Chapter 50.1 – Kala Snow Mountain (3)
Chen Jing suddenly realized that something was amiss.
Why is this person unaffected?
He asked: “Didn’t you hear the sound?”
“Hmm?” Jiang Yujin took off his earphones and said, “I didn’t hear clearly, could you repeat that?”
Noticing the other’s gaze on his earphones, he briefly explained, “It was too noisy outside when I was trying to sleep, so I played some music to help me sleep.” The earphones had excellent soundproofing.
It was only then that Chen Jing noticed this person had somehow put on earphones without him noticing. They were small, tucked into the ears, hidden beneath the hair, making them difficult to spot at first glance.
Some people always seemed to have extraordinary luck in peculiar places.
Yet those with extraordinary luck tended to seek excitement. Ultimately, the high schooler was defeated by the adult.
Accompanying the adult in defeating him were the shabby huts swaying in the wind and the hail pelting down on the rooftops. It was evidently not safe to stay here for too long. Outside was a hailstorm, and the only apparent path was the one the others had taken.
Stepping onto a path that seemed to shimmer faintly, the jingling sound of bells suddenly intensified. Chen Jing covered his ears with one hand while Jiang Yujin increased the volume on his phone with the other.
After crossing the hill, they realized how long the path truly was. The serene and tranquil road extended all the way to the foot of the snowy mountain. Beyond that point, it was obstructed by the rising mountain mass, making it impossible to see further.
The people who had walked ahead of them moved inexplicably fast and had reached halfway. A white sheep with antlers was leading the way ahead of them. Overhead, vultures, which shouldn’t have been in such a place, began circling. Shielded from the wind, snow, and hail, they continued following the group below, seemingly unaffected.
As they reached a certain spot, the entire group suddenly disappeared on the spot.
Jiang Yujin said, “Oh.”
Chen Jing frowned.
The path back had turned into a vast expanse of snowy wilderness, gradually vanishing. They had no choice but to keep moving forward.
As they neared the spot where the others had disappeared, their pace slowed. The adult was of no help; as long as he didn’t wander aimlessly, it was considered helpful. Chen Jing cautiously scanned the surroundings. Suddenly, he caught sight of the previously vanished pure white sheep in a place that had been completely empty.
Their vision became a blurry white.
When they reopened their eyes, the scenery had completely transformed.
No wind, no snow, and no hail. They found themselves in a snowy valley with a river flowing nearby, a sparse forest of gray-green fir trees not far away, and a bright sun shining overhead.
It felt like another world—beautiful yet eerie.
The sunlight was mild, not intense, but it provided a comforting warmth. Despite this warmth, the snow didn’t melt. There seemed to be multiple light sources here. They stood in the sunlight, yet no shadows were cast on the ground.
Both of them stood still for a few moments, with Chen Jing instructing the adult not to move. He climbed onto a protruding rock to look into the distance.
This seemed to be the base inside the snowy mountains. A river ran through it, with sparse firs on the mountainside, followed by thick snow further up.
The people who had vanished moments ago were not here. Perhaps they had gone elsewhere.
Ever since encountering the sheep with antlers, things had started to become bizarre. Now, it was certain that this place had strange species. The world they were in might have been provided by these strange species, perhaps a fortunate fragment preserved when the Game collapsed. There were numerous snowy mountain dungeons in the game; it was hard to confirm which one this was. But it was evident that an strange species capable of sustaining such a world was undoubtedly powerful.
Chen Jing glanced at the person beside him, momentarily unsure whether winning a three-day trip was incredibly lucky or terribly unlucky.
The situation was currently complicated and hard to decipher, but Citizen Jiang seemed to be in good spirits, attempting to take photos with his phone, planning to show them to the uncles and aunties later. The elderly folks couldn’t handle the high altitude, so they could only view the pictures on his phone.
Feeling the sun’s heat, Chen Jing hopped down from the rock, putting his hat on the head of Citizen Jiang to avoid sunburn, saying, “Let’s walk forward for a bit.”
Some areas ahead were obscured by the fir forest, possibly hiding some clues.
Moving forward meant following the river. After rounding a large bend, the scenery suddenly opened up before them.
At the end of the river flowed snowmelt descending along the mountainside, a massive structure resembling a colossal wall blocking everything in front of the mountain. The extensive mountain range appeared abrupt, despite being snow-capped, emanating an air distinct from its surroundings.
Chen Jing remarked, “Let’s go over there.”
Jiang Yujin regretted the absence of an electric scooter here. After hiking for so long, it easily matched half a month’s worth of exercise.
After an indeterminate amount of time, just before Citizen Jiang was about to call it quits, the two finally succeeded in reaching the foot of the mountain. Looking down from there, it was evident that there was a black dividing line at the boundary where this mountain range met the surrounding land. Outside the line was one place, and inside was another.
Jiang Yujin squatted down for a moment of self-rest at the foot of the mountain, while Chen Jing remained standing, gazing up at the snowy mountain. A tremor ran through Chen Jing as a sense of familiarity washed over him.
He had been here before, a long time ago. Among the numerous dungeons in the Game, he had been to a snowy mountain dungeon, where he had first aimed his blade at another person.
It had been many years ago, but every detail rushed back into his mind at the mere thought of it.
Exhaling deeply, Chen Jing turned and said, “Let’s head up first.”
He remembered the terrain here and knew the way up the mountain. If the Game’s completion rules hadn’t changed, he should find a way out. The storm and hail wouldn’t last long on this side. By the time they exited, the weather should have returned to normal.
The snowy mountain dungeon was called the “Ice and Snow Crown,” a large dungeon for two hundred players. No one knew who participated in the instance, only that the condition for completion was to obtain the crown, the ultimate boss’s crown, or to defeat the boss.
Bosses in major dungeons were never easy to defeat, and the Ice and Snow Crown had never been conquered; instead, many had perished at its hands.
No one chose to defeat the boss; instead, they tacitly opted to claim the crown. The crown, though called a crown, was actually a woven grass ring made of leaf fragments. Someone had learned a more convenient way from others, saying that there were animals in the mountains with leaves on their heads, identical to the leaves on the crown. If someone completed the task, everyone could successfully leave the dungeon.
Back then, there wasn’t any movement from the dungeon boss, but everyone who was still alive managed to leave successfully. Someone must have woven the crown in a place they weren’t aware of. The other party acted too swiftly; they hadn’t even grasped much about the dungeon before the game transported them out.
If there were no surprises, the animals with leaves on their heads probably referred to the white sheep they saw today, with the leaves being the leaf-like fragments on the sheep’s antlers.
After walking and climbing the mountain, Jiang Yujin somehow found a tree branch to use as a makeshift trekking pole, walking uphill with hands clasped behind his back, looking like an elderly person.
Chen Jing glanced and reached out to assist, but he waved it off, saying, “I’m still young, not at the age where I need help.”
Acting more like an old man…
…This person never fails to put on a show in such situations.
