All at once, Hu Bayi thought of how water was the Fire Ladybugs' weakness. Snowmelt was water too, so in theory the Fire Ladybugs should fear snow. Even packed snow ought to be able to deal with them, right?
Hu Ming paused at that and said, "Those bugs can fly, so they'd be hard to hit with snowballs. But we could burrow into the snow..."
Hu Ming turned to Yang Xueli and asked, "By the way, why are we going to the Kunlun Glacier? That's no place for a sightseeing trip. It's full of danger."
Yang Xueli hesitated before answering. "Actually, when my father came here on an expedition, several members of his team also visited this place."
"Unfortunately, those people had an accident beneath a crevasse in the glacier, and they never came back."
"As a result, a lot of archaeological expedition records were lost there. Among those records was a route to Jingjue."
"So we've decided to go take a look and search for clues. We might discover something."
Hu Ming frowned. "Fine. It's not that we can't change course and go to the glacier, but we'll need to charge extra!"
Hu Ming held up five fingers.
His words left Yang Xueli stunned.
"What? You want more money?"
"Are you crazy?"
Yang Xueli hadn't expected Hu Ming to demand an extra fifty thousand.
Did he think her money was that easy to earn?
Hao Aiguo also snapped, "Comrade Hu Ming, have you gone mad thinking about money?"
Hu Ming narrowed his eyes and stared at Hao Aiguo. Hao Aiguo was about to say something when a sudden murderous aura burst from Hu Ming. The entire private room turned icy cold.
Seeing this, Hu Bayi barked, "Mingzi!"
Hu Ming slowly withdrew his murderous aura, then took out another cigarette and lit it. "Do you know anything about the Kunlun Mountain Range? You could call it a forbidden zone. I think it's even more dangerous than Jingjue Ancient City. To be honest, I really don't want to go there."
After a moment, Yang Xueli said:
"Fine!"
"I agree!"
"Once this expedition is over, I'll give you an additional fifty thousand US Dollars."
"Great. That's more like it!" With both sides in agreement, Hu Ming decided to change course and head for Kunlun, toward the glacier crevasse.
Yang Xueli had agreed so readily because she'd seen fear in Hu Ming's eyes. He hadn't reacted that way even when they'd discussed Jingjue Ancient City. She suspected he knew something, and after weighing it carefully, she decided to offer more money.
After discussing things for a while, they returned to their respective compartments.
Clack-clack, clack-clack—
The train rolled onward until it reached a transfer station. Hu Ming and the others got off, then boarded a train that went straight toward the Kunlun region of the plateau.
With help from the local military district, Professor Chen and the others were taken to the Kunlun Bu Dong Quan outpost. They rested there overnight, then set out for Kunlun Ice Mountain the next day under the soldiers' escort.
Traveling with an archaeological team certainly made things convenient. They had people looking after them the whole way.
The military truck could only take them halfway. After that, everyone got out, shouldered their gear, and began climbing over the mountains. The outpost sent three soldiers along to protect Professor Chen and the other archaeological experts.
Among the three soldiers, the big fellow and Gawa were old comrades of Hu Bayi's. The other was a communications specialist, skilled at operating equipment—a highly educated soldier, in a way.
Heavy snow began falling from the sky, flakes swirling everywhere as the air filled with bitter cold. The three soldiers wore green padded military coats, green fur hats, and green padded boots. They were dressed in green from head to toe.
Hu Ming walked up to Gawa and asked, "Gawa, are you Tibetan?"
"I am. I'm Tibetan." Gawa had a pretty good impression of Hu Ming and smiled as he nodded. "We Tibetans look just like you Han Chinese. If you don't look closely, you can't tell us apart."
"Mm." Hu Ming smiled. "By the way, what customs do Tibetans have? Are there any secret religious beliefs?"
He remembered that in the original story, Gawa had knelt and kowtowed when he saw the Nine-story Demon Tower. So it couldn't hurt to learn more about the beliefs of his Tibetan compatriots.
"Gawa, I hear Tibetan girls are really beautiful. Introduce me to a few sometime," Fatty said with a grin as he wandered over.
Gawa heard him asking after girls right off the bat and simply ignored him.
"Keep moving! The snowstorm's bad today, and we've still got a long way to go. We need to cross this whole snowy mountain in one push and find somewhere to camp on the other side." Hu Bayi was leading the group, and he'd been here before and remembered the terrain. He was practically a walking map.
"Mr. Hu, could we take a break?"
Yang Xueli saw that Professor Chen, Hao Aiguo, and Ye Yixin could barely keep going. They'd been trudging along, panting the whole way, despite carrying nothing. This was a high-altitude region where the air was thin, and climbing a snowy mountain in a blizzard was more than most people could handle.
She was worried the three would fall behind. The big fellow was helping Professor Chen, who leaned on a stick to steady himself in the snow as he climbed one step at a time. He looked up at the endless snowy mountains stretching beyond sight, and a surge of excitement rose in his heart. His eyes lit up.
He was exhausted, but life was short. How many chances did anyone get to step into a sacred snow-covered mountain like this?
"That old man gets more energetic the more tired he is. It's downright creepy."
Fatty had been keeping an eye on Professor Chen the whole way. He was hoping the old man would collapse from exhaustion and call it quits, so they could earn those US Dollars without breaking a sweat.
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