Ch72 - Fear of the Full Moon

The group took advantage of this time to stagger forward through the increasingly fierce wind and snow. They had seen the immortal half-body of the woman and didn’t believe that the small avalanche could really do any harm to these four monsters.

Therefore, they needed to take advantage of this hard-won opportunity to expand their advantage as much as possible. They trudged through the snow in a roundabout manner. 

The snowy mountain was difficult to walk on. It was sometimes deep, sometimes shallow. Some places could be crossed with a single stride while in other places, half their leg would sink into the snow.

Fortunately, they all supported each other and the travel speed wasn’t slow.

Everything was quiet. They took one step at a time and there was only the sound of the snow. Snow naturally had the characteristics of absorbing sound and reflecting light. The silver dazzled everyone wearing snow goggles. Combined with not knowing the way forward, it was hard not to feel a sense of loneliness and panic. Therefore, they got as close to each other as possible and used their body temperature and skin contract to cheer each other up.

Nan Zhou didn’t let Jiang Fang carry him and silently followed the team. 

Li Yinhang was led away by Liang Shu and she couldn’t help looking back frequently. She was very worried about Nan Zhou’s health.

Jiang Fang gently held Nan Zhou’s hand in his own palm and gently hummed a song. It was a Ukrainian ballad. His voice was very good. It was hoarse with a slight sense of electricity. It was easily dispersed by the refreshing snowy breeze but it was just right in Nan Zhou’s ear. It was light and warm.

He Yinchuan warned from behind them, “Save oxygen.”

Jiang Fang glanced at him, nodded to thank him for the concern and continued to hum his song.

He Yinchuan watched Nan Zhou staggering and guessed that this person’s physical strength was coming to an end. He wiped his cheeks, set his watch and issued an order. “Rest! Three minutes!”

Nan Zhou was particularly obedient and immediately sat on the ground, burying his face in his knees. He took this time to straighten out his breathing and restore his physical strength.

He Yinchuan was used to joking around with his comrades. He placed a hand to Nan Zhou’s head and laughed. “This big guy, why are you so weak?”

Nan Zhou raised his head from his arms to look at He Yinchuan. He gasped out white fog and frost formed at the tips of his hair, making his face look even more beautiful and bloodless. 

He Yinchuan gave him a slightly helpless look. He walked at the back in order to protect the rear. Another reason was that he wanted to see what was so special about the person who made Lin Zhisong pay so much attention.

At one point, he thought Nan Zhou’s weakness was a disguise. As a result, he observed Nan Zhou from all angles and felt that this person was a smart and weak, sickly beauty. His movements were even a bit clumsy. He just had a slightly better brain. Was this worth Lin Zhisong keeping an eye on him?

He Yinchuan shook his head and couldn’t figure out why Lin Zhisong was targeting Nan Zhou. Lin Zhisong was a person who thought in his heart and refused to express his guess to them. At this thought, He Yinchuan shook his head helplessly again. Then he walked forward to check the situation of the others.

Lu Bifang was arranged to explore the way first and the others followed. Naturally, he consumed a lot of physical strength. However, he also remembered his responsibilities. The moment he stopped, he went to see the Cube Boat group of three. 

Lu Bifang was gasping like a bellows but he was much better than Nan Zhou’s low, pained gasps. He couldn’t help wanting to help but most of Nan Zhou’s body was held in Jiang Fang’s arms. Jiang Fang was tenderly patting and touching Nan Zhou and Lu Bifang couldn’t find a place to intervene.

He had to give a reminder. “If you want to pass the instances, you should think of your physical fitness… you still have to exercise…”

Nan Zhou lightly raised his head, almost as if the goggles were too heavy. “Thank you.”

Lu Bifang smiled honestly and cutely. “You’re welcome.” 

Nan Zhou placed his hands on his knees and looked at his reflection in the snow. The sky and the moon were like a giant searchlight. The shadows shrank timidly at his feet, leaving only a short section that was almost nothing. He watched it quietly for a moment before abruptly getting up.

…Then he fell straight back down because his legs were weak. Fortunately, Jiang Fang quickly caught him, using his toes to pad the bend of Nan Zhou’s knees and hooking Nan Zhou into his arms. The two people hugged and rolled in the soft snow for two laps before they stopped the downward trend.

He Yinchuan, who was talking to Zhou Ao, turned back and looked at the two people who suddenly rolled together. “……”

He asked, “What’s wrong?” 

Nan Zhou looked up from Jiang Fang’s arms and said, “We can’t keep going like this.”

He Yinchuan wondered, “What should we do?”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Nan Zhou suggested, “Let’s separate.”

Lf Tlcmtejc kjr atf olgra ab bypfma. “Rb. Qf mjc’a ifjnf jcsbcf yftlcv.” 

Rjc Itbe kjr ujrqlcu yea tlr fsfr tjv j olgw ibbx. “Ktlr lrc’a j vlrmerrlbc.”

Lf Tlcmtejc rajgfv ja atlr kfjx yea jifga sbecu wjc. Lf kjr kbgglfv atja Rjc Itbe kbeiv vgju atf afjw vbkc klat tlr qtsrlmji ragfcuat yea jcbatfg nblmf abiv tlw atja tf mbeivc’a ifa remt j cjlnf jcv kliilcu qfgrbc pera vlf.

He Yinchuan stated, “Tell me your arrangements.”

“Brother Fang and I will leave you. We will go separately in two teams.” 

The Bronze Brigade already had some doubts about the identity of the two men. Combined with the discovered tape recorder, they suddenly thought that these two people were aware that their identity was about to be revealed and wanted to find an excuse to flee the team.

Lin Zhisong came closer. A large amount of fog emerged from his mouth, obscuring the doubts in his eyes. “Where will you go?”

He asked ‘you’ but his eyes were only on Nan Zhou alone.

Nan Zhou opened his mouth. “Look for a place where you can camp on this mountain.” 

This sounded too much like an excuse to get away.

Liang Shu asked, “You don’t plan to continue climbing?”

Nan Zhou told her, “It doesn’t make sense to climb up blindly. The top of the mountain might not be what they really care about.”

This was a bit brainless. 

He Yinchuan frowned. “Didn’t they say that the moon god who eats people is at the top of the mountain?”

Nan Zhou answered, “They also said that they can’t offend the moon god so they will kill anyone who goes up the mountain.”

There was silence as the wind and snow passed.

He Yinchuan frowned. “You mean that they lied?” 

“I don’t know.” Nan Zhou added, “I do know that they don’t want us to reach the top of the mountain.”

Wasn’t that obvious?

Nan Zhou continued, “But they often go up the mountain themselves.”

In their conversation, they mentioned that they would patrol the mountain regularly. It was precisely because the players learned that this group of monsters would patrol the mountain that they had to give up the illusion of being stationed in place. They chose to create a diversion to send these monsters away. 

However, Nan Zhou had been watching them and felt something strange. The moment they talked about patrolling the mountain, they all uniformly stared at the mountain. It seemed that their duty was to patrol the distance from their place of residence to the top of the mountain.

As for the foot of the mountain, it wasn’t worthy of their attention as long as there were no signs or evidence of intruders. The proof was that even when they listened to the false information and went down the mountain to search, they left two people to watch the small building out of fear the players would go up the mountain.

“They are afraid of something. So on one hand, they threaten other climbers that there is a moon god and no one is allowed to go up. On the other hand, they hunt down those who really want to go up the mountain.”

“This means there might be something important and inviolable to them on the mountain.” 

“That thing isn’t necessarily at the top of the mountain because if it was at the top, they can just stand guard all the time.”

“Therefore, I want to look for a place where it is easy to camp and rest at an altitude of 4,513 meters to see if there are any clues.”

It had to be said that even if Nan Zhou was finding excuses to leave the team, this was a really good reason. Moreover, this was nothing more than Nan Zhou’s guess. It wasn’t worth having everyone go to verify it. The best way to deal with it was to separate two or three people to prove this conjecture. The rest could still focus on climbing and seizing the high ground.

He Yinchuan felt speechless and turned to Jiang Fang. “Are you going with him?” 

Nan Zhou hadn’t asked Jiang Fang’s opinion so he also turned to look at this person. Jiang Fang smiled and shrugged. “It is my honor.”

He Yinchuan sighed slightly. He knew this meant they couldn’t be convinced. He could see that Jiang Fang might be clever but this person was a real Nan Zhou supremacist. He ordered, “Xiao Lu—”

Jiang Fang waved his hand. “No, the two of us are fine.”

This was a decision to part ways with them. 

Li Yinhang naturally knew which side she wanted to stand on. She tried to follow but she was stopped by a gesture from Nan Zhou. He said flatly but directly, “I can’t protect you now. Moreover, it is already very tiring for Brother Fang to take care of me.”

Nan Zhou turned to He Yinchuan. “Help take care of our Yinhang. Once the mission is over, we will pick her up.”

Jiang Fang also smiled. “Yinhang, listen to their words.”

It sounded like parents coming to pick up their child after school. 

Li Yinhang stopped walking toward them, thought for a while before responding in an obedient manner. “Yes.”

He Yinchuan fixed his gaze on Nan Zhou.

Nan Zhou’s eyes under the pale goggles were very cold. There was little emotion in them but they were clear. He Yinchuan sensed that they weren’t trying to escape. They really wanted to find another way to clear the game.

*** 

Liang Shu looked at the backs of Jiang Fang and Nan Zhou, who was lying on Jiang Fang’s shoulders, and curiously asked Li Yinhang, “Were you friends before?”

Li Yinhang replied, “No, we didn’t know each other before we entered this game.”

Lin Zhisong looked into her eyes. “How much do you know about them?”

This undisguised tone made Li Yinhang a bit angry. She spoke sharply and clearly expressed her position. “They are good people.” 

Liang Shu heard the disgust and resistance in her words and hit Lin Zhisong with her elbow, reminding him to converge himself. Lin Zhisong closed his mouth but thought of Jiang Fang’s actions just now when he pierced the woman’s heart with the ice pickaxe. It was without hesitation. The other party might not be human but Jiang Fang also didn’t look like one. As for Nan Zhou…

Lin Zhisong had always been confident in his memory so he felt annoyed. He had definitely, absolutely seen Nan Zhou before. It was just that the impression was faint, just like now when he looked at Nan Zhou’s back through the snow.

It was only separated by one layer but it was difficult to find the truth.

Li Yinhang felt a bit of regret after snapping back at Lin Zhisong. She was still being protected by them. Why should she be so stiff? As a scholar of hugging thighs, Li Yinhang quickly passed over this situation and took the initiative to say, “Let’s go.” 

***

On the vast snow peak, the eight small ants separated with one group going to the right.

Not long after, the only thing that could confirm Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang’s existence as they moved between heaven and earth was the warmth in the place where their bodies met. Nan Zhou lay on Jiang Fang’s back, his legs crossed over Jiang Fang’s waist. He asked softly, “Am I heavy?”

Jiang Fang handed him a compressed biscuit with one hand and smiled. “You can work hard from now on.” 

Nan Zhou hid behind him and gently bit the biscuit that was frozen hard. He dusted off the biscuit crumbs that fell on Jiang Fang’s shoulders. Like He Yinchuan, their goal was clear.

It was a piece of flat land, away from the gravel, snow belt and places with depressions. In this area with an altitude of over 4,000 meters, most mountaineering teams would be too exhausted to launch an assault on the top of the mountain. Thus, there weren’t many locations that could meet the relevant conditions.

Nan Zhou had almost recovered from his extreme muscle soreness and breathing difficulties. He could’ve gotten off and walked alongside Jiang Fang. However, listening to Jiang Fang’s heavy and stagnant breathing from this close distance, Nan Zhou couldn’t help touching his heart.

He felt uncomfortable. Was it because the elevation meant he was closer to the moon? He pulled at a corner of Jiang Fang’s clothes. “I want to rest.” 

Jiang Fang asked him, “Are you tired?”

“Yes.” You are the tired one.

Jiang Fang found a rock with shelter from the wind. It was just small enough for the two of them to hide and he put Nan Zhou down properly. The angle wasn’t quite right so the shoulder strap of Jiang Fang’s coat hooked on Nan Zhou’s hat and tore it off.

Jiang Fang laughed. “I’m sorry.” 

He picked up the hat, lifted up the goggles, placed it on the brim of the hat and slid his fingers over Nan Zhou’s ears before restoring the hat in place. He didn’t know where the impulse came from but Jiang Fang didn’t stop. He pulled the hat all the way down to cover Nan Zhou’s eyes. He only exposed Nan Zhou’s light colored lips.

Nan Zhou didn’t resist but as his vision blurred, he raised an eyebrow with a bit of confusion.

Jiang Fang had taken off his gloves. The reason Nan Zhou could make such a judgment when he couldn’t see was because Jiang Fang was touching his lips with extremely hot fingers.

Nan Zhou inexplicably felt that this scene was a bit familiar. It was as if at some point in the past, there was such a hand. His eyes had been covered by a foreign object and it did such an action to him. 

The fingers stroked, pressed and moved lightly over his lips before using the knuckles to rub against his lips. It was as if his lips were a treasure. The refreshing and slightly hot breath between his lips returned to Nan Zhou’s face and was as familiar as it was back then. But… he vaguely remembered that someone had done the same actions to himself. That person was clearly tired like Jiang Fang, slightly gasping for breath in front of him as if that person was catching his breath.

Nan Zhou felt a bit strange. He even wondered if his mouth was stained from eating the biscuit just now. Still, he didn’t move.

Jiang Fang didn’t do any extra moves. In an instant, he pulled back the hat covering Nan Zhou’s eyes to its original spot. Nan Zhou’s black and bright eyes were able to see the light again.

Jiang Fang, who was kneeling on one knee in front of him, locked eyes with him for a moment before using his cold hands to cover Nan Zhou’s eyes. “Why aren’t you closing your eyes? You should rest.” 

Under the moonlight, Jiang Fang’s smile had a splendid heroic spirit. Nan Zhou’s expression was still cold and indifferent. He didn’t say anything. He just picked up the gloves on his knees and put them on Jiang Fang.

Jiang Fang naturally had no objections and took the initiative to extend his hands. Just as Jiang Fang was looking at Nan Zhou’s eyes, his mind full of emotions, there was a light at the corner of his eyes and he caught a small afterimage in the falling snow.

Jiang Fang reacted quickly and immediately pressed Nan Zhou’s head down, hiding behind the black rock completely.

Nan Zhou was pressed down by him and accidentally formed a ten fingers interlocked pose as he was wrapped in Jiang Fang’s arms again. 

He looked silently at Jiang Fang with surprise.

Jiang Fang shushed him. Jiang Fang was also afraid of him hurting his eyes so Jiang Fang felt for the goggles and put them on for him. Then he willingly let Nan Zhou out to check the situation with him.

At first, Nan Zhou saw something moving through the snow and thought they were going to meet those monsters again. It wasn’t until the wind and snow became smaller that he could see what the strangely shaped thing was.

There was a pair of legs in yellow hiking pants running in the snow. Yes, only legs. Looking at the shape of the pelvis, the legs should belong to a woman. 

The scene was a bit funny but after seeing it with his own eyes, the amusement was replaced by an unusually harsh and weird sense of horror. These legs seemed to have their own mind. They ran for a while before stopping, as if looking for a goal.

Nan Zhou watched silently and thought, ‘This is probably the real split action.’

Nan Zhou glanced at Jiang Fang. Jiang Fang also happened to be casting a sly gaze at him and blinked at him. The two of them exchanged looks and reached an agreement.

Jiang Fang took out the C-grade item called ‘Everyone Loves Beauty’. 

It was a small, round make-up mirror. This thing was very much in line with the role of a C-grade item. It didn’t do much.

Jiang Fang leaned back against the rock, weighed the mirror in his palm and casually threw it. The mirror rose up and fell silently into the nearby snow. Even so, the legs seemed aware of something. They suddenly stopped moving and looked at the black rock that was 40 meters away.

The upside down mirror there was bathed in the moonlight. It faced the legs and reflected a dazzling light. It was like charming bait.