Chapter 725 - 36: Ascent (Part 2)
Mapping out the route and looking for stable protrusion points took Chen Zhou quite some time. By the time everything was done, he had already unknowingly reached the bottom of the cliff.
After setting down Tiger First, he examined the entire cliff face from the ground up again.
The ridges from the front, the peaks from the side, differing at every angle and distance.
Previously standing atop the cliff, now standing on the ground, naturally he gathered more information and grasped more details.
...
After completing his observation and remembering a few key structures of the cliff face, Chen Zhou confidently started his ascent.
He descended the cliff three times, each faster than the last. As the little Saw-toothed Tigers regrouped, Paul followed Chen Zhou, embarking on his own "descent journey".
This time, Chen Zhou carried all the supplies on his back, leading the way above Paul.
He stuck small branches covered in moss into the crevices of the rock wall, marking secure footholds for Paul with their striking green color.
At this moment, the sun had almost completely set behind the distant mountains. The cliff face should have fallen into darkness, but a beacon atop the nearby Black Forest provided illumination, slightly reducing the difficulty of Paul’s descent. Along with Chen Zhou acting as a "living guide", they reached the ground smoothly and without incident.
...
"Now, people too far away should no longer be able to see the beacon."
Looking at the still-lowering beacon and comparing it to the height of the Broken Cliff, Chen Zhou speculated.
These past ten days seem to be the fixed timeframe given by the Space-Time Administration Bureau to all challengers. Anyone who cannot reach the tundra within the set time will lose guidance, effectively being eliminated by default.
According to Chen Zhou’s intuition, he believed that once the beacon completely fell, there would be no possibility of judging its exact location by starlight to continue forward—
The existence of the beacon clearly used some sort of visual distortion technology, causing everyone to observe significant discrepancies between the apparent and actual position of the beacon before reaching the Broken Cliff.
Before reaching the end of the tundra, Chen Zhou had thought he was still dozens of kilometers away from the airdrop. It wasn’t until he descended that he realized the position of the beacon he saw differed considerably from what it used to be.
This slight deviation, magnified over distance, would translate to errors of tens or even hundreds of kilometers. If challengers did not set out at once to catch this "last bus", they might miss the airdrop supplies.
However, for those inadvertently uninterested in the airdrop, whether there were deviations didn’t matter at all.
Only those hesitating without being among the first to set off, or firmly staying to construct their own shelter, would be affected.
...
"Let’s go. First, we should check out the edge of that forest, and while we’re at it, see if anyone’s following us."
Bending down to pet the head of Tiger Third who had sidled up to him, Chen Zhou looked up at the top of the cliff and said.
"Are we not going to build a fire tonight?"
"Right, no fire. If we light a fire, they’ll see us.
Let them light the fire, then we can see them."
Chen Zhou pointed to the empty cliff top and took the lead towards the Black Forest.
...
If the tundra atop the cliff was a desert for living creatures, then this area below the cliff, seemingly created by the Space-Time Administration Bureau, was an oasis in that desert.
The temperature here rose by seven or eight degrees compared to the tundra, allowing many cold-intolerant plants to survive and stubbornly grow here.
Moreover, many animals brought here by the Space-Time Administration Bureau luckily found a refuge here.
After just a few steps, Chen Zhou saw a herd of medium-sized deer and a group of larger pseudo-camels. They seemed unaware that the tundra above had already entered deep autumn, leisurely grazing on wild grass.
Seeing these animals, Chen Zhou couldn’t help feeling sorry for them—
Although it wasn’t particularly cold here yet, as time goes by, the area below the cliff will certainly be dominated by extreme cold, becoming a snowy kingdom.
Animals in other regions could migrate south if the temperature dropped, but this herd might be engulfed by blizzards, freezing to death on this land.
The temporary peace is merely an illusion created by the Space-Time Administration Bureau. It won’t take long for eternal death to arrive.
Initially thinking this, Chen Zhou felt a trace of arrogance belonging to "the spirit of all things".
Soon, he thought of himself, also manipulated and fooled by the Space-Time Administration Bureau, and couldn’t help but chuckle self-deprecatingly.
...
By the time it was completely dark, the trace left by the beacon’s descent sparkled in the night sky but could no longer overshadow the light of the stars.
The area close to the Black Forest appeared even darker.
There was no charred smell post-fire, nor many traces of animal activity. Only some resilient plants rooted in the cracks of the earth defiantly displayed their green.
The wind howled through the forest edge, emitting ghostly cries and wails.
Three small Saw-toothed Tigers lowered their heads, tearing at a deer’s leg, while Chen Zhou and Paul stood aside, watching the distant cliff, waiting for other challengers to appear.
...
Worried that faster challengers might set up an ambush, Chen Zhou deliberately checked the traces along the way thoroughly when heading to the Black Forest.
The ground here was hard, making it difficult to leave footprints, but humans passing through thickets, hunting, or even sweating would leave various signs. With his strong sense of smell, he could detect what ordinary people couldn’t, judging whether anyone had arrived before them.
Until they reached the edge of the Black Forest, Chen Zhou found no traces of humans.
This might indicate that they were the first team to arrive here, but it couldn’t rule out that other challengers had descended the cliffs from further away into the Black Forest.
Any challengers reaching the Black Forest recently were certainly no ordinary people. They must possess impressive physical capabilities, ample wilderness survival experience, and strong determination, with a fierce desire for the airdrop supplies.
Chen Zhou had long since agreed with Paul that any encounters in the Black Forest must be met without mercy, resolving them with the fiercest means in the shortest time—
Those making such a choice had already become irreconcilable with them; there was no room for compromise, and meeting meant a life-and-death struggle.
...
Without lighting a campfire, Chen Zhou and Paul simply waited quietly at the forest edge.
When the bright moon hung in the sky and the wind had slightly weakened, two points of firelight suddenly appeared atop the distant cliff.
The flames flickered, moving on the cliff. Even from afar, one could guess their thoughts—
Clearly, they were both shocked by the eerie Black Forest and eager for supplies, torn between hesitation and urgency, wanting to descend the cliff quickly to reach the forest.
...
After the firelight moved for a while, the challengers atop the cliff made a decision, setting up a campfire at the edge of the cliff, seemingly intending to rest for the night and descend at daybreak when the visibility improved.
Silently noting the exact position of this group and predicting their possible route, Chen Zhou and Paul continued their watch.
After about an hour, a second flame appeared on the cliff top, a thousand meters away from the first campfire.
The end of the tundra was almost flat; a thousand meters wasn’t far. Both groups of campfire starters could see each other but did not engage in conflict. They seemed wary of the other team, or perhaps they feared another later arrival—
If they fought, someone else might profit from it.
...
By this time, Paul was already somewhat tired, so Chen Zhou had him rest while he took the first watch of the night.
The deerskin blanket had been cut into ropes. Tonight, there was no blanket, nor a warm campfire.
Fortunately, the temperature slightly increased after descending the cliff. Nestled among the three well-fed Saw-toothed Tigers, Paul soon fell into a deep sleep.
Patiently waiting until the second half of the night, Chen Zhou saw that there were still only two campfires on the cliff. Estimating that only these two teams would arrive tonight, he woke Paul to take over.
After sleeping for half the night, at the break of dawn, Paul suddenly woke Chen Zhou, informing him of an unexpected situation—
When Chen Zhou looked towards the cliff top, he found that the two groups that had camped at the edge of the tundra last night were both converging towards the center.
What attracted them was not the challenger they observed all night but a "lone wolf".
This solo wanderer led a pseudo-camel, his entire body shrouded in a dark robe. From afar, only his tall figure could be discerned, as the pseudo-camel appeared rather small beside him, likely slightly taller than Paul, but no other information was available.
The two groups of challengers evidently thought this solitary figure was at a disadvantage due to lack of numbers, prompting malicious intent. They planned to kill him, seize his survival supplies and pseudo-camel, and eliminate a competitor in advance.