The snowstorm intensified.

Lin Yu and Furbollo stood silently before the cliff face in the midst of the swirling snow for a long time.

Finally, Furbollo broke the silence.

"This is just the most probable location for a cave entrance, but there's no guarantee it's definitely here."

"That said, weren't you given this information in a dream—do you remember roughly where the cave was positioned in your dream?"

Hearing Furbollo's words, Lin Yu rubbed his temples.

"That's exactly the problem—according to my dream memory, the cave should indeed be right here."

Lin Yu pointed directly at the cliff face before them.

"Moreover, I can't shake the feeling this place seems... unnatural."

The two had already spent time knocking and probing the rock surface earlier, but found nothing unusual.

Furbollo furrowed his brow.

"Is that so..."

After a long moment of contemplation, he exhaled sharply.

"If we assume your intuition is correct, then it seems... we'll have to use abilities!"

With that, Furbollo murmured quietly: "I want to know the locations of any hidden 'doors' and 'caves' nearby."

As he spoke, Furbollo activated his Detective class ability.

Moments later, Furbollo turned back to Lin Yu as if seeing some prompt.

"My Detective ability indicates the key to finding the hidden 'door' and 'cave' nearby... lies with you."

"With me?"

Lin Yu looked puzzled.

Furbollo circled Lin Yu once before exclaiming in realization: "Got it—it's the torch on your back."

"The torch?"

Lin Yu remained confused.

"Does this thing have some hidden function I don't know about?"

He removed the torch from his back and waved it around, feeling nothing unusual.

Amidst the snowstorm, Lin Yu lit the torch.

Pale flames leaped forth, instantly melting the surrounding snow.

Furbollo moved closer to warm himself.

"Honestly, why don't you keep this lit all the time... At least it would make us less freezing!"

"It's cumbersome," Lin Yu answered succinctly, watching Furbollo huddle near the flames. "Are you sure this is really the clue, or are you just saying that to hog the torch?"

Furbollo shook his head.

"What nonsense—do I look like that shameless of a person? I have dignity!"

"Do you really?"

Lin Yu countered.

Furbollo, rubbing his hands for warmth, found himself speechless at Lin Yu's retort: "Alright, fine, I might discard pointless pride when necessary... but I'm absolutely not joking about the clue."

"This torch genuinely is the key to 'finding' the cave."

As Furbollo spoke, Lin Yu turned his attention back to the torch.

"What's the deal then? Do we need to return to where I found it?"

"But that doesn't make sense—there was just a rock there, nothing resembling the cave entrance from my dream."

Lin Yu muttered while Furbollo pondered.

"Hmm... Let me think. A torch's functions are basically warmth, illumination, and ignition... Maybe we need to examine things closely with it?"

Following this suggestion, Lin Yu brought the torch closer to the cliff face.

"Well... doesn't seem any different."

But seconds later, as both stared at the completely unchanged rock surface, realization struck them simultaneously.

"Wait!"

The problem wasn't that the cliff face changed when near the torch—it was that it didn't change at all!

The rock surface had minor protrusions and cracks filled with accumulated ice.

Yet this ice...

Showed absolutely no signs of melting when exposed to the torch's flames.

As if someone had pressed a "pause" button.

Furbollo exclaimed excitedly: "The cliff face is definitely abnormal... though we still don't know how exactly!"

"It seems completely unaffected by external conditions."

Unlike Furbollo, Lin Yu had already figured out the truth.

"I understand now... this is a 'cliff face from the past.'"

"This thing really does require the torch to deal with!"

Saying this, Lin Yu pressed the flaming torch directly against the rock surface.

He twisted the torch's base—first extinguishing the pale flames...

Then reignited it!

"Fwoosh!"

Flames burst forth, scorching the cliff face.

Soon, the previously immutable rock surface began fading under the sustained heat!

The stone patterns blurred and melted, the bluish-gray surface transforming into an increasingly dense black mass!

The angular surfaces smoothed out, losing their solid form.

Until it became flowing black paste.

This was why Lin Yu understood the cliff's nature better than Furbollo.

Because he'd seen this phenomenon before.

Only last time, what appeared before him wasn't an inanimate rock wall.

But a living, breathing Furbollo.

Soon...

The melted black paste caught fire too, bursting into pale flames!

Lin Yu stepped back as the flames spread rapidly, engulfing the entire cliff face in roaring fire.

"Just as I suspected, this shares origins with 'Black Gold Oil.'"

Lin Yu exhaled sharply.

"Not only is it excellent fuel... but it can also transform into various people or objects that previously existed."

Furbollo had his epiphany too.

"So that's it... this must be the 'technology' recorded in those books."

He turned excitedly to Lin Yu: "That researcher's organization developed technology to extract human emotions and transform them into some kind of 'miraculous substance'!"

"This extracted substance serves as both premium fuel and highly malleable material!"

"Exactly what we're seeing now!"

As Furbollo spoke, the entire cliff face burned fiercely.

The pale flames melted all surrounding snow, creating a rare calm area on Extreme Winter Mountain devoid of wind or snowfall.

Soon...

The false cliff face of black oil burned away completely, revealing the truth behind it—an almost identical layered rock face now stood before Furbollo and Lin Yu.

Except at its exact center was a carved cave entrance with a towering circular metal door!

Exactly matching what Lin Yu saw in his dream after Vale Valetti's clue...

Every detail identical!

"Let's go, time to enter!"

Lin Yu said, producing the key while looking at Furbollo.

Furbollo rubbed his hands together eagerly.

"Alright, let's proceed..."

"To uncover the truth of Extreme Winter Mountain!"