Milady soaked in the frigid lake water for ten minutes. Only after confirming that Xi Yadu and his companion were long gone did she finally climb out. A gust of cold wind made her shiver, a chill so deep it felt like her bones were constricting.
Shivering, she found a spot sheltered from the wind and took stock of her possessions. The most important items were all there: two Mengsheng Family badges, a small fragment of a Huiqi badge, and the mechanism she had just acquired.
Just figuring out how to put on the mechanism took Milady at least five minutes. She was so cold her limbs were unsteady, and the device—a mesh-like "top" made entirely of a collar, bracelets, and chains—had gotten tangled in the lake. By the time she finally managed to get it on, another violent shiver wracked her body.
'A shame it's not a ranged combat mechanism.'
"A shame it's not a long-range weapon."
