Terror on a Mountain Night

Si Ming and Murong Qing exchanged a glance, both feeling a chill run down their spines.

"Thank you for the reminder, sir, but we absolutely have to go in. There are instructions from our superiors here; you can call to inquire."

"We don't have telephones here. We usually communicate with the outside world by writing letters..." The uncle sighed and waved his hand. "Fine, since you insist on going in, I can't stop you. Rather than forcing you to sneak in, I'd rather I make the logistical preparations for you and try to avoid any accidents. I hope you can come back alive. I'm also very interested in what's in the restricted area."

"We'll definitely tell Uncle about you when we get back."

Si Ming didn't know what dangers lay inside, but he remembered his master's request was to go there to meet someone. So even without mentioning other details, it at least proved that someone was stationed in the restricted area.

Chapter 114 A Terrifying Night in the Mountains

Finally, the uncle from the Mohist Knight Guard lent a sheep cart to Si Ming and Murong Qing, and also prepared a map, dry food, water bags, and other items.

The so-called sheep cart is somewhat similar to a sled, after all, the altitude here is already very high, and the surrounding mountains are covered with thick snow. The sheep used as draft animals are not sheep in common sense. They have a body shape similar to a horse, four horns on their heads, and their bodies are covered with cow hair. They are called Lümi. If they had one more animal's physical characteristics, they could call themselves a four-not-like creature.

There is no Fang Wen here. Murong Qing only curious about Lümi's appearance and did not make any further connections. Si Ming, on the other hand, stared at Lümi for a while. The more he looked, the more he felt that this guy's four-horned head looked like a demon in Western mythology. In particular, its pair of horns on both sides of its cheeks formed a square shape with the horns on its head, which was very arrogant and imposing.

Lümi can't run as fast as a horse, but he has good endurance and can trot along for three hours without stopping. Although he is not as fast as Si Ming and others when they use their lightness skills, even a world sprint champion from his previous life still has to walk when he needs to and take a car when he needs to.

As the altitude increased and the temperature began to drop, Murong Qing, who had cultivated cold-attribute Internal Cultivation, had no choice but to put on a warm down jacket, making herself look very bulky.

Si Ming, however, became more and more energetic. He even rolled up his sleeves to expose his arms. The higher the altitude, the thinner the air and the stronger the ultraviolet rays, which provided a continuous supply of his Blazing Sun True Qi. Even if he used all his Internal Cultivation to resist the cold, it would not diminish in the slightest.

They encountered a few scattered Demon Beast along the way, but they were few in number and weak, and were shot dead by Si Ming with his twin pistols before they could get close.

Large-scale Demon Beast only emerge from the sea; even if Demon Beast appear in other places, they are at most a few large or small, and they pose no threat.

This situation is also an argument frequently cited by experts who insist that Demon Beast originate from environmental pollution. If Demon Beast are related to seawater, how did Demon Beast that came out of the sea end up in the plateau region of the northwest? The reason why a large number of Demon Beast emerge from the sea is simply because there is a huge source of pollution in the seabed.

However, opponents also argue that the high-altitude areas are sparsely populated, and people there live very primitive lifestyles, not even industrialized, so there is no environmental pollution whatsoever.

In short, everyone has their own reasons, and there is no consensus. It seems that the authorities are deliberately muddying the waters and have not come out to give a correct explanation.

"Judging from the map, we are very close to the restricted area."

As if to confirm what Si Ming, the two Lümi stopped running without warning. No matter how much they were whipped, they refused to move forward a single step, as if something terrifying was ahead of them, stimulating their survival instincts.

"Just like the old man said, let's get off the bus. We'll have to walk from here on out."

Si Ming and Murong Qing got off the sled together and channeled their True Qi to activate the autonomous circuits of the two goat-shaped suitcases, enabling them to automatically track and find their way. Then he lashed the Lümi with a whip, making the two animals walk back. Whether they could return to the town by the same route depended on their luck.

Looking at the vast snowfield and the distant, faintly visible snow-capped mountains and ice peaks, Murong Qing exhaled a puff of white mist and sighed, "Looking at this boundless world, I feel even more insignificant. How powerless we are in the face of nature."

Si Ming, however, felt even more invigorated. "It is precisely because we realize our own insignificance that we must strive to become stronger and conquer nature one day, so that we can make nature work for us."

Leaving aside internal struggles, the history of human development, from a macro perspective, is actually a history of conquering nature. From being at the mercy of fate and relying on the heavens for sustenance, to changing the world, harnessing the power of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, and even venturing further to the stars and the sea, we have explored and conquered nature step by step.

Even if their civilizations differ, and they rely on collective technology or individual force, their goals are the same.

"Your ideas are always unconventional; perhaps I should learn from you and face everything with a more positive attitude."

Murong Qing rubbed her face, stretched her legs which had become stiff from sitting, and then asked, "East, west, south, and north all look the same. How can we determine the direction of our destination so we don't get lost?"

"Before I came, the doctor lent me a small high-altitude surveillance drone that can observe the surrounding terrain. He also told me that once I get close to that area, I can immediately recognize the location of my destination because the terrain there is very conspicuous."

Si Ming took out a metal box from the self-propelled suitcase, started it, and a small helicopter-like object flew out of it, quickly taking off until it was invisible to the naked eye.

Then Si Ming opened a small laptop, and the screen displayed the footage captured by the camera. He could remotely control the aircraft's movements and adjust the camera angle through the laptop.

"... The doctor is right, the destination can indeed be recognized at a glance."

Murong Qing leaned closer to look at the screen. Among the haphazardly distributed snow-capped mountains, four peaks stood out. Three of the shorter peaks formed an equilateral triangle, while the tallest peak was precisely positioned at the center of the triangle. All four peaks were connected by a white line.

This is clearly a man-made masterpiece. Although it is unimaginable how it was done, such an exquisite work could not have been created by nature's own evolution alone.

By locking onto the target's location with the aircraft and recording the surrounding terrain, a map navigation system quickly appeared on the notebook, indicating the direction of travel.

Let's go.

To conserve energy, Si Ming memorized the general terrain and then put his laptop into sleep mode, intending to check the location every twenty minutes.

The journey was so long that it seemed like an eternity. After a day's travel, Si Ming and Murong Qing finally arrived at the foot of the Central Peak. By then, it was already dark, with only a faint glimmer of light remaining. After discussing for a while, the two decided to rest there for the night.

Although those with abundant Internal Cultivation have piercing eyesight, able to see as clearly as day even in the dead of night when it's pitch black, the phrase "abundant Internal Cultivation" represents Internal Energy Level Eight cultivation. With Si Ming and Murong Qing's cultivation, they are far from being able to do such a thing. To avoid any accidents, it's better to spend more time rather than take any risks.

The portable suitcase contained a simple tent. Si Ming chose an open space with obstacles on three sides, quickly set up the tent, and went inside with Murong Qing to shelter from the wind.

Although the two of them could go a day without food with their cultivation levels, considering that they would be climbing a mountain the next day, which would definitely consume a lot of physical strength, Si Ming still opened a few cans of food and warmed the food with his Internal Cultivation.

The night was long, and there were still several hours before his usual bedtime after dinner. Even after getting into his sleeping bag, he couldn't fall asleep. Si Ming wanted to pass the time by chatting, but he found that he had already talked about almost everything he could along the way, and he couldn't find any topics to talk about for the time being.

Murong Qing seemed to have thought of the same question, and the two of them stood silently facing each other in the dim light.

For a moment, the atmosphere became somewhat romantic.

Si Ming couldn't remember when he saw it, but a sociologist said that the distance between people is related to their intimacy with each other. Social distance is usually 120-210 centimeters, the distance between acquaintances is about 44-120 centimeters, and the distance between lovers and relatives is in the range of 0-44 centimeters—the former may even have negative distances.

This is why when dining at a restaurant, if there are empty seats, people would rather sit in those empty seats than share a table with others.

Intimacy affects distance, and conversely, distance affects intimacy. If two strangers are forced to stay together, they will quickly start talking to each other and become familiar with one another.

This is because an imbalance between distance and intimacy can create awkwardness or tension. To eliminate this awkwardness and tension, people will take two approaches: firstly, they will choose to create distance; secondly, if that is not possible, they will try to get closer to each other and thus adapt to the distance.

This is the same idea as "If you can't change your environment, change yourself."

Si Ming and Murong Qing are undoubtedly in the second tier of their relationship. Having fought side by side several times, they are probably ranked higher among acquaintances. If we were to describe their relationship in terms of distance, it would be between 44 and 88 centimeters.