Chapter 24 Death Quiz on Avalanche Day

Chapter 24: The Deadly Wager on Avalanche Day

The sun rose over the snowy mountains and glaciers.

At eight in the morning, fourteen people gathered in the center of the camp to draw lots.

This was already the third team selection since the game started, and everyone was familiar with the process. They took turns drawing lots in the established order and then stood on either side.

When it was Li Jianchuan's turn, he glanced at the slip in his hand and joined Ning Zhun on the South Team.

Soon after, Xie Changsheng also came over and stood behind him. This time, all three of them were on the South Team.

After the drawing, Li Jianchuan scanned the members of both the North and South Teams, feeling more confident.

Before nine o'clock, the two teams left the camp and headed for the snowy mountains.

From there, everything proceeded just as before.

They climbed the mountain, rested, and encountered an avalanche.

This time, the only person Li Jianchuan knew on the South Team was Sun Chang; Zhao Guanghui and Linda were absent. He observed the others for a while, probing for information to test his suspicions.

His actions attracted some curious looks.

But Li Jianchuan didn't care.

Other players might still doubt No. 2's claim last night about being killed, suspecting it was a trap, but he had witnessed Xie Changsheng kill the man himself. So even if he were suspected, he wasn't overly concerned.

And even if someone wanted to take action against him, they'd have to see who killed whom.

Last night's dinner discussion had proven useful.

Today, the South Team was livelier during the climb, exchanging words and probing each other, apparently no longer content with subtle, covert observations.

When the avalanche came, most were ready, quickly taking cover behind the large rocks they'd scouted.

Li Jianchuan and Ning Zhun were no exception, Xie Changsheng hiding close by. Faced with such a violent natural disaster, everyone was helpless, forced to watch as the avalanche buried them.

Everything turned cold and dark.

The familiar feeling of unconsciousness quickly overwhelmed him.

Before passing out, Li Jianchuan had already braced himself to wake up and re-enter that strange dream.

But to his surprise, this time, after regaining consciousness, he found that the dream had changed.

Before him was neither a half-open wooden door nor an underground passage, nor was there a half-burned candle for light.

The surrounding darkness was impenetrable to sight.

It felt as if he were in a strange void. Li Jianchuan tried to sense his body, confirming that he was standing on a hard floor, with nothing within reach of his hands or feet.

He could clearly hear his own breathing, with faint echoes, suggesting a small, enclosed space.

He tentatively took a couple of steps forward and suddenly noticed a faint light ahead.

After a few more steps, the light directly in front of him slowly dimmed, revealing a line of text.

The moment he saw the words, an invisible force seemed to compel him. His lips moved slightly, and he muttered hesitantly, "Are you... the Enforcer?"

The moment the words left his mouth, a chill ran down his spine, like a cold snake slithering up his back.

Why would it be this sentence?

He clenched his jaw, but the space around him echoed his words like a parrot, repeating the sentence over and over.

"Are you... the Enforcer?"

"Are you... the Enforcer?"

"Are you..."

Li Jianchuan tried to silence the echo, but before he could speak, a cold, familiar voice cut through the door and walls.

"No."

The moment the answer came, the world seemed to tilt and spin.

Icy air flooded his lungs.

Li Jianchuan opened his eyes and shivered slightly. A cold sweat broke out on his back.

The small theory he’d pieced together was shattered by the dream, leaving him completely baffled. He closed his eyes for a moment, deciding to temporarily push these thoughts aside.

He reached out, only to find Ning Zhun was no longer in his arms.

Li Jianchuan clawed through the snow, pulled out the satellite phone, and after a brief pause, whispered, "Ning Zhun is alive."

As he spoke, he activated his 'deceptive reality' ability, declaring the sentence as the truth for this round—a test in itself.

If the statement held true, there were only two possibilities. Either Ning Zhun’s survival didn’t impact the rules or main plot, or his survival was an undeniable fact.

Han Shu’s message said the avalanche had wiped out one team entirely, while the other had survived. If Ning Zhun was alive, it indirectly proved that the team Ning Zhun was in had survived.

Ning Zhun and he were part of the South Team, the group Li Jianchuan had urged everyone to join the day before.

As he spoke, Li Jianchuan felt a strange energy drain from his body, confirming the ability had activated.

A wave of exhaustion hit him instantly.

But Li Jianchuan, usually brimming with energy, shrugged off the fatigue. This might’ve been the hidden toll of using the ability.

Once he felt the statement take hold, Li Jianchuan stood and began digging through the snow.

Soon, he uncovered Xie Changsheng’s frozen body.

As others crawled out of the snow, he felt Ning Zhun’s icy face once more.

This time, he confirmed Ning Zhun was alive, yet the shape under his hand was unmistakably Ning Zhun’s corpse.

Li Jianchuan closed his eyes briefly, buried the bodies in the snow, and joined the others who’d emerged.

Ning Zhun crawled out of another snowdrift, leaning weakly on Li Jianchuan, coughing faintly.

Li Jianchuan held him loosely, and just like yesterday, the group talked about getting out of the avalanche area and calling for rescue.

An hour later, the rescue team arrived, and the group was taken down the mountain.

Everything seemed the same as usual.

Only when Han Shu tried to reassure the returning members of both teams, the red-haired guy who spoke up first last night stayed quiet. Instead, his gaze was firmly fixed on Xie Changsheng's indifferent face, his eyes filled with hatred in the dim light, like a coiled snake ready to strike.

Xie Changsheng appeared unfazed, giving him a casual glance and running a finger across his neck, as if making a silent threat.

A cold smirk curled on the red-haired guy's lips.

"The South Team’s doing alright."

This time, Zheng Xiang from the North Team muttered flatly, then got up, grabbed his gear, and headed to his own tent.

Clearly, he was going to vote for the South Team as Li Jianchuan had requested last night.

The debriefing was especially tedious and uneventful since there was no need to discuss voting choices. Everyone grabbed some hot water and rations, then returned to their tents with headlamps.

Li Jianchuan and Ning Zhun ducked into Xie Changsheng's tent.

Their move made the red-haired guy stop in his tracks as he approached, then thoughtfully head in another direction.

"No. 2 wants to take you down solo."

Li Jianchuan zipped up the tent, casually gesturing toward the shadowy figure fading into the dark, and said to Xie Changsheng.

"It’s fine."

Xie Changsheng remained unperturbed, looking at Li Jianchuan, "How confident are you?"

"One hundred percent."

His almond-shaped eyes flicked up as Ning Zhun answered for Li Jianchuan.

His back leaned against Li Jianchuan's chest, his fingers fidgeting on Li Jianchuan's knee.

"You do have confidence in me."

Li Jianchuan looked at the satellite phone in his hand, his chin resting on Ning Zhun's head, his arm encircling Ning Zhun's body, holding him close to warm him.

The two sat nestled together like Russian dolls, completely unfazed by the presence of the ever-dignified Taoist Xie.

He raised his head, smiling with a raised eyebrow, "But we fools have our own methods. Who knows, they might even work better than the smart ones."

Xie Changsheng looked at the pair of confident men, remaining silent.

The three had already made their voting choices.

Under Li Jianchuan's focused gaze, the time on the satellite phone slowly ticked by, and soon, the six-hour limit arrived.

Light and darkness intertwined.

All scenes were abruptly pulled away, then suddenly pushed forward.

The headlamp illuminated the spacious tent, with cold wind blowing in from all directions, and the tense, shaky breathing of the other six people echoing around them.

Once Li Jianchuan's vision steadied, he didn't waste time looking around or at others. Instead, he immediately sat cross-legged on the soft cushion next to the headlamp.

Seeing this, the other players also sat down one by one.

No. 2 was the first to get antsy and said disappointedly, "We're back here again..."

He looked up at Li Jianchuan, "I took your advice and picked the South Team, but this didn't reveal anything at all. We're helping you, so you should give us a reason. Otherwise, tomorrow we'll continue to pick the South Team as I suggested."

"Shut it."

Li Jianchuan said coldly.

"You!"

No. 2 was furious.

But he also knew there was nothing he could do during Pandora's Dinner, so he had to grit his teeth and endure, taking a couple of deep breaths to calm down.

Just then, Han Shu walked in and, as usual, began with, "Is everyone here?"

After a few times, all the players were used to his opening line, and everyone just waited for him to finish the routine so they could ask some probing questions.

But this time, after Han Shu finished speaking, Li Jianchuan suddenly interjected, "Hold on, Brother Han, seven people still haven't shown up."

The atmosphere tensed up.

All the players immediately turned their eyes to Li Jianchuan.

Han Shu also seemed a bit surprised, but after waiting for a while, he shook his head and said, "Today's message is just for you; they're not like you."

Li Jianchuan glanced up, "So, are they like you?"

Han Shu's friendly face hardened, and his eyes went icy.

Li Jianchuan abruptly stood up, grabbed the headlamp that was weighing down the map, and in a couple of steps rushed to the tent entrance. He unzipped the tent and yelled outside, "Han wants the rest of the South and North Teams to meet up here, there's something to discuss, everyone hurry up!"

The light from the headlamp in his hand cut through the heavy darkness outside the tent that he had inadvertently observed during the first dinner, revealing several colorful tents not far away.

At the call, people inside the tents started coming out one by one.

Seeing this, Li Jianchuan turned around, set down the headlamp, and shot a look at Han Shu.

Han Shu stood rigidly in place, his expression turning sour.

"How is this possible!"

All the players exchanged glances, and No. 2 was the first to shake off his shock and break the silence. He stood up directly and rushed to the tent entrance, "Pandora's Dinner is just the dinner part; the rest is pure darkness and terror! I've personally seen a newbie freak out and bolt into the darkness, and before he took two steps, he was dismembered by an invisible force, blood sprayed all over the table..."

As he spoke, it suddenly hit him that something was off.

"Wait... is the dinner a sham?"

No. 2 suddenly looked at Han Shu, "But the explainer is supposed to be one-of-a-kind; how could they pull off a fake dinner with players..."

Ning Zhun lounged on the soft cushion, casually sipping his hot water, "Have you seen your own corpse on the snow mountain?"

He laughed coldly, "If there's yours, why can't there be the explainer's? Let's assume that everyone appearing in the game could be cloned."

"If that's the case, then the so-called loop is fake." Number One pondered, shaking his head, "But we can't explain why, when the time comes, we are pulled back here by this strange phenomenon."

Ning Zhun did not immediately answer his question.

Instead, he glanced at No. 7 and said firmly, "You're no newbie."

No. 7 was taken aback, then chuckled hoarsely with a sly grin, "I never said I was a newbie."

There were quite a few old players who pretended to be new, deliberately revealing flaws to lure others in, and he was no exception. Compared to him, No. 2, who was quick to show his emotions, was obviously more naive.

Hearing this, No. 2 indeed gave him a few more glances, seemingly more suspicious that No. 7 was the one who killed him.

Ning Zhun didn't pay attention to the subtle exchange between the two, and said indifferently, "So, in this game, we are all seasoned players. And judging by everyone's arrogant air, it's clear that we all pride ourselves on our intelligence. Smart people often get tripped up by their own cleverness."

As Ning Zhun said, there were no fools present. Hearing this pointed remark, everyone's body slightly moved.

The so-called clever ones are those who want to solve all the puzzles in front of them and find the answers—but often, there may be more than one layer to the mystery.

At this moment, the seven NPCs outside also arrived, filing into the tent.

As soon as these seven NPCs entered, the identities of the remaining seven players were exposed.

But since no one could really eliminate anyone at the moment, the cloaked players just scrutinized those around them with wary suspicion, without rashly making a move.

Li Jianchuan swept his gaze over and indeed saw Zhao Guanghui and Linda among the NPCs.

The NPCs, seeing the scene inside the tent, also seemed somewhat confused, but Zhao Guanghui seemed to realize something, suddenly looking at Han Shu with a slightly nervous expression.

Han Shu's expression was cold and silent.

The tense atmosphere hung in the air.

"What's going on?"

No. 2 looked around, breaking the tense atmosphere.

Everyone's gaze fell on Li Jianchuan.

Li Jianchuan waved the headlamp in his hand, subtly positioning himself to protect Ning Zhun, and then said, "Don't all stare at me like that. To be honest, I don't know what's going on either. But in this current loop, I can get you out."

His voice was low and hoarse, like sandpaper, with a casual, cold edge.

Although the first half of his sentence was a bit provoking, the bold claim in the second half still made all the players chuckle lightly.

After all, they were all seasoned players, self-important, but hadn't found any clues to solve the puzzle, and didn't quite believe that Li Jianchuan, who obviously hadn't participated in many games, had a way.

Number One glanced at him, "I'm all ears."

Han Shu's cold eyes also turned and fell on him.

"It's simple,"

Li Jianchuan said, "We'll use the process of elimination."

"The process of elimination?" No. 2's tone was as if he'd seen a ghost, almost thinking he was back solving a middle school math problem.

But the fact was, Li Jianchuan really looked like he was about to solve a middle school math problem, his voice cold, "From the first day until now, dinner, drawing lots, the avalanche, corpses that look just like the living, weird and mysterious dreams, and clearly rigged voting...

"These things are all bizarre. Every time I think I've got a handle on things, the next moment something new tells me that everything is still a tangled mess, a complete enigma.

"I figure if I keep thinking like this, by the time Pandora's Box Game goes under, I still won't have cracked it."

Li Jianchuan said with self-awareness, 'I know my limits.'

But then, his tone shifted abruptly as he stated bluntly, "If you can't figure it out, then don't dwell on it. In exams, you skip the tough questions and tackle the easy ones first. It's the same here."

"But what is difficult and what is easy, I used two loops to test. The test revealed that the most crucial point is the NPCs' reactions. Zhao Guanghui mentioned to me twice that the sun was setting too quickly. Linda screamed and fell when a hand from beneath the ice grabbed her foot. On the way back, she mentioned feeling someone breathing behind her."

Li Jianchuan racked his brains, feeling as if Ning Zhun's spirit had momentarily taken over.

He said in a deep voice, "Their reactions seem to be signaling something to me. For instance, the passage of time is off; the day and night we perceive might not be real. For example, the bodies on the mountain didn't appear after any of us died there; they were already on the mountain."

"Then there's today's draw. I actually drew the North Team."

This last sentence made all the players realize something.

Several pairs of eyes turned toward the NPCs.

Li Jianchuan drew the North Team but ended up in the South Team. By this logic, the South Team should have one more person, totaling eight.

But today, both teams still have seven members each.

This implies that if the players followed the draw, the NPCs were the ones who cheated. The NPCs already knew who the players were and who was on their side.

This was a coordinated deception.

"A man-made loop?"

Number One suddenly realized, "Excluding other factors, after the first dinner, we fell into this deception orchestrated by the NPCs and fake narrators. The subsequent climbing, avalanche, voting, and loop were all part of the setup, all fabricated... But this still doesn't account for the strange force behind the loop or why we can't die."

"My view is different," No. 3 Xie Changsheng interjected, "I think we truly entered the game during the avalanche. After the avalanche, we were trapped, lost consciousness, and began dreaming."

"In this dream, we held candles and walked down an underground staircase."

Xie Changsheng's tone was unhurried, "Despite the dream's strong sense of involuntary haze, I don't believe it was just a dream. Let's call the space experienced during the first avalanche the surface layer. During the first avalanche, in the coma, or perhaps not a coma but a kind of coma-inducing transmission, this transmission sent us to this underground passage, allowing us to pass through the first door, moving from the surface layer to the inner layer.

"The inner layer is the cycle we are in now."

This speech seemed somewhat profound, making most players ponder.

Li Jianchuan felt a bit of a headache.

Indeed, someone who could be friends with Ning Zhun wouldn't speak in a way that people could easily understand.

"If that's the case, this passage... should exist on the snow mountain?"

Number One pondered, "Perhaps the trigger condition is the avalanche. Every time we experience an avalanche, we have a chance to go to that passage... But I think it's more likely our consciousness, not our physical selves, that comes here. Otherwise, why can't we be killed as No. 2 said?"

Ning Zhun said, "It's the body, but perhaps not the same body."

He only said this and then looked at Li Jianchuan.

Li Jianchuan continued, "I left some marks on my body and checked them when entering the passage, finding they were still there. This means, at least our current bodies are the same as those in the passage. And being able to leave marks to check, I don't think it's consciousness. Moreover, we are stuck in this cycle, unable to die, what's the use?"

He said, "First, let's not look at the messy parts. If it's really the relationship between the surface and inner layers as No. 3 said, then just look at the inner layer, and temporarily exclude the other confusing parts, not thinking about them for now. After all, the surface and inner layers can interconnect, so I don't think all clues must be from the inner layer.

"Just looking at the clues I chose from the inner layer—the NPCs' contradictory attitudes."

Li Jianchuan glanced at the expressionless people beside him, "These days, they have been hinting at us while also deceiving us. From their attitudes, they might be under orders and surveillance. And those who order them to do so, who surveil them, might not be human...

"But these two snow mountains."

"Zhao Guanghui said the sun was setting quickly, and both times he was looking at the snowy peak across from us. The second time, I suspected there was something wrong with how time was passing, so I asked him what time it was. But he didn’t answer me. The satellite phone was right in his pocket; there’s no way he didn’t know the exact time. The only reason is that the time must have been fake.

"Who could be controlling the time?

"Zhao Guanghui was staring at the snowy peak.

"And Linda mentioned hearing heavy breathing behind her. But at that moment, I was paying close attention to our surroundings and didn’t hear any breathing sounds other than our own. When she said this, I heard it too, and I glanced at her—she was looking down at the snow layer beneath her feet. Or rather, she seemed to be gazing toward the snow-covered mountain.

"So I started to wonder—could the snowy peak actually be alive?"