Chapter 14 Hiking 2: Sisters, Let's Go Hiking!
Just as the thick fog was about to block your view of what was below, a gust of wind swept over your head.
Someone is trying to ambush you.
The safety device worn around the waist and connected to the steel cable had somehow come loose!
Luckily, from the moment you saw the fog forming, you were prepared to crawl forward on all fours. Who knew you'd accidentally avoid that attack?
In a flash, you instinctively look up and grab the hand that's waving at you.
The man clearly hadn't expected his plan to fail. He had probably been planning this operation for a long time, but when you grabbed him, he panicked and started swinging around violently.
Not only that, now that you've caught him, and with the idea of going all the way, he's confident in his strength and power, and actually wants to throw you down again.
You gripped the steel cable tightly from the start, refusing to let go no matter how painful it was for your hands. You could sense the man's agitation; since you couldn't overpower him with your upper body and he was determined to kill you, you suddenly let go as he pulled you forcefully again, grabbed the other side of the cable, half-squatted down, and casually swept your leg in his direction.
Your movement wasn't big, but he was too close to you, and you were knocked off your feet by your own force, so you slipped and tumbled to the side with a thud.
The steel cable jingled and swayed, and you knew it was because this person was still stubbornly holding onto the cable and hanging to one side.
Now, the problem is yours.
Everything just happened too fast; your attack on him was purely a means of self-defense. Right now, even just letting him hang there is tantamount to murder.
You are a kind and warm-hearted ordinary person who is mostly warm-hearted. You don't even dare to kill fish. Even in such a strange world, you can still feel the brilliance of humanity from time to time. This makes you not like the protagonists in common infinite flow novels, who easily accept the possibility of killing each other with their own kind one day.
You laugh at yourself, feeling like a saintly cannon fodder character in a novel, still hesitating.
But you won't become cannon fodder.
You won't let this person find another chance to kill you.
You take out a stainless steel sports water bottle filled with water from your backpack, grope for his hand, and smash it down hard.
"Aaaaaah—!"
A bloodcurdling scream pierced the thick fog and echoed through the valley. A few seconds later, a chilling thud and muffled thud followed. It seemed the man was truly dead.
It was that Western man; the number above his head was 0, so it seemed there was no chance for him to start over.
You're panting heavily, your vision blurring, and your mind is filled with images of fireworks. This is a natural reaction to an adrenaline rush, but what you don't expect is that you don't feel much guilt for intentionally harming someone.
This may have surprised you, but it's also a good thing. You've always been afraid of being too civilized, but now you finally know your bottom line.
If someone doesn't offend you, you won't offend them; but if someone does offend you, you won't hesitate to show your fangs.
What's more, there was an unexpected bonus.
After your vision is restored, a few lines of text appear before your eyes.
"Ehrfurcht vor der Natur ist die einzige Wahrheit."
As usual, a line of small print translates below: Reverence for nature is the only truth.
You keep pondering this sentence, and before you can fully grasp its meaning, you break out in a cold sweat, suddenly realizing the dangers of these alternate worlds.
This is similar to the rule you obtained by sacrificing your own life, except this time, it was obtained by killing your own kind.
You feel Xiao Hong pat your back worriedly from behind, and you just nudge her with your arm to indicate that you should wait a moment.
Open your phone, point the front camera at yourself, and you'll see the number above your head change back to 3.
Your guess was correct.
No wonder this man wanted to harm you.
Not only do you get the rules of the current scene, you also get an extra life.
Considering his previous help to Xiaohong, perhaps he was already trying to gain your trust then, gradually breaking you down one by one. Now is the perfect opportunity; he can take advantage of the fog to eliminate you, who seems more reliable, while Xiaohong's behavior in the car is enough for him to see that she's a complete novice.
Not knowing how to face this disgusting reality, you take out an energy bar, hand one to Xiaohong, and slowly eat it here first, adjusting your mindset and muscle condition before crawling forward.
Originally, the cross, which represents the highest point in the country, was only about 10 meters away vertically. By focusing on climbing, you and Xiaohong soon touched the base of the golden cross.
Almost instantly, the sun burst forth, the thick fog dissipated, and several snow-covered peaks, snow-capped lakes nestled among the mountains, and small towns at the foot of the mountains and in the valleys came into view.
The locals who had almost disappeared were suddenly standing in front of you, fiddling with their phones and taking photos.
Of course, you and Xiaohong were also pulled into the group photo. No one cared that one of you was missing. Everyone excitedly took the photos, and then took selfies in groups of three or five, posting them on social media with their location tags.
My phone vibrated. I took it out and saw that a new social media account had automatically downloaded and appeared on my phone. It turned out to be the Pink Camera app, which was now frantically popping up tags from this group of people.
Following their accounts, you find out what today's trip was all about.
Obviously, this is a special Easter egg that the windbreaker brings you, but even a special Easter egg has a complete logic.
In your Facebook account, you follow many expert hiking accounts and have actively joined numerous outdoor communities. Today's event is organized by the university hiking club.
The participants' group chat pinned today's schedule and route arrangements. You quickly browsed through it, and your mood instantly improved.
After reaching the summit, take the cable car down the mountain, then take the last bus back to the foot of the mountain, and have dinner at a traditional restaurant in the village. That's all that's left.
You took a few selfies with Xiaohong, and like everyone else, posted them on the pink camera app, while also sharing other people's posts about your pink camera. You made sure to do everything you were supposed to, and even took care of Xiaohong, before finally putting your phone away and focusing on enjoying the scenery.
Just gazing into the distance like this is exhilarating. The sun is so bright that even though you're on the mountaintop, you feel a bit hot.
Looking back at the locals, they were still excitedly taking photos with their phones.
The earlier fog had dispersed many tourists from the viewing platform, and no new hikers were attempting to reach the summit. So, they figured they might as well stay a little longer while they could monopolize the beautiful view.
There's no rush. Since today's theme is "hiking," the hiking content is obviously over. Judging from various inferences, there shouldn't be any new crises during the car ride.
The only thing to worry about is the potatoes.
You do the math in your head: it takes half an hour to get down the mountain from here by car, two hours for lunch, and more than three hours to get home. There's still plenty of time; even if the restaurant for dinner doesn't serve potatoes, there will be plenty to eat at home.
The plan is in place.
But why is it getting hotter and hotter?
It's almost the end of October, and it even snowed the day before yesterday.
Although it was just a light snowfall, the temperature did drop significantly.
The mountain winds were constant throughout the climb, stinging our faces. Only when we stood in the sun did we find some warmth.
That's something I've noticed ever since you came to this country. It seems that temperature has nothing to do with the weather, only with the amount of sunshine.
Several patches of snow nearby reflected a blinding white light under the sun, and the mountain peaks, once used as a natural ski resort for the Winter Olympics, appeared distorted and blurred by the scorching sunlight.
Your breathing becomes heavy, and you feel as if you are trapped in a giant steamer, with the surrounding air scorching your skin and each breath making your throat feel as dry as if it were being burned by fire.
The locals stood just a few steps away, seemingly oblivious to the unusual sight.
They were even more excited by the scorching sun, yelling as they took off their coats. If there hadn't been so little space, you'd think they would have spread themselves out on the ground and sunbathed.
Little Red is even less tolerant of the heat than you. She has already curled up on the ground, wanting to drink water but afraid of drinking it all. She can only moisten her lips little by little and hide listlessly in your shadow.
You know this isn't going to work, and you want to get up and leave, but you get a death stare from the locals; you want to stop them and let them enjoy the sunbathing on the viewing platform, but your voice seems to be swallowed by the air, and only a weak, hoarse sound comes out of your throat.
You couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to take off your rain jacket to put on as a sunshade and cool off. But even wearing the rain jacket, you were still hot; exposing your skin felt like being plunged into boiling water, so you had to squat down like Xiao Hong. At first glance, you two looked like two blue mushrooms.
After a series of actions, the inner thermal layer was removed, and the thermal lining of the windbreaker was also removed before it was put back on.
Staring down at my feet, I saw that the snow, which should have been cold, was beginning to melt, and the water was flowing down the hillside, but it was getting faster and faster, as if some irresistible force was accelerating everything.
You wonder if your brain is fried, because the melted snow water didn't turn into a clear stream, but was steaming hot, like boiling water.
You involuntarily took a step back, but you didn't dare to retreat too far.
The top is barely wide enough for one person to step on, with a steep cliff behind it that seems to have no end in sight.
Then look at the locals; their faces changed from pale to a boiled red, and you can feel your own skin starting to burn.
Subconsciously, I touched my arm and found that my skin was beaded with sweat, the rising moisture forming a thin layer of mist around me. You, Xiao Hong, and the locals were like trapped in a giant furnace, but they were oblivious and even amused by it.
Is this the power of nature?
In a daze, you recall the overly broad and empty rule you just received.
However, that rule is more like a warning, and you can't think of a way to break the deadlock yet.
How can humans fight against nature? You can't just take out a bow and shoot down the scorching sun just because you're from the Flower Country.
Is it really the right thing to do to follow the locals' example and reluctantly take off your rain jacket to enjoy the sun?
They were practically roasted to a crisp! You could almost hear the crackling sound of their flesh hitting the rocks.
A terrible idea popped into my head.
You've just received a new life from that Western man. Rather than wasting your chance here with Xiao Hong and getting roasted to death before learning the rules, you'd better have Xiao Hong push you off the cliff. If you fail to learn the new rules, then you can push Xiao Hong off the cliff.
They mutually benefit from opportunities while simultaneously resetting the rules.
You slapped yourself.
This is absolutely insane!
What an inhumane idea!
It's not the end of the road yet, and you know that death doesn't feel good. This disregard for life makes you wary of lowering your moral standards, and you secretly vow never to crave such a shortcut.
If the shortcut were so easy, that Western man wouldn't have recklessly lost to a newcomer like her when all his chances were gone.
But it's too hot.
If given a choice, perhaps death would be easier to accept.
Gritting your teeth, you closed your eyes in a daze, completely unaware of the passage of time.
Until I sneezed.
A shiver ran through you, and you snapped back to reality.
It was still on the same mountaintop, still sunny, but the temperature had long since returned to normal.
It's so cold!
Stomping your numb feet, you quickly put the clothes you'd taken off back on. Only then did you remember Xiao Hong beside you; the number above her head had changed to 2.
Looking at myself again, I clearly still have the number 3.
He nervously touched Xiaohong's body, and she looked up in alarm as if waking from a dream, her face pale, her eyes unfocused, and she instinctively opened her mouth to speak and take off her clothes.
"Ale Sigut." You quickly spoke up, reminding Xiao Hong of her current state and not to say anything carelessly.
Xiao Hong slowly realized that the surrounding environment was no longer like the lukewarm water that had been boiling her.
Seeing the numerous sunspots and burns on your body, even though only a few minutes had passed on your phone, you had already lost a lot of weight. Looking at myself, Xiaohong realized that I had, as you had described before, undergone a complete transformation.
The locals are even more terrifying than they appear; they look like walking, charred corpses, yet they still hop around and line up to walk toward the viewing platform.
At least now it's really all over.
You didn't know what else to say, so on the way back, you gently patted Xiao Hong's head to comfort her.
"I lost consciousness, and then a line of words appeared before my eyes, saying 'A tenacious will is a necessary condition for conquering nature,'" Xiao Hong sent me what she saw.
You are speechless, and subconsciously stroke the fabric of the windbreaker: Isn't this the brand's motto?
A note from the author:
----------------------
Good morning! These two chapters are newly revised and written. I wasn't feeling well yesterday and didn't get anything done... I need help from all you moms out there! How can I keep my eyes comfortable? I've used eye drops, a massager, ice packs, and I've been taking lutein, but nothing seems to be working!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
