Chapter 98: Lost Snow Mountain 01

Chapter 98: Lost Snow Mountain 01

Xiao Qin streamed once again!

Upon the system's notification, countless spirit spectators instantly swarmed into the A-Class Live Broadcast Hall.

Each spirit wore an expression of both excitement and astonishment, as if stunned and unbelieving all at once.

How did he become A-Class already???

After just one instance, this unknown foot soldier had dramatically transformed into an elite player at the pinnacle of the pyramid.

How could such a legendary feat not stir up the spirits' excitement!

"Did he break a record?"

"The founders of Black Feather didn't level up that fast, did they?"

The spirits were abnormally exhilarated.

It seemed that they were about to witness the birth of a miracle with their own eyes!

"Tch!"

Amidst the cheers and jubilation, an unsociable scoff rang out from the side.

The spirits turned to look.

Their adversary met their gaze unflinchingly, returning the stare.

Though A-level players were scarce, the live streaming hall was vast, with each broadcasting host possessing their own unique screen.

"The Lost Snow-Capped Mountain" live broadcast involved four A-rank players, each with an impressive number of devoted followers.

At this moment, in the Snow Mountain Live Stream Zone, four screens were arranged in perfect alignment. Before each screen, a considerable number of spirits had gathered.

The spirits' words had already been clearly transmitted into the ears of the fans of the other streamers nearby.

Hearing someone lavish such praise on a strikingly unfamiliar face, one who was clearly a recent promotion to A-rank, the spirits present found the situation utterly absurd.

"?????"

"Anyone can now accuse the founder of Black Feathers of wrongdoing?"

"Yeah, hilarious. A miracle of reaching S rank within a year – do some people really think it's as simple as moving their lips up and down?"

The conversation swiftly shifted to the Black Feathers Guild.

"I wonder how those two are doing now."

"We haven't heard anything, but I guess they're gone for good. What good can come to players who defy the system, right?"

"Perhaps those clueless new fans should first learn about the history before opening their mouths."

"They might think anyone can reach S rank in a year."

"Well, not necessarily. While they may not replicate the big shots' feat of soaring to S rank in a year, they could always emulate other aspects, like disappearing for two years with no trace or anything."

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

The spirits burst into laughter.

Qin Fei's little fan was on the verge of exploding with anger!

Did these people have a problem? They hadn't said that their husbands were more amazing than the founder of Black Plume!

They had only mentioned how quickly Xiao Qin had advanced to Rank A.

Ascending to Rank A in just three live broadcasts truly broke the founder's record.

If he recalled correctly, those two had taken almost half a year back then to reach Rank A.

Spirits who were fans of Qin Fei wouldn't be pushovers either. At the slightest disagreement, they lashed out with scathing remarks.

"Mind your dirty mouth and wait for my husband to slap you with reality!"

"All your taunts are bouncing back, reflecting your own foolishness!"

At the same time, divisions arose within the audience of those streamers.

It had only been a little over a month since the R-rated Tournament ended, and many spirits had witnessed the live broadcast of that event.

The memory of Qin Fei's deft maneuvering in the werewolf community is still vivid in my mind.

Particularly, it referred to the fans of one of the players involved.

Recalling the bizarre scene from that live stream where their own broadcaster was led around in circles by Xiao Qin, chasing after him like a lovesick fool, calling out for 'son' as if he were glued to his heels...

It's truly unbearable to witness, damn it!

The spirits held back their twitching lips, coming to Qin Fei's defense.

"Let's not say anymore, this new recruit is indeed quite impressive."

"He even got the MVP in the previous R-rated match."

Upon hearing this, the criticizing spirits' voices softened somewhat.

An R-rated match, huh.

Though it wasn't as challenging as A or B-level instances, one couldn't deny its substantial value.

Qin Fei's fans promptly cried out in defense:

"Our streamer has only been in the Law Realm for less than three months!"

The insulting spirits fell utterly silent upon hearing this.

Three months?

In just three months, from an F-rated rookie to an A-ranker?

It was like a sharp slap in the face.

The spirits who had mocked Qin Fei earlier reached out, their incorporeal hands touching their non-existent cheeks as they looked back with pitiful eyes.

Qin Fei's fans sneered at the sight but didn't intend to let them off the hook just yet.

"And!"

Qin Fei's fans proudly lifted their chins.

"Our host upgraded from F to A rank in just three instance dungeons. This is our host's fourth dungeon run."

If the astonishment of rising to A rank in three months was like a thunderbolt striking the ground, then advancing to A rank in just three dungeons was like an atomic bomb exploding.

With a loud boom, it would obliterate the opposing spirits into dust, leaving not even a trace behind.

In front of Qin Fei's screen, the spirits all held their chins up high, looking down on others with a sense of superiority.

On both sides of the screen, silence reigned, a stark contrast to the lively atmosphere a few minutes ago.

The spirits were left speechless by Qin Fei's astonishing record.

If they had known he was this terrifying,

if they had known his fans were equally terrifying,

things might have been different.

They would absolutely not speak out of turn!

The spirits, with dazed expressions, stealthily lifted their eyes to look at the screen in the middle.

On the screen, the young man sat silently in the midst of the snowstorm.

In the extreme cold, a thin layer of frost had formed on his soft black hair.

Wrapped in a dark gray windbreaker, his slender and slightly thin body was revealed. His fair and long neck extended beyond the collar, and the graceful yet powerful lines at his shoulders and neck undeniably indicated that he was not as fragile as he appeared.

It was hard to judge his true strength from his appearance.

Anyway...

He was quite good-looking.

One of the spirits secretly covered its mouth, tiptoed, and inch by inch, sneaked to the front of the central screen.

Fans of the other three hosts: "..."

Well, let's put it this way, can we have a bit more substance? We shouldn't eagerly fawn over someone just because they look attractive.

There were stubborn souls who grumbled discontentedly.

"Several minutes into the live broadcast, he was still sitting there in a daze, clearly demonstrating his lack of competence."

The comment was promptly met with a rebuttal, "Open your eyes and see what your streamer is up to first before you talk about Xiao Qin, alright?"

The spirit turned its head to find its host still with eyes tightly shut, trembling in the snow like a maggot, clenching his teeth and flushed with a reddened face, desperately attempting to open his eyes but failing to do so.

Soul: "......."

Extending its neck, it observed the screens of the other two A-rank players.

Both of them were still asleep.

It switched its perspective to view the live streams of B-rank and C-rank players.

All of them were still lying in the snow!

Comparing all the players, despite Xiao Qin merely sitting up, he was still the one making the fastest progress in the dungeon.

Spirits: What kind of bizarre dungeon is this? It's utterly toxic!

The commotion from the south caught the attention of other spirits in the live broadcast hall. They turned their gaze over, instantly brightening with excitement.

"Ah, it's the Snow Mountain dungeon!"

"A new Snow Mountain instance? I want to see it! Come on, come on."

More and more spirits swarmed to Qin Fei's live stream.

Beyond a thin veil of light and across untold dimensions, Qin Fei was receiving continuous system rewards due to the arrival of these spirits.

"Host has achieved 500K concurrent viewers within the first 30 minutes of the broadcast. Congratulations!"

"You have received tributes from 1038 viewers, granting you a 5% boost in traffic. Your points will be calculated at the end of the live stream!"

The chiming announcement echoed in his ears, but Qin Fei remained unfazed.

He was silently gazing at his own lifeless body.

To witness oneself dying right beside oneself was undeniably a visually striking experience.

The Ghost Baby crawled out of its domain and landed with a "thud" on the snow.

The snow here wasn't particularly soft, but to the Ghost Baby, it was still a novel and intriguing plaything.

The tiny creature scurried about on the ground, emitting excited little grunts.

Soon, it discovered "Qin Fei" not far away.

The ghost infant's two eyes suddenly gleamed as it eagerly crawled onto Qin Fei's corpse, opening its mouth to give a sharp "Awoof!"

However, the corpse had been frozen stiff for who knew how long in this icy and snowy environment. The ghost infant's teeth almost chipped when it bit down, causing it to spit out pitifully before turning its head and crawling back onto Qin Fei's shoulder.

Qin Fei: "..."

Friend, even though I'm not afraid, you're really making me a bit scared like this.

A burst of intense laughter erupted in the live broadcast hall.

"Ahahaha, why is the Ghost Baby so happy to see its master's corpse?"

"Streamer: Unfilial descendant!"

"Dang, it even kissed him!!"

"All players in the current instance have loaded their consciousness!"

"Now presenting the background of this instance."

The system's notification sounded abruptly, echoing eerily amidst the snow-covered valley, blending with the humming from the depths of the ravine below, forming a shrill echo akin to a trapped beast's roar.

Qin Fei's expression turned slightly solemn.

The wind by the cliff grew stronger, carrying with it tiny snow particles that stung his face with a mild ache upon impact.

Qin Fei tightened his collar.

"You are a student from University Y, driven by your passion, you.../// joined the school's mountaineering club right at the start of your freshman year."

"Within the mountaineering club, you befriended a group of close friends. You all spent four joyful years together. As graduation approached, you pre-formed a team of twenty to embark on a mountain climbing expedition as your graduation trip."

"However, just as you were about to set off after packing your bags, one of the team members mysteriously vanished."

"Mysterious disappearance, mysterious disappearance, vanished."

"Vanished."

"Vanished."

"Vanished."

...

The system's voice lacked any emotion as it recited the pre-programmed message, each word barren of sentiment.

Its tone of speech resembled a crudely crafted low-tier AI, devoid of any inflection or rhythm, punctuated by odd pauses and static.

Ordinary words, when strung together by its mechanical voice, became perplexing to the human mind, almost indecipherable.

The announcement lingered on the word "missing," looping and repeating incessantly.

It was like an evil curse spoken with malice.

Across the snowy landscape, players lying on the ground furrowed their brows, their expressions a mix of confusion and anxiety.

Some lifted their hands to press against their ears, while others retrieved paper and pens from their personal spaces, attempting to jot down whatever they could.

However, the extreme cold made it impossible for their fingers to perform such delicate tasks, and after a brief attempt, the players reluctantly gave up.

By the cliffside, Qin Fei remained sitting calmly and quietly.

He seemed unaffected by the system's incomprehensible announcement, displaying no apparent negative impact.

Listening attentively, Qin Fei memorized every word in his mind.

His surroundings were blanketed in a pristine white. Though Qin Fei could barely manage to stand up, he refrained from moving for the time being, instead lifting his head to survey his surroundings in all directions.

He found himself on a snowy slope. Looking down, he noticed two tiny black dots not too far below.

They were likely players as well.

The system's announcement continued.

"Quest completion for the 'Lost Snow Mountain' instance: Reach the summit and uncover the reason behind Zhou Li's death."

This Zhou Li.

It would be the mountain climber who went missing prior to the start of the event, as mentioned in the background story earlier.

"Please note, this clearance condition is exclusive to the Living faction. There is currently a member of the Deceased faction present in this instance. The specific clearance conditions for the Deceased faction need to be explored independently."

"Please, let the deceased conceal their identity!"

Announcement concludes. Upon finishing these words, the snowy mountain returned to its eternal silence.

Qin Fei: "..."

Qin Fei turned his head and glanced once more at the corpse beside him. He raised his hand and wiped his face expressionlessly.

Damn it.

The deceased was well aware that they were dead.

Dead as a doornail, beyond any further state of death.

Qin Fei took a deep breath and tapped on his attribute panel.

Aside from the initial information, there were no additional prompts in the panel.

Qin Fei's face had darkened significantly.

A climbing team of twenty, with nineteen survivors and one deceased member.

On the surface, the deceased sounded like a concealed major boss, formidable beyond measure.

In reality, the system had disclosed the existence of the deceased right at the start of the instance.

This would undoubtedly put all players on high alert.

The difficulty for the deceased to conceal their identity was evident.

As the deceased, Qin Fei not only received no extra system notifications, but he even had to find the completion conditions on his own.

Moreover...

Qin Fei's eyes were fixated on the corpse in the snow.

He grasped the corpse's hand, attempting to store it within his personal space.

His personal space seemed disconnected, showing no sign of response.

He tried the black crystal ring once more.

Unfortunately, it still didn't work.

A line of text materialized in front of Qin Fei's eyes.

"This item is a crucial clue within the current instance. It cannot be stored in any storage-type items."

Qin Fei: "What the hell."

The deceased needed to conceal their identity.

But with such a huge corpse lying here, who wouldn't know that he was dead?

Why did he always draw some inexplicable and extremely challenging hidden identity cards every time he entered an instance?

Qin Fei highly suspected that the system was deliberately targeting him.

The snow-covered mountain remained spacious and quiet, devoid of any sound.

Looking down the snowy slope, those two dark dots were barely moving, but they hadn't shifted their position.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Qin Fei began to search the corpse thoroughly.

Aside from a mechanical watch with a compass function, he found nothing else useful.

He put the watch on his wrist and pulled down his sleeve to conceal it.

"Is anyone there?"

"Excuse me, is there anyone—"

Muffled cries came from above, and Qin Fei lifted his head, though he couldn't see the callers.

The slope was curved, blocking their view.

Those approaching were likely players. Once they climbed over the hill, they would easily spot Qin Fei's secret by just lowering their heads.

Qin Fei's forehead creased in concern.

With each passing second, the peril escalated.

This tense situation roused excitement among the spectators in the live stream comments.

"Oh, oh, oh! Hubby's starting with another devilish beginning this time!"

"Has anyone read the Snow Mountain arc before? Can you tell us about the previous deaths?"

A spirit raised its hand, "The Snow Mountain dungeon doesn't open frequently. I've witnessed it twice, and both times, the players who obtained the Deceased Card seemed to be exposed very quickly."

The opening sequence of the Snow Mountain dungeon appeared lengthy, but in reality, the time available for players to act was incredibly brief.

While still dazed as they opened their eyes, players would hear the system announcement.

The announcement was lengthy, and those with quick reflexes would already be on their way to confront others while listening to it.

With no time to deal with the corpse, the two players could only bury it under the snow on the spot.

Most of the body was already concealed by the snowdrift, leaving only the surface layer exposed to the air. Burying it was a simple matter of kicking some more snow over it.

But.

The snow on the mountain was deep, and the wind was fierce. The fresh snow covering the corpse's surface was loose and easily scattered by the wind.

"A player who summits the slope and looks down will surely notice something beneath."

"And they would naturally connect that to the system announcement about the deceased player," someone watching from the side commented in curiosity.

The spirit entity nodded.

"Yes, that's why I suspect this might be a trap deliberately designed by the dungeon," it replied.

"No matter how well the players disguise their actions, if they think of using snow to bury the corpse, they won't succeed."

Sss.

A collective gasp echoed around.

Xiao Qin had already tried exploiting a bug to store the corpse in his personal space, but it hadn't worked.

So, what other options were there besides burial in snow?

"There are indeed other methods, but strangely, in the previous two live streams, the players' immediate reaction was to cover the bodies with snow. I suspect that the system might be manipulating their choices somehow."

The spirits pondered this thoughtfully.

"Watch, there's a high chance that Xiao Qin will also opt for snow burial."

The spirits watched the screen with great interest.

The sound was drawing closer and closer.

Judging by the distance, those approaching players would be atop the hill within another dozen seconds.

Qin Fei stood beside the corpse, his expression shrouded in an enigmatic gloom.

Then, he lifted his foot.

"Ai!"

A collective groan of regret and slapped thighs echoed through the live-streaming hall.

"It's over, it's over. The streamer must have planned to bury the body."

"He's sunk this time."

"After rising to Level A in just three months, only to stumble at the first hurdle as an A-ranker. Such is fate."

It couldn't be said that there was anything wrong with Xiao Qin's strength; he had simply been incredibly unlucky in this situation.

Being discovered as an enemy in such a dungeon would inevitably lead to dire consequences.

The clearance conditions for the Dead Side have yet to be revealed.

None of the previous Dead had lived long enough to witness the emergence of these conditions.

No one knew the exact relationship between the Living and the Dead.

"Actually, I think..."

A viewer scratched his head.

"The Living and the Dead have their own separate clearance conditions. They might not be entirely hostile to each other."

What if the Dead's and the Living's conditions didn't conflict with each other?

Perhaps everyone could survive.

"You may think that, but the other players on the Living Side certainly won't share your sentiment," someone pointed out coldly.

Players on the side of the living only had one thought: to eliminate any hidden dangers as soon as possible.

"I saw in the two previous Snow Mountain instances, one deceased was directly killed by the living, while the other, who was more combat-capable, managed to escape. But he wandered alone in the snow without any equipment and quickly got lost and froze to death."

It was incredibly challenging for solitary individuals to survive in this instance.

"What a promising player that was, and now—Damn it!!"

Accompanied by a string of consecutive "Damn it!" exclamations.

The youth in the light screen indeed raised his leg and kicked fiercely!

But he wasn't kicking snow onto the corpse again.

Instead, with a flying kick, he sent the corpse, which had an identical appearance to him, tumbling off the cliff beside them!

Accompanied by a resounding crash, chunks of snow fell from the edge of the cliff.

It was safe to assume that the corpse at the bottom of the cliff must have been reduced to dust.

At such a great height, his face would probably be smashed beyond recognition.

Even if he were found later, it'd be difficult to identify him.

What a ruthless person!

The spirits' gazes towards Qin Fei shifted significantly.

Actually, destroying the evidence by kicking the corpse off the cliff was quite a conventional approach.

The problem was that the corpse belonged to a player.

Under the strong psychological contamination induced by the dungeon, ordinary players would experience an intensely empathetic response when they looked at the corpse.

This sensation made them vulnerable, erasing their willingness to use brutal methods - like Qin Fei's kick or defacing the corpse with a knife.

To put it bluntly, the spirit was correct in its assumption. This stage of the dungeon was designed to manipulate deceased players.

Only those with extremely strong willpower could overcome the traps set by the system beforehand.

But Qin Fei was by no means an ordinary person.

Qin Fei stood at the edge of the cliff, gazing downward.

An endless abyss seemed capable of devouring everything in its path.

The sheer, steep cliffs on either side were composed of cold, dark-gray rock that felt even more frigid than snow.

It was bottomless.

Perfect.

Satisfaction finally flickered in Qin Fei's eyes.

He nonchalantly kicked at the snow, swiftly obliterating any traces left behind.

Down below on the slope, those who had heard the sound above were stirring into action.

And up on the hill, a figure finally emerged from concealment.

There were four players who had come over from the other side of the mountain, each maintaining a certain distance from one another, seemingly on guard against each other due to their ignorance about the unknown deceased.

Among the four, the leader was a young man with black shoulder-length hair.

His wispy bangs hung down, partially obscuring his eyes, and he had a tall, slender build. His earrings shimmered in the reflection of the snow.

Upon seeing him, Qin Fei's eyes narrowed.

Indeed.

What a coincidence.

As Qin Fei looked at him, the black-haired young man also lifted his gaze.

The moment he recognized Qin Fei, his initially indifferent expression was instantly replaced with an extremely astonished one.

In the next instant, his legs seemed to have a mind of their own, propelling his body stumblingly towards Qin Fei!