Infinite Game Ch.52

Chapter 52 – Kala Snow Mountain (5)

The person who had been firmly pressed down on the ground originally had sleek, compliant hair, now tousled. Their expression, once noble and aloof, couldn’t be maintained. They struggled to raise their hand, then clenched it tightly into a fist.

Suddenly, massive ice spikes emerged from the ground, shooting skyward.

Jiang Yujin, half kneeling on the ground, stood up, evading the ice spikes, and before doing so, delivered a kick to the person lying on the ground, sending them flying off a cliff.

Below, on the snowy ground, nearly round ice pillars rapidly grew. The person who had fallen from the cliff stood atop one of these pillars, their light golden hair billowing in the wind blowing from below.

Amidst the radiant sunlight, snow began to fall from the sky. Snowflakes danced, continuously blurring the person’s vision. Unexpectedly, the snowflakes felt like a burning sensation upon touching the skin.

However, this had little effect on Jiang Yujin. Clad in a snowsuit and a hat, only his face and hands were exposed. Ignoring the snow with extreme temperatures and the distance between the cliff and the ice pillar, he leaped, effortlessly spanning the seemingly bottomless abyss and darted toward the person with the light golden hair.

A strong gust of wind from below the mountain blew. The hat that had been firmly on his head was blown into the air, and his hair, almost the same color as the white snow, fluttered.

The person standing on the ice pillar immediately contracted their pupils, almost resembling vertical slits, and swiftly stepped backward.

“Remembered me?” As the other person retreated, Jiang Yujin continued to advance, smiling. “Didn’t expect to meet again.”

His voice carried a smile, yet it sent a shiver down one’s spine for no apparent reason.

In an instant, there was an unusual sensation at his wrist, followed by intense pain. The person with blue eyes looked at the one approaching and their own twisted wrist, no longer hesitating, and leaped downward.

During the descent, their twisted wrist rotated, and a transformation began at the top of their head. Their two feet rapidly twisted and deformed, bones making an unsettling sound in mid-air.

The initially noble-looking person transformed into a creature with deer horns on the head and a lower body resembling that of a sheep. Compared to before, now it truly looked like a genuine strange species.

A creature with a human head and a sheep’s body, known in the Snow Country’s mythology as the creator god, named Badans.

This is its true form. In this most primal state, this strange species can unleash its most inherent abilities. Its limbs, slender yet agile goat hooves, kicked in the air. One after another, ice pillars emerged from below, steadily supporting the descending Badans.

Jiang Yujin descended step by step behind on the ice pillars, unperturbed.

As Badans ahead turned to look at him, with a forceful stomp on the ice pillar, the snow on the icy ground instantly surged upward, forming a thick, overwhelming heap. First, it soared into the sky, then converged together, fiercely smashing towards the person still walking on the ice pillar.

The coverage of the thick snow was vast, to the extent that there was no possibility of evasion upon its descent. The initially taller ice pillars were the first to be smashed by the thick snow, instantly fracturing and slowly plummeting.

The person walking on the ice pillar descended along with it, buried under the weight of the heavy white snow.

Badans stepped back onto the cliff atop another ice pillar, looking down at the snowfield, motionless.

“Where are you looking?”

A slightly hoarse voice came from behind. Badans turned their head, and all they saw was a sea of white. Not the color of snow, but of hair.

In the moment of turning, their head, which was turned away, was forcefully turned back, facing the snowy expanse.

The person behind Badans held the back of Badans’ head tightly with one hand and jumped off the cliff with the god without hesitation. The descent was resolute, the wind rushing past their ears couldn’t halt the other’s action. The force on the back of their head didn’t relent.

From this height, both would die.

…This is a lunatic.

Though Badans had realized this in their previous encounter, they hadn’t expected this person to go utterly mad.

The person behind wasn’t aiming to survive; Badans had to think of a way on their own. Ice pillars emerged once again from the snowy field. Their body collided repeatedly with the pillars, gradually descending with each impact.

At a certain height, the ice pillars rose again, but this time they were directly kicked apart by the person behind. They fell mercilessly from mid-air to the ground.

The impact from the fall was immense. Badans was buried headfirst in the snow, unable to breathe. Two of their legs were broken, kicking futilely in the snow, spraying it around, but to no avail.

The creator god of the Snow Country was born from snow.

Jiang Yujin looked down coldly at the motionless and silent figure, remarking, “Dying in the snow suits you.”

Behind him, silently and swiftly, sharp, arm-thick diamond-shaped ice spikes took form and quietly aimed at him.

In the instant the entire person was pierced, the figure that had been crouching on the ground vanished from the spot. The ice spikes were too fast, impossible to retract in time, and brutally impaled Badans’ back.

The ice spikes, numerous and sizable, melted into icy water upon impact. The back of the strange species lying on the ground was a mass of flesh and blood, with several noticeable holes, blood and ice water mingling together.

Squatting nearby, Jiang Yujin asked, “Still playing?”

Badans rolled over on the ground, blood oozing faster from the holes, staining the surrounding snow red.

“Playing,” the god said, “I can’t die here.”

A blood-stained hand tightly gripped the wrist of the person squatting nearby, its eyes turning a crimson hue. “Let’s play one last round.”

The layer of snow beneath them melted away, revealing a deep ice cavern with no visible bottom. Both plummeted downward.

The final game was a gamble. There was an ice spike below in the ice cavern—any contact with it from this height meant certain death. The bet was who would encounter the spike.

The frigid air rushed past as the enormous ice spike at the bottom of the cavern came into view. Badans adjusted their position in mid-air, ensuring they were on the side without the spike, forcefully hurling the person they held toward the direction of the spike.

Then came a tearing, ripping pain.

Perhaps it wasn’t metaphorical tearing; it was literal.

Badans lowered their gaze, seeing their own hand missing its palm, blood gushing out. The person at their side stabilized himself against the ice wall, then kicked the god directly.

The already rapid descent sped up further. The sheep-bodied strange species’ pupils were fixed on the sharp point of the ice spike, enlarging within its eyes.

There was no time for any response, no chance for any action. The spike finally covered the entire pupil.

Jiang Yujin landed, gazing at the thing impaled entirely by the ice spike.

A fifty-fifty chance, which in reality was a hundred percent. He couldn’t die right now, so the other had to die instead.

Watching Badans’ eyes gradually losing their shine and the crown falling to the ground, the person standing by suddenly remembered something. Rushing closer to Badans, he shook the god vigorously. “Don’t die yet!”

His hat flew off, and he hadn’t had the chance to pick it up!

Even though he shook frantically, the strange species’ pupils continued to dilate, possibly hastening its demise without any response to stimuli.

Citizen Jiang gave up shaking the strange species that could no longer withstand any touch, swiftly ascended the ice cavern, attempting to find his hat in the snowy expanse.

*

Near Mount Kala, the snowstorm and hail had ceased. The roads were once again clear, and people on the road encountered fallen snow heaps. They also spotted a vehicle hit by a tree on the roadside.

The vehicle, a camper van, held various personal belongings, including phones and wallets on top. Given the situation, they must have rushed somewhere urgently. Someone reported the license plate number and the name of the travel agency on the vehicle to local authorities.

Officials tried contacting the driver, the guide, and each tourist, but all they got were busy signals from outside the service area.

A search and rescue team mobilized and, guided by locals, arrived at some small sheds where a few people might have sought shelter from the storm. However, the sheds had collapsed. Underneath the collapsed sheds were scattered footprints, indicating that someone had indeed been there but had left due to the untenable conditions.

After an unsuccessful search in the vicinity, the rescue team’s attention turned to the only place they hadn’t explored—the Mount Kala.

Despite assumptions that with a guide and a local driver, they should have known it was dangerous to enter Mount Kola, it remained the only plausible place. The team geared up more professionally and ventured into the mountains to search.

The landscape in the mountains differed slightly from when they had previously rescued stranded tourists. There were too many things that didn’t belong there, and sometimes they stumbled upon skeletons buried in the snow.

Eventually, they found several unconscious tourists on the slope’s backside. Some were lying on the ground with long ropes nearby. One person was crouching. They assumed the person was also unconscious until, as they approached, the person lifted his head, eyes drooping, gazing at them.

After a brief moment of reaction, his eyes slightly opened, expressing surprise: “Finally, someone’s come to rescue us.”

It was a bit of surprise but not much—more like rehearsed enthusiasm.

The rescue team first checked the vital signs of the people lying on the ground, then asked, “Is everyone here?”

“Not all. Two are missing,” Jiang Yujin said. “My son, and another male tourist.”

He was advised not to wander. Skipping the in-between, he didn’t exactly wander; he was adhering to the agreement by squatting there.

The rescue team inquired about the direction his son went, so he pointed in a certain direction.

Chen Jing was found about a kilometer away. Nearby lay what seemed to be another male tourist. Unlike the previously conscious or unconscious tourists without obvious injuries, these two had clearly experienced something significant.

The male tourist was already deceased, having been lying in the snow, making it challenging to determine the time of death. The other individual had a penetrating wound on his shoulder, and the snow around him was stained red, yet his vital signs were relatively stable.

The priority was to transport the injured person out. The rescue team reinforced, even borrowed a nearby civilian vehicle on the closest road. They transported all unconscious individuals. The only awake person didn’t leave with them, eventually departing with the rescue team.

He was the sole conscious individual and was asked numerous questions throughout the journey, unable to find any time to play Xiaoxiaole or relax.

Citizen Jiang cooperated well during the interrogation, enthusiastically responding while selectively omitting certain facts. He mentioned a sheep appearing while they were seeking shelter in the sheds from the hail, leading them into the mountains.

He claimed he wasn’t clear on what happened afterward. As he sent his big son to find an exit, due to hunger and cold, his consciousness faded. He only vaguely remembered waking up and seeing them.

It was a coherent story, and he didn’t feel the need to lie. The others believed his words wholeheartedly, thanking him for his cooperation.

Citizen Jiang also smiled, expressing gratitude for their rescue.

*

When Chen Jing regained consciousness, his vision was blurry, and he saw an unfamiliar ceiling above him.

Gradually, his other senses returned. He smelled the familiar scent of disinfectant. Wanting to move instinctively, he felt a sharp tearing sensation.

“Awake?”

He first heard the sound of Xiaoxiaole before hearing the human voice.

Looking up, he saw someone sitting by the bedside, glancing at him while playing on his phone, his eyes rather busy.

Moments ago, it was a strange species in front of him. Now, everything had changed. It was warm and dry here, the sky outside the window completely darkened. Chen Jing couldn’t immediately figure out what had happened.

Did he touch the crown?

But his memory seemed to lack that crucial moment of actually touching it.

Jiang Yujin spoke before Chen Jing could, “Where were you earlier? The rescue team was looking for you for a long time.”

He threw out a question, and the high schooler could only pause momentarily to contemplate, unable to divert his thoughts elsewhere.

After listening to what seemed like a reasonable explanation, Jiang Yujin nodded in agreement, indicating he accepted the story provided. Then he asked, “Is it painful?”

He was referring to the wound’s pain.

Chen Jing shook his head.

Objectively, it hurt a lot, but he was accustomed to it and could endure it.

Jiang Yujin immediately patted his head, “Nonsense.”

In a conventional sense, the person in front of him was still a patient, but he didn’t hold back at all.

Withdrawing his hand from the head pat, he seemed to recall something and added, “Everyone else is okay. The guide and the others are in good spirits, except the uncle who went to the mountain before us—he’s gone.”

Chen Jing lowered his gaze.

Compared to usual, the high schooler today seemed more reticent.

Jiang Yujin glanced at him, then went out to call the doctor.

Passing by the nurses’ station on his way to find the doctor, the nurses inside were chatting, discussing the events on the mountain today.

Despite being keen on gossip, Citizen Jiang wasn’t particularly interested in gossip related to himself. After calling the doctor, he didn’t return to the ward but found a spot to play Xiaoxiaole on his phone. When he felt the doctor should be about done, he returned to the ward.

By the time he returned, the high schooler had finished changing the dressing, sitting on the bed in patient attire, gazing out the window.

He pulled up the previously used chair and sat down, engrossed in his game.

After a while, or perhaps a longer span of time, the person sitting on the bed began nodding, mechanically tapping the screen. The puzzle remained unsolved for quite some time.

“I think I’ve done something wrong.”

Before the person holding the phone collapsed, the high schooler sitting on the hospital bed spoke briefly, then fell silent.

The person whose eyes were completely shut blinked in confusion, “Huh?”

Chen Jing lowered his head and looked at his hand.

The man’s wife was the one he had killed.

In that snowy mountain dungeon, he encountered a woman who was mentally unstable and determined to kill him. She was skilled and swift, allowing no reaction time for each attack.

She held a beautifully carved knife, and in the moment the blade aimed for his heart, he redirected it, piercing the woman’s heart. He had thought he forgot the feeling of warm liquid splashing on his face at that moment, but in reality, he remembered it vividly.

The man died there too, all for the sake of his wife.

“Well, that’s good.”

The phone almost slipped from the person nodding vigorously. He straightened up again, and Jiang Yujin adjusted his clothes, saying, “Knowing you’ve done wrong shows you’re still human.”

Chen Jing looked at him, and after a prolonged silence, he said, “Are you cold?”

This person had been wearing a hat and a windbreaker since waking up, never removing them, even putting on the hood.

Facing the heating in the ward, Jiang Yujin said, unperturbed, “Yes.”

He continued, “The heating here isn’t very effective.”

The high schooler seemed somewhat skeptical but then appeared to believe him.

Yawning, Citizen Jiang left the ward immediately, saying, “Too tired, I’ll go get some sleep. If there’s anything, call a doctor, nurse, whoever, just don’t call for me.”

That was indeed something a good father would say, and the big son sitting on the bed watched the other person leave.

Considering the injured patient was a minor who was almost of age, the hospital, after some consideration, arranged a room for the adult citizen, who was also a victim. The room wasn’t spacious but could accommodate a bed and a cabinet.

The person who claimed he was going to sleep didn’t doze off immediately. He removed his hat and set it aside, sitting on the edge of the bed to send a message to the barber shop owner, once again kindly asking about dyeing his hair.

[You are not yet friends with this person.]

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