The journey was tedious, arduous, and fraught with deadly danger.
During the day, they braved the relentless, biting winds as they raced across the boundless snowfields.
The sun on this planet emits a pale, cold light, casting a desolate hue over the entire world.
Iron-hoofed horses have demonstrated astonishing endurance and adaptability. Their hard hooves can firmly grip the ice, allowing them to travel hundreds of miles a day without showing any signs of fatigue.
This made their exploration efficiency much higher than expected.
Ten days have passed, and they have ventured more than 800 kilometers into the unknown territory.
The huge blank space on the map was torn open by a winding line and dense markings.
"Brother Feng, do you really think we can find anyone in this godforsaken place?" Li Xiangbin gulped down a mouthful of warm water that had been boiled with melted snow, exhaling a thick cloud of white vapor.
His stubble had grown quite long, and combined with his burly physique and heavy leather armor, he looked more like a humanoid brown bear from a primitive era.
Lin Feng's gaze remained fixed on the distance, where the horizon merged with the snow-covered landscape, a vast expanse that seemed to stretch endlessly.
His face was dry and cracked from the cold wind, but his eyes shone even brighter.
"It definitely can."
Five days passed in the blink of an eye.
They had been away from the shelter for half a month. They had used up most of the dried meat they brought, and were now relying entirely on hunting to replenish their supplies.
Li Xiangbin's silence grew longer, while Lin Feng's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly for the first time.
Ahead lay a vast, boundless lake covered in ice, which they called "Mirror Lake."
The lake surface was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the three suns in the sky, making it appear incredibly vast and desolate.
Just when Li Xiangbin thought they were going to return empty-handed and be forced to take a detour, Lin Feng suddenly pulled on the reins.
"Stop!"
Wangcai, standing beside him, stopped almost simultaneously, letting out a low, wary warning growl.
It raised its nose high and sniffed the air intensely.
Li Xiangbin immediately gripped the massive warhammer hanging on the saddle, cautiously surveyed his surroundings, and instantly entered a battle-ready state.
"What's wrong? Is there something big?"
"No, it's not a strange beast."
Lin Feng frowned deeply. He nimbly jumped off his horse, knelt on one knee in the snow, picked up a tiny, almost invisible black powder that had been blown by the wind, and sniffed it lightly.
"It's cigarette ash."
His eyes sharpened instantly: "Very, very faint, but definitely soot left from incompletely burned plant fibers. The wind was blowing from across the lake."
Li Xiangbin's eyes widened instantly, and his breathing quickened: "Cigarette ash? Could it be..."
"The probability of someone being there is over 90%."
Lin Feng stood up, his gaze sharp as if trying to pierce through the tens of kilometers of lake surface to see the scene on the other side.
"On this planet, apart from forest fires caused by lightning, I have not found any creature that knows how to use 'fire'."
"Great! Finally... finally we've found something!" Li Xiangbin was so excited he was almost incoherent. The tedium and depression of the past two weeks had finally found an outlet.
"Don't be too happy yet." Lin Feng's expression was unusually serious. "The presence of fire doesn't mean they're friends. They could be even more dangerous enemies. Wangcai, go check it out!"
"Awoo!"
Wangcai let out a low growl and, like an arrow released from a bow, led the other two horned wolves, silently stealthily making their way to the opposite shore along the edge of the lake.
Their grayish-white fur provides excellent camouflage in the icy and snowy landscape.
Lin Feng and Li Xiangbin led their horses, not venturing onto the exposed frozen lake, but instead carefully proceeding along the foot of the mountain by the lake.
It took them almost a whole day to get around to the other side of the lake.
Here, they discovered a path, half-hidden by ice and snow, leading deep into the mountains.
At the entrance to the path, Lin Feng discovered an even more obvious mark—a rock with very regular scratches, as if it had been repeatedly polished by a hard object.
“They’re grinding stone tools.” Lin Feng stroked the scratch and made a judgment: “The method is still very primitive, but the purpose is very clear. They are short of metal.”
Just then, Wangcai, who had gone to investigate, returned.
It wasn't carrying anything in its mouth, but it seemed somewhat agitated and confused. It growled a few times at Lin Feng, then gestured with its head for them to follow.
"It told us to follow it and see what it found... something it couldn't understand." Lin Feng immediately understood what the horned wolf meant.
Led by the horned wolf, the two men, one in front and one behind, crossed a ridge covered with jagged rocks. The sight before them stunned both Lin Feng and Li Xiangbin.
In the middle of a relatively flat snowfield, there stands a strange "building".
It was a huge, trap-like contraption made of a dozen or so sharpened logs of varying lengths, arranged at a very peculiar and ingenious angle. The trap's trigger mechanism was designed using flexible animal sinews and a clever lever principle.
"This...this is a trap?" Li Xiangbin exclaimed in amazement. "Good heavens, the design is truly ingenious. What big fish are they trying to catch?"
Lin Feng didn't say anything. He jumped off his horse and carefully examined the huge trap.
The trap had been triggered, but it was empty except for a few pools of congealed, dark purple blood. Scattered on the surrounding snow were some broken wooden spears and a few crudely made arrows.
"The trap worked, but the prey escaped." Lin Feng's gaze finally settled on a row of huge claw marks stretching into the distance.
"Judging from the paw prints, it's a terrifying feline beast we've never seen before, with incredible speed and strength. They tried to hunt it, but failed, losing not only their prey but also their weapons."
What puzzled Lin Feng the most were the footprints at the scene. The footprints were messy, but their size and depth were very similar, clearly belonging to the same group. However, these footprints were generally small and shallow.
"Strange...these people don't seem to be very tall," Lin Feng muttered to himself.
He stood up and looked in the direction where the footprints disappeared—a more steep and treacherous mountain area.
"Let's go and follow them. They've suffered losses, and this should be their weakest point, as well as their least wary moment."
Following these footprints that stretched deep into the snow-capped mountains, Lin Feng and Li Xiangbin tracked them for another half a day. The terrain became increasingly treacherous, and even the iron-hoofed horses began to struggle.
Ultimately, all traces disappeared before a massive, frozen waterfall.
This icefall, resembling a giant, crystal-clear jade wall, hangs down from a cliff hundreds of meters high. The icicles and icicles of various shapes refract a dreamlike yet chilling light under the pale sunlight. Below the waterfall lies a bottomless, icy pool, its surface dotted with broken ice.
“The trail ends here.” Li Xiangbin looked around; there was nothing but rocks and snow.
"Could they possibly fly?"
Lin Feng's gaze, however, was fixed on the massive icefall. He told the horned wolves to stay put, while he cautiously approached the edge of the icefall alone.
A biting chill swept over us, almost freezing our breath.
He reached out and gently touched the surface of the icefall. The ice was as hard as iron, but his eyes narrowed sharply when he touched a certain area.
The ice was slightly warmer than the surrounding area. Moreover, at the deepest part of the ice, he saw a barely perceptible, swaying human figure.
Is it an illusion caused by the distortion of light?
No.
Lin Feng took a few steps back and, from a more challenging angle, finally saw it clearly thanks to the reflection of the sunlight.
In the center of that seemingly flawless icefall, there is an extremely hidden crevice covered by a thick curtain of ice.
Behind the crevice, in the darkness, there seemed to be a hidden world.
"Xiang Bin, come here. We've found it." Lin Feng's voice carried a hint of barely suppressed excitement.
They didn't rush in immediately. The unknown environment and the unknown enemy meant that any reckless action could lead to utter destruction.
“We can’t go in from the front,” Lin Feng said in a low voice. “That would be tantamount to suicide. They have an absolute advantage in terrain.”
He looked up, observing the terrain of the cliff. Although the cliff was steep, it wasn't entirely impossible to climb. For someone with superhuman strength, it was a possibility.
“I’ll go around from above and see if there are any other entrances or vantage points. You and the horned wolf will stay here and keep watch on this entrance. Remember, no matter what happens, don’t expose yourselves.”
"Brother, it's too dangerous for you to be alone!" Li Xiangbin said anxiously.
"Execute the order." Lin Feng's tone left no room for doubt. He removed most of his equipment, carrying only the lightest weapons and a rope, and then, like an ape, began to climb towards the top of the cliff, hundreds of meters high, using the protrusions of the rocks and the gaps in the ice and snow.
The climb was thrilling. But Lin Feng's strong body control and calm judgment allowed him to overcome crisis after crisis.
More than an hour later, he finally reached the summit.
At the mountaintop, the cold wind raged even more fiercely. He lay prone on the edge of the cliff, cautiously looking down.
Soon, not far from the top of the icefall, he discovered an inconspicuous hole that was mostly covered by snow.
It was a naturally formed rock fissure used for ventilation.
He cleared away the snow and looked down into the cave. It was pitch black inside, but he could sense a faint breath.
This is the place.
Without hesitation, Lin Feng secured the rope and, like a ghost, silently slid into the depths of the cave.
Inside the cave was a narrow and winding passage. Lin Feng concealed all his presence, like a raccoon dog, making no sound.
At the end of the passage, faint light and suppressed, low voices could be heard.
He cautiously peeked out, and the sight before him froze him completely, his eyes filled with unprecedented and extreme shock.
Inside the cave is a huge, naturally formed rock formation. In the center of the cave, a campfire is burning, but the light is kept very faint. Moreover, the design of the ventilation opening in the cave ceiling cleverly draws most of the smoke out, making it extremely difficult to spot from the outside.
And those sitting around the campfire... were all women!
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