Chapter 29 Behind the Giant Rock

Despite Fang Senyan's vigilance, the rapid footsteps from afar did not cease. Suddenly, a dark shadow pounced from the rocks!

Fang Senyan anticipated the enemy's swift approach, but he didn't expect the pounce to be so rapid.

He tumbled awkwardly to the side, barely avoiding the attack. Composed despite the chaos, Fang Senyan crossed his arms in front of his chest. But the expected pursuit didn't come. The dark shadow landed, turned with incredible agility, and darted into a narrow, pitch-black cave beneath the giant rock!

Fang Senyan exhaled a long breath, shaking his head with a wry smile. That dark shadow was no pursuer, but a snow badger, seemingly terrified. It moved with incredible speed. Normally, Fang Senyan could distinguish between human and animal tracks, but his abilities were significantly diminished, and he was troubled by the bizarre situation, leading to this amateur mistake.

Subsequently, more animals fled from behind, passing through the cave and into the rocky valley, clearly frightened by the distant fire in the sky. Seizing the opportunity, Fang Senyan hunted a snow weasel for food in the coming days. Then, he leaned his hastily made "ladder" against the rock face and helped Wu Ge (name of a character, female) climb onto the giant rock.

Of course, he didn't forget to pull up the tree ladder. While this might not delay the pursuing orcs for long, Fang Senyan knew that doing something, however small, was better than doing nothing.

The top of the giant rock was quite wide, exceeding five meters. It even had accumulated sediment and stubbornly growing alpine lichen and moss. Touching it gave the illusion of touching rough skin.

Despite knowing the urgency, Fang Senyan remained calm, using the dim morning light to carefully observe his surroundings. He couldn't blame Fang Senyan for being so cautious. After all, Jiao Shi (name of a character) had let out a shout and vanished without a trace.

Fang Senyan knew that in terms of individual strength, Jiao Shi (name of a character) was far more resilient than himself. While Jiao Shi (name of a character) was influenced by some chivalrous ideals, his improvisation and close combat skills were not inferior to his own. For him to vanish without even a warning cry... the thought alone was chilling.

The sky was now slightly brighter. Fang Senyan continued to lie prone, cautiously observing the environment ahead. The mountain walls on both sides flared outward like a trumpet, creating a relatively wide small valley, and even the rocks became sparse. Everything seemed normal, with no apparent danger. But Fang Senyan knew that obvious dangers were never the greatest threat. Otherwise, Jiao Shi (name of a character) wouldn't have disappeared so strangely.

Suddenly, Fang Senyan's gaze stopped behind a pile of rocks. There, he spotted a line of brown, resembling half a straw sandal. The sky was still dim, and the surroundings looked quite blurred. Without Fang Senyan's meticulous attention, it would have been difficult to notice.

In the frigid climate of these far northern snow peaks, the strong orcs took good care of their prisoners, providing not only warm animal hide clothing but also thick straw sandals woven from sedge grass. Wrapping the feet in animal hide and soft straw sandals greatly reduced the chance of frostbite. Ordinary half-orcs didn't receive this treatment, suffering from frostbite and festering wounds.

Because Fang Senyan was also wearing such straw sandals, he found the line of brown familiar. He thought, who else but Jiao Shi (name of a character) would be wearing such sandals in this place? Could this be where he encountered trouble?

But Jiao Shi (name of a character) had spatial abilities for protection and shouldn't have died here! The thought filled Fang Senyan with contradictions and doubts. He slowed his breathing even further, carefully observing his surroundings again. After confirming nothing was amiss, he placed the elf girl aside, lowered the makeshift wooden ladder, and jumped down from the giant rock.

After jumping down, Fang Senyan seemed to smell a peculiar odor, though faint. He looked around and noticed oily droplets congealed on the surrounding rocks. He had no time to investigate. He tiptoed toward the rocks.

As he drew closer, Fang Senyan confirmed it was a straw sandal, and the toes peeking through the gaps were clearly visible. However, the toes had turned bluish-purple. The foot's owner was frozen stiff, and their body had long lost life.

Fang Senyan approached cautiously, his body tense. He was ready to react to any abnormality, even if it might be futile.

Everything was quiet except for the red sky behind him. But the terror in Fang Senyan's heart surged to its peak. If the corpse before him was Jiao Shi (name of a character), he would have been somewhat prepared, but the reality defied his expectations.

The corpse was frozen stiff, but its flesh was mangled and bloody, its face unrecognizable. It was a prisoner who had been skinned alive!!!!!

"Could it be... the platform at the summit of the snow peak, thousands of feet above, where I fled to?"

Fang Senyan couldn't help but look up, but only saw misty clouds and howling winds. In the snowy mist, he vaguely made out multiple platform-like ridges. He was still troubled by a huge mystery:

Why did these strong orcs go to such lengths to hunt slaves from thousands of miles away, carefully tending to them along the way, at such great cost of manpower and resources? After all that, why strengthen the slaves' vitality only to skin them and throw them off the snow peak?

Even if the orcish race was known for its crude brutality, not its cunning, Saruman behind them was a scheming, deceptive fellow. Such elaborate efforts must conceal an astonishing motive! And he... might have inadvertently approached the core of this truth!

After experiencing so many bizarre and unpredictable events, Fang Senyan's curiosity burned fiercely. Although he knew the dangers here, he also knew that danger often went hand in hand with opportunity. Uncovering the truth would be invaluable, even if only for the information gained. He moved closer for a closer look and immediately noticed something unusual about the corpse.

The corpse was deformed from falling from a snow peak thousands of feet high. It would be strange if it weren't. However, judging by the bloodstains around it, the corpse hadn't died on impact. It had writhed and struggled painfully on the ground for a long time before dying. Bloodstains covered the sparse rocks within dozens of square meters. Flattened traces were clearly visible, and some of the surrounding rocks even had deep finger marks gouged into them!

The corpse, already mangled and skinned, had rolled on the ground, and its warm flesh inevitably picked up loose leaves, rocks, ice, and other debris, which stuck to it like glue in the cold wind.

The sight of such a gruesome scene filled Fang Senyan with horror. He looked up and saw dozens of similar ice corpses scattered across the wide valley, some with their heads buried in the ground, likely dying instantly, others with twisted bodies and bared teeth, dying in extreme agony, crawling and rolling on the ground, having clearly suffered intense pain before freezing to death.

Clearly, the severed finger found in the snow badger's intestines that he and Jiao Shi (name of a character) had hunted came from here!

Seeing this scene, Fang Senyan couldn't help but think of the medicinal potion he had drunk earlier: the Mucus of Heichimga. Judging by the extent of the fractures in the bodies, the skinned slaves must have collided and slid many times before reaching the valley floor.

Even so, if they hit their heads during the fall, at least 80% would die instantly. The remaining 20% likely survived the initial impact, only to howl and scream in agony in the frozen valley before succumbing to the cold!

Watching these horribly mutilated corpses, Fang Senyan felt a chill rise from his heart. Strictly speaking, the Mucus of Heichimga was indeed potent, but Fang Senyan hadn't realized it was so tyrannical, seemingly draining every last bit of potential from the body.

The more severe the injury, the greater and faster the draining force. Even after being skinned and thrown off a towering icy abyss, they still struggled and rolled for a while before taking their last breath!

In the subsequent search, Fang Senyan discovered faint, large claw prints on nearby rocks. The rocks here were incredibly hard, yet they seemed as fragile as tofu before those claw prints. More than a dozen crudely made stone basins were scattered on the ground, most of them broken, but two were mostly intact and could be pieced together.