An hour later, Ye Feng, carrying Xiao Xiao on his back, arrived at the mountaintop above the Fengdong Stone supply station, with Lin and Lei Jian following behind, panting.
"Ye Feng, your stamina is too good!"
Upon reaching the summit, Lei Jian collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air. He looked at Ye Feng, whose breathing was only slightly rapid and showed no signs of fatigue, with great admiration.
Lin's condition wasn't much better than Lei Jian's. The normal walking time to the mountaintop would take about two hours, but Ye Feng had run up at a fast pace, shortening the journey by nearly half. The only one comparable to Ye Feng was Liu Lao Shai, whose eyes were also filled with surprise. After all, he wasn't carrying anyone on his back.
Ye Feng paid no mind to Lin and the other two. He was pacing around, observing everything.
"Big Brother, what are you looking for?" Xiao Xiao asked curiously, noticing his actions.
"A cable car cabin—the kind we saw yesterday!" Ye Feng replied as he searched.
"Big Brother, over there, it seems to be obscured by the sunlight!" After observing for a moment, Xiao Xiao pointed in a direction.
The next second, Ye Feng strode towards the direction Xiao Xiao indicated.
"Wow... there's really a strange, suspended cable car cabin!" Seeing the cable car cabin in the air, almost hidden by the fiery sunset, Ye Feng exclaimed in surprise.
"Hmm?" Suddenly, Ye Feng narrowed his eyes. He saw a figure on the snowy mountaintop, near the cable car cabin, in the setting sun. As if sensing someone's arrival, the figure slowly turned around.
"Is that you?" Ye Feng was somewhat surprised. The figure was the white-haired old man he had seen near the Colored Flag supply station yesterday. Ye Feng remembered that the old man had also climbed to the mountaintop of the Colored Flag supply station and seen the strange, suspended cable car cabin.
The white-haired old man turned his head and, upon seeing Ye Feng, also showed a hint of surprise, which quickly vanished. Under Ye Feng's confused and surprised gaze, the white-haired old man walked past him and headed back the way he came.
"Sizzle—" At that moment, a burst of electrical sparks erupted from the top of the strangely suspended cable car cabin, and then the cabin began to fall straight down.
"Just like yesterday, there was an arcane energy fluctuation," Ye Feng muttered, his brow furrowed slightly as he watched the cable car cabin tumble down the mountainside. A guess began to form in his mind.
"Big Brother, how did you know there would be a suspended cable car cabin here?" Xiao Xiao's confused voice sounded at that moment.
"The sun is about to set, let's hurry back to the supply station!" Ye Feng didn't answer. Instead, he said to Lin and the others, who looked somewhat bewildered, and then, carrying Xiao Xiao on his back, he ran down the mountain.
"I..." Lei Jian's mouth twitched. What was going on? They had inexplicably followed Ye Feng up the mountain with great effort, only to inexplicably run back down.
Ye Feng and his group soon reached the Fengdong Stone supply station. After paying some rewards, they quickly entered the station. As night fell, many explorers returning from their expeditions made the supply station lively.
"Hey, have you heard? Someone at the Colored Flag supply station was infected with ice gu yesterday and fell ill, but they actually survived?"
"Really?"
"It's true! Someone lured the ice gu out with fire-attributed arcane origin stones and killed it, saving the person!"
"Right, everyone, be careful lately. This Ice Sealed Snow Domain seems to be not quite right!"
"Not quite right, buddy, are you getting more timid as you get older? When has the Ice Sealed Snow Domain ever been normal?!"
"It's not what you think. I received news that several exploration teams have been wiped out recently, all gruesomely dismembered. This includes teams led by veteran explorers..."
Ye Feng paid no attention to the discussions of the explorers, nor did he spend his time eavesdropping as he had the previous night to gather information. After a simple dinner, he said something to Xiao Xiao, then went to a quiet corner, turned on his solar powered hanging lamp, took out paper and pen, and began studying the thick notebook given to him by Chen Jin Dong. The notebook contained not only locations where arcane origin stones might be found but also knowledge about arcane energy and arcane origin stones. Of course, there were also various other scattered items that seemed disconnected and lacking in any apparent order, some of which didn't even seem to be Chen Jin Dong's own notes. Chen Jin Dong had told Ye Feng that this notebook had been given to him by an old explorer who had reportedly explored the Ice Sealed Snow Domain for his entire life.
Deep into the night, when almost all the explorers had fallen asleep, Ye Feng closed Chen Jin Dong's notebook and turned off the solar powered hanging lamp. At this moment, Ye Feng held a small stack of calculation drafts, filled with densely packed, somewhat messy writing. He now had some thoughts and ideas in his mind, but they still needed to be verified.
The next day, after finishing breakfast, Ye Feng and his group once again mounted their snowmobiles and drove into the depths of the Ice Sealed Snow Domain. Around noon, they arrived at a place filled with sharp stones and intertwined glacial rivers.
"Ye Feng, from here on, it's all like this. These two-wheeled snowmobiles can't get through, we can only walk!" Lin said to Ye Feng after getting off and observing.
"Oh, alright!" Ye Feng nodded. "We'll have lunch here, and then we'll set off!"
"Okay!"
To save time, Ye Feng didn't bother cooking. Instead, he took out the hot food refreshed from the [Shop]. Besides steaming hot congee, there were also four roasted chickens and one roasted goose. This left Lin and the others dumbfounded. They couldn't fathom how Ye Feng managed to carry such hot food that seemed freshly made. Of course, Lin, Liu Lao Shai, and Lei Jian ate silently, none of them questioning Ye Feng.
After a rather lavish lunch, Ye Feng and his group did not rest. They siphoned the gasoline from the snowmobiles' fuel tanks, locked them up, and found a place to hide them before continuing on foot.
Around four in the afternoon, the group walked to the middle of a valley and rested in a sheltered spot.
"Ah! Help!" Suddenly, a shrill scream echoed through the valley.
"Owoof~ Woof~ Rurururu~" Then, a strange barking sound, like that of a dog or a pig, erupted.
"Bang~!" Following that, a piercing gunshot.
Ye Feng, Lin, and the others' expressions changed drastically. They all drew their guns, their gazes wary as they looked towards the source of the sound. Lin, Lei Jian, and Liu Lao Shai each held a Mauser 98k, all equipped with telescopic sights, while Ye Feng had pulled out his AK47. Clearly, they had all heard that the gunshot came from a considerable distance. As Ye Feng and the others watched, a dishevelled middle-aged man, with blood flowing from his head, appeared, staggering. The middle-aged man kept glancing nervously behind him as he fled forward, his face filled with fear and tension.