasts fiercely loyal to Her Majesty.
If I made any move, I’d likely face a grim end.
Li Ang glanced at Princess Anna in the wheelchair. She was still in a semi-conscious state, her small face, wrapped in a coat, red with cold. She sat in the wheelchair looking perfectly content, showing no respect for her elders by offering him the seat.
It was a shame. As a child, I even thought of inventing a pedal-powered wheelchair to offer a new mode of transportation and give back to society.
Young people these days...
Mumbling to himself, Li Ang pushed the wheelchair up the smooth ramp beside the stairs.
Reaching the top of the stairs, he saw two doors engraved with ice crystal patterns. The towering door panels had round handles suspended three meters above the ground—unless the Snow Queen was over six meters tall, those handles were purely decorative.
According to Carly and the other physicians, they had never seen the Snow Queen themselves over the years. Every time Princess Anna visited, the giant doors would automatically open to welcome her inside.
But at the moment, they were closed.
Luckily, the doors were not entirely shut; there was a nearly imperceptible gap in the middle, from which one could faintly hear the warm wind howling.
Li Ang pulled the wheelchair to his side. Not daring to enter rashly, he knocked heavily on the ice crystal door panels from outside.
THUD, THUD, THUD.
He exerted a bit of strength in these three knocks, enough to smash the alloy roof of a car to pieces, but the frozen door panel remained unmoved. Not even a crack formed.
Li Ang waited outside the door for a while. Seeing no response, he pulled over the wheelchair and shook the semi-conscious Princess Anna back and forth in front of the gap, showing no regard for the patient.
Still no response.
Good, it’s not facial or retinal unlocking.
Li Ang rubbed his palms together and bent down to peek through the gap in the door.
Behind the door seemed to be an ice barrier screen, etched with two little girls chasing and laughing on a hillside meadow—one of them was clearly Princess Anna.
And the other, a delicately-crafted girl, must be Elsa, the Demon King ruling the world.
The presence of the barrier screen conveniently blocked his view, preventing him from seeing the hall inside.
Li Ang straightened up and began shouting from outside the door.
"Your Majesty, are you there? It’s Little Knife!"
"Your Majesty, why are you ignoring me?"
"Open the door! Don’t hide in there without making a sound."
"Audacious ice door, how dare you bar me from seeing the Emperor! Do you not know that my ancestors for three generations were Arsenic Tasters in the palace? Believe it or not, if I report back to Her Majesty, she’ll have you disassembled and made into six doors at IKEA!"
After a bout of shouting, there was still no movement. However, Li Ang’s clamor did disturb the semi-conscious Princess Anna, causing her to let out a soft "hmm" and slightly open her eyes, only to pass out again shortly.
TSK.
Li Ang clicked his tongue, sighed with some resignation, and placed his feet in front of the door. Hands against the door panels, he pushed hard.
His attributes far surpassed those of players at the same level. His slender body, despite its appearance, contained the mass of a lion or tiger and a terrifyingly pure strength.
With the dual enhancement of the Ripple Breathing Method and Adrenaline, his Wild Brutal Power slammed into the door. The ice crystal door’s bolt slowly emitted a grating sound that set one’s teeth on edge, as countless fine ice shards burst from the frame—the bolt was completely frozen.
The door opened bit by bit, and a splatter of fine ice crystals even flew out, grazing Princess Anna’s cheek lightly, leaving behind a nearly imperceptible scratch that healed instantly.
CRACK—
Li Ang’s push seemed to Trigger something; the door bolt suddenly moved smoothly, and the two doors automatically retracted backward, fully revealing the barrier screen.
The doors opened wide, and a warm wind from the hall billowed out, stirring Li Ang’s eyelashes.
Beyond the sound of the wind, the entire palace was enveloped in dead silence. It was utterly still, without a sound.
Silently, Li Ang pushed Princess Anna’s wheelchair past the barrier screen. She seemed to have been stung by the scratch from the ice crystal, struggling to open her eyes wide. Her gaze was still clouded but gradually cleared with the caress of the warm wind.
Rounding the barrier screen, Li Ang saw a spacious and bright hall.
In the center of the hall stood a fountain.
A fountain holding the frozen, blood-stained figure of a woman.