Twelve days pa.s.sed by quickly. Lin Huang brought Lin Xin to three wild zones. Her battle ability and adaptability to various environments had improved tremendously during that half a month. Lin Huang occupied himself during those 12 days as well. He had modified a sword skill called the Thunder Eclipse with Thunder Sting as the foundation. It was more than ten times faster and more powerful than Thunder Sting.

"Brother, where are we going next?" Lin Xin, who had dirt all over her, smiled at him, baring her fangs. She did not feel tired for the past 12 days. On the contrary, she had fun killing monsters.

"Of course, we"re going back to Winter City. It"s the New Year in three days. You should rest." Lin Huang picked out the fallen leaves caught in her hair. "You could do with a shower when we get back."

"It"s another three days to the New Year, so why not we go to another wild zone? Let"s spend two days hunting and one day for the New Year!" Lin Xin was not done with her killing spree.

"We need to go shopping, and there are things to prepare before the New Year. One day is not enough for that. Even if we manage to get all those done, it would be quite a rush for us." Lin Huang shook his head and rejected her suggestion.

"Let"s head back earlier. We can shop for two days and rest for a day. That"s more like it."

"Alright then." Lin Xin had to admit that his arrangement made more sense, so she agreed to it.

As they stepped into the dimensional relic, they arrived at their home in the Winter City. The city was much colder than the wild zones that they were in for the past week. The Emperor"s Heart Ring showed that it was -15 degrees Celsius. Although Lin Xin was s.h.i.+vering, Lin Huang did not feel the cold.

Lin Huang covered Lin Xin with a coat and lit up the black rock in the furnace on the first floor.

"Stay warm for a while. Let me look for hot water." Lin Huang walked to the bathroom. It had been half a year since they left the Winter City. The air quality there was much higher than the air on Earth. There was not much dust in the house, but the place was dull. He had no idea if some of the home equipment were even still working.

He turned on the Demonic Crystal heater and let the cold water out. He then filled the bathtub with hot water.

"There"s hot water in the bathroom. Go and shower after the tub is filled. I"ll open the windows for circulation. We can turn on the heater later. "

The house had a centralized heater whereby the heat would be sent all over the house when the valve was opened.

Lin Xin nodded, then stared at the flaming red furnace.

"Brother, where do you think Xiao Xuan is right now?" Lin Xin asked when Lin Huang was going upstairs after opening the windows on the first floor.

Lin Huang was stunned when he heard her, and he froze on the stairs. He recalled last year this time when Lin Xuan had been there with them. The three of them had spent New Year"s Eve together. Lin Xuan loved staring at the furnace while he sat on the carpet.

"He should be doing well. Don"t worry about him." Lin Huang forced a smile. He knew what he said was not only comforting to Lin Xin, but to himself as well.

"Do you think he misses us?" Lin Xin remained silent for a while and asked Lin Huang again.

"Of course he does. We"re family!" Lin Huang was sure of that.

"Alright, go take a shower now!"

"Okay." Lin Xin seemed to have heard the answer that she was waiting for. She nodded and headed towards the bathroom.

Lin Huang went upstairs to open the windows on the second and the third floor. There was snow nearly 20 centimeters thick on the balcony of the second floor. Although the sun was s.h.i.+ning, the snow did not melt in the cold city.

He opened the sliding door on the second door and looked far away as he stepped on the snow. It was the spot where he had watched Lin Xin and Lin Xuan playing in the snow last year.

"Where are you, Xiao Xuan?"

After letting the fresh air in for ten minutes, he closed all the windows in the house and turned on the heater. He then took a shower on the second floor.

When he returned to the first floor, Lin Xin was already dressed and sitting on the carpet next to the furnace. Her hair was still damp. Lin Huang walked into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and got rid of the food that had expired. There was nothing much left in the refrigerator.

"There"s nothing to eat at home. Let"s eat out later and go shopping after lunch. But before that, let"s clean the house since it"s been half a year since we last cleaned it." Lin Huang got Lin Xin to help him on purpose so that she would be distracted.

"Okay!" Lin Xin snapped out of her zone.

They spent more than an hour cleaning the third floor. It was almost noon when they were done, and they left the house after they changed. Lin Xin"s mood was much better when she saw the snow outside.

"The snow on the ground is so thick!" As they had arrived in the living room on the first floor earlier, Lin Xin did not notice the snow outside.

"The winter in this city is longer. It starts to snow in October, and the snow only melts in April. The Winter City snowed a few times when we were away," Lin Huang smiled as he explained.

Lin Xin took some photos of the scenery and posted it on a social media app. Many of her friends liked her pictures. Lin Huang had the same app, but he hardly used it. They started shopping after they had lunch at a restaurant. Perhaps due to the shopping or the beautiful scenery, Lin Xin felt much better. They shopped until past six in the evening. Lin Huang only managed to get a few items as they spent most of their time buying clothes for Lin Xin. They had dinner and headed home when it was past 10.

"It seems like we"ll have to shop again tomorrow," Lin Huang thought to himself when they got home. He was much relaxed the day before New Year"s Eve while Lin Xin was back to her shopaholic mode. She started buying cosmetics thanks to the influence of her roommates. Lin Huang began to decorate the house the day before New Year"s Eve after he was done with shopping, making the house looked rather festive.

On the night of New Year"s Eve, Lin Huang sent his well wishes to his friends. Besides Mr. Fu, the rest of them replied his message. Mr. Fu seemed to be busy, but Lin Huang thought about it and decided not to disturb him. On the first day of the year, the Winter City started snowing again. Lin Xin woke up early in the morning and dashed down the stairs in excitement. She could not wait to open her presents. Meanwhile, Lin Huang was sitting on the couch, reading the news quietly. Most of the news was really New Year wishes, and there was nothing much on the Hunter Forum, which made Lin Huang realize the importance of the restriction of information.

"Brother, this is for you!" Lin Xin gave him a present.

"You got this for me?" Lin Huang was surprised. Lin Xin was holding a small box wrapped in golden wrapping paper. He accepted the box immediately.

Just when he was about to open the box, he noticed a blue box on the coffee table.

"One would be enough. Why did you get me two presents?" Lin Huang smiled as he shook his head.

"That"s for Xiao Xuan. I"ve saved half of the stuff that you bought for him. If he returns one day, we can give him all the presents." Lin Xin beamed warmly.

Lin Huang did not say anything and patted Lin Xin"s head.

"Sure, let"s keep the presents for Xiao Xuan!"

"Brother, open your present now!" Lin Xin then urged Lin Huang to open his present.

Lin Huang opened the box immediately. There was a black scarf in it. It looked somewhat normal without any patterns. However, Lin Huang did not have any expectations as it was the thought that counted.

"Do you like it?" Lin Xin was excited to hear what Lin Huang thought.

"I like it!"

"I knitted it myself!" Lin Xin declared proudly.

"You made this? When did you learn to knit?" Now, Lin Huang understood why this scarf looked so ordinary.

"My roommate taught me. I worked on this every night when I had the time. I"ve knitted two scarves in the past few months. One for you, one for Xiao Xuan. The one for him is white in color," Lin Xin explained.

"Brilliant craftsmans.h.i.+p!" Lin Huang tied the scarf around his neck and gave her a thumbs up.