Stalemate

"Abel? What are you doing here?"

After coughing a few times, Claude struggled to his feet from the snow.

How did you come up with the idea of hiding in such a dark, enclosed place?

Without intending to answer the other person's question, he glanced at the burning wooden house in front of him and asked the other person with a blank expression.

"Uh... in this kind of environment, exposing your body to the cold wind and snow would be even more dangerous, and I've twisted my ankle again... By the way, you'd better not go in there, there are strange things in there."

Seeing that Abel seemed to want to step into the wooden house, Claude quickly began to explain.

"While I was inside, I had a strange feeling, like I was being electrocuted, Shi Hei, trying to pull me in..."

He completely ignored the other person and arrived at the door of the Small Wooden House in an instant. Because of the flames rising inside, the layout of the cabin was completely visible.

However, when his gaze inadvertently fell upon something that had fallen into the wooden house, even with his personality, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch violently a few times.

"..."

Deliberately blocking Claude, he bent down, picked up the object, and stuffed it into his sleeve. In an instant, he turned around and walked away from the burning wooden house.

Where are you going now?

Seeing that Abel was about to turn and leave after saving him, Claude quickly asked him what was wrong.

"Why don't we travel together? That way we can look after each other..."

"Back to the villa."

He stopped in his tracks and spoke coldly in an instant.

"You're being watched. Continuing down this path will only lead to your death. Think about whether you want to keep going down the mountain or come back with me."

"... I understand, I'll go back with you."

Looking back at the burning wooden house, Claude gave a wry smile.

"Oh, by the way, thank you for saving me earlier, I..."

Seeing Abel continue walking back the way he came without any intention of replying, Claude sighed slightly and followed behind him.

As time went by and the night deepened, the wind and snow outside grew stronger, making their journey back increasingly difficult.

Fortunately, Setsuna was mindful of Claude's physical condition and deliberately slowed down; otherwise, he would have already disappeared.

Ten minutes later, a charred area, buried by wind and snow, appeared in front of them.

"This is the wooden house that burned down before, and we've come back here..."

Staring blankly at the familiar place before him, Claude muttered to himself.

"..."

He frowned slightly and remained silent for a moment.

After thinking for a moment, he turned over and took out a large roll of Nylon Rope from his Inventory, then tied one end of the rope to a tree next to the cabin.

After doing all this, he turned around and looked at Claude expressionlessly.

Soon, the two set off again in the wind and snow, but unlike last time, this time Sha walked while keeping the Nylon Rope in her hand.

The journey went smoothly as usual, and the rope did not break unexpectedly. However, after ten minutes, they returned to the starting point once again.

"..."

He glanced at the taut, straight Nylon Rope tied to the tree in front of him, stretching slightly upwards into the wind and snow, then looked down at the other end of the Nylon Rope in his hand, which came from behind him, and fell into silence.

"... Have we unknowingly gone in circles?"

Forcing a smile, Claude spoke to Abel, who had been silent in front of him.

"For example, we might unknowingly walk into a large circle and get the rope stuck in a tree... In this kind of blizzard with poor visibility, this kind of situation is quite likely to occur, right?"

"One is going up the mountain, and the other is going down the mountain."

He turned his head and glanced at Claude, his face instantly expressionless.

Even though the blizzard made it difficult to discern the road ahead and could indeed lead them astray, they were not in a flat plain, but rather in a mountainous environment with a significant slope.

They had been heading uphill the whole time, but ended up coming up from a gentler slope... That speaks volumes.

--Even if someone gets lost, they wouldn't get lost to this absurd degree.

The rope is angled upwards, including the Nylon Rope he is holding now. This is a completely illogical phenomenon, both from a physical and spatial perspective.

He tied the other end of the Nylon Rope firmly to the tree, then turned his head with a blank expression and began to speak to Claude beside him.

"I'll go down, you go up."

The rope tied to the tree, whether it was the part that was initially tied to the tree or the part that was tied to the tree now, has a clear upward or downward tendency.

Following the rope might allow us to discover some patterns here...

He quickly understood the meaning behind Abel's words, and after a moment's hesitation, Claude nodded.

... In reality, he had no other choice under the current circumstances.

And so, relying on the Nylon Rope tied to the tree, the two went in opposite directions. In an instant, they went down the Nylon Rope, while Claude went up the Nylon Rope.

If all goes well, they should meet in the middle of this long Nylon Rope.

However, things took an unexpected turn.

Ten minutes later, the two met again by the tree.

Originally, Claude was moving upwards, but he appeared where Abel was, while Abel appeared where Claude was. Because of Claude's foot injury, Abel arrived a little earlier.

--During this process, they did not encounter each other.

"It's not Mobius Ring... it's space folding?"

Leaning against the tree stump, Claude slumped down and sat down under the tree.

"That's right, it's a ridiculous cat-and-mouse Game, and we're just laughable mice desperately trying to escape from that cat's clutches..."

Under the blows of multiple events, he had completely given up the idea of resistance. Instead, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness and despair from the bottom of his heart.

"..."

He leaned against the tree, seemingly deep in thought, and remained silent for a moment.

Just as their situation reached a stalemate, the taut Nylon Rope in his hand.

Upon seeing the person's face, he couldn't help but frown slightly.

The person who arrived was Victoria, who was also his fiancée in this role, and the second main supporting character.

--[The Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part].