This rope ladder was made of a common vine, capable of withstanding the weight of at least three people. However, it looked like it had been hanging here for some years and was somewhat decayed. When gripped and slightly tightened, dust and debris could be felt falling from the rope. Therefore, Fang Senyan was cautious when climbing, as if walking on thin ice. Fortunately, he reached the top without incident.

After climbing up the cliff, the valley continued to be flanked by towering precipices. Sparse pine forests still grew in the valley. Day had already broken, and the two felt faintly dizzy, whether due to psychological reasons or actual poisoning. Overwhelmed with fear, they dared not linger and continued to sprint forward after determining their direction.

It wasn't until Fang Senyan heard birds chirping in the treetops and saw tender buds sprouting on the pine branches that he stopped, collapsing to the ground, gasping for breath. It took a long time for him to recover.

Compared to the previously desolate pine forest, this one seemed much more vibrant. The two hadn't eaten much since being escorted to the snow-capped peak, having only consumed half a fish in the past day and night. It had long been digested during their desperate escape. Now that they were out of the dangerous area, they immediately felt their stomachs burning with hunger. After a brief search, they found many pine nuts. Because these pine nuts grew in the extreme cold, their shells were quite thick. Ordinary people would probably have to use stones to crack them open, but Fang Senyan and Jiao Shi were like cracking sunflower seeds, getting it right with every pinch. Fortunately, the pine nuts inside were quite delicious, barely satisfying their hunger. They perked up and searched for prey.

In this kind of pine forest, Jiao Shi had hunted in the real world, so his previous hunting experience came in handy. Fang Senyan was still trying to get a skinny bird in a tree when Jiao Shi caught a fat snow badger.

This snow badger was very fierce. If one were to catch it in the real world, a hunting rifle would be essential. It was hard to say whether you would catch it and eat its meat or it would catch you and have a feast. Fortunately, both Fang Senyan and Jiao Shi were not ordinary people. They grabbed it, twisted its neck, and with a crisp "snap," dispatched it. There was no need to drain the blood. Letting the blood soak into the meat made it more flavorful when roasted. (Some people like to slaughter pigs without draining the blood. The resulting pork has a stronger gamey taste, but some people consider it a delicacy. I have a relative who likes it, and every year during the New Year, they buy a live pig and slaughter it without draining the blood.) Jiao Shi's eyes were green with hunger. He didn't bother resting, deftly cutting it open, cleaning it with snow, and then roasting it. At this time, the salt and fire source found on the strong orc came in handy. The two devoured the oily badger meat, almost swallowing their tongues, but finally had their fill, and their physical condition had roughly recovered to eighty percent. After the meal, according to the customs of the forest, the two gathered the blood stains, entrails, and bones together, preparing to bury them to avoid attracting any potential beasts of prey and encountering unnecessary trouble. However, during the burial process, Fang Senyan suddenly made a sound of surprise, used a wooden stick to flip over the badger's internal organs, and picked out a bloody thing. When the two saw what it was, their expressions changed immediately.

It was a bloody human finger!

The two looked at each other, feeling a churning in their stomachs, but they managed not to vomit. Their faces turned ashen as they continued to rummage through the bloody mess, but found nothing new.

Faced with this sudden event, the two felt even more that this place was strange and eerie, and a huge question arose in their minds: judging by the freshness of this finger…could there be someone ahead? Daring not to stay any longer, they took advantage of their full stomachs and good spirits and hurried onward.

After the group walked for a few more miles, the pine forest became sparse. Suddenly, Jiao Shi, who was scouting ahead, had a drastic change in expression. He abruptly dropped to the ground, then crawled and hid behind a pine tree. Fang Senyan's nerves were also on edge at all times. Seeing Jiao Shi's appearance, he immediately hid the elf girl and found a place to conceal himself.

The two carefully hid for a while, but found no unusual movement. Fang Senyan cast an inquiring glance, and Jiao Shi made a solemn gesture to the east. Fang Senyan looked in that direction, and a chill ran down his spine.

Several hundred meters away, there was a crude camp. Although the camp was hastily built, it could be clearly seen that this architectural style was unique to the strong orcs and tentacle monsters. Next to an old pine tree near the camp, a burly strong orc leaned, seemingly watching vigilantly. In the camp, seven or eight strong orcs seemed to be resting, sprawled all over the ground.

After the two hid and observed carefully, they discovered that there was also a strong orc camp on the west side. These two camps firmly blocked the narrow part of the valley. Anyone who wanted to sneak past unnoticed would definitely not be able to escape the surveillance of the sentries in the two camps.

Fang Senyan and the others had risked the great danger of going insane and dying at any moment to cross the lake, all to escape the pursuit of the strong orcs. Who knew that what they feared would actually happen, and they would encounter such a large-scale strong orc camp in this ghastly place! It seemed that at least a dozen strong orcs had established a temporary camp here! They wondered how they had passed through that pine forest!

The two held their breaths, not daring to make a sound, and crept backward on the ground. But at this moment, the elf girl, who had been placed not far away, unconsciously twisted and bumped into a pine tree next to her!

This pine tree was not thick, but a lot of snow had accumulated on its canopy. When Wu Ge bumped into it, the snow came crashing down, making quite a noise. Under normal circumstances, such a bump wouldn't matter, but in this silent pine forest, unless the strong orcs' sentries were blind, they would definitely not miss such a commotion. The faces of both men were ashen, and they lay there, not daring to move.

However, after a long time of vigilance, all they heard was the sound of the pine wind, and all they saw was the lonely forest. The ferocious enemies they had expected to come and hunt them down showed no sign of movement. At this moment, Fang Senyan had an idea. He peeked out and looked around, then suddenly lowered his voice and said, "The sentry hasn't moved at all."

Jiao Shi also peeked out suspiciously, and said with doubt, "Yes…could he be asleep?"

Fang Senyan took a deep breath and said, "Those strong orcs lying in the camp haven't moved at all either."

A crazy and knowing light flashed in Fang Senyan's eyes. As he spoke, he actually stood up and walked out of the hiding place, trying to approach the dangerous camp. Jiao Shi took a deep breath: "Could it be…?"

A strange sneer appeared on Fang Senyan's face. He began to approach the strong orc camp without concealment. The sentry remained motionless. Fang Senyan walked up to him, patted him on the shoulder, and the sentry, still in his guard posture, fell stiffly sideways, then shattered into pieces, like an ice sculpture being pushed over.

In both camps, all were frozen stiff ice corpses, knocking on them made a solid sound. These strong orcs should also be like Fang Senyan and the others, coming here to set up camp after swimming across the lake. The rope ladder left on the lakeside cliff should have been left by these strong orcs. And after careful examination by the two, they found that there were more or less some peculiar triangular wounds on these corpses.

Strangely, the wounds were all distributed on the front of the body. These wounds were very deep, but none were in vital areas. Under normal circumstances, it was impossible for them to be the cause of death for these strong and healthy strong orcs.

Fang Senyan and the others looked at each other. Although they had uncovered the truth of these two camps, they had suddenly fallen into another huge mystery. And at this time, Jiao Shi suddenly seemed to have thought of something, frowned, and said seriously, "There are still living people here!"

Fang Senyan's pupils contracted suddenly. He immediately thought of the key point as well. That was the bloody finger that had been found in the badger's intestines! He didn't know how long the corpses in front of him had been dead. All of them had been frozen into ice corpses, their skin as hard as iron, and there were no signs of being gnawed by wild animals on the corpses. Even if the snow badger was indiscriminate, the fingers of these ice corpses could never have appeared in such a fresh state with rolled flesh and blood.

The two suppressed their fear and carefully searched the two camps. The most useful things they found were some cold-proof animal skin clothing. Although these things were tattered, their warmth retention was still very good, and the two naturally put them on without hesitation.

In a wooden box next to them, they also found two bags of strong liquor…this was real liquor that had not been mixed with blood. Drinking it felt as spicy as a small knife cutting from the mouth all the way to the stomach, followed by a burning warmth extending to the limbs.

In addition, they also found a very peculiar wooden product. This thing was like an overturned stool with its four legs facing the sky, and two long wooden sticks were tied parallel to it, seemingly used to carry something. The two studied it for a while, feeling quite bewildered, but could not find the correct answer.