Chapter 117: Lost in the Snow Mountain 20

Chapter 117: Lost in the Snow Mountain 20

What is this?

Guliang didn't think much about it; he was simply curious. The canyon road was very flat, and under the thick snow that had accumulated over the years, there wasn't even a pebble to be seen on the pure white surface.

What was that large protrusion sticking out of the ground?

The players from the Dawn Squad had landed one after another, while others were still slowly descending. Unconsciously, Guliang found himself next to the protrusion.

It's probably just a rock, Guliang thought.

Would there be any clues on such a large stone? Rules, or perhaps a map of some sort?

Guliang reached out to brush away the snowflakes on the surface of the rock.

Then,

After losing his right arm, Guliang, who already had an imbalance in his limbs, sat down on the ground in the next second, his eyes suddenly widening!

He instinctively retreated with both hands and feet, stopping after moving back a few inches.

He gritted his teeth and panted.

Crawling back to the object, he meticulously wiped away the snow on top of it.

The outline hidden under the snow became clearer and clearer, revealing eyebrows, nose, lips...

It was shockingly the face of a person!!

The person lay silently in the snow, apparently dead for quite some time, with their eyes tightly closed and long eyelashes resting on an abnormally pale face.

Guliang recognized this face well.

Guliang knew that if his eyes were open, his pupils would be a clear, light amber color. When he smiled, it was gentle and without any aggression, but at certain special moments, he could seem unfathomably deep.

It was Xiao Qin.

Guliang felt all the blood in his body rush to his head.

How did Xiao Qin end up lying here?

He looked up at the cliff and clearly saw the identical figure still descending, already very close to the bottom of the canyon and about to land!

Guliang's remaining hand seemed to lose control, frantically wiping away the residual snow on the corpse.

However, the more he wiped, the more alarmed he became.

Appearance, physique, clothing.

No matter which aspect you looked at, the body in the snow was exactly the same as Qin Fei on the cliff.

It must be the same person!!

Guliang summoned his courage and reached out to poke the corpse's face.

It wasn't a wax figure, nor was it made of wood, stone, or any other random thing.

This was indeed a dead person.

A corpse.

Since Xiao Qin was lying here, then who was the one who had been with them for the past three days?

Guliang collapsed beside the body, his mind a jumbled mess.

Who was the real Xiao Qin?

Was the living one a ghost? Or an NPC?

"Guliang?"

Ding Li's voice came from behind.

All the players had descended to the bottom of the canyon, but when they counted heads, they found Guliang staring off into the distance by himself.

Guliang faced away from them, so the others couldn't see his expression, and he happened to be blocking the view of the corpse's head.

"What's Guliang doing?" Ah Hui wondered as she walked over.

She soon arrived behind Guliang and tapped his shoulder. "Hey?"

Guliang was still dazed and didn't respond.

Ah Hui looked down, following Guliang's line of sight.

She immediately exclaimed a heartfelt "Holy sh*t," taking three big steps backward!

The players in front of the cliff were startled.

What was going on?

Everyone hurried over, making the narrow valley crowded with over a dozen people.

Only Qin Fei remained where he was, his clear eyes slightly narrowed as he looked far away at the unknown object covered in ice and snow beside Guliang, his expression inscrutable.

As the players rushed to Guliang's side, they erupted in a burst of intense exclamations.

After the clamor died down, everyone turned to look at Qin Fei in unison.

In the narrow valley, everyone gradually split into two groups. On one side was Qin Fei. On the other were the remaining players. And Qin Fei's corpse. Everyone wore different expressions. Dawn Squad stood at the edge, looking relatively calm. Cen San Ya and Jack the Ripper hung their heads in silence, their thoughts unknown. Ding Li and the others exchanged glances, at a loss and terrified. But the one with the strongest reaction was Mi Yang. He looked at Qin Fei, then at the corpse, his eyes nearly popping out onto the snow. The live-streaming halls were in chaos. "F*ck!! It's a train wreck! Little Qin has crashed!" "This is it, he can't hide his identity now for sure!" "Social death right here, oh my god." "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, I really want to see how Little Qin will explain this." In the live-stream, Mi Yang spoke in a hoarse voice, "What... what is going on?" Qin Fei was very candid. "It's exactly as you see." He was dead, thoroughly dead, his body buried in the snow and frozen stiff. That was all there was to it. As for why his corpse would appear here, Qin Fei didn't think too much about it. Perhaps when he kicked the body off the cliff, the system had already calculated that it would be waiting for him here. Mi Yang felt dizzy and didn't know what to say. Ding Li couldn't help but interject, asking uncertainly, "So, so who is the real Little Qin, you or—" He glanced at the corpse's bloodless face on the ground. Qin Fei: "Me." "I'm a player, I got the identity card of the deceased. This thing on the ground is useless, just an empty shell created by the system." Since he had been discovered, Qin Fei no longer hid anything and told the whole story. He didn't know what the other players were thinking, but Mi Yang was heartbroken. "So you've been lying to me for the past three days??!" Mama Sheep's heart shattered. The teammate he had cared for without reservation turned out to be a big liar, playing him like a fiddle. But that wasn't the most important thing. More importantly, Mi Yang was already very clear. Under the passive effect of his innate skill, he could not make any harmful moves against Qin Fei. This was also one of the main reasons he decided to ally with Qin Fei at the start of the instance. Because he had no choice. But now, the truth told him that he and Little Qin had been on opposite sides from the beginning! Mi Yang felt that his head was about to be in danger. Beside Mi Yang, Ying Huo's expression wasn't much better, pointing at Qin Fei, "You, you, you—" So it was premeditated?! Ying Huo had always thought that Little Qin came up with the idea that they were being tricked by the instance after brainstorming together under the bed in Snow Village. He never expected that the instance hadn't tricked him at all. The one who tricked him was his good brother, Little Qin!! Ying Huo was hit hard. "So, what do we do now..." Guliang, who had been sitting silently on the snow for a long time, finally spoke. Guliang's mood was extremely complicated. Yesterday, he observed the entire day, analyzing back and forth in his mind, and concluded that Little Qin was the deceased. But what happened last night undoubtedly dealt him a crushing blow. Guliang was greatly affected and also felt guilty. Last night, he dug up that tile with the intention of going against Little Qin, but after he was injured, Little Qin gave him healing medicine and a blood replenishing agent.

Reflecting on the past few days, they would have perished in the snow mountain if not for Xiao Qin's presence.

Guliang felt like a clown, foolish and ridiculous, ungrateful.

But after he spent an entire night self-condemning, things took a different turn.

He had actually been right all along.

Guliang couldn't articulate his thoughts at this moment.

Was there joy in exposing the enemy?

No, it was gone.

Although he hadn't guessed wrong, what he did last night was undeniably the height of stupidity.

Moreover, he suffered severe injuries, lost an arm, and whether he could leave the instance alive became uncertain.

Hostility, murderous intent. The emotions that should have filled Guliang's heart were nowhere to be found.

Apart from a faint panic about the unknown future, Guliang's mind was blank.

He lifted his head, staring straight at Qin Fei.

In truth, Guliang didn't intend to do anything; he looked at Qin Fei simply because he didn't know where else to place his eyes.

But perhaps due to the multitude of events that had transpired, most of which involved Guliang, everyone assumed that Guliang was glaring at Qin Fei.

Wenren Liming furrowed his brows, exchanging a glance with Ying Huo.

They had already submitted to the camp of the dead, and now they couldn't help but start worrying.

What if, under the intertwining of anger and resentment, Guliang did something to Xiao Qin.

Wenren moved subtly, taking a step closer to Qin Fei.

Ying Huo followed suit, shifting slightly as well.

Wu Meng also moved.

Slowly, the entire Dawn Squad ended up gathering around Qin Fei.

NPC Kong Siming stood rooted to the spot, dazed.

His mind was in chaos.

The ghost story Qin Fei told him at the beginning of the live stream planted seeds of doubt in his heart, which slowly took root over three days.

Kong Siming felt that the dead weren't necessarily dead, and the living weren't necessarily alive.

After pondering and failing to make sense of it, he finally decided to stand by Qin Fei.

Regardless, he was going to take a gamble.

After all, among so many people, he only found Qin Fei likable.

Others didn't need further explanation; they could see what was happening with their own eyes.

Mi Yang's pupils trembled!!

Goodness, her precious son wasn't just a liar, but an outstanding one at that, unknowingly turning so many people!

The most infuriating part was—

"Were they aware of this all along? You told them but not me?!"

Mi Yang felt like her child was turning against her.

Qin Fei seemed somewhat innocent; it wasn't intentional.

Primarily, when they stayed overnight in Snow Village two days ago, everything fell into place naturally, and he inadvertently turned the entire Dawn Squad.

"I was afraid of complications," Qin Fei began to placate Mother Sheep. "Once the camp changes, it can't be reversed. I wanted to wait until the situation stabilized before telling you."

Was that really the case? Mi Yang was now hesitant to believe her morally dubious son's sweet words.

The players in the chat were delighted.

"Oh oh oh oh, I'm touched, deeply moved by the mother-son bond!!"

"Yang's inner monologue: My son is growing up, beyond my control."

"Nonsense, our Mother Sheep and her precious baby clearly have a loving mother-son relationship!"

"So." Mi Yang was now confused, "Then what? What's your task in the camp of the dead?"

Although asking directly about the other side's camp mission seemed odd,

Still, the tasks of the living camp were known to the dead.

For fairness, telling them wouldn't be a loss, Mi Yang started to act petulantly.

Qin Fei: "The task of the dead is to find a secret realm."

There was nothing he couldn't say about that.

"Oh." Mi Yang nodded, "And then—?"

Qin Fei spoke with a smile, "I already have a rough idea of where the secret realm is."

Actually, Qin Fei hadn't counted, but he felt that since he had picked up the stone slab that resembled a map, it would eventually prove useful.

Once all five side maps were completed, everything would fall into place naturally.

Mi Yang winced at this; their Living faction's mission was still in disarray, while the Dead faction claimed they were on the verge of victory.

"Speaking of which, we don't know what the clear condition for this instance is," Qin Fei said casually, as if making idle conversation.

In the Rule World, when opposing factions appeared, there were two ways to clear an instance.

They could coexist without interfering with each other, or it could be a zero-sum game where one faction's survival meant the other's demise.

If it was the former, players from different factions could leave the instance as long as they completed their respective faction missions.

However, if it was the latter,

Once one side cleared the instance first, the other would be trapped within forever.

His words ignited invisible sparks in the otherwise calm air.

Mi Yang was startled and laughed nervously to defuse the tension. "Most instances are designed so that both factions can clear them together."

This was true; in the Rule World, there weren't many live-stream worlds that sold themselves on the bloody spectacle of players slaughtering each other. If such a world existed, it would usually make clear at the start of the instance.

Qin Fei shook his head. "That's not necessarily the case."

Mi Yang was taken aback.

"What do you plan to do?" Ah Hui asked, her brows slightly furrowed. There was no hostility in her expression, only a hint of curiosity. "Are our teams going to part ways now? Or—"

At the beginning of the instance, the system had announced that there was only one dead player.

The Dawn Squad joined the Dead faction later.

Since they could join, then...

Qin Fei enjoyed talking to smart people. "Is anyone interested in cooperation?"

"Join the Dead faction, and we can all benefit from working together." Qin Fei spoke slowly and deliberately, like a seasoned salesman pitching his product.

"As long as you're willing to join the Dead faction, I have a way to help you change your identities."

More allies were always better. Ying Hu couldn't afford to sulk with Qin Fei and earnestly advised:

"The progress of the Living faction's mission isn't as fast as the Dead faction's. Join us, and you won't need to investigate Zhou Li anymore."

"Xiao Qin has already found a lead on the hidden map. It won't be long before the live-stream ends."

At this point, Wen Ren Liming sighed and glanced at Qin Fei, speaking after receiving his permission:

"There's something you might not be aware of. The lead on Zhou Li's line has been cut off. You won't be able to uncover the truth."

This revelation was even more shocking than Qin Fei admitting he was truly dead.

There had been hints about Qin Fei's identity being problematic over the past three days.

But what about Zhou Li?

Mi Yang stared at Qin Fei in disbelief. "Did you do that too?"

How many bad things have you done behind my back??

Qin Fei smiled but didn't answer.

Wu Meng looked from one person to another, unsure what to say. He took out two gleaming long knives and began polishing them.

Ding Li sighed deeply.

What kind of cooperation was this?

It was clearly coercion and temptation.

But what other choice did they have besides accepting it?

Although it was a little humiliating, everyone had to admit that they had only one path left.

Mi Yang felt wronged for three seconds before walking resolutely to Qin Fei's side. "I'm willing to join you."

The moment he spoke, the progress bar above Mi Yang's head visibly surged.

In the blink of an eye, the system notification for changing factions sounded in his ears.

Mi Yang blinked in confusion.

Was it really that simple?

Indeed, it was that simple. If he wanted a more complicated process, Qin Fei couldn't conjure one up.

Ding Li and Ah Hui didn't hesitate for long either.

As the other party had said, they were currently at a disadvantage in terms of instance progress and combat power. They might as well be pragmatic.

Cen San Ya watched them for a while with narrowed eyes. Without even coming forward to speak to Qin Fei, he finished switching factions on his own.

Even Jack the Ripper obediently changed factions.

Mi Yang stood by Qin Fei's side, staring at Jack the Ripper from a distance and snorted softly.

"This time, he's really in trouble." He lowered his voice and whispered into Qin Fei's ear.

Jack the Ripper was no less powerful than any member of the Dawn Squad. He always acted recklessly, making him a well-known figure among mercenaries.

But this time, Qin Fei had first helped them withstand the mental corruption, and now he had figured out their faction attributes.

Without losing a single soldier, Qin Fei had completely subdued Jack, leaving him with no chance to fight back.

Qin Fei glanced at Jack.

In just ten minutes, apart from Diao Ming who was already dead, Qin Fei successfully converted all the remaining players in the instance into believers of the Snow Mountain.

In a distant alternate dimension, before the luminous screen in the live-streaming hall, the spirit audience was cheering for Qin Fei.

"Great victory! A great victory for the Dead faction!!"

"Unprecedented, my husband is truly amazing!"

"I finally understand why someone said it was an open strategy earlier. They basically rushed over themselves without needing any scheming."

"Come on, come on, streamer, hurry up. I'm dying to know where that guiding place is."

The audience watched the screen with great interest.

On the screen, the players who were the center of attention were not as relaxed as the audience.

They had completed their faction conversion and were now on the same side again.

However, they still hadn't finished the task for the fourth branch map of the instance.

Due to the uncertainty of what would happen along the canyon road, the players formed two neat lines, walking shoulder to shoulder, alertly moving forward.

Wu Meng and Wen Ren led the way at the front.

Wen Ren held a pair of binoculars in his hand. The quality of these binoculars was excellent, and they should have been able to see far into the distance, but the view in the narrow canyon was too poor. The path ahead wasn't straight, and often, even Wen Ren could only see the cliff walls ahead.

"This route is quite long," Qin Fei said while advancing and looking at the map, trying to find clues related to the pattern drawn on the stone fragment.

Unfortunately, he found nothing.

They had been walking for more than an hour and had yet to encounter any problems.

According to the map, they would need to continue walking through this canyon for at least another hour.

The fifth checkpoint was at the end of the canyon, marked only by an icon without any other details that could help identify the terrain or features.

Qin Fei put the map away into his spatial storage.

"Captain," Ying Huo, who was bringing up the rear, relayed the message from Zou Hu, "There seems to be a sound coming from behind us. We've heard it several times."

Wen Ren immediately went on high alert: "Speed up!"

The players at the back craned their necks to look back but saw nothing. The group started jogging.

Running in the thick snow was not an easy task.

The players' speed didn't increase much compared to before, but the unusual sounds on the Snow Mountain became increasingly obvious, and more than one person had heard them.

"There seems to be something passing above," Ah Hui looked up, staring intently at the cliff above.

A shadow had flashed by just now.

When the players tried to examine it carefully, they saw nothing.

What on earth was it?

It felt like there was a pair of eyes lurking in the shadows, secretly watching the players' backs. No one spoke anymore, and everyone pushed forward with all their might.

Please don't encounter danger, please don't encounter danger... Guliang prayed frantically in his heart.

After losing an arm, his balance had significantly deteriorated.

He had struggled to adapt for most of the day and could now roughly return to his original speed, but he still tripped easily during the journey, having fallen three times already.

If they encountered something attacking them...

"Not good, it's a snow monster!" Ying Huo finally saw the shadow on the cliff!

It was over!

Guliang's eyes suddenly widened.

Following Ying Huo's direction, he indeed saw a snow monster clinging to a protruding rock on the cliff that was dozens of meters high, eyeing the players below with a predatory gaze.

Wen Ren's breathing hitched.

As an experienced leader, he knew very well that when a team encountered danger in an instance, the most important thing was to remain calm:

"Everyone, don't panic. Keep moving, speed up and continue forward. The snow monster is positioned high up and will take some time to get down."

There was enough time for them to prepare.

These six words didn't have the chance to leave his mouth.

Because the snow monster had already leaped down from mid-air!

This entrance caught all the players off guard.

The snow monster landed precisely in the middle of the team. To avoid being crushed, the players had to quickly retreat to the sides.

The once orderly squad was now thoroughly disrupted.

Wu Meng's twin blades appeared instantly in his palms, the chains attached to the hilts. The cold gray blades sliced through the air and flew forward as if guided by an unseen eye, heading straight for the snow beast's skull!

The first strike missed its mark; this snow beast had a quick reaction time.

But Wu Meng wielded more than one blade.

As the snow beast was still dodging to the side, another flying blade silently swung towards its neck.

Snap.

The steaming head rolled onto the snow, the sticky entrails and blood staining the ground red.

Wu Meng's expression was grim as he leaned close to Wen Ren's ear, whispering something softly.

The battle ended swiftly, seemingly with Wu Meng having the upper hand.

However, as a player who had also faced enemies head-on in the wooden cabin, Wu Meng could clearly sense that the snow beasts in the canyon were stronger than those in the cabin.

Not just slightly.

Wen Ren said sternly, "Maintain formation, continue—"

His words were interrupted again.

At the edge of the cliff, at the end of the road behind them.

On both sides, countless snow beasts appeared simultaneously!

"Damn it!" Mi Yang cursed under his breath, "Did we just stir up the snow beasts' nest??"

How could there be so many!!

Due to poor visibility, they couldn't see exactly how many snow beasts had gathered on the other side of the road, but at least twenty had already amassed on the cliff!

These snow beasts seemed even larger than the ones they had encountered before, landing on all fours like giant spiders with only four legs, staring down at everyone from above.

"There are too many, we can't fight them." Wu Meng made a very calm assessment.

Wen Ren Li Ming closed his eyes.

If they couldn't fight, then they could only...

"Run!!"

Upon the command, the players sprinted forward recklessly!