They followed Keith and walked for nearly an hour before reaching the mountain's base.
Looking up, the drifting snow had turned the mountain into a silhouette of pure white — like a vast painting in which only the edges retained a few unwithering twigs as accents.
"Cold…"
They halted. Having walked so far without even beginning the ascent, their energy was already flagging.
When the body fights the cold, it consumes a great deal of heat in a short time. Moreover, the sky did not only shower fine white threads; it was accompanied by a howling, furious wind. Even cloaked in thick garments and wrapped in scarves, the wind still found a way in, striking like a keen blade.
"The finish is at the mountain's mid-slope!"
Keith pointed toward the snowy peak and shouted; it was impossible not to admire his vigor — such a loud roar in this bitter weather.
"There are warm lodgings up there! Tasty food! Everything you reach will be yours!"
Those words made people's eyes brighten. In their present state, warmth and a decent meal were what they craved most.
"All right, then—up we go!"
Keith took the lead, and without further complaint the groups began the climb. From the start the path had branched into six or seven trails, meaning there were as many choices.
No one could know which path was right. Under the swirling snow visibility was virtually nil; each path's end dissolved into a sheet of white.
It was possible that several roads were all correct; or that only one was correct and the others were dead ends. In short, no one knew.
"Looks like we have to make our own choice." Jean, who was walking in front, looked at the several roads and directly chose the one in the middle. "Then I'll choose this broad main road that looks the widest!"
His team walked onto that road, and the other teams also chose different roads and began moving forward.
"Which one should we choose?" Krista was a bit unable to decide. She was the leader of the group, the one who gave orders.
"Ymir, what do you think?" She looked over for help. As girls from the same dorm who had lived together for more than half a year, she was naturally closer to Ymir.
The latter looked around, didn't speak directly, but instead glanced at Lillian. "Does the shorty have any ideas?"
"..."
Lillian of course didn't know which road was right either. Being asked, he casually said, "Whatever, they're all the same." As he spoke, he glanced at the hesitating Krista and casually pointed at a relatively remote path. "How about this one?"
Daz, whose physical condition was not very good, had already walked for more than an hour. His face was pale as paper, and now he wasn't even speaking smoothly, only nodding. "Anything is fine…"
"Krista, just choose the one you like most." After Lillian finished speaking, Ymir suddenly said, "No need to listen to the shorty."
"…Sharp-tongued woman, you're really boring."
"Then let's go l—" Krista suddenly paused, slightly frowned, and before finishing her words changed her mind. "We'll take this one."
She pointed to a path adjacent to the one Lillian had suggested.
After speaking, she was the first to step forward. Lillian curled his lips and followed. But Ymir slowed down, walked beside him, and said softly, "Krista really is thinking for your sake."
"This doesn't need a sharp-tongued woman like you to tell me."
Lillian of course knew what Krista was thinking.
Choosing a road seemed casual, but actually involved a responsibility problem.
Because this training counted toward the total score, if they chose the wrong road and wasted time, the final evaluation would definitely be low. Then — who would bear this responsibility?
Obviously, whoever chose the road would be blamed.
After all, these groups were temporarily formed. The members' relationships were not necessarily very good. Many had not reached the level of being willing to share responsibility together.
So earlier, Krista hadn't realized this and asked Ymir's opinion. But after Lillian gave his choice, she suddenly realized it, so she immediately took the responsibility onto herself and made the decision. What a silly girl.
Thinking this, he stepped forward. "Let's go, sharp-tongued woman. Talk less. In this weather, every extra sentence costs extra stamina."
"Tch, as if I like talking to you so much."
The four chose their path and went in. Very soon, like the other groups, they disappeared into the vast snow.
---
Hoo — hoo
The north wind howled, carrying uncontrollable snowflakes flying everywhere, blowing over, and also drilling into people's necks.
Lillian shivered.
The four had already walked for an hour. Even though his physique was quite good, it couldn't increase much resistance to cold and heat. If even he, a boy, was frozen like this, not to mention the two girls.
Krista had both hands tucked into her pockets, her body slightly hunched forward as she walked. Obviously standing straight would have to endure much stronger wind and snow. Her long, dark brows were already completely covered by frost and snow, and ice marks hung at the corners of her eyes — tears caused by the wind that froze before falling.
Ymir was a bit better, but she also hadn't said a single word for a long time. Just as Lillian said, in this kind of weather, speaking one more sentence outside wasted precious stamina.
More importantly, they still couldn't see the finish. They had walked for so long, but ahead was still a vast whiteness. It was as if they had walked into a painting, no matter how they walked, only circling in blank white.
The key was they didn't even know whether this road was right or wrong. And — the road behind them was already covered by ice and snow. Turning back, it was also a vast whiteness. Luckily they still had companions. If they're walking alone in this environment, probably before freezing to death, thier mind would collapse first.
Thump.
A dull sound suddenly rang out. The group turned back and saw that Daz, who was walking last, had fallen to the ground.
"Daz!"
Krista hurried over. At this moment Lillian had already squatted down and checked his condition.
Daz had his eyes tightly closed and was unconscious. Lillian took off his glove and placed the back of his hand on Daz's forehead. His expression immediately changed slightly.
Clearly it was snowy weather, but Daz's forehead was extremely hot, hot enough to boil an egg — obviously he had a high fever!
"He has a fever." Lillian put his glove back on, took off the scarf around his own neck, and wrapped it around Daz's face. "We must quickly find a—"
"There's a cave here!" Ymir's voice came from ahead.
Lillian picked Daz up. He was heavy, but for him it was nothing.
"Careful…"
Krista supported Daz's body from the side and walked forward together. Reaching the front, they found a cave by the roadside. Ymir had already put down her backpack, taken out an oil lamp, blocked the wind with the backpack, and lit the lamp.
A dark yellow light lit up.