Survival Match (18)

A mouthful of steaming roast meat instantly left everyone feeling comfortable all over, driving away much of the chill.

To help everyone push through the Dense Fog Zone in one go, Jiang Hao deliberately roasted two extra portions for each of them, ensuring they had enough food to replenish their energy along the way.

With everything ready, all five teammates other than Jiang Hao and Wen Ruxue entered their merged states, giving them enough time to react to any sudden danger.

Chubby took the lead, followed by the agility specialist Gongsun Qianxun, while Song Jie and Yang Qingliu brought up the rear. All seven tied ropes around their waists to keep from getting separated.

The moment they stepped into the Dense Fog Zone, visibility dropped to less than a meter. They could not see even a trace of the person directly ahead, and could only hold the ropes around their waists and slowly climb upward, one careful step at a time. There was no telling how steep the mountainside buried beneath the snow might be. One misplaced step could drag the entire team down.

Before each step, Chubby tested the footing several times. Only after confirming it was safe did he relay the situation to the person behind him. The message passed down the line as they slowly felt their way forward.

Whoosh!

Fierce wind roared in their ears, driving sleet into their faces like blades of bitter cold slicing their skin!

"Everyone... be careful. There might be a blizzard up ahead!"

Even though Chubby was not far away, his voice reached them in broken fragments.

"Tell him to find somewhere to shelter, quick. A big rock or something would be best." Jiang Hao shook the rope to alert Wen Ruxue ahead of him.

Soon, the team began changing direction.

Just then, a flash of lightning lit the depths of the fog, followed by a crack! Thunder seemed to explode right beside their ears, leaving nothing but a ringing buzz in Jiang Hao's head.

Whatever they dreaded truly came upon them. Along with the thunder, a furious gust swept through and lifted the slender Wen Ruxue bodily into the air. Hearing her scream, Gongsun Qianxun ahead and Jiang Hao behind pulled on the rope together and hauled her down. But an even stronger blizzard struck. She had barely been back on the ground for a second before another gust caught her, and Gongsun Qianxun lost her footing and went flying with her.

How could Jiang Hao possibly hold down the weight of two people? He lasted only three seconds before being pulled into the air too!

A chain reaction followed. Chen Xiaolin behind him and the two bringing up the rear were dragged into the blizzard as well, flying helplessly like candied hawthorn threaded on a skewer.

Only Chubby was still holding on. Using his weight to his advantage, he anchored himself to the ground like a nail, resisting the blizzard while trying to pull the others down.

They had been walking for less than an hour. If the entire team was wiped out now, this joke would have gone far too far.

"Chen Xiaolin! Chen Xiaolin!"

In his panic, Jiang Hao wanted to remind Chen Xiaolin to save himself first.

But the raging wind quickly scattered his voice.

Fortunately, Chen Xiaolin kept his head in the face of danger and knew what he needed to do. He shot several strands of spider silk toward the ground. If he could wrap them around a rock, he could pull himself back down. After several attempts, he finally succeeded.

Once on the ground, he did not immediately rescue the others, but first secured himself to the large rock. Buried in the deep snow, one end of the rock was sharp, and he failed to notice it. When he finally managed to pull Song Jie down, Song Jie landed right on that sharp point.

Crack!

Song Jie screamed. Some bone or other had snapped.

"Chen... I... fuck... your... ancestors..."

Chen Xiaolin: ???

Was it wrong of me to save you first?

Yes, you were wrong. You shouldn't have saved me. You should've let me die. Song Jie clutched his ankle and cried from the pain.

After everyone finally made it back to the ground, they thought they were safe. Then a faint wail reached them, piercing and brimming with rage.

The voice sounded neither male nor female. Hearing it, Jiang Hao suddenly thought of a terrifying possibility. Legends spoke of a humanoid phantom demon that could speak human language and let out eerie cries like an infant. These phantom demons liked to dwell in lands of ice and snow, blending into the white landscape, and were therefore also called Snow and Ice Banshees. Snow and Ice Banshees came in two types: humanoid and beast-shaped. The beast-shaped phantom demons belonged to a lesser race, and their sole ability was to trap people in illusions.

Snow and Ice Banshees possessed a high-ranking bloodline among demonic beasts. They were rare, but wherever one appeared, disaster was sure to follow, for they could command blizzards to slaughter every intruder.

There had once been an incident in which a Snow and Ice Banshee massacred a city in the North Sea Kingdom of Snow and Ice Paradise. It began when a human accidentally killed the banshee's child while hunting. Driven into a savage frenzy, the banshee shrouded the human's city in a blizzard for a full hundred days.

After a hundred days, the Snow and Ice Banshee withdrew. When people later went to inspect the city, they discovered that it had become a city of ice, with everyone inside frozen into ice sculptures. It became the North Sea Kingdom's famous ghost city and was later renamed Ice Sculpture City.

That incident showed the world how terrifying Snow and Ice Banshees were. Even now, a saying circulated throughout the North Sea Kingdom: better to provoke the Four Divine Beasts than earn a banshee's hatred.

"This is bad! A Snow and Ice Banshee is coming!"

Who on earth provoked that thing?

Judging by that furious cry, it could not have become enraged without cause. Someone must have provoked it.

Even more frightening, the banshee's piercing voice could easily trigger an avalanche.

Once again, whatever they feared came upon them. A rumbling like rolling thunder came from the mountaintop. The Dense Fog Zone blinded them, leaving them unable to see whether an avalanche had truly begun.

"Chubby, have you found anywhere we can shelter?" Jiang Hao anxiously called to Chubby at the front.

"No!"

We're done for!

Misfortunes truly never came alone. The blizzard had yet to pass, and now a Snow and Ice Banshee had arrived. That was bad enough, but an avalanche would be fatal. Was there still time to retreat?

Clearly, there was not.

"Xiaolin, free everyone! Hurry and cut the ropes between us! If you can't hold on, don't force it. Let whoever can escape-"

Before he could finish, the rumbling closed in. It really was an avalanche. Its force instantly swept away the dense fog. In that brief moment of clarity, Jiang Hao's sharp eyes caught a massive figure striding over the collapsing snow. Then everything went black, and he could see nothing.

He had no idea how much time passed. There was no suffocating sensation, no blizzard, only the feeling of someone dragging him by his feet through the snow. He tried to get up, but had no strength anywhere in his body. Forget it. As long as I'm alive!

Jiang Hao closed his eyes again and slipped into unconsciousness.

Elsewhere.

Chubby was struggling to climb out of the snow. Because of his large build, more snow had piled over him, forming a mound like a grave.

"Phew!"

He finally poked his head out. The suffocating pressure had nearly buried him here forever. Not far away, another little grave mound was stirring as someone struggled to crawl out from beneath the snow.

Seeing this, Chubby hurriedly shoved away the snow covering him and rushed over. "Qianxun, how are you?"

"Less talk! Hurry and pull me up. Xue is still underneath."

Chubby hauled both of them out with all his strength, then scanned their surroundings and finally spotted three more little grave mounds. The three rescued the others together, digging out the unconscious Song Jie, Chen Xiaolin, and Yang Qingliu. But when they searched for Jiang Hao, they could not find him anywhere.

"Brother Hao! Brother Hao!"

Chubby urgently called for Jiang Hao while searching through the snow for a dozen meters around them, but there was still no sign of him.

"Jiang Hao, where are you? Jiang Hao!" Wen Ruxue's tears fell like rain. The thought that Jiang Hao might be buried somewhere beneath the snow left her so frantic that she dissolved into tears. Her crying woke Song Jie, and when he learned Jiang Hao was missing, he immediately joined the search.

He prayed that they would find Jiang Hao soon, yet also felt relieved. With emotions tangled together, the six searched every inch of snow for hundreds of meters around them, but found not the slightest clue.

Unable to bear seeing Wen Ruxue so heartbroken, Gongsun Qianxun tried to comfort her. "Xue, stop crying. Not finding him might actually be good news. Maybe he's still alive somewhere. He kept stressing that if anyone got separated, we shouldn't look for them, but head to the Wuji Peak Summit first. Maybe we'll see him there."

Through her tear-blurred eyes, Wen Ruxue found a foothold of comfort in Gongsun Qianxun's words, as though they held some magical power.

"Yes, yes. We'll go to the summit. He said he would get me home safely. He isn't someone who breaks his word."

Watching the girl he liked cry for another man, Song Jie felt jealousy churning inside him. He wished he could know whether Wen Ruxue would be just as anxious if he were the one missing, whether she would cry for him.

Unlike Song Jie with his jumble of conflicting feelings, Chubby was perhaps the person most concerned about Jiang Hao's survival apart from Wen Ruxue. After hearing Gongsun Qianxun's words, he immediately shouldered his large backpack and charged deeper into the Dense Fog Zone without even ending his merged state.

"Wait! Come back! Do you think you're the only one worried? If you get lost too, we'll have to look for you. Can't you calm down first?"

Had it been anyone else, he would definitely have snapped back that if they were the one missing, he certainly would not be worried. But the person who had stopped him was Gongsun Qianxun, so he obediently waited until everyone was ready before setting out.

When Jiang Hao woke for the second time, he found himself inside an enormous ice cave. Icicles hung from the ceiling, and there was nothing around him, no furniture or anything of the sort.

A rustling sound nearby caught Jiang Hao's attention. Looking toward it, he saw a white figure with its back to him, rummaging through his large backpack!

The white figure was taller and larger than an ordinary person. It had no legs-or rather, it stood atop a cluster of icicles, its entire body wreathed in mist.

"Thank you for saving me, senior." Before he could finish-

The white figure slowly turned its head and nearly scared Jiang Hao to death. Its woman's face had a pair of eyes without eyeballs. White hair concealed most of its face, which was covered in cracks. It had neither a mouth nor a nose.

Seeing Jiang Hao awake, the white figure slowly rose and "floated" over to him. It said nothing, merely staring straight at him with those all-white eyes, studying him. After a moment, that horrifying face began to writhe.