Chapter 22: Paradise on Earth (Part 1)

  "This brother is really formidable, not eating or drinking for a whole day and night, yet still maintaining such a high speed!" Zhang Fan couldn't help but secretly sigh in his heart. He had been following that black-clothed person for over twenty hours now, and except for resting for a few minutes every three to four hours, the other's speed hadn't slowed down at all!

  This was also beyond Zhang Fan's expectations. Although Zhang Fan had estimated that their nest was probably in the Alps, the city was still a distance from the mountain range. Zhang Fan had originally planned to find a way to get a car and continue following when the black-clad man got on the bus, but unexpectedly, the other party didn't even have the idea of taking a bus and walked over directly with their own two feet!

  This made Zhang Fan somewhat speechless. The other party didn't eat or drink, and as a follower, he naturally didn't have time to eat or drink either. At most, it was just that when he couldn't bear the thirst, he would grab a handful of ice and snow and stuff it into his mouth. As time went on, Zhang Fan even began to suspect whether the other party had intentionally hidden their true strength - how could they still look so relaxed when even he, a top-notch master with dual superpowers, was having trouble holding on?

  There were two times when Zhang Fan almost lost the person he was following. Fortunately, they had already entered the snowy area and the black-clothed man was walking on a mountain path with no one else around, so after looking around, Zhang Fan quickly found him again. However, getting lost while tailing someone made Zhang Fan feel extremely frustrated - as a private investigator, this was an ability he took great pride in! In the past, whenever he followed someone, he had never let them leave his control range.

  So after losing him for the second time, Zhang Fan even thought of using mental control to infiltrate his opponent's mind to gather intelligence. But thinking that his opponent was a master with abilities similar to his own, it was unlikely that he could sneak into his thoughts without being detected, so he gave up on the idea. If his opponent were to detect his attack, who knows what consequences would follow, but asking him to lead the way was now out of the question.

  However, the persistence of the black-clothed man also stirred up Zhang Fan's competitive spirit. The opponent was just a top-notch expert among ordinary people, and he had his superpowers as a backing, why couldn't he surpass him? With gritted teeth, he managed to hold on. Moreover, although his spiritual energy and physical strength were greatly consumed, Zhang Fan vaguely felt that the opponent's body shape also became somewhat unstable in the end, apparently entering the final stage of exhaustion, unable to last much longer.

  "Haha, come on, come on, I'd like to see who will fall down first!" This discovery undoubtedly made Zhang Fan's heart skip a beat. Although he couldn't understand why the other person wanted to torment himself like this, seeing that the other person was about to collapse, he was still very excited and proud of himself. The fact proved that he was still quite formidable after all, haha.

  Two people, one after the other, gradually entered deep into the Alps. Except for the beginning when the plain and mountain peaks had some mixed colors, later on, the entire line of sight was all white, looking far and near, the mountain peaks were simply connected in one piece, and it was impossible to distinguish the direction.

  This situation is quite harmful to the eyesight. Snow has a strong reflection on light, if not accustomed to living in such an environment, without protection, exposure of the eyes for more than ten hours may cause vision to deteriorate to the point where it is impossible to see things normally. - This symptom has a special name in medicine, called "snow blindness".

  But of course, this is only relative to ordinary people. Zhang Fan had long been accustomed to such an environment, and although he hadn't prepared protective goggles or the like because he rushed out too quickly, his pupils shrank like a cat's, narrowing down to just a tiny hole that allowed in only a small amount of light. In this state, his eyes naturally received the best protection.

  However, shrinking the pupils is done through the muscles at the corners of the eyes. Even Superman wouldn't be able to withstand a whole day and night of muscle tension. So now Zhang Fan feels his eye corners getting more and more sore, and tears start flowing out uncontrollably. ——But these tears had just flowed out of his eyes when they were frozen into ice beads by the cold wind blowing straight at his face.

  One had to adjust the size of their pupils to prevent too much light from entering and causing snow blindness, while at the same time keeping a close eye on the figure in black clothes ahead. The feeling was really hard to describe. Fortunately, the other party was wearing black clothes, which stood out quite prominently against the snowy white background. If they had been wearing white clothes, Zhang Fan could almost be certain that without using his superpowers, he would have already lost them.

  Just as his eye muscles were extremely tired and about to lose the tension of his pupils, the scene in front of him suddenly began to change slowly.

  This change began unknowingly, and if Zhang Fan hadn't stepped on it, he might not have noticed that the snow had melted a lot. Looking around, he could even see several blades of green grass emerging from under the snow. When did such an unusual place appear in the Alps? Who discovered it? Is it a pity or is there another hidden reason why someone discovered this suitable tourist destination and gave up on such a good business opportunity without developing it? Zhang Fan's mind was filled with countless thoughts.

  Following the man in black, the change in scenery became more and more apparent. It was clear that Zhang Fan had seen a transformation from winter to spring along this path. At first, the snow melted, then tender shoots of green grass sprouted from the ground, their bright color a balm to his eyes after gazing at the pristine white snow for so long. But... Zhang Fan's mind kept searching through the books he had read or stories he had heard - was there really such a place where the season changed with the location?

  The scenery now looks like the end of winter and the beginning of spring, except for the small grass, there is no other change, but as you walk further in, the changes in the scenery become more and more. The most obvious one is the shrubs, originally the shrub clusters here were cold-resistant plants, but the shrub clusters Zhang Fan sees now are closer to subtropical species. This abnormal phenomenon has piqued Zhang Fan's curiosity to the extreme, are these shrubs naturally generated? Why do non-native species appear in such a place?

  The man in black was still walking at a leisurely pace, and Zhang Fan didn't dare to follow too closely. His attention was drawn to the strange scenery around him, but what was even stranger was that the man in black seemed completely indifferent to these surroundings, as if he had seen them all before.