Building My Empire in the Frozen Apocalypse (Riley Carter) novel Chapter 653

Chapter 653 The Shifting Star Trails

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Chapter 653 The Shifting Star Trails

Crow leaned against the wall nearby, chatting casually like it was no big deal.

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“Word also says Floor 19 turns back people who aren’t meant to go deeper. If it can’t turn you back, it buries you instead.”

“That doesn’t sound like a warning,” TartKing mumbled.

“The dungeon never goes easy on anyone,” Crow said.

Riley watched the group of players.

Most of these people had no real intention of heading down to Floor 19, nor were they genuinely here to trade information.

They were just testing the waters.

They asked why the trio planned to keep going, probed for news about Floor 20, and studied their reactions, trying to figure out if they knew some hidden information no one else had.

Riley had no interest in bringing up Pineapple Beer’s situation or sharing their speculations about Floor 20 with these strangers.

She only shared basic details they’d already confirmed on Floors 17 and 18.

“Floor 17’s Wet Bone Canal has tons of underwater mobs. The bone spur traps always target your ankles first. Floor 18’s Broken Bridge Wind Corridor has unstable wind currents, and the Thread Hanging Spiders are way more troublesome than the Wind Bone Falcons. Never stand in the middle of the long bridges when fighting Broken Bridge Knights.”

Everything she said was truthful.

But none of it touched their core goals or hidden secrets.

Crow listened closely.

Even the archer from the three-person team jotted down a few notes.

The tall man with the beast-bone shoulder armor let out a short huff.

“Honest answers, for once.”

The blade user stared at Riley, still clearly unwilling to drop the topic.

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Chapter 653 The Shifting Star Trails

“You really don’t have any intel on Floor 20?”

Riley tossed her empty potion bottle into the recycling bin.

“Nothing at all.”

The blade user studied her face for several seconds before finally looking away.

“Alright. Hope luck’s on your side, then.”

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Crow added, “If you three make it back alive, sell your intel. Info from Floor 18 onward sells for a pretty penny.”

Hugging her greatsword, TartKing spoke without thinking.

“You can only sell it if you make it back first, right?”

Crow froze for a second, then nodded.

“Yeah. Exactly.”

It sounded like a dumb, obvious statement, but none of the players in the hall laughed.

In this dungeon, simply surviving the descent was already a huge hurdle.

Riley’s team rested for another 20 minutes.

TartKing practiced switching between her Frosted Judgment Greatsword and staff over and over, getting used to the cooldown rhythm between the two weapons. Pineapple Beer rested with her eyes closed against the wall, looking a little better than before, though the gray rune token hidden inside her clothes stayed faintly warm the whole time.

Riley pulled out the Orbit Star Chart and studied it twice.

The glowing dots on the map were moving.

They weren’t shifting randomly.

They glided slowly along some kind of unseen track.

She couldn’t make out the full route, so she simply memorized the few fixed dark dots that didn’t move at all.

“Let’s go.”

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Chapter 653 The Shifting Star Trails

Riley put the map away.

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TartKing stood up at once, her massive greatsword swaying lightly on her back.

Every player in the hall watched as the three of them walked toward the central portal.

The beast-bone armored man lifted his spear slightly.

“Stay sharp.”

It was a casual line, but in this ruthless dungeon, a simple warning counted as genuine kindness.

Crow said nothing and pulled his hood lower over his eyes.

โร

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The archer from the three-person team stared at their retreating backs and muttered softly, “They definitely know something.”

The blade user kept cleaning his blade without pausing.

“They won’t tell us even if they do.”

“Should we follow them?”

The blade user glanced up at the glowing portal, deep in thought.

Riley’s team paid them no mind and stepped straight toward Floor 19.

They were completely used to the dungeon’s teleportation process by now.

Floor 19’s terrain looked like one huge, flat black stone disk.

Thin silver lines crisscrossed the entire surface, stretching far into the distance.

There was no domed ceiling overhead, no rocky cave walls like the lower floors. Above them hung a thick, low darkness dotted with countless tiny glowing specks.

They looked just like stars.

But they hung far too close, close enough to reach out and touch.

Riley held her ground instead of rushing forward.

She unfolded the Orbit Star Chart.

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10:05 Sat, Aug 29

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Chapter 653 The Shifting Star Trails

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The second the map opened, its glowing dots flared brightly, aligning perfectly with several silver lines on the stone ground.

PineappleBeer walked over to one silver line and crouched down to examine it.

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