Having found their people, and in front of all the mountain dwellers, as a leader of the third branch, she naturally had to mind her behavior. Ni Qiuhui was the one who descended unhurriedly, last of all.

After just a few steps, she suddenly noticed those hand gestures.

Mountain Ghosts didn’t have specialized signals like Water Ghosts with their “Water Ghost Beckoning,” but she was familiar with the general gestures. This was certainly not joyful, welcoming waving…

Her heart tightened, and she shouted: “Don’t come down yet!”

It was too late. Jiang Lian’s feet met empty air, and his entire body suddenly plunged downward.

Everything happened too quickly for anyone to see clearly what had occurred. Shen Gun, following right behind Jiang Lian, saw him instantly drop lower and thought he had stepped into some trap. Without thinking, he extended both hands to grab Jiang Lian’s shoulders.

He failed to grab him, but between Shen Gun’s two hands ran a binding rope, which, with uncanny precision, looped around Jiang Lian’s neck.

However, Shen Gun had no martial arts foundation—his arms lacked strength, and his stance was unstable. So instead of arresting Jiang Lian’s fall, he was pulled head-first after him. The two men, like two sausage links hanging together, disappeared in an instant.

Jiang Lian couldn’t exactly tell what he had fallen into.

He only knew it was tube-shaped, but not a straight vertical tube. It was more like a playground slide, sometimes spiraling, sometimes twisting, but generally heading downward—slippery and ice-cold. His flashlight had fallen first and kept hitting against surfaces ahead, producing monotonous, hollow sounds. The light beam swung in all directions, occasionally illuminating scenes that confirmed his thoughts.

It was indeed ice covering all sides, too slippery to grasp. One simply couldn’t stabilize oneself and could only slide rapidly downward, helpless to resist.

Of course, this wasn’t the most terrifying part. What was truly frightening was that he was being strangled so severely that his eyes were rolling back and his tongue was involuntarily protruding. This cursed binding rope that Shen Gun had repeatedly insisted would “prove useful someday” had finally demonstrated its usefulness!

It was about to strangle him to death.

Jiang Lian first desperately bent his elbows and pushed with his legs, trying to brace against the tube walls to stop their descent. However, the friction was far too minimal. He then pulled the dagger from his waist, and, enduring the discomfort of near-strangulation and the golden stars dancing before his eyes, desperately stabbed and poked at the sides.

Whether it was dumb luck or not, at one moment, he managed to stop for a few seconds. He grabbed the rope around his neck and only had time to say, “Are you trying to strangle me to death?” before sliding down again.

This time, he employed two tactics simultaneously—randomly kicking and stamping while continuously stabbing with his dagger. Shen Gun also caught on, imitating his actions, bracing and grabbing. After about ten seconds, the two achieved another precarious, delicate pause.

The flashlight had already slid ahead to somewhere out of sight. Jiang Lian didn’t dare breathe heavily and moved with extreme caution, slowly reaching for the pocket flashlight in his backpack’s side pouch—no exaggeration, ice is the substance with the lowest friction on Earth. Breathing too hard or moving too forcefully would break their balance, sending them accelerating downward again.

Shortly after, the flashlight beam illuminated their surroundings. Jiang Lian first pointed it upward, his heart pounding, though he couldn’t help but find it amusing.

It turned out that this temporary halt was all thanks to Shen Gun: while flailing, one of his legs had kicked into a branch passage, forcing him into a split. This split, combined with the dagger’s stabbing, had granted them this precious pause.

Jiang Lian then pointed the light downward. At this, both men gasped sharply, their hearts nearly stopping.

Just about ten meters below them, sharp ice blades protruded from the tunnel wall, with edges thin yet tough. It was easy to imagine that if they hadn’t temporarily stopped but had continued accelerating, in just one second, they would have been sliced in half without even a groan—and due to inertia, the two halves would probably have continued sliding together for a while before showing asynchronous movement.

Just one glance was enough to make cold sweat break out on Jiang Lian’s forehead, his chest feeling a chill like a cold wind passing through: this was disastrous. With such minimal friction, the two might slide down again at any moment.

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he said softly: “Your leg, it’s in a branch passage, right?”

Shen Gun made an affirmative sound, both frightened and hushed.

Jiang Lian swallowed: “I’ll support you. You need to… get both legs in there, change our course, quickly.”

He didn’t need to say more; Shen Gun was already desperately trying to push his other leg into the branch. This alternative passage might not be safe either, but it was certainly better than the current one, which could kill them at any moment.

Jiang Lian clipped the pocket flashlight to his collar, pressed his back against the tube wall, and looked up to check Shen Gun’s progress: Shen Gun’s calves were already in the branch, but being head-down, he couldn’t twist his body through.

Gritting his teeth, Jiang Lian hooked the binding rope, kicked against the tube wall, and with a surge, pushed Shen Gun upward. Shen Gun instantly slid into the branch passage and, as Jiang Lian had hoped, the powerful downward momentum pulled Jiang Lian in as well—though they had successfully changed routes, they were essentially still two sausage links continuously falling, just with swapped positions.

But who knew if this new tube would contain ice blades or spikes?

The two men continued their old tactics, bracing even more frantically, like two giant spiders desperately struggling in a tube. This time, however, their luck wasn’t as good—they couldn’t stop completely, though they did manage to slow their descent somewhat. Then, very suddenly, they crashed into something and finally felt solid ground beneath their feet.

Shen Gun was dizzy from the slide, seeing stars dancing before his eyes. Jiang Lian suppressed his churning innards and raised the flashlight clipped to his collar.

The final section of this tube was quite narrow, making it cramped for two people to stand face-to-face. Pointing the light upward revealed a twisted tube wall, gleaming with the characteristic luminescence of ice, looking particularly hopeless.

Jiang Lian mentally calculated their falling time: “On that slope, there must be quite a few of these coming down…”

He was about to say “intestines,” but then realized that the term “mountain intestine” was already in use, and these tubes were much narrower than mountain intestines: “…blood vessels. They’re invisible from the surface, but once you step on them, disaster strikes.”

Shen Gun finally caught his breath: “Yes, that first one—anyone sliding down would die. This one… is it safe?”

Talking about “safety” in a place like this seemed somewhat unrealistic.

Jiang Lian pointed the flashlight downward, his heart suddenly skipping a beat.

What they were standing on wasn’t solid ground at all, but rather a perforated bronze plate. He crouched down, trying to see through the gaps, but at the limit of the flashlight’s beam, there was only a strange, indistinct blackness with a glossy sheen.

He then felt around the edge of the bronze plate.

The tube walls were covered in ice. Logically, the edges of this bronze plate should also be frozen, “welded” in place.

However, they weren’t.

Jiang Lian felt an ominous premonition: “This plate seems to be installed and removed from the outside, and it appears to have been manipulated recently.”

Shen Gun’s mouth half-opened, instantly understanding: “So this is like a cage? Someone outside pulls the plate away, and… catches us?”

Jiang Lian gestured to the flamethrower and gun at his waist: “Not necessarily. With us here, we can hold our ground.”

The modern firearms and equipment slightly reassured Shen Gun. He looked up at the tube wall above: “Then how do we… get out of here?”

Jiang Lian took off his backpack: “Going up isn’t realistic. Ice climbing requires specialized tools, and the two of us… have no chance. I hope someone does pull the plate from below.”

That way, they might have a chance to escape through the bottom.

But who knew how long they would have to wait for someone to pull the plate? Jiang Lian unzipped his pack and took out an energy bar for Shen Gun: “Eat something first, replenish your strength. This situation won’t be resolved quickly.”

Shen Gun accepted it, tore it open, broke off half, and handed it back to Jiang Lian. Jiang Lian took it but didn’t immediately eat, pausing for a moment before asking: “Do you think Qianzi might have fallen into one of these… blood vessels?”

The image of those cold, vertical ice blades flashed before his eyes again.

Shen Gun frowned as he chewed: “I doubt it. If she slid into that ice blade vessel, that would be… too tragic.”

Jiang Lian’s hand trembled involuntarily.

If Meng Qianzi had a choice, she probably wouldn’t consider her current predicament much better than sliding into an ice blade vessel.

She could barely hold onto Duan Wenxi’s ice corpse any longer.

Initially, she had been holding the shoulder and neck area of the ice corpse. After several failed attempts to climb up, her body had continuously slipped downward. She couldn’t even tell when exactly she had gone from holding the shoulder and neck to gripping the waist.

Even worse, the anesthetic for her leg injury had worn off. Whenever she tried to brace herself, pain made half her body tremble.

She couldn’t hang on like this much longer. Her consciousness was nearly scattered. Several times, she had almost given in to the desire to close her eyes and sleep, regardless of the consequences.

From above came an “ooh ooh ooh” sound.

Ooh, your head! Meng Qianzi looked up and shouted: “You!”

The “ooh” sounds stopped. After a while, the snow pheasant’s small head peered over the edge of the hole.

Meng Qianzi said, “Go find help for me, understand? Find help! We have over twenty people trapped here; you should be able to find one or two, understand? Go look! Bring someone here! Can’t you fly? Fly for me!”

Even if it brought back just one person, they could pull the chain and haul her up.

The snow pheasant’s head withdrew. After a while, she heard the sound of its wings flapping, which somewhat reassured her.

However, after a while, and then a while longer, the wing-flapping sound continued above. Once or twice, she even saw the snow pheasant glide past the opening.

Damn it, did I ask for a flying demonstration?

She roared: “I told you to go find someone!”

Perhaps because she shouted too fiercely, the snow pheasant, busy flying back and forth, trembled in fright and tumbled down from the edge of the hole. Meng Qianzi watched helplessly as it flapped its wings in panic, crashed into the side of the wall, and then rolled down, quickly disappearing.

Meng Qianzi was so angry that she saw black spots before her eyes.

That’s a chicken for you.

Jiang Lian hadn’t finished half his energy bar when he vaguely heard gurgling sounds.

He made a “shh” sound, tilting his ear to listen. After a while, he suddenly realized something and bent down to look.

Sure enough, that strange glossy blackness had drawn closer.

Shen Gun hadn’t seen anything, but noticing Jiang Lian’s pale face, his voice changed: “What’s wrong?”

“There’s water below. The water is rising.”

Rising water? Shen Gun was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized the severity of the situation: “If it rises to us, will we… drown?”

Jiang Lian gave a cold laugh: “Not just that. If it rises, it will likely freeze, and we’ll end up frozen in an ice pillar.”

Ice pillar?

Shen Gun suddenly remembered what Huang Song had mentioned about the two mountain dwellers frozen in ice pillars.

Could they have been frozen into pillars right here?

His teeth chattered with panic: “Quick, quick, Little Lian Lian, let’s climb up quickly.”

How the hell do we climb? Jiang Lian felt a chill down his spine and quickly rummaged through his backpack. Though not a Mountain Ghost, he had been equipped with the same gear, and Mountain Ghost equipment was largely prepared for climbing…

Found it. He pulled out a pack of rock pitons and a folding hammer, asking Shen Gun to hold the pitons while he anxiously looked for a suitable spot to hammer.

The gurgling sounds grew closer. Sweat beaded on Jiang Lian’s forehead. Fortunately, he finally found a spot at shoulder height where he could drive in a piton.

He quickly positioned the piton tip against the ice surface and hammered hard, sending ice shards flying. By the time one piton was driven in, water had already risen above the bronze plate.

Jiang Lian bent one leg and instructed Shen Gun: “Quick, step on my leg first. Once you’re up, immediately look for any cracks higher up where we can hammer.”

Shen Gun stepped on Jiang Lian’s leg and reached for the piton. As soon as he grabbed it, both man and piton crashed down with a splash.

The piton couldn’t even support his grip, let alone bear the weight of a full-grown man.

This approach wouldn’t work. Jiang Lian felt his eardrums buzzing. He encouraged himself and Shen Gun: “It’s okay, we’ll think of another way. There must be a solution…”

The water had reached their ankles, flowing in through the tops of their hiking boots, making their feet ice-cold.

Just then, Shen Gun, half-soaked and just getting to his feet, suddenly grabbed Jiang Lian’s arm: “Little Lian Lian, do you… Do you hear that?”

Jiang Lian and Shen Gun exchanged a glance, their lips trembling uncontrollably.

They heard it—an increasingly loud sound, moving from high to low, a crackling noise.

After a pause, they both looked up toward the top.

It was an overwhelming… something indescribable, grayish-brown like mountain rocks, thousands upon thousands, densely packed, rolling in masses, like a tide or a swarm of locusts, following this blood vessel along the tube walls, surging downward toward them.