Chapter 60 - Avalanche

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The flames were jumping and they shone on the unconscious Braided Pigtails’ face, who looked a little horrifying.

It was unknown who had lit the fire, but their purpose was definitely not to warm Braided Pigtails up. WcQeaA

Zhou Wenyan stopped in his tracks. Caught unprepared, Shen Dongqing bumped into him before he promptly decided to paste himself onto Zhou Wenyan’s back and look around his arm to gaze at where Braided Pigtails was laying.

The pair waited for a brief while before they heard the sound of accumulated snow being kicked around from the hazy darkness.

The NPCs were akin to spirits as they walked over to Braided Pigtails’ side and surrounded her completely.

Under the firelight, Lisa, Borg and Leo did not have their full and energetic states from daytime, rather, their cheeks were sunken and concaved, their lips pale and cracking, and they looked like they had been starving for a very long time. B9h1OZ

Braided Pigtails remained unaware of the dangers as she lay on the snow with her head raised, seemingly in the depths of a beautiful dream.

Lisa stopped over and spoke with a hoarse throat: “Soup….. Such a good soup…..”

Borg seized Braided Pigtails’ arm and licked his lips: “We can roast the meat here.”

Leo held up two of her legs: “I’m hungry, what about you guys?” bDotXc

The other two NPCs nodded simultaneously and lifted Braided Pigtails together before slowly making their way over.

They seemed to be lacking in strength, for they were staggering from side to side as they walked which only made their shadows on the snowy ground more distorted, and it was as if they had become hungry ghosts with their skeletal frames and protruding bellies.

Zhou Wenyan: “Follow them.”

The NPCs walking in front did not know that two people were tailing them. rWN39y

As they carried Braided Pigtails, they were crooning a song under their breaths. An unnatural red flush emerged on their pallid cheeks and their eyes were brimming with a frenzied heat.

Hungry, so hungry……

However, it did not matter, they would have something to eat very soon.

Peng—

The Businessman stilled, “Isn’t it the third day?”

Lisa collapsed and shouted wildly, “If it was the third day, would we have resorted to eating people?” 7PDIRq

The plane crashed on the snow-capped mountain.

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On the first day, the attendants took their satellite phone to find a place with a signal to send a rescue message because there was no signal at the peak of the snow-capped mountain, and the survivors were full of hope.

The second day, the survivors realised that there was not much food remaining and they decided to gather all their food together, meticulously planning and rationing them strictly, wanting to hold out until the rescue team arrived. VthYxm

The third day, an argument broke out between the survivors, some people felt that they should leave the food for the people with greater hopes of survival and abandon the injured.

……

On the sixth day, all the food was completely exhausted.

On the tenth day, their gazes turned towards their companions who were on the last breaths. 7OerMz

On the twelfth day, in the midst of their hunger and cold, they acted.

Lisa choked as she laughed: “The first day all of you appeared was the twelfth day, it has always been the twelfth day.”

Borg and Leo lowered their heads, not speaking.

After they assailed their companion, they were trapped on the twelfth day. mipBF

There was no rescue team, there were no changes, only feeling the constant torment of hunger, unable to live and unable to die.

The trio entered a cycle: the airplane crashing, the arguments, the snatching for food, being forced to act against their companions… halted on the twelfth day forever.

Then, when the people that were similar to them had been exhausted too, a new group of people would inexplicably appear and they felt like they were the hallucinated product of staying in the snowy land for too long.

Since they were hallucinations then anything went; either way, they were fake, eating them was of no consequence. r3NtsS

Thus, the first twelfth day, the second twelfth day…… skeleton remains were buried underneath the snow one by one, piling higher and higher.

The Businessman was frightened to the point where his goose bumps had risen: “Then who did you eat?”

That person was definitely the deceased.

The three NPCs froze, revealing a lost expression. qw7yVD

Lisa opened her mouth first: “I allied with Leo and killed Borg.”

Borg said: “You remembered wrongly, you and I killed Leo.”

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Leo refuted: “You and I obviously killed Lisa, I still remember how the meat we cooked was filled with fats, and my mouth was full of oil after I ate it.”

As he said that, he could not help but salivate. r9yiad

The scene from the first dinnertime was re-enacted; the three of them pointed at each other and it became a closed loop.

Which begged the question, who killed and who died?

“I obviously killed you.”

“We were the ones who killed!” W9KxnO

“The dead person is Lisa!”

The three NPCs argued endlessly.

Shen Dongqing cut them off directly: “Shut up!”

Perhaps because they still remembered the terror of being knocked out, they immediately shut their mouths after they were shouted at and they no longer spoke. 2fcrlG

Internet Celebrity’s expression was coloured with pleasant surprise. “You’ve figured it out?”

Decisively, Shen Dongqing said: “No.” His words went on another tangent: “But… I seem to hear some kind of noise?”

Zhou Wenyan lowered his head. The small stone by his feet was trembling ceaselessly.

Shen Dongqing looked around his surroundings before pointing in the distance: “It’s coming from there!” sUwEJd

The other players looked in the direction he was pointing at.

Above the azure horizon was a long, horizontal snowline, and perhaps after staring at it for too long, their vision started producing an illusion and made it see like the snowline was inching closer and closer. It was like an ocean tide, rolling over violently.

The Businessman’s voice raised his volume, and because of the terror that swept over him, his voice became distorted: “It’s not an illusion!”

IqsDuB

An avalanche.

The plane crashed on the first day, the food was exhausted on the sixth day, companions were eaten on the twelfth day, and on the fifteenth day… An avalanche occurred.

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The game said: “…If you mutually help each other, you will definitely be able to endure through the next fifteen days and wait for the rescue team to arrive.”

But before the players could mutually help each other, the NPCs had started mutually butchering each other. QzsdfZ

No one expected that their three days in addition to the NPCs’ twelve days, that was their fifteen days!

Zhou Wenyan’s first reaction was to pull Shen Dongqing over and search for a place where they could hide from the avalanche.

But there was not enough time.

In an instant, the snow slide engulfed them, snow and ice biting cold, thus demanding their lives. fUljkx

Zhou Wenyan flipped his body and threw Shen Dongqing to the ground, back facing the pure white and ash-grey snow that was akin to the foam of breaking waves with the heights it rose to.

It did not matter if it was a ghost or monster, none of them could compare to nature’s reckoning.

To say nothing of humans.

Shen Dongqing was propping up Zhou Wenyan’s chest: “Your heart is beating faster.” pQPyR1

Zhou Wenyan wrapped both his arms around Shen Dongqing tightly and said one sentence in a low voice: “It’s fine.”

The game would never kill off the players in such an oversimplified and crude manner, or else it would have forewent its ghosts and monsters all together and utilised earthquakes and floods because it would have done everyone in no matter what.

Outside of absolute endings, opportunities to live were necessary.

Shen Dongqing was not particularly scared, he said: “It’s okay, I have experience with regards to becoming a ghost…” iuaXnd

Before he could finish speaking, the ice and snow – which had been accumulating power and waiting to act – slammed into them violently, drowning out all the sounds.

After the avalanche passed, the space reverted back to a vast expanse of whiteness.

Shen Dongqing’s fingers spasmed and he woke up from his dream abruptly. LUPDtT

Zhou Wenyan opened his eyes and inquired in a low voice: “What’s the matter?”

Rubbing his arms, Shen Dongqing replied: “I’m a little cold.”

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Zhou Wenyan touched his palm, and sure enough, it was cold to the touch. “Maybe the air conditioning is set too low.” He stood up, opened the small suitcase and took out an outer coat.

After donning the outer coat, Shen Dongqing felt his appendages brush against something cold. He lowered his head to look and he found a glittering and translucent snowflake lying on his fingertip. However, before he could show it to Zhou Wenyan, the snowflake melted into a drop of water. 6sc03X

He stared at it for a while. The water drop slipped off his finger and disappeared without leaving a shadow or a trace in the next instant.

Still standing, Zhou Wenyan asked: “Do you want to eat some snacks?”

Shen Dongqing returned back to his reverie and said: “I want chocolate.”

Zhou Wenyan rifled through the suitcase but he did not find any, hence, he could only pass him a can of potato chips. TDn5XO

“Maybe you didn’t bring it.”

Shen Dongqing slanted his head. “I brought it ah.”

No matter what he forgot, he would never forget his snacks.

At this moment, the attendant’s gentle and soft voice sounded over the broadcast. 2Hudox

“The airplane will be going past a snowy mountain soon and there will be a period of turbulence. Passengers, please do not panic.”

Zhou Wenyan closed the suitcase, saying: “We’ll search again after we get off the plane.”