Trembling At A High Altitude

As he was falling, Li Teng suddenly smashed the mountaineering hammer onto the broken ice surface.

But he didn't catch on.

The ice broke irregularly, but miraculously, a rock wedge appeared on the other side of the break without being carried away by the breaking ice, and it caught Li Teng as he fell at the critical moment.

Li Teng hastily smashed the mountaineering hammer onto the broken ice surface again, and finally wedged the tip of the hammer firmly into the ice.

After a while, Li Teng took out another mountaineering hammer and another rock wedge, carefully chose a spot, hammered the rock wedge into the ice surface, and then hooked his carabiner onto that rock wedge.

Then came the second rock wedge.

The third...

Beneath this particular ice surface was solid rock, so there was no longer the worry of collapse or breakage.

"Are you okay?"

Only after firmly securing himself did Li Teng call down to check.

"I'm fine," Liu Hui weakly responded to Li Teng.

She had been hit in the head by a chunk of ice, her forehead covered in blood.

But she wasn't dead, and during the commotion, she'd managed to swing over to the rock wall and grabbed onto a protruding rock, fixing herself in place with a rock wedge.

"Are you secured?" Li Teng also felt that there was no more pulling force on his body from below.

"Wait a moment," Liu Hui hammered two more rock wedges into the cliff.

"Okay! You can loosen the rope now!" Liu Hui shouted up after finishing.

Li Teng loosened the rope between them a bit and then climbed back up to the ice surface one step at a time.

After finding a safe place and nailing several rock wedges to fully secure himself, Li Teng then returned to the cliffside under the protection of the rope, helping Liu Hui, who had grabbed the rope and was climbing up, to pull her up.

Once Liu Hui climbed up, the two of them lay on the ice surface, breathing heavily.

After a while, Li Teng sat up.

He noticed that Liu Hui beside him seemed to have fallen silent.

Frowning, he checked the wound on Liu Hui's forehead. It looked... not too serious on the outside, could it be internal damage?

...

"Damn it! I'm going to die," Li Teng sighed.

Liu Hui couldn't help but glare at Li Teng.

...

After resting for a while, the two continued on their way.

This time, Li Teng walked in front.

He had realized that Liu Hui was also a novice.

Letting her lead the way would sooner or later get him killed.

Before dark, the two finally descended the mountain peak and returned to the main path they'd been on before.

The journey still consisted of mountain paths or forests, and they couldn't walk after dark.

They were still several kilometers away from the location Li Teng had planned on the map.

The entire day had been spent on that mountain.

Fortunately... there had been some gains as well.

He estimated that the nights they would spend camping in the next few days wouldn't be too boring.

As night fell, they could only set up camp on the spot.

Li Teng found an angled, wind-sheltered spot at the base of the mountain, gathered branches to build a makeshift lean-to, and lit a bonfire in front of the lean-to.

The two sat huddled together beside the fire.

"What is your relationship with my sister? Tell me the truth," Liu Hui had been dwelling on this question ever since they came down the mountain.

"A very pure and ordinary friendship," Li Teng answered Liu Hui.

"You said you lived with her in Time Bubble for two months, in the same house for two months and still maintained a very pure and ordinary friendship?" Liu Hui didn't believe what Li Teng said.

"She's very reserved," Li Teng explained.

"Are you saying I'm promiscuous?" Liu Hui became displeased.

"No, but I really don't have the kind of relationship with her that you're thinking of," Li Teng said, feeling somewhat exasperated.

"I'm not really interested in what kind of relationship you have with her. I was just asking," Liu Hui changed her tune.

"That's good."

"What did you say?"

"Really, it's nothing!"

...

Whether Director Yuan finally had a change of heart, or he thought that the previous traps were enough to deal with Li Teng, the "bastard," today's journey was surprisingly smooth, and they didn't encounter any more of those perverse traps.

Plus, with some extra nourishment, the two of them traveled quickly, and by the time the sky was beginning to darken, they had already arrived at a small town on the outskirts of Storm Ridge in C zone.

Located between A zone's Qingfeng Village and B zone's Black Dragon Association, Storm Ridge was a large neutral camp.

Fully armed hunters were allowed to roam in Storm Ridge, so the real battle was just beginning.

The nearest building in the small town seemed to be an inn, from which wafted the aroma of food.

For the two who had been eating bear meat for several days, this was very tempting.

Technically speaking, this place was not yet in C zone, and hunters were not allowed in the town.

It was another two or three kilometers before they would be on Storm Ridge territory.

Still, they veered off the main path and entered a quiet, out-of-the-way small shop to avoid falling into any traps.

"For the two of you, is it dining, lodging, or shopping?"

The shopkeeper warmly welcomed Li Teng and his companion into the shop.

A strong-looking man, who could also be the chef of the shop, stood by the shopkeeper's side.

"What dishes do you have?" Li Teng said, pretending to browse the shop as he walked up to the man. With a chokehold, he brought him down to the ground and quickly tied up his hands and feet with a rope.

On the other side, Liu Hui had already dealt with the shopkeeper.

After tying up the shopkeeper and his helper and gagging them, Li Teng searched around the shop and found no one else.

He then instructed Liu Hui to close the shop door and pull the curtains over all the windows.