Chapter 126

Chapter 126

After the group had taken care of their hunger, they set off for the mountaintop once more.

With full stomachs, they had their strength back, and their pace was much faster than before.

Still, no matter how fast they went, the mountain remained as high as ever. By the time they reached the summit, it was around four in the afternoon.

Lu Jing was the first to survey the surroundings. After finding no immediate danger, he put away his gun and slung it across his back, then turned to Qin Weiyi. “Should we find a place to rest first?”

Since the problem seemed to arise at night, they clearly had no intention of returning to the Cave tonight.

And for now, there was still some time before dark.

Qin Weiyi gave a soft “Mm” as he scanned their surroundings.

The mountaintop was bare, with nothing but rocks as far as the eye could see.

Aside from figuring out where they would spend the night, they also had to consider the Green Bubbles attacking when they woke up tomorrow morning. If the medium this time was still stone, then they really would be finished.

“Dig up soil,” Jian Fan said suddenly.

Qin Weiyi raised an eyebrow, immediately understanding what Jian Fan meant.

There really weren’t any other mediums on the summit, but a little farther down the mountain, there were trees. Naturally, there would be soil beneath the trees. Even if there weren’t any large stretches of bare earth, they could learn from Xia Zeqin and use soil to pave out a small patch of ground for themselves.

That would solve the issue with the Green Bubbles. What they needed to think about next was where they would sleep tonight without being exposed too easily.

“People can hide in that gap over there,” Lu Jing said. After speaking with Qin Weiyi, he had continued observing the surroundings, searching for a suitable spot.

He soon found one.

Although the summit was made up entirely of rocks, some of them were huge and scattered about, one here and one there, creating hidden spaces where people could conceal themselves. As long as no one came close to inspect them carefully, they wouldn’t be discovered.

Qin Weiyi looked in the direction Lu Jing was pointing.

The space wasn’t large, but it could fit all nine of them.

They had cover now, and the problem of the two mediums had been solved. Next, they had to consider how to stay warm.

The rocks could block the wind. Those with a Down Jacket or Military Overcoat could barely manage, but those without either might not make it through the night. There was nothing they could do about that. Qin Weiyi shrugged and said, “If it really comes down to it, we’ll exchange resources.”

It was the only option left.

They could continue staying in the Cave, but if they did, they wouldn’t be able to obtain the information they wanted. Sooner or later, they would have to use Points because of a shortage of supplies.

Since they would have to use them eventually, it was better to spend them somewhere more suitable and valuable.

Qin Nan sighed. “That’s all we can do.”

This time, there wouldn’t be any free Down Jacket items to wear.

Once the group had made their decision, they didn’t delay any longer and quickly headed back down to look for soil.

The summit was bare, but farther down, soil wasn’t hard to find. Everyone dug up some earth, and worried it wouldn’t be enough, they tore off some leaves as well and mixed them together. Once they felt they had gathered enough, they carried these life-saving materials back toward the mountaintop.

Dusk was approaching.

“It’s so beautiful.” Mu Xin happened to lift her head and look toward the horizon, and she suddenly let out a soft exclamation.

Lin Junruo was walking right beside Mu Xin. Hearing her, she also raised her head and looked over.

The sun was about to set, and a brilliant sheet of sunset clouds had formed along the horizon. Vivid colors spread across the line where sky and earth met, seizing everyone’s attention with a single glance.

“It really is beautiful,” Lin Junruo said.

The kind of beauty that could only come from nature.
The two girls’ gasps of wonder made everyone else stop as well. They all lifted their heads and looked toward the horizon.

“The Realm of Death may be terrifying, but you have to admit, the scenery here is truly one of a kind,” Lu Jing said with a smile.

Jian Fan stared at the fiery sunset clouds on the horizon. All of a sudden, the space between his brows twitched. No one knew what had occurred to him, but he abruptly lowered his head and looked down at his feet. Then his gaze slowly shifted, sweeping over everyone else’s feet before he raised his head again and scanned their surroundings.

Everyone was looking at the sunset clouds. Only Qin Nan noticed Jian Fan’s movements.

Xia Zeqin had actually noticed too, but he merely lifted an eyebrow and said nothing.

Qin Nan copied Jian Fan and swept his gaze over the area. With that one look, he froze. He knew what Jian Fan was looking at.

“Our shadows are gone,” Jian Fan said suddenly.

The others all paused, then lowered their heads one after another to look for their own shadows.

The Starry Sky was not the only thing wrong. But during the day, they had clearly had shadows. The sun had not set yet, so when had their shadows disappeared?

When everyone began paying attention to the shadows, Jian Fan looked up at the horizon again and said calmly, “The sunset clouds.”

Yellow Hair looked a little confused. “What about the sunset clouds?”

Qi Shuping was slightly taken aback, then laughed. “So that’s how it is.”

They had not noticed exactly when their shadows had vanished, but because of what they had discovered yesterday, they had been paying special attention to their shadows today, checking them every so often.

When they had finished digging and come back up, their shadows had still been there.

So-

“The sunset clouds are the Fire we’ve been looking for,” Qin Weiyi said, laughing as well.

That gorgeous blaze of sunset clouds was their hope.

Judging by the time their shadows disappeared, it must have happened after the sunset clouds appeared. In other words, the sky might have been normal at first, but after the fiery clouds appeared at dusk and through the night, this sky was fake.

Fire. The sky.

They already knew the answer, but how to leave was still a mystery.

The sky was the path they could use to leave, but how to open that path was the problem. And the timing for opening it had now revealed itself: when the sunset clouds appeared. In other words, right now.

But how were they supposed to open it?

Everyone fell into thought.

Lu Jing was the first to give up. This sort of thing was not suited to him, so he simply turned his gaze to the others and waited for them to produce an answer.

Yellow Hair could not figure it out either. He raised a hand and flipped off the sky. “Trash.”

Cracking a world had to involve all this nonsense? It really gave people no way to live.

Seeing this, Qin Nan suddenly had a flash of inspiration. “Could it be… shooting at the sky?”

As soon as he said that, everyone looked at him with expressions too complicated to describe.

“Wh-what?” Qin Nan, stared at by the whole group, actually stammered for once.

“It’s a very creative idea,” Jian Fan said.

Qin Nan: “…”

“The path is over there. The mountaintop is already the closest place to it, but we still can’t touch the sky. It’s not like we’re supposed to somehow make a hot air balloon and fly to the horizon, right? I thought it over, and the only thing I can come up with is shooting-sending a bullet over there and relying on the bullet’s speed to open the gate to this passage,” Qin Nan said.

When life was not going your way, firing a shot into the sky-tsk, wasn’t that pretty damn cool? He had even gotten the idea from Yellow Hair’s middle finger.

“I meant what I said,” Jian Fan said suddenly.

Qin Nan froze. “Huh?”