"Hopefully," Chan Li muttered quietly, turning her head away.

Zi Gui and Lu Yu looked at her with surprise, then at Fatty, seemingly unable to understand why the habitually stubborn Chan Li would listen to a strange man.

Huai Yi stood to the side, filled with emotion, thinking that if anyone dared say again that Scarlet Deep was a group of heartless lunatics, he'd tear their mouth apart.

Those were all rumors, the Watchers' shameless slander!

This was clearly a loving family!

"Brother Huai."

Hearing Jiang Cheng call him, Huai Yi immediately stood up, striking a pose of readiness to serve. "Brother Jiang, did you call me?"

Jiang Cheng pointed behind him, where a row of bulging backpacks were lined up, filled with the gear Shang Mo had prepared for their upcoming climb.

Each backpack had a sticky note with the corresponding person's surname on it.

Huai Yi walked over and found the backpack marked with the character for Huai. He curiously opened it to find a complete set of mountaineering clothes, shoes, a sleeping bag, a tent, and plenty of food.

"Brother Jiang," Huai Yi said, pulling out a bag of chocolate and turning around, "It's all the stuff you'd need for climbing. Pretty comprehensive."

But the next second, Huai Yi frowned. He suddenly noticed that Jiang Cheng and Fatty were keeping their distance from him. A moment later, he heard Fatty complaining quietly to Jiang Cheng, "See? I told you it was impossible to run into danger at the very beginning of the mission. There's definitely nothing wrong with the backpacks."

Huai Yi: "..."

Everyone took their respective backpacks. After a careful inspection, the contents were similar. After a brief discussion, they decided to go out for a walk.

Learning more about the local customs and traditions, especially the legends of the supernatural, might be helpful for the upcoming mission.

"What about these backpacks? We can't carry them around, can we?" Han Juanjuan asked. After all, the mountaineering gear was heavy, and carrying it now would only waste energy. More importantly, it might alert the locals.

Shang Mo had specifically reminded them before leaving that, because of the Holy Maiden's Tomb, the locals took climbing the snow mountain very seriously. In their eyes, it was a blasphemy!

To put it bluntly, in this remote and backward place, offending the locals meant they might not even know how they died.

"A few people stay behind to guard the luggage and also to prevent Shang Mo from returning and not being able to contact us," Jiang Cheng quickly arranged.

Gongsun Zhiruo, Zi Gui, and Zhou Yuxuan all nodded. "Okay, we'll follow Mr. Jiang's arrangements."

Zi Gui, Chan Li, and Lu Yu, the three women, chose to stay. Jiang Cheng was worried that leaving Huai Yi alone with three women might be unsafe, so he chose to have Fatty stay behind.

"Be smart," Jiang Cheng gestured to Fatty with his eyes. "Keep an eye on our three backpacks."

Fatty blinked, indicating that he could handle it.

But for some reason, Fatty's confident demeanor made Jiang Cheng even more worried. He remembered that the last time he had Fatty stand guard at night, the latter had said the same thing, and then he was awakened shortly after by Fatty's snoring.

Gu Zun "Oh, right, one more thing." Gongsun Zhiruo stopped those who were about to leave and asked, "I want to ask, how many of us have experience climbing snow mountains?"

"I don't," Jiang Cheng said honestly. Then he turned to look at Fatty and Huai Yi, but judging from their expressions, neither of them did either.

"I've climbed a few mountains before."

A voice sounded, and Jiang Cheng looked over, surprised to find that it was Zi Gui. This woman looked so delicate and weak, he didn't expect her to have such an experience.

"I've climbed a few times with friends, but I rarely reached the summit. But... but I guess you could say I have some experience," Zi Gui said modestly, noticing everyone was looking at her.

The other person with experience was Bai Xi. Because it was hot by the stove, this quiet young man had taken off his coat, tied the sleeves in a knot, and fastened it around his waist, wearing only a short-sleeved shirt.

He had a good physique, with streamlined muscles, indicating that he exercised regularly.

"Climbing a snow mountain is completely different from climbing a normal mountain. It's much more dangerous. Avalanches, crevasses that can swallow people whole, not to mention the traps. You also have to deal with snow blindness, sunburn, frostbite, and dehydration," Bai Xi said. "Those are just the more common dangers. If you encounter bad weather, like a blizzard, things will be even worse."

"Hey, little brother, you haven't counted that hungry ghost," Huai Yi kindly reminded him.

Hearing this, everyone's faces darkened. Climbing an unfamiliar snow mountain was already headache-inducing enough, but now, there was also likely a terrifying ghost waiting for them inside the mountain.

Thinking of the fragmented bones in the photo, the timid Lu Yu began to tremble.

Leaving the warm tent, the temperature outside was much lower. Originally, they thought this was a village, but now, it seemed they had overestimated it. At most, it was a small village, and a particularly dilapidated and backward one at that.

But the surrounding scenery was truly beautiful. Looking towards the back of the village, Mount Gawa Garbo stood among the mountains, the most magnificent of them all. The mountain was covered in snow, shimmering brightly in the sunlight.

The sun was shining brightly. Looking up, the sky above was exceptionally blue, but after looking at it for a long time, it gave people a strange feeling.

The sky was unnaturally blue, and the sunlight, while shining on them, didn't feel warm at all. Instead, it gave off a faint feeling of coldness, as if it were all fake.

Taking a deep breath, the air that filled Jiang Cheng's lungs carried the snow mountain's biting chill, dispelling a trace of discomfort in his heart.

Here, small houses made of stacked stones, like the one Jiang Cheng woke up in, were very rare. Most people lived in tents, and some even lived in low shacks made of wood and rags.

"Look," Han Juanjuan said, pointing to a place not far away.

Following the direction he was pointing, there was a fork in the road. Perhaps due to the melting snow, the road was muddy. In a slightly rightward position at the fork, there was a stone pile made of stacked stones.

"Don't point with your finger," Zhou Yuxuan slapped Han Juanjuan's hand away, looked around, and said in a low voice, "It's a mani stone pile. It seems that the locals come here to pray during special occasions."

Upon approaching, everyone noticed that although these stones were not arranged in any obvious order, many of them had words on them, clearly with special meanings.

Next to the mani stone pile, there was also a wooden box, black, slightly larger than a human head. It looked like it had been there for a long time and was unlocked.