Chapter 27: Setting Foot on the Snowy Path

  The weather didn't change much in the first half of the night, but the wind grew stronger and stronger. Lu Zonghan and Ke Kemu sat at the entrance of the cave, watching the sand and rocks flying in the darkness, and the white bones scattered all over the place. They both felt worried about crossing over the next day. This kind of weather was extremely unfavorable for them. The Death Valley was already a treacherous road with many dangers, and adding the bad weather to it would make it a journey of nine deaths and one life.

  When Liu Yi was on duty in the second half of the night, snowflakes were drifting and falling in the high sky. The plateau climate was originally cold, and this snow made it even colder. The cold wind wrapped around the cold air and drilled into Liu Yi's collar, making him shrink his body involuntarily. He quickly turned around and walked back to the cave, wearing the anti-lightning warm clothing outside the anti-cold combat uniform.

  Malacca leaned against the cave entrance, sat on the ground, lit a cigarette and took a puff, looking at the increasingly dense snowflakes, muttering: "This damned place, it's only August and it's already snowing! Is it even letting people live?!"

  Liu Yi walked out of the cave, with a worried expression on his face, and said: "I don't know how long this snow will last. If it doesn't stop, I'm afraid we'll be stuck here!"

  The snow is getting bigger and bigger and bigger...

  The snowflakes danced wildly in the strong wind, amidst the flying white bones, as if they were going to swallow everything in the valley of death.

  Liu Yi's worries had come true, the snow had been falling all night without stopping, and by dawn it was getting heavier, covering the ground with a thick layer, one foot deep, enough to reach 40 centimeters above his ankle.

  "Dawn" is just a time concept, Liu Yi's watch shows eight o'clock, but where they are, the entire sky is occupied by "wind sand snow bones", from the cave to the outside, this section of the death valley is gray and hazy, it's not too much to say it's dusk.

  Everyone sat in the cave, staring blankly outside, their nerves strained from crossing the underground dark river. At this time, they encountered such a snowy day again, and no one's mood could be lifted.

  To advance or to wait, this is a question.

  The crowd was divided into three factions. Professor Zhou Tao and Lu Zonghan were the advocates of the waiting faction. Ke Kexi, of course, belonged to the soy sauce faction!

  Lu Zonghan's reason was sufficient, he said: "Death Valley is originally full of underground dark caves, even on good weather days, you have to be careful when walking, let alone in such bad wind and snow. If you're not careful, you'll fall into a cave and die from the impact. Moreover, the strong wind can blow people away, if you're not careful, you'll be blown up to the sky. I don't want to try this 'ascend to heaven and descend to earth' way of dying easily. Besides, Professor Zhou Tao's cold is getting worse, to say something unpleasant, what if he dies in the wind and snow?

  Liu Yi sighed and said, "Although I have never been to the Death Valley, I know that the environment inside is unpredictable. Although we are currently in a place with extremely strong winds and snow, once we pass through this area, it's possible that we will enter a sunny day. The key issue is that we don't know how long this snow will last, and this is not something we can decide on our own - it's up to the heavens. If they feel like continuing to snow for five or seven days, even if we manage to arrive at the sacrificial site, I estimate that those foreign explorers who colluded with poachers would have already blown everything to smithereens, leaving not a single hair behind. At that point, even if we do arrive, what significance will it hold? If this hard-won clue is broken off, who knows when we'll be able to find out what happened to my father?"

  Malacca is naturally where Liu Yi decides to go, and he follows along afterwards.

  Kekesi didn't care whether they should move forward or wait, anyway he followed the main force, moving when told to move and stopping when told to stop. He leaned comfortably against Xiao Ke's body, staring blankly outside while lost in thought, but it was unknown if he had thought of his own father at that moment.

  "Cough, cough!" Professor Zhou Tao coughed twice, took out antipyretics and cold medicine from his bag, swallowed them with cold water, then fell silent for a moment before saying: "Liu Yi was right, I've changed my mind, let's proceed!"

  Liu Yi looked at Professor Zhou Tao with gratitude and said, "Professor, why don't you stay here with Lu Zonghan and wait for the snowstorm to pass before setting off? We'll take the Tibetan antelope cub to scout ahead first!"

  Professor Zhou Tao shook his head and said firmly: "If we go, let's go together; if we stay, let's stay together!"

  This time in the democratic discussion, the progressive faction won with three votes to one vote plus an abstention, and then everyone started heating up food, eating hot things to replenish their strength.

  After eating and drinking enough, the crowd used a long rope to tie each person in a circle and tied a knot to prevent falling into underground dark caves and being blown up into the sky.

  The little antelope, Xiao Ke, was very dissatisfied with having to set out on the road in such windy and snowy weather. It kicked its legs and shook its hooves at Liu Yi, who was preparing to tie a rope around its horns. In the end, it was Kekexi who whispered some soothing words into Xiao Ke's ear, calming it down so that it would walk obediently at the front of the group, leading the way.

  The strong wind wasn't as terrifying as Lu Zonghan said, though it could blow away some lighter bones and dust into the air, but not to the extent of blowing a person away. However, with the mixture of bone fragments and sand, it was unbearable for people.

  Fortunately, everyone was wearing thick anti-lightning warm clothing, and they were not blinded by the sand or pierced by the shattered bones. However, the bones hitting their bodies still made them feel a dull pain. Liu Yi and Ma Liujia feared that Professor Zhou Tao might not be able to withstand this old bone, so they protected him in the middle, one on each side.

  ……

  They trudged forward step by step in the dark snowstorm, making solid progress with each step, but before long, their footprints were covered up by the wind and snow, leaving no trace.

  The ground was too difficult to walk on, and if you weren't careful, you'd step on a white bone. Although they were wearing thick-soled hiking boots, some of the bones were razor-sharp, causing everyone's feet to ache.

  The little Tibetan antelope, Xiao Ke, was initially very reluctant to move, but after entering the White Bone Grounds, it suddenly started running quickly, as if in a hurry to get somewhere. If not for Kekesi's scolding by its side, this guy would have probably run off and left everyone behind in the White Bone Grounds.

  Liu Yi saw Xiao Ke's unusual expression and thought: "Why is Xiao Ke so happy?"

  Although he didn't quite understand, he vaguely felt that this land of white bones shouldn't have too much danger.

  Koksi, who was walking in the front, suddenly shouted "Ah yo!" and rushed forward, diving headfirst into the snowy ground.

  Lu Zonghan rushed over against the wind and helped Ke Kexi up.

  "Oh, I'm dying!" Koxing cried out in pain, sitting on the ground and clutching at his toes.

  The crowd gathered around to take a look, and saw that a thick, thorn-like object was stuck in Kexi's foot sole, with fresh blood seeping out. Liu Yi hastily rummaged through his bag for iodine, bandages and other items, and helped Kexi simply treat the wound.

  Kekexi wore a pair of cloth shoes called "Cloud Shoes". The shoes were shaped like small boats, with the toe slightly raised and colorful cloud patterns embroidered on the sides. They were made by Kekexi's mother before they set off, hoping for his early return. In fact, this type of shoe is very popular among modern Qiang people. Although it looks good, it is not as durable as hiking shoes. Liu Yi had asked him to change out of the Cloud Shoes, but he disagreed, saying that wearing the Cloud Shoes would ensure a safe return under the protection of the Sun Goddess.

  Liu Yi had no choice but to follow him, and unexpectedly, at this critical moment, he was pierced by a relatively thick, deeply buried, exposed sharp-headed "fish thorn" that suddenly appeared in this waterless place.

  An elderly man with a cold, a wounded young one, made the already slow-moving crowd even slower. The wind and snow howled around them in a mad dance. Everyone bowed their heads and proceeded cautiously, except for Liu Yi, who kept his head up, occasionally looking around to prevent any unknown creatures from appearing nearby.

  Although he knew that this was a dead land where no large organisms could appear, even if there were any, they would not come out in such windy and snowy weather. But for the safety of everyone, he still did not dare to be careless.

  On land, they could not walk more than 7 or 8 miles in an hour, but in this snowy death valley, they barely walked out of a kilometer in an hour, showing how difficult it was to walk.

  The wind-eroded rocks around were vaguely visible in the dim light, like ferocious devils with sharp teeth and claws, it can be seen that the "Devil's Valley" name of this Death Valley is not undeserved.

  Liu Yi looked at Keke Xi's painful face, but he gritted his teeth and persisted. He was moved in his heart and shouted in the wind and snow: "This white bony place should be just over ten miles away. Everyone will make an effort and walk out of here with one breath. Who knows, maybe it's spring warm flowers and sunshine ahead!"

  Malacca shouted loudly: "Let the blizzard come even more fiercely!"

  "Madman!" Lu Zonghan muttered to himself, but despite that, he was increasingly admiring Liu Yi and Ma Liujia, feeling that the two were more and more in tune with his own temperament. Who knows, maybe they could help him find the holy water and extend his brother's life.

  He thought of this and looked up to the front, singing a song: "He said that the pain in the wind and rain is nothing... wipe away tears... don't be afraid... at least we still have dreams..."

  As he sang, he thought of his younger brother, who suffered from a strange illness and endured the torture of pain. He remembered how his brother had hugged his head against the wall, and his eyes grew hot as he fell a tear. But his voice grew louder and more piercing, breaking through the wind and snow to drift away into the distance, as if declaring to heaven and earth that humans were the masters of this world, and no matter how harsh the natural environment was, it would not make humans give up their pursuit of dreams.

  His emotions infected everyone, and they all sang along with him.

  Although the crowd is not a professional singer, but the song is full of rich emotions, filled with the courage to move forward and never retreat, listening to it is very inspiring.

  The fearless melody, rushing along with the wind and snow, startled a massive creature outside the village. It was bent over in the snowy ground, searching for something, but when it heard the song, it suddenly stood up straight, slowly turning its head around.

  My goodness, what kind of animal is that!