Building My Empire in the Frozen Apocalypse (Riley Carter) novel Chapter 723

Chapter 723 Hidden Marks

“But you will face it again.”

Riley’s gaze turned cold.

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Baal spoke in a soft, lazy tone. “You’re the type who always ends up here. You deny fate. You hate being controlled. Yet you always have someone you refuse to lose. When the walls crumble, when your axe isn’t fast enough, when you watch someone get dragged away once more… you’ll call my name.”

Riley said nothing.

The scene of PineappleBeer being pulled into the vortex flashed through her mind.

She’d thrown her axe and buried it deep in the monster’s claw, but it still hadn’t been enough to save her friend.

Baal stared at her, the amusement in his eyes burning like flame.

“See? You’re already thinking about it.”

Riley lifted her head. “Don’t flatter yourself. I call your name, but that doesn’t mean I trust you.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Baal replied. “Faith, hatred, deals, exploitation-they’re all the same to me. The second you reach out, the door opens.”

Riley’s tone turned icy. “Then you’d better keep that door tightly shut.”

Baal laughed again.

This time, his laughter churned the entire sea of clouds. More black mist seeped out from the cracks in the distant stone slabs. The dark threads did not attack her. They simply circled her once, as if verifying her aura.

“Stay alive,” Baal said. “My contractor is not allowed to die so soon. You’ll witness many interesting things in the days ahead.”

“Like the Wide Realm?”

Baal’s laughter cut short.

“That girl, torn apart and stitched back together by time and space? She told you?” There was

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10:47 Mon, Sep 21

Chapter 723 Hidden Marks

faint amusement in his voice. “She’s tougher than she looks.”

Riley’s eyes sharpened. “Is she alive?”

“Did I ever say she died?”

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Baal spread his hands casually. “But the Wide Realm is nowhere you should go right now. You haven’t even secured your own snowfield yet.”

Riley locked her gaze on him. “You know about the Wide Realm.”

“Of course I do.”

“Where is she?”

Baal leaned down. His dark red pupils swallowed Riley’s entire field of vision.

Still, he gave no answer. He only smiled faintly.

The cloud sea roiled violently.

The stone platform beneath her feet dissolved into mist. The ground vanished, and Riley fell straight down.

Weightlessness crashed over her, and Riley’s eyes flew open.

The fire in the fireplace had burned down to a handful of dim embers.

gray

Noon sunlight filtered through the gaps in the wooden window boards, dulled and from the falling snow outside.

She sat up, the blanket sliding off her body.

Somehow, she was lying back in her bed.

TartKing slept soundly beside her, her hair a messy tangle.

Riley lifted her wrist to check.

No trace of the black mist remained. It had most likely hidden itself. The Divine Mirror in her chest sat quietly in place, and its cracks were slowly healing over.

Riley fully sat up and sorted through her jumbled thoughts.

TartKing stirred awake at the movement, blinking sleepily. “Burger… you’re up… what time is

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10:47 Mon, Sep 21

Chapter 723 Hidden Marks

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it?”

Riley glanced toward the window. “Noon.”

TartKing jolted fully awake. “Noon? We slept all the way till noon?”

She propped herself up on the bed, pure disbelief on her face.

These past few days, squeezing in two or three hours of rest had felt like a luxury. Sleeping straight through until midday was unheard of.

It was then that she noticed something off.

“Wait, why did I fall asleep in your bed?”

The bedroom door suddenly pushed open, and Neeko stepped inside. “You’re awake? I carried you both in. Sleeping belongs in bed. Riley taught me that.”

TartKing glanced at Riley and then smiled. “Alright. Thanks, Neeko!”

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