Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Wu Si was sobbing over the walkie-talkie, begging us for help.

Xu Song still hadn’t made a decision. At a time like this, none of us could even guarantee our own safety.

If we rushed out to search for someone, there was a very real chance we’d only end up sending one person after another into danger, until not a single one of us made it back.

But I also knew that every moment we delayed might cost Wu Da his life.

I found a coil of nylon rope in the back seat, wrapped it once around my waist, and tied the other end to the rearview mirror.

I told Xu Song I would take the rope and search around. If Wu Da was nearby, maybe I could drag him back.

Xu Song had no better option. He agreed, but reminded me again and again not to go too far.

I braved the wind and snow and got out of the vehicle. Even though I had bundled myself up tight, the knife-like cold still kept drilling into my body.

The snow had already buried my calves. Flashlight in hand, I swept the beam around while shouting Wu Da’s name.

But in the howling wind, both my voice and the flashlight’s glow seemed unable to carry very far.

Following the general direction, I headed toward the truck Wu Da and Wu Si had been in.

Everything around me was white. Once I moved a short distance away from our vehicle, I completely lost every possible point of reference.

I couldn’t even tell if I was walking in a straight line.

Just as I was starting to feel lost, I faintly heard a human voice…

“Wu Da-”

I shouted toward the sound, “Is that you? Wu Da?”

The voice was muffled, as if it was repeating a few words over and over, but when I listened carefully, I couldn’t make them out.

Afraid something had happened to Wu Da, I could only walk in the direction of the voice.

In the swaying beam of my flashlight, I vaguely saw some hazy shapes behind the curtain of snow. They looked like the haystacks I had seen earlier in my hallucination.

But they were quickly swallowed by the wind and snow again, and I couldn’t see anything at all.

“Wu Da! Wu Da, how are you-”

I kept shouting, forcing myself to pick up my pace.

The voice responding to me seemed to grow clearer and clearer.

By then, I was almost certain Wu Da was up ahead.

Maybe he had gotten trapped in the snow, or maybe he had lost his sense of direction.

I had to bring him back as soon as possible. If he developed hypothermia out here in the middle of nowhere, not even the gods could save him.

At last, through the snow filling the sky, I vaguely made out Wu Da’s figure.

That dark, indistinct body stood in the snow, waving at me again and again…

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

I hurried forward two steps, but the rope behind me suddenly snapped taut!

I had no idea how far I had walked. The coil of nylon rope had reached its end.

“Can you see me? Can you walk over here?”

I didn’t dare let go of the rope. I was afraid that if it dropped into the snow, I wouldn’t be able to find my way back.

But no matter how long I shouted, Wu Da just stood there, still in the same posture, still waving at me again and again.

Was he unable to walk? Or was he injured?

I grew frantic. Looking back at the rope, I started calculating the odds of untying it, walking over, and then finding it again on the way back.

But before I could think it through, that same irritable, stifling feeling from earlier came over me again.

The brutal conditions, combined with my sudden agitation, made me yank the knot loose in one motion.

To hell with it. Saving him came first.

But just as I was about to take a step forward, I heard a dog bark.