Trembling At A High Altitude

"Can you give us some firearms and weapons?" Li Teng asked the team lead.

"Weapons are useless inside," the team lead blurted out.

"Oh? Is there something you're not telling us?" Li Teng probed.

"How could that be? We know nothing about the inside," the team lead hurriedly denied.

The soldiers around them clutched their guns, warily watching Li Teng.

"Give us a military knife or even a dagger. Inside the mountain, a military knife isn't just for fighting," Li Teng continued to negotiate with the team lead.

"It's not necessary. Whatever you bring in will be of no use, you really don't need it," the team lead rejected Li Teng again.

"Can we write a will?" A man in his thirties with a trembling voice raised the question to the team lead.

"You're not going in to die. Why write a will?" the team lead was getting a bit impatient.

"Really? We're surely not coming back alive!" another woman spoke up.

"It's clear you're sending us to our deaths. What's wrong with writing a will?" more people among the ten began to protest.

The team lead raised a hand, and the soldiers promptly pointed their guns at the ten people.

"We have no choice. For all of humanity, you must undertake this mission. As long as you're smart enough, coming back alive shouldn't be a big problem.

"But if anyone disobeys orders, that's making enemies with the entire rescue and resettlement point.

"Our soldiers can only execute military orders, which would mean immediate execution on the spot!"

The team lead continued to persuade everyone.

Being pointed at with gun barrels, that's not persuasion.

That's coercion.

Without any other option, the ten people had to walk into the thick fog under the pressure of gun barrels.

Some people stopped a few steps after entering the fog.

Weren't they told that visibility was only two meters? If they went beyond two meters, those outside couldn't see them anymore. Staying here without going further in should be safe, right?

But that thought was quickly dismissed by the individual.

Because the soldiers, lined up in a row, had also entered the thick fog, holding assault rifles, and continued to herd the people forward.

With the cliff on one side and a precipice on the other of the mountain path, being herded by soldiers wielding assault rifles, the group had no choice but to keep moving forward.

The distance of ten meters was quickly reached.

The soldiers all stopped at the two-meter mark, watching as the people passed through the last of the thick fog.

"Ah! Look behind you!"

Just then, Li Teng and the others stopped as well, turning to look back with an expression of extreme horror at something behind the soldiers.

Although these soldiers had professional training, they hadn't expected these people to play this trick on them.

The soldiers, as well as the team lead, all instinctively looked back for a moment.

After realizing they had been tricked, the soldiers quickly turned back and aimed their guns toward the edge of the mist where the ten people had been.

All ten had vanished.

The soldiers exchanged glances, confused about what those people had just done.

It was only when they individually emerged from the fog that they discovered...

The team lead hadn't come out with them!

Going back into the fog to search yielded no trace of him.

As for bursting through the fog layer into the Barrier of Xianyu Mountain...

That was impossible.

...

Time rewinds to two minutes earlier.

As everyone was shouting at the soldiers to 'look behind,' Li Teng, like a ghost, moved swiftly to the team lead's side, grabbed his neck, and dragged him into the Mist Shell Barrier with the speed of lightning.

This was something Li Teng urgently instructed Yuki Noto as soon as they entered the Mist Shell.

Others, for their own benefit, also agreed to cooperate.

After the performance, the team lead and the soldiers were successfully distracted.

And in that instant, Li Teng forcibly brought the team lead into the Barrier.

Li Teng realized that these soldiers knew nothing about the Barrier, but the team lead held some confidential information.

To pry out this information, the best method was to bring him in as well.

Upon entering the Mist Shell, everything inside returned to normal.

They couldn't even see the Mist Shell; their vision could directly penetrate the Mist Shell and view the situation outside.

Like the soldiers searching for the team lead and the armored vehicles parked nearby that had been modified.

But if they tried to go back, they would find themselves blocked by a layer similar to glass, but incredibly sturdy, impenetrable—that Barrier prevented any return.

"We're dead! Damn it! We're so dead!"

The team lead, realizing he had been forcibly taken into the Barrier by Li Teng, couldn't help but turn pale.

"Since we're definitely dead, you might as well spill everything you know. It might help all of us survive," Li Teng said, patting the team lead's face, interrogating him.

"I signed a confidentiality agreement; I can't say anything even in death," the team lead shook his head vigorously.

"Some things are worse than death, like if I use this military knife from your body to slice your flesh off piece by piece..." Li Teng drew a military knife from the team lead's body and gestured over him.

The team lead remained silent.

Li Teng drove the tip of the knife into the team lead's arm.

"I'll speak!"

The team lead obviously wasn't as steadfast as he imagined; feeling the pain, he capitulated in a moment.

Li Teng rolled his eyes.

He had thought it would take more effort.

"What do you want to know?" the team lead said, hanging his head, probably thinking of a strategy.

"Tell me everything about this Barrier. It matters not just to the human race on Earth, but also your very life," Li Teng reminded the team lead.

"After you come in, don't expect to be able to go back; this Mist Shell is one-way, and none of the people we sent in yesterday have returned," the team leader replied to Li Teng.

"What else?"

"This might be a Barrier created by aliens, or it could be a small testing field created by some alien cause-and-effect weapon. Terrible things can happen here."

"What kind of terrible things?" Li Teng continued to ask.

"Like, for example... Help... Help me!"

Suddenly, the team leader started to violently grab his own neck as if unable to breathe, and his body contorted in some way. Before Li Teng could catch him, he was lifted into the air and flung toward the nearby cliff.

Then, amid his screams, he fell deep down the cliffside.

Most of the people at the scene were petrified by this spectacle, retreating to the other side of the mountain path, trembling against the rock face.

"What just happened?" Yuki Noto seemed relatively calm, approaching Li Teng to ask.

"I don't know, it looked like he was killed by some supernatural power," frowned Li Teng.

In this scenario, where the main character doesn't have superpowers, but supernatural forces exist in the environment, Li Teng knew that if he, and not the team leader, had encountered the supernatural power just now, he would have been equally powerless to resist and would have met his end without a fight.

"What should we do now?" Yuki Noto asked Li Teng.

"This mountain road is not safe, staying here is meaningless. So, my suggestion is that we continue toward the top and reach Xianyu Villa. We must go there to figure out what exactly is going on, whether it's to complete the camp's mission, or the one on our watches," replied Li Teng to Yuki Noto.

"Alright, we'll follow your lead," Yuki Noto nodded.

"Go take care of them, I'll lead the way," Li Teng pointed at the others.

After all, they might still be useful as cannon fodder; best to bring them along if possible.

"Okay," Yuki Noto went over to persuade the others.

There was a division among the group.

Some people decided to climb the mountain with Li Teng, aiming to enter Xianyu Villa.

Others chose to stay put on the chance that the Mist Shell Barrier might suddenly open, and they could slip back.

"You're oversimplifying things. It's impossible for there to be another exit here. To break this Barrier and find a way out, we definitely have to go to Xianyu Villa at the top of the mountain," Yuki Noto earnestly tried to persuade those who wanted to stay behind.

More people were convinced, and the majority opted to ascend the mountain.

"Do you really want to go up the mountain? Go up with that man? Haven't you thought about how unlucky he is? He drew the short straw when picking lots and was the first to pick out his own name; then, because of him, we were dragged into this and ended up coming here to carry out this damned mission.

"He's a jinx! If you follow him, aren't you afraid you'll get even unluckier?"

A chubby man stood up to remind those who were preparing to go up the mountain. This man was a staunch stay-put advocate, mainly because... climbing the mountain would be too tiring for him.

Hearing this, many people snapped out of it.

Yeah! With Li Teng being such bad luck, why should they follow him?

As a result, out of the remaining eight people, the greater number—six of them—decided to stay with the chubby man, leaving only two willing to climb the mountain with Li Teng and Yuki Noto.

"Then the four of us will go up the mountain together," Li Teng said, not insisting further.

"Without going to Xianyu Villa, without unraveling the secrets here, without settling the cause and effect, we should all eventually die one by one. Don't be foolish, okay?" Yuki Noto continued to urge, unwilling to give up.

It still had no effect.

"You all saw how the person leading the team just died; he died right here, indicating there's a problem with this place. Aren't you afraid of ending up dead like him?" Yuki Noto reminded everyone.

Some were persuaded by her words and began to hesitate about whether or not to go up the mountain with Li Teng.

"Don't listen to her! The team leader died because he had a secret and was about to spill it, so he was silenced. We know nothing right now, so the mysterious power of this place won't target us for silencing. If we go up the mountain and uncover some secret, then we'll truly end up dead, silenced for sure!" The chubby man immediately corrected Yuki Noto's statement.

Hearing what the chubby man said, those who were hesitant to climb the mountain were dissuaded.

Even the two who had agreed to join Li Teng were murmuring to each other for a while, and then suddenly yelled towards Li Teng and Yuki Noto that they had decided to stay with the majority. After apologizing, they ran back.

Only Li Teng and Yuki Noto were left to decide to head to Xianyu Villa.

"No one is willing to follow; what do we do now?" Having climbed partway up the mountain and unable to see the rest of the group at the edge of the Mist Shell, Yuki Noto asked Li Teng.

"What else can we do? Keep climbing," Li Teng said with an indifferent expression.

"Without any sacrificial lambs, it's just the two of us. If we run into something, it's like we are singled out..." Yuki Noto reminded Li Teng.

"Aren't you the sacrificial lamb?" Li Teng retorted.

"I..." Yuki Noto found herself at a loss for words.

"No one else is around, so tell me the truth! Who are you really?" Li Teng suddenly spun around, pinning Yuki Noto against the cliffside with a 'wall slam.'

"Who am I really? Of course… Of course, I am a woman, haha… Definitely not a big fluffy fangirl. You can check if you don't believe me," Yuki said, visibly nervous.

"Cut it out, you know exactly what I'm asking." Li Teng actually reached out, just in case Yuki Noto had accidentally spoken the truth.

"I really don't know," Yuki Noto blushed. You actually went through with the check?

"I have a hundred ways to make you tell the truth," Li Teng said, applying a sudden force.

"Ah…" Yuki Noto's eyes widened.

"Are you going to talk?" Li Teng glared intensely.

"I'll talk!" Yuki Noto caved immediately, fearing things would get out of hand otherwise.

"Go on," Li Teng continued to stare at her.

"I am also an actor from Film and Television City," Yuki Noto finally spoke up.

Li Teng remained silent, waiting for her to go on.

"Before becoming an actor in Film and Television City, I was a viewer.

"I never imagined that one day, I would also become an actor… Sigh…

"When I was just a viewer, I had been following your performances and guess I turned into one of your super loyal fans? From when you started as an extra in Film and Television City to your rise as a leading character.

"So I know a lot about you, am familiar with everything about you. I know you're very capable, bright, handsome, responsible, intelligent, brave, a master at solving mysteries and very skilled in combat. Your only flaw is being somewhat lecherous; you fall for every woman you see, having no resistance to them at all," Yuki Noto answered Li Teng.

"And you claim to know me very well with that? Who are you trying to fool?" Li Teng looked at her disdainfully.

Li Teng had suspected Yuki Noto's connection with Film and Television City but didn't expect that she was actually a big-time viewer.

"What's wrong? Did I say something incorrect?" Yuki Noto was puzzled.

"The earlier part was fairly accurate, but saying I'm lecherous? Fall for every woman I see? No resistance to them? If you really were my loyal fan, you'd know I'm a family man, extremely loyal to my wife, chaste, never indulging in any temptations recklessly, and I…"

Li Teng was about to go on when Yuki Noto, pinned to the cliff by the 'wall slam,' suddenly tiptoed and cut off the rest of his words.