70 Frequent accidents
◎Can only watch his teammates die in the mouth of the other party◎
After receiving Qi Qiuxue's call, the other NPCs arrived one after another.
They looked at the scene in disbelief. Their teammate, who was chatting and laughing with everyone yesterday, died silently in this way today.
"This is too weird." The ones who were most devastated were Xiao Liu and Dali, who shared a tent with Wang Qiang. Their faces were ashen as they stood before Wang Qiang's body, completely disbelieving what they saw. "How could he, he just die like that?"
"What on earth happened?" Dali shook his head, muttering uncontrollably, "If I had stopped him yesterday, if I hadn't let him leave, Wang Qiang might not have died..."
"It's not your fault." Sister Yang sighed softly, her eyes filled with sadness. "No one expected something like this to happen."
"Sister Yang, what should we do with Wang Qiang's body?" A female NPC named Hanhan asked sadly.
"Let's bury him right here." They had to continue their journey, and carrying Wang Qiang's body with them wasn't practical. "If we can return safely someday, we'll find a way to go up the mountain and retrieve his body and bring it back for burial."
Everyone nodded in response, saying helplessly, "This is the only way."
Wang Qiang's body was really stiff, completely frozen in the wind and snow. It took a lot of effort to even knock him down, let alone change his posture.
The thing that was most abundant in the mountains was snow. The NPCs dug a hole on the spot, put Wang Qiang's body into the hole, and covered his body with snow. Even at this moment, his head was still tilted back, always maintaining an upward arc, even though he had no eyeballs anymore.
"What was he looking at before he died?" Shen Jia murmured in horror.
Nobody knows.
-
After burying Wang Qiang, everyone returned with heavy hearts and went back to look for the tent.
They had already walked this road when they came here. When they went back, it was not difficult to return to the original camp with the help of their memory and the marks made by Qi Qiuxue and others.
Along the way, the NPCs were still immersed in the sorrow of their companions' death, until they discovered an even more unbearable scene.
Gone...
Both the tent and the luggage they placed in the tent were gone!
It snows all year round in the mountains. Even though it is already past nine in the morning, the weather is still cold and the snow is falling non-stop. The footprints and some traces left when setting up the tent have long been buried by the new snow. There is nothing but snow there, as if no one has ever set foot there.
"What, what's going on?" This time even Sister Yang was shocked. When they set out to look for Wang Qiang, they only carried some simple and light things with them, most of which were still left in the tent, including some props, water and food.
"Did we find the wrong place?" Han Han's eyes widened, and he turned to look in the direction of Qi Qiuxue, trying to find her to confirm, "Zhang Xue, are the marks you made correct? Is there something wrong?"
"That's right." Qi Qiuxue opened her lips to reply. She had already seen the cruel side of games before, but she had never expected them to be so cruel this time. "Absolutely right."
"Besides, the fire we used to keep warm is still there." She raised her eyes and motioned Hanhan to look forward.
indeed.
There were several burnt-out bonfires quietly standing there, their number and position exactly the same as what they had seen before they set out.
"Who took our tent?"
"All our belongings are gone. Water is okay, we can drink it directly from the snow, but what about food? How are we supposed to survive without food?!"
"Even at night, we didn't even have a place to stay..." Shen Jia murmured in despair. Before coming, she had carefully looked at the treasure map and roughly calculated the distance. According to the speed at which everyone was traveling yesterday, it would take them at least three or four days to reach the top of the mountain.
"What should we do?" Liu Ge and Qi Qiuxue exchanged a glance and joined in the complaints. "This mountain is truly bizarre. Our teammates died tragically, and our belongings and tent vanished into thin air. Perhaps if we keep going, someone else will meet with misfortune."
"Why don't we go down the mountain and go home?" she tentatively suggested. "It's better than starving or freezing to death here, isn't it?"
This is indeed the truth, but everyone comes here for the legendary treasure. Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. We cannot retreat just because of some small setbacks.
What's more, after so many years of treasure hunting, I have encountered things that are more difficult than this.
“…”
The atmosphere at the scene fell silent, and no one answered Liu Ge's question. It seemed that in their eyes, secret treasures and wealth were even more important than their lives.
"A bunch of lunatics." After a while, Liu Ge shook his head and sighed softly.
Qi Qiuxue looked at the team leader Sister Yang in front of her: "So what should we do next?"
"Let's keep going while we still have some energy." Sister Yang paused, then continued, "It doesn't matter how fast or far we go, as long as we keep moving forward. Also, everyone should pay attention to the surrounding terrain and look for suitable places to live, such as hidden caves."
"I've seen wild animal footprints along the way, and there are some safe and non-toxic wild fruits around. Although they are few, we have strength in numbers, so if we look carefully, we will definitely find something."
"Come on, everyone."
"Okay." With Sister Yang's encouragement, everyone managed to regain their previous state. This episode was temporarily put behind them, and everyone started moving forward again against the wind and snow.
"Are you cold?" Li Yiqing followed Qi Qiuxue all the time and tentatively took her hand. Seeing that she didn't refuse, he took advantage of the situation and held it tighter. "Let me warm you up, Ah Xue."
"Tsk tsk tsk." Liu Ge mocked her behavior from the side, "I'm cold too, what should I do?"
Li Yiqing said calmly: "Just jump a few times and you'll be warm."
This statement caused Liu Ge to express strong dissatisfaction: "Is there anyone in this world more hypocritical than you?!"
Li Yiqing ignored her and pretended not to hear.
The group set out at half past nine, stopping and resting along the way, eating snow when thirsty and some wild fruits when hungry. They continued on their journey until four in the afternoon, when they finally found a few places to live.
There are several caves, the space is not very big, each can only accommodate about three or four people, but the advantage is that the location is secluded and can shelter from wind and rain.
This was already a rare opportunity for everyone. At least they had a place to stay at night and didn't have to freeze to death in the snow. After deciding to stay here, Sister Yang quickly arranged for everyone to disperse. Some went to collect firewood and things that could cover the cave entrance, and some went to pick wild fruits and try to hunt for food.
The work of Qi Qiuxue and the other two was relatively simple. Just like yesterday, they only had to pick up some firewood. In Musoglu, where it snowed all year round, although there were many dead trees, most of the branches were soaked by the perpetual snow and were difficult to ignite easily. If they wanted to find suitable firewood, it was best to look for areas blocked by boulders or weeds.
The three of them spent almost an hour collecting firewood and carried it back to the camp. The other players also returned one after another within the next half hour. Even though there were indeed wild rabbits here, their numbers were too few, and their fur color was very similar to the color of snow. If you were not careful, they would disappear from sight and never be found again.
Therefore, the NPCs responsible for finding food only brought back some wild fruits. After distributing them evenly to each person, the quantity was pitifully small and it was difficult to fill their stomachs.
Noticing the disappointment in her teammates' faces, Sister Yang, the team leader, quickly cheered them up and offered another word of encouragement: "Hold on a little longer, maybe we'll get lucky and find a lot of food tomorrow."
"Before coming here, I did some detailed research online. Rumor has it that there seems to be a village called Bug in this mountain. We might run into it tomorrow when we go deeper. We can then ask the villagers for help."
It is rumored again.
Liu Ge sighed silently and did not hold out hope for this, but at this moment, it was not bad to have such an idea. Everyone cheered up a little because of Sister Yang's words. They silently finished eating the wild fruits in front of them and went into the cave to rest.
They lit a fire in the cave. When the flames enveloped the small space, the wind and snow outside seemed not so cold. There were not many entertainment facilities in the mountains, and so many things happened in just one day. Everyone needed to calm down and conserve their energy. They did not chat too much and soon fell asleep together.
Even though it was still early, night came quickly. The cave had good sound insulation. Not only the sound of the wind and snow outside, but even the conversations of other NPCs were barely audible. Before the fire went out, Qi Qiuxue quietly leaned on Li Yiqing's shoulder and fell asleep.
It was not until the middle of the night that she was awakened by a scream.
What happened again?
The screams came from the cave on the right. Qi Qiuxue suddenly opened her eyes and exchanged glances with Li Yiqing and Liu Ge. None of them could sleep again. They pushed aside the things that were used to cover the front of the cave, and after confirming that there was no danger outside, they walked out one after another.
Before they entered the cave on the right, they saw a pool of coagulated blood oozing out from the cave entrance. Through the broken cover in front of the cave entrance, Qi Qiuxue saw an NPC named A Chuang lying on the ground.
No, to be precise, the one lying on the ground was not the complete Ah Chuang. Instead, he had been eaten to the point where only one-third of his head, several broken arms and scraps of flesh remained. In addition, there was a small piece of his hairy, bloody calf next to him.
It's a rabbit leg.
Qi Qiuxue entered the cave and squatted on the ground to carefully examine the scene. Then she asked the other two men who lived with Ah Chuang: "What exactly happened?"
"Bear, it's a bear!" The two men stammered, already frightened out of their wits. It took Qi Qiuxue a long time to understand what they were saying.
Together with A Chuang, the three of them happened to be the team looking for food tonight. In fact, they were not so unlucky. In addition to wild fruits, they also luckily caught a wild rabbit.
But they didn't want to share it with everyone. There were too many people and too many mouths to eat, so one rabbit was not enough to share. It would be better to hide it secretly and let the three of them enjoy it quietly.
Those wild fruits could not fill their stomachs, and soon after returning to the cave, the three of them were extremely hungry. Guessing that everyone else was asleep and would not notice their actions, the three of them simply processed the rabbit and put it on the fire to roast it.
Unexpectedly, this action actually attracted a bear. The bear was quite smart. It quietly pushed aside the cover in front of the cave entrance and suddenly rushed in when the people were not paying attention.
It ate the hare that was not fully cooked, and also ate A Chuang who was enthusiastically cooking the hare.
Faced with such absolute power, the remaining two dared not move at all. They could only hold their breath and remain silent, watching their teammates die in the other's mouths.
【Author’s words】
Here we come!
Thank you all for your Bawang tickets and nutrient solution, thank you for leaving comments and reading~
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