As the light gradually dimmed, the previously negligible kerosene lamp became more noticeable.
The old man's lecturing became more and more frequent, and everyone assumed it was because the previous accident had made him more vigilant.
Whether it was the cold, the lesson learned, or the pain in his ankle, Andy listened silently, showing no impatience.
“Below that is the ‘Fall Zone’,” the old man said as they rested in the cave that Li Changzhou had cleared out. He spread out a scroll map. “Because the ‘Fall Zone’ is so deep, there is almost no light. We have to follow the paths that have already been explored, and mining can only be done at the edge of the paths.”
Upon hearing about mining, Tali shuddered and rallied.
Yete glanced at her and said, "The temperature is even lower in the 'fall zone,' making it more difficult to carve through the ice walls. Make sure, make sure your ice axe is strong enough."
"There are still monsters lurking in the darkness," the old man paused, then continued, "as well as adventurers who prey on each other."
The cave offered shelter and food to replenish their strength, but it offered no warmth. Lingering too long in comfort could lead to a sudden, unawakened sleep. The group decided to continue.
The old man put the map away and handed it to Li Changzhou: "Captain, I'll leave the rest to you."
“Old man, just give me the map—” Yete couldn’t help but start speaking, but he only got halfway through his sentence.
"This is my last adventure," the old man said nonchalantly.
Yete whispered to Tali, "This map is worth at least ten thousand ice."
Tali gasped.
Don't be fooled by the fact that it cost seven blocks of ice to stay one night at Della's Tavern. That's because it's on the snowfield. If we were back on the island, seven blocks of ice would be enough to buy an entire tavern!
Li Changzhou glanced at the old man, took the map, and said, "Don't have any hope for me. I can only do my best."
"That's enough," the old man chuckled. "Let's go, boys!"
The eight people were fully prepared to go. This time, instead of splitting into two groups, they were tied together with two ropes.
There are eight people, and only one person moves at a time, while the other seven act as anchor points.
Using it as an anchor point is not necessarily safe. Not long after setting off, Tali, who had let her guard down, lost her footing and plummeted to the ground.
Fear instantly enveloped her!
"ah!
"Yet, who was descending above Tali, roared, trying to use his waist to absorb Tali's weight."
Hiss!
His ice axe also came off, and he couldn't stop on the ice.
Yete spun in mid-air, struggling to find his balance, and then slammed his ice axe back into the ice.
Bang!
The ice wall was as hard as iron, and it took at least two hundred breaths to stabilize it each time. How could he possibly succeed with his hasty effort?
Not only did he fail to carve the ice axe into the ice, but he also used too much force, causing the ice axe to slip from his hand. If it weren't for the rope on his wrist, the ice axe would have been lost.
As Yete fell, the stone fist above him held on for a moment, then also fell.
The old man above the stone fist groaned, tightened the rope around his waist, and his frozen wounds reopened. But relying on a lifetime of caution, he managed to hold the weight of the three men with his ice axe.
The blood gushed out and froze, then quickly stopped. Only the excruciating pain blinded him, making his vision go black.
Below Tali are Li Changzhou and Yang Qinglan.
A black hand rose from behind Li Changzhou, holding Tali back. At the same time, another black hand rose from the first black hand to catch Yett. Then, a third black hand grew out from the second black hand to catch Stone Fist.
The old man was more than fifteen meters away from Li Changzhou, and the Black Hand could no longer support him, but catching the three of them relieved the pressure on him.
"Are you alright?!" Andy asked in alarm from above the old man.
"Don't turn around!" the old man roared.
Even in darkness, one should not gaze into the abyss.
Tali, Yete, and Stonefist were panting heavily, cold sweat pouring from their armpits, which immediately froze into ice.
Both Peppers and Andy were panting heavily, the fear of dying at any moment almost tangible, threatening to drag them into the abyss.
"I'm...I'm sorry," came Tali's voice, filled with shame.
"Don't say sorry, hurry up!" Yete lay on the black hand and used an ice axe to chisel at the ice wall.
It continues to decline.
It was completely dark around them, and they could not see each other clearly, only the firelight at each other's waists.
The firelight was faint in the thick darkness, almost as if it were drowning, and everyone felt like they couldn't breathe.
Stop occasionally and listen intently to the sounds around you, otherwise you might not notice the ice corpse crawling onto your face.
“The danger from ice corpses is minimal here,” the old man said to the exhausted and terrified Tali after killing another ice corpse in the cave. “Some adventurers will deliberately cover their lamps and remain on the ice as if they were dead, waiting for other adventurers to approach. All it takes is a silent tug—”
He raised his hand and made a pulling motion towards the person.
Tali, Stonefist, and Andy all shuddered.
"Old man, don't scare me!" Andy said, displeased.
The old man chuckled happily twice.
After resting, he said, "This is the last leg of the journey. We will split up next. Those who want to collect solid ice will stay, while those who want to take a chance will continue down with the team leader. Everyone has already made their decisions, and now we have one last chance to choose again."
“I’ll stay!” Tali said immediately.
“Me too,” Yate and Berts added.
Stone Fist hesitated. Before coming here, he had wanted to follow the captain to find the 'Great Power' in the abyss no matter what. But since he went down into the abyss, he had been pinned down by the ice corpse. If it weren't for the shield, he would have died long ago.
The ice axe has also fallen off.
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