Chapter 16

After the Mayor spoke those words, he fell silent.

A long time passed before the silence was broken. “Are we the only ones left in the dark?”

Luo En didn’t know why his heart felt so heavy. As a visitor from another land, he had always found this world unreal—but what the Mayor had just told him made it clear the place was far worse than unreal.

At the thought, Luo En’s neck throbbed. He touched the long scar there, as though something had once hacked straight through. Now it felt as if the entire world were deceiving him.

A huge question loomed: if Lady Mercury knew exactly what was happening here, why hadn’t she fixed it? Why send people here to die?

“Coming inside?” The Mayor rose, leaning on his cane.

“What are you up to?” Luo En asked on instinct.

The Mayor shuffled into the house, back to him. “Just lighting a fire for you...”

Luo En followed and found the Mayor really had set the logs blazing in the fireplace.

“Because of the spell, time here is... scrambled,” the Mayor said. “But that’s also why the dangerous folk in town can’t leave.”

Luo En knew who the Mayor meant by “dangerous folk”; he just had no frame of reference for scrambled time.

As if sensing his confusion, the Mayor settled beside the hearth. “Time still passes, yet the sky never darkens, the dust on the walls never thickens, and the roads never stretch any farther.”

“Only growing old arrives right on schedule.”

Luo En glanced at the photo frames lying face-down on the sill. “So everyone before me died of old age?”

The room was spotless, as if someone cleaned it daily.

“Exactly,” the Mayor said, nodding. “No exceptions.”

Luo En said nothing. Then, unable to resist, he picked up a frame.

Inside was a family portrait: the Mayor, a woman, and a boy. Judging by the old man’s loneliness, the rest of the household hadn’t survived Winterless Town’s freeze.

When he saw Luo En lift the frame, the Mayor didn’t scold him. “My wife got out... but my son died.”

“That’s rough,” Luo En said—he meant it. “If I’d been stuck here countless years, I’d have offed myself ages ago.”

The Mayor rested his hands on his stomach and stared at the ceiling. “Suicide?”

“I’ve thought about it... but it’s not that simple.” He left it at that.

Luo En studied him. If he were ever that far gone, he’d want someone to pull the plug. He couldn’t grasp why the Mayor endured.

After all, sometimes not dying is its own curse, and Luo En believed that wholeheartedly.

“So how do we break the spell?” Since the Mayor knew the most, he ought to know the counter-ritual—or at least the details.

But the Mayor didn’t answer. “Hungry?”

“I just want to know how to break the spell and leave.” Luo En set the frame face-down again.

Still, no reply. The Mayor only looked at him.

Luo En found a chair. Just as he opened his mouth, the Mayor murmured, “The Evil God twists their minds... I can’t let that go on...”

“So you froze everyone and locked yourself in with them?” Luo En said. “And you keep dragging newcomers down with you?”

The second silence that followed was answer enough.

That was exactly the Mayor’s plan, and he knew it wasn’t fair to the dead—otherwise he wouldn’t have called himself the chief culprit.

“I get it. My fate is to grow old and die here.” Luo En stared at the flames. “I hate people who force others to share their noble sacrifice.”

He hoisted his travel bag onto his shoulder. He was done with this house.

Truth be told, Luo En didn’t despise the noble; he despised the self-righteous who drag others along.

The Mayor lifted his heavy eyelids and watched him. Everyone before had either cursed him or tried to kill him. Luo En’s reaction was a first.

He couldn’t argue; he was indeed forcing others to share his sacrifice.

The snow-white squirrel on his lap grew agitated, chittering softly.

Anyone could read the loss in the Mayor’s eyes—Luo En had struck a nerve.

“Where are you going?” the Mayor called as Luo En reached the door.

“You said it yourself,” Luo En shot back. “Undo the spell you borrowed, and everything ends.”

Honestly, he’d considered beating answers out of the mummy-like Mayor, but gave up. If the man could endure an eternity in this place, interrogation wouldn’t work.

“No matter where you look, you’ll only get lost...” the Mayor said. “Eventually you’ll come back. Sit down.”

Luo En ignored him and stepped into the cold wind.

If he was doomed to stay, he might as well test his luck elsewhere. Anything beat staring at a living mummy.

The Mayor watched until Luo En vanished into the swirling snow, then stood in thought for a long while.

He knew that soon Luo En would circle back, just like every warrior, sage, or ranger before him.

Countless people have stepped into this prison, yet not one has ever escaped. The Mayor has watched every single ending.

Time has withered him to a husk, yet it refuses to take his life, as if someone wants him kept alive to bear witness.

Still, something is different now. Luo En’s words have left the Mayor stiffer than before.

The squirrel senses the wrongness in the Mayor’s movements and glances up in alarm.

All it meets is the Mayor’s vacant, mechanical stare.

“It’s fine... As long as you’re still here... nothing will change...” The Mayor’s voice is little more than a rasp.

Whether Luo En gives up in the end or not, Winterless Town will stay exactly the same.

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