Chapter 120: Lost in the Snow Mountain 23

Chapter 120: Lost in the Snow Mountain 23

Wen Ren Dawn was shocked!

The blood that Qin Fei dripped into the water drove the nearby swarm of moths crazy. For a moment, the ice layer beneath the players' feet almost turned ashy black.

The compound-eyed winged moths crowded under the water, swarming like they were fighting for a heavenly nectar. They only dispersed after the last bit of crimson was devoured.

Wen Ren Dawn hastily blocked the ice hole.

As Wu Meng walked back, he saw all the players staring intently at the ice surface.

"What happened?!" Wu Meng looked bewildered.

Only then did Wen Ren Dawn come to his senses and glared accusingly at Qin Fei. "…You scared me to death!"

Could you not give a warning before doing something like that next time?

Cen San Ya looked frail enough to be blown over by the wind, but his ability to withstand pressure was stronger than the burly men of the Dawn Squad. This incident didn't disturb him at all.

His tightly closed eyes half-opened, revealing golden pupils that seemed to be deep in thought:

"When that drop of blood fell, the gray moth swarm only cared about fighting over it, no longer attacking the ice layer."

"Furthermore," Mi Yang said, "the gray moths near that ice hole were also swimming towards this side."

The attraction of fresh blood to the moth swarms was fatal, and Qin Fei's impromptu experiment clearly demonstrated this point.

Wen Ren Dawn told Wu Meng what had just happened, and Wu Meng finally realized:

"So you're thinking of using blood to lure away the gray moths?"

It sounded like a good plan. If a living person entered the water, they would instantly be gnawed down to bones by the gray moths. But if there was fresher blood on the other side of the lake as bait, the players exploring the center of the lake might really get enough breathing space.

But the problem was,

"How much blood do we need?"

Ding Li seemed to be using his innate skill again. He was crouched on the ice, his finger pressed against the bridge of his glasses, his face almost touching the ice layer.

He stared at the ice for a long time. "If we prepare everything in advance, to let someone safely dive two meters under the lake to investigate and return safely, we would need at least…"

"Two minutes. Converted into human flesh, that's one arm of an adult male."

After the gray moths under the water finished sucking up that drop of blood, they scattered again. To keep attracting them, there must be enough bait.

Just fresh blood wouldn't work. Blood would dissolve in the water, and once diluted, its attractiveness would weaken. A more substantial lure was needed.

One player going underwater required one arm; more people going underwater meant more arms.

If it was true that the Guiding Land was hidden under the ice lake, to pass through, the players would have to all dive into the lake.

But where could they find so much bait?

In the back of the crowd, Guliang's face was ashen, sweat seeping from his forehead, but no one noticed him.

Wen Ren Dawn suggested, "Why don't we try using the Yeti's body?"

The Yetis were humans before they mutated; perhaps the moths in the water would be interested.

Qin Fei thought this was wishful thinking.

The Yetis were indeed humans before their transformation, but based on the players' multiple encounters with the Yetis, once they became Yetis, they had little connection to the species of "humans."

The Yetis' skin was hard and shriveled. Even when cut by sharp blades, what flowed out wasn't blood, but a foul-smelling, blackish-red viscous substance.

Even Wen Ren Dawn felt that the chances were slim, but, "Let's give it a try. It doesn't cost anything to try."

After all, Yetis were everywhere on the mountain.

With the zombie on the right overseeing things, the players wouldn't even have to lift a finger to get a Yeti.

Qin Fei called over the zombie on the right and instructed him a few words. The zombie nodded blankly and hopped off towards the canyon.

Before long, the zombie on the right returned with a Yeti. It hopped in front while the Yeti followed behind, hopping as well. The scene looked bizarre and comical.

The zombie on the right led the Yeti all the way to the edge of the ice lake, stopped, and without any warning, turned around and gave the Yeti a claw.

It directly tore the Yeti's head off its body, which rolled to the side.

Qin Fei: "…"

How brutal, Comrade Zombie King!!

The zombie on the right retreated after accomplishing its task, squatting honestly by the edge of the ice lake.

Wu Meng cut off a section of the Yeti's finger and opened the ice hole for the third time.

"Plop—"

The Yeti's finger fell into the water, landing among the gray moths swimming towards the ice hole. The swarm paused for a brief moment, then continued swimming towards the ice hole opening without any hesitation, allowing the Yeti's finger to sink to the bottom of the lake.

Wu Meng's face darkened.

The dream was shattered. The truth proved that the Yetis were utterly useless.

To successfully dive underwater, fresh flesh and blood were necessary.

"What should we do?" Ah Hui was in a terrible headache, but she caught a glimpse of someone trembling like a sieve beside her. Ah Hui was taken aback and turned to look.

It was Guliang.

When Guliang saw Ah Hui looking at him, his expression of terror intensified, and he couldn't help but take half a step back.

The actions of the two attracted more players to look over. Surrounded by the gazes of others, cold sweat slid down Guliang's head like rain.

He panted rapidly in short breaths, his eyes unfocused as they wandered among the other players.

He seemed to want to run, but after thinking of something, his expression struggled for a moment before settling into dejection. Finally, he plopped down on the ice.

"What are you doing?" Wu Meng asked in surprise.

Guliang looked at Wu Meng, stunned for a moment, then a miserable smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You... use me."

With those words spoken, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Closing his eyes, he continued, "Use me, use me as bait. Although I'm missing half an arm, if your movements are quick enough, you can still safely reach the bottom of the lake."

"You're..." Ren Ren Liming furrowed his brow.

He had wanted to say, "What nonsense are you talking about," but halfway through, he stopped, his face turning ashen.

There was an uproar in the various live streaming rooms.

"Goodness, is Guliang a saint? It's the first time I've seen someone willingly offer themselves up."

"What kind of saint, he clearly thinks that there's no way he can escape this time. By volunteering, he can avoid further suffering."

"It's quite tragic... Is there anyone who can explain how other players have gotten past this point before?"

"There are no other players, where would they come from? This is the first time in the Snow Mountain scenario that players have taken the dead faction line."

"If we follow the logic of the other checkpoints, sacrificing one person in the ice lake to ensure the survival of the rest might indeed be the correct strategy."

The audience chattered amongst themselves, their eyes gleaming with interest.

This was truly fascinating!

In the live stream footage, Guliang spoke mournfully. "Stop struggling, it's already clear. If everyone is to safely dive to the center of the lake—"

He must die.

The choice could only be him; it couldn't be anyone else.

No matter how one analyzed it, sacrificing Guliang was the decision with the least risk and the greatest benefit.

The other players were either powerful themselves or had teammates. At the very least, they were physically whole and had some ability to retaliate when targeted.

But Guliang had nothing.

If the players had ignored him due to his injury, beating and scolding him at every turn, it might have stirred up his rebellious spirit.

But the players had never done that.

Whether in the Jungle Temple or in the canyon, the other players had been very considerate of him.

They were strangers temporarily grouped together by the scenario, yet they treated him as if he were a regular teammate.

They had already gone above and beyond what was required.

"Come on." Guliang lifted his face.

His smooth neck was exposed to the cold air, the bone-chilling cold causing goosebumps to rise on his skin. Guliang clenched his jaw, feeling a tingling pain in his cheeks:

"I know you're reluctant, but it's alright."

So be it.

There was no other solution to the problem. They had spent three days getting here and couldn't be stuck at the final step.

Guliang took a deep breath, not daring to open his eyes.

He knew the others would hesitate, but he also knew they had to act.

His heart constricted, his fingertips went numb, and his blood seemed to flow backward in his body.

Gradually, he could hear no other sounds except for his own pounding heartbeat, growing louder and louder.

Until a soft scoff broke the silence.

In reality, only a few seconds had passed since Guliang finished speaking, but to him, it felt like an eternity.

He lifted his eyelids in surprise.

Standing on the ice in front of him was a young man quietly observing him, his shoulder-length black hair tousled by the wind.

A warm and gentle smile always graced his face, like a beam of light piercing through all the dark and oppressive deathly atmosphere:

"Who said we only have the option of sacrificing a player?"

It was too pessimistic to assume the worst.

In fact, they were far from being in such dire straits.

Guliang was taken aback. "But..."

But Ding Li had said that the price of sending one person underwater was the loss of an arm.

The snow monster was useless, so where did they have any other options?

Qin Fei blinked gently.

He whispered a few words to the zombie on his right, who then jumped back into the chasm upon receiving his orders.

Cen San Ya looked at Qin Fei thoughtfully, while the remaining players either whispered amongst themselves or wore blank expressions.

Everyone was trapped by the ice lake until the zombie on the right returned.

Qin Fei didn't bother explaining anything to the others, and surprisingly, they didn't show any signs of unease or disturbance; they waited quietly in their spots.

A row of question marks scrolled across the live stream's chat.

"What did Little Qin tell the little zombie to do again?"

"I already know, but you don't, hehehe."

"It's obvious you haven't been paying attention to the previous broadcasts. Did you just join in the middle or were you daydreaming earlier?"

"??? How come all of you know and I don't?!"

The scene within the light screen seemed to have frozen in time, with the players sitting in the snow.

The members of Dawn Squad even set up their tents and opened the last few cans, taking the opportunity to rest and conserve energy.

In the live broadcast hall, the audience's discussions began to branch out in various directions.

"Speaking of which, why is Jack the Ripper being so obedient? The instance is almost over, and he hasn't made a move yet."

"What move could he make? Didn't you see him put his axe away?"

This indicated that he intended to complete the instance peacefully.

Jack the Ripper had achieved remarkable results in the mercenary field. Before entering the snowy mountain instance, he had completed fifteen consecutive missions in one go.

On the mercenary ranking list registered among players, Jack ranked first, while the second place had only completed three consecutive missions.

"I feel like someone else has taken over his body."

"I've never seen him act this obediently before."

Jack the Ripper was currently eating canned food with the members of Dawn Squad. He knew that he would need to conserve his strength for the underwater infiltration later, which would be an extremely energy-consuming activity.

He hadn't turned on the chat, so he didn't see the speculations about him.

If he had seen them, he might have been so angry that he'd spit out a mouthful of blood.

Jack had never imagined that he would end up in such a situation in this instance.

What obedience, what propriety.

He had simply been controlled by Little Qin from start to finish.

On the first day, he needed Qin Fei's help to escape the pursuit in the dense forest, so naturally, he couldn't make a move.

After the players found the correct map and spent a night in Snow Village, the members of Dawn Squad inexplicably started looking up to Little Qin as their leader.

Jack the Ripper's combat power was indeed high, and he could easily take on the strongest members of Dawn Squad, Wu Meng or Zou Hu, in a one-on-one fight. However, no matter how strong he was, he was still just one person.

Throughout the snowy mountain instance, everyone cooperated to clear it, and Jack couldn't find an opportunity to attack Qin Fei alone.

And if he were to make a move in front of everyone, the others would never let him off.

Not to mention, after entering the chasm today, he was directly forced to join the camp of the dead, led by Qin Fei.

When Jack thought about how he had been stalking Little Qin like a rat in a gutter these past few days, yet never found the right moment to strike, he felt his molars grinding in frustration.

The instance was almost over, and once they returned to Central City, he would have even less chance to make a move.

To complete his mission, there might only be one more opportunity left.

Jack glanced at the lake with a hidden gaze.

A layer of gray moths floated on the surface of the black lake.

What mysterious icy lake deep in the snowy mountains.

This place was clearly more like a path of death leading straight to hell.

If they were underwater...

Jack secretly weighed his chances of winning.

The snowy mountain chasm was long, and it took the players several hours to travel from one end to the other.

Even if the zombie on the right wasn't obstructed by the snow monsters, the time required to walk from the ice lake to the other end of the chasm and back was still considerable.

The sky above grew darker, and just before nightfall, the eagerly waiting crowd finally saw the familiar figure, bouncing up and down, appear at the exit of the chasm.

Mi Yang squinted at the zombie on the right.

The dim light outlined the shape of the object on his back, which was unmistakably...

Mi Yang's eyes lit up.

The viewers in the live stream had a clearer view, as the system specifically provided a close-up shot of the zombie on the right.

Then, the sound of the audience erupting in the live broadcast hall was almost enough to lift the roof!

"Holy sh*t, isn't that Little Qin???"

Many viewers had already guessed, and now, seeing the reactions of those who were just realizing, a sense of superiority surged within them:

"Hehehe, what kind of brains do you have? I guessed it long ago!"

The Yeti was useless, yet Qin Fei ordered the zombie on the right to return to the canyon once again.

What else was there in the canyon?

There was only one thing.

It was what the players had seen when they first descended into the canyon.

Qin Fei's corpse.

Frozen solid for three days in the icy snow, it was now as hard as a rock.

The zombie on the right stretched out its claws, struggling to grip the shoulders of the corpse that was Qin Fei, lifting him up and walking towards the edge of the ice lake.

Seeing this, the players hurried over to help.

The corpse was quickly unloaded from behind the zombie and laid on the snowy ground.

Looking at the face identical to Qin Fei's, everyone couldn't help but reveal strange expressions.

Qin Fei took out a dagger from his personal space and slashed a cut on the corpse's hand.

The skin was somewhat tough, and he had to exert considerable force to make the cut.

The wound, exposed to the cold air outside, suddenly tightened, making the incision look particularly ghastly.

Under temperatures below minus ten degrees Celsius, the blood within the corpse's veins had long been frozen into ice chips, not a single drop flowing out with the slash.

But judging from the pattern of the wound, this was undoubtedly a human corpse.

Not a monster like the Yeti.

The duplication of the scenario was impeccable.

"Can it be thawed?" Qin Fei tilted his head, staring at "himself" for a moment before uttering these words.

Mi Yang drew a sharp breath.

Do you even listen to what you're saying?!

The corpse on the snow was too similar to Qin Fei, and Mi Yang felt his head ache just by looking at it.

He couldn't fathom how Qin Fei could look at that face, identical to his own, and say such a thing.

His mental fortitude was truly formidable, something Mother Sheep could never match!

Mi Yang raised his hand, pressing against his throbbing temples. "Impossible, we can't do it."

There might not be any players skilled in fire control in the scenario, but the mountaineering club's backpack did contain a portable stove, and the players' bags also had some fire starters, spirit candles, or flint-like items.

But that tiny flame would never be enough to thaw an entire person.

Qin Fei was slightly disappointed. "Alright then."

He stood up and explained:

"Based on the hints obtained earlier in the Jungle Temple, the most attractive thing to the Compound Eye Moth should be blood. But when Guliang was injured, the moths were not only sucking his blood but also gnawing on his flesh."

"This indicates that human flesh is also attractive to the Compound Eye Moth."

Therefore, if the players went directly into the water, they would definitely be devoured clean.

"Under such conditions, if we throw the corpse directly into the water as bait, the stakes might not be enough."

The corpse could attract the moths to come and gnaw on it, and the players entering the water could do the same.

They couldn't possibly wait until the gray moths had eaten half of the corpse before entering the water; that would leave them with far too little time.

If this corpse were fresh, it would indeed be much easier to handle because as soon as the first batch of gray moths bit through the skin, the blood would flow out with the water, attracting all the monsters in the lake.

But unfortunately, the blood vessels in the corpse were frozen.

"I was thinking, why don't we just..."

Qin Fei's gaze swept up and down his own corpse, as if he were looking at something completely unrelated to himself.

He took Wu Meng's long sword from his hands and made a few gestures in the air.

"Limb dismemberment."

The youth casually uttered a sentence that made everyone's hearts skip a beat.

"Who among you will do it?" Qin Fei raised the sword, his gaze sweeping around, focusing particularly on the group from the Dawn Squad.

There was no way he was going to do it himself.

He had already contributed his own corpse; there was no reason for him to provide labor as well.

In fact, Qin Fei wasn't skinny. The youth was tall and leggy, with a melancholic proportion, evenly distributed muscles, and not a single muscle line missing under his loose clothing.

But regardless, he was certainly not muscular.

Compared to the Dawn Squad, who averaged 1.95 meters tall and had bodies as sturdy as mountains, he was like a slender little lamb with thin arms and legs.

He wasn't suited to be a butcher; he should stand elegantly and cleanly on the side.

This bloody and violent task naturally had to be left to others.

"This-this-this-this…" Wen Ren Liming was so shocked that he started stuttering.

It didn't seem like a big deal, after all, the one lying in the snow wasn't the real Xiao Qin.

However, doing such a thing in front of the person concerned was indeed quite stressful psychologically.

He felt like it was a bit of a conscience killer!

If Wen Ren Liming were alone by the lake, for the sake of survival, he wouldn't hesitate for a second before rushing over to start dismembering the body.

But now, there were other people around him.

They could do the job instead.

Captain Wen Ren shamefully backed off.

"Wu Meng?" Wen Ren Liming tentatively spoke up.

Wu Meng shook his head vigorously, as if he were a rattle drum.

Whoever wanted to do it could go ahead; he certainly didn't want to!

Perhaps the instance had added a special Buff to the corpse to create an effect.

In any case, the corpse looked incredibly lifelike, just like the real Qin Fei.

If they were to dismember it, they would likely have nightmares for at least three days after leaving the instance.

No, no, no! Wu Meng wished he could cover his ears and run away.

Wu Meng didn't dare to do it, and Ying Huo didn't want to either.

The members of the Dawn Squad were like kicking a ball around, pushing each other back and forth, none of them willing to step forward.

Finally, they all turned their heads in unison to look at Mi Yang.

Mi Yang: "???"

"What are you looking at me for? If you won't do it, I definitely won't!" Mi Yang glared back at each one of them.

Are you alright? Are you alright? If you're alright, eat some sour plums. Do you think you're the only ones with eyes to see?

The ice lake fell into an inexplicable stalemate.

The few suitable candidates chose to strike, let alone Ding Li and the others, who clearly didn't seem like the type to handle this task.

Qin Fei stood with his hands hanging by his side, adopting an indifferent attitude, as if he had nothing to do with it.

Mi Yang stared at the players in front of him, his eyes rolling around.

Finally, his gaze settled on someone at the edge of the group.

"Hey."

Mi Yang spoke up, initiating conversation with the annoying guy who hadn't said more than a few words combined during the three days since entering the instance.

"Jack the Ripper." Since the instance was about to end and the rules had already been cracked, Mi Yang didn't bother being polite and called him by name directly.

The black-haired man stood by the lakeside with his hands in his pockets. His dark eyes shone with sharpness, and a faint smile hung on the corner of his mouth, seeming both disdainful and annoyed. The black diamond earring sparkled brilliantly under the reflection of the snow: "Why don't you do it then."

Mi Yang was never someone with a good temper, and he had been annoyed with Jack the Ripper for a long time.

His tone at this moment didn't sound like he was asking someone to do something, nor did it even resemble a command.

It was more like charity.

"After all, everyone knows you want to kill him."

Mi Yang's words dripped with sarcasm: "Now is your chance, fulfill your dream."

Don't be ungrateful!

Jack the Ripper: "...?"

???

You bastards, don't think I can't tell, all of you are bullying me!!