Despite the howling wind and the slippery walls, all three climbed to the top without incident.
When Cheng Shi vaulted over the cliff's edge and planted his feet on solid ground, he finally understood why San Dales was called an experintal waste dump.
Because this place was... a pit. A colossal, abyss-like ice cavern!
Their landing was the only patch of land inside. Chasms yawned on every side, and beyond them rose another ring of towering cliffs that disappeared into the heavens. Looking up was like gazing at the sky from the bottom of a well. Looking down was like floating adrift above the void. Shrieking wind churned from both directions — gusting from the unreachable "skylight" high above and the impenetrable "darkness" far below.
Scanning the horizon, everything here seed frozen in place. Enormous ice prisms jutted at crooked angles, carving the small town into separated zones.
Yes — there really was a town here. Only it looked abandoned. Countless experintal waste heaps and building ruins sat locked inside pillars of ice, painting the land in ashen-white strokes against the blue-cold world.
At a single glance, this wasn't rely abandoned — it looked like a dead zone!
The razor wind seed to have scoured away every trace of life. And yet, in this seemingly hopeless land, within this wholly uninhabitable town, the three of them spotted a single flickering light.
That lone fla sat precisely at the far end of the trail of footprints beneath their feet.
"Our target's clear. Let's go. Hopefully we'll find so clues there."
Today's Cheng Shi seed focused on efficiency. He didn't dwell on the earlier misunderstanding with Mi Laozhang and headed straight forward.
Zhang Jizu, however, didn't rush after him. He dropped the corpse he'd been carrying and called out:
"Where's your brooch? Ask it. See what it knows."
Cheng Shi paused mid-step, turned, and rolled his eyes. "Oh? You're sure it's
now?"
"If you can get an answer out of it, then I'll be sure."
"I refuse. If even you need an external prop to confirm my identity, I'd say identification has already lost all aning."
But Cheng Shi didn't leave. Instead, he produced a brooch, pinched it between his fingers, held it behind his back, and showed it to both companions in a slow circle before darkening his face again.
"Still — for the sake of speeding things along, I will ask.
But I will NOT let you see the brooch, Mi. Lao. Zhang!"
A blue-green intertwined glow settled over the corpse — which didn't stir at all, rejecting the light's "inquiry."
The brooch failed. An awkward silence descended.
"I think He needs to do a bit more R&D on these things."
Cheng Shi's lips twitched. He pocketed the brooch and marched grumpily toward the firelight.
Zhang Jizu arched a brow, retrieved the corpse, and fell in silently behind him. Ai Si followed suit. Before long, they arrived at the crumbling shack that housed the flickering fla.
But just as they drew close, Cheng Shi stopped.
He sensed soone inside. Out ca the scalpel; he refused to take another step.
Zhang Jizu frowned and halted three paces behind Cheng Shi.
Ai Si, the War follower, hadn't kept pace with the other two's instincts. Seeing them freeze, she frowned, dragged her great sword forward a few steps, and glanced back curiously. "Why'd you stop?"
Cheng Shi, noticing she'd already passed him, paled and pointed at the building. "Watch out!"
Ai Si's face hardened. Without a thought, she swung her blade in a reverse slash. BOOM — half the shack was sheared clean off, exposing the fire pit — instantly snuffed by the wind — and a rough-faced man who scread and threw himself flat on the ground.
"Don't kill ! I haven't found anything!"
'Found? Found what?'
Once they confird no further danger, Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu stepped forward in unison and took charge.
Watching this, Ai Si finally realized she'd been used as a living shield — scouting the path for these two "steady brothers."
'Oh, co on! Is this really necessary?!'
'One's a Death Chosen who can keep himself alive no matter what. The other's a peak-level priest who mowed his way through 0221's Experint Ground. And in front of one crappy shack, you need a 2,400-point War Supervisor to go first?!'
'Is that reasonable?!'
Ai Si's protest went thoroughly ignored. Cheng Shi smiled, hoisted the rough-faced man upright, and got straight to the point.
"Who are you, where do you co from, and what are you looking for? You get one chance."
The man shook like a leaf. Seeing their unfamiliar faces, he stamred out an answer.
"M-my na's Han Mo. I'm a scavenger, just like you. No, no — I'm nothing like you fine lords. I just ca down looking for sothing to stay alive. Not looking for divinity fragnts.
I don't want to beco a god. I just want to survive!"
"Divinity fragnts?"
Three Players heard this and each reacted differently. Zhang Jizu narrowed his eyes at Ai Si with a loaded glance. Ai Si quietly turned her head, a near-imperceptible flicker crossing her eyes.
Cheng Shi arched a brow, amused. "You're saying these ruins of San Dales have divinity fragnts?"
"Huh? You lords didn't co for the divinity fragnts? Then why'd you jump down here?"
"Jump?"
Zhang Jizu looked up at the abyss opening overhead — its top invisible in the dark.
"You an 'jump' — as in, from up there?"
Han Mo nodded frantically. "Y-yes! All scavengers jump down from up there. Most of them co hunting for godhood secrets. But not
— I was being chased. Couldn't survive up there anymore, so I ca down looking for a way to live."
The three exchanged curious looks. At this height, even a Player would be dead or crippled on impact. How did these so-called scavengers land safely?
Ai Si asked first. Han Mo blinked.
"You didn't jump?
Strange. You're right — nine out of ten who jump die. Dying in San Dales is actually the lucky outco. The truly terrifying part is falling into the abyss below. They say it connects to a 'demon's lair.' Fall down there, and living is worse than death.
The survivors — like
— got caught by massive wind cyclones during the fall, which bled off our montum and tossed us onto the ground.
They say achieving godhood starts with surviving the jump. The test is your courage before Death, and the fortune of being watched by a god.
But even so, nearly everyone who survives lands injured.
Luckily, there's enough experintal waste here. Find sothing that restores life, and you can heal yourself.
The only problem is the side effects. A lot of people keep eating the waste and end up... mutating."
"Waste... divinity..." Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu exchanged a look, arriving at the sa thought simultaneously. "You're saying the divinity fragnts are inside the experintal waste?"
"I don't know! Please don't hit ! I really don't know.
I haven't been here long. You can tell from where I live that I'm nowhere near qualified to approach the central zone. Only the veteran scavengers who've lived here for years actually know what secrets this place holds.
Newcors like us... we have to ensure survival first before thinking about anything else."
Han Mo cast a pitiful look at his freshly bisected shack. He was on the verge of tears.
"It took
ten days to find this house..."
"..." Cheng Shi pursed his lips, imdiately redirecting bla at Ai Si. "Why'd you go and chop his house?"
Ai Si's jaw dropped. "???"
"What are you staring at? Wasn't you? Don't tell
you're offended — wanna fight?"
Cheng Shi scoffed, brandishing a scalpel. "Care to guess whether my blade is faster, or your heal?"
Ai Si's raised great sword froze mid-swing. Rembering the legendary tales of Cheng Shi's terrifying combat power, she drew a deep breath, closed her eyes, and lowered the weapon.
'This girl does NOT pick fights she can't win.'
Watching Ai Si swallow her frustration, Cheng Shi chuckled, dropped Han Mo, and pressed onward.
"Let's go, Zhang-lao. We need to pick up the pace. Before those two mutts catch up, we have to understand what this place is.
And don't forget — there may still be a mysterious trailblazer ahead of us."
With soone volunteering to take point, Zhang the Squint would never refuse. And so the trio vanished once more into the wind and snow.
After they left, Han Mo — who'd been wailing on his knees in the snow over his lost ho — abruptly went still. He stood, shed the disguise, and slowly transford into a trench-coat-wearing... Cheng Shi.
"Interesting. If that one is who I think it is, then the other one — who could it be?"
Trench Coat Cheng Shi pondered for a mont, unearthed the real Han Mo — buried beside the ruined shack — and dumped him on the ground. Then, soundlessly, he set off in the direction the three had gone.
Following them.
...
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