The snow leopard walker appeared ferocious with its blue-green face and fangs, and its massive build, but in reality, its courage was no greater than that of a house cat.
Suddenly struck by Zhang Qiling's overwhelming power, its dazed mind seemed to grasp something instantly, transforming it into a supremely good cat ready for petting, hugging, and kissing. With blood still on its head, it immediately flipped over, exposing its fluffy belly in an attempt to save its life through cuteness.
However, it clearly had no self-awareness regarding its appearance.
In any case, its flip failed to stir any pity from the three people present. Fatty was even drawn to its plump belly, contemplating the consumption of a Changbai Mountain snow leopard walker.
Snow Leopard Walker: (Cat-like shock)!!!
Two lines of clear tears flowed down its furry face, smearing across its body with the blood, leaving streaks.
"Damn, is the intelligence of snow leopard walkers this high? It's not recorded in books..." Wu Tianzhen, interested in all sorts of peculiar academic pursuits, inexplicably produced a notebook from somewhere and began scribbling furiously.
His thick gloves did not hinder his surging scientific spirit. In a short while, the specific information about the snow leopard walker was meticulously recorded, and Wu Tianzhen even quickly sketched an appearance draft of the snow leopard walker, capturing its spirit and details with accuracy.
Then, after a moment of hesitation, Wu Tianzhen sneakily added a chibi version of Zhang Qiling next to the snow leopard walker's sketch.
This chibi figure held a chibi Black Gold Ancient Saber, radiating exaggerated waves of energy like a Super Saiyan, and was lecturing the cowering snow leopard walker.
"Little Brother, look—"
Wu Tianzhen, holding the notebook, was about to show Zhang Qiling when his voice suddenly stopped.
Snowflakes fell gently, drifting in silence, while Zhang Qiling stood several meters away, quietly looking up at the peak of the distant towering snow-capped mountains.
A snowflake landed gently on his eyelashes, melting into water as he blinked and flowed down his cheek.
"...Little Brother?"
"Let's go." Zhang Qiling turned his head at the sound of Wu Tianzhen's voice, his expression blank, making that streak of water appear particularly abrupt.
Although this scene made no sound, it was no less than a tempest, a world-shattering event in Wu Tianzhen's heart.
...Damn it!
He didn't know why he suddenly felt so agitated, but he couldn't bring himself to hand over the notebook in his hand.
Fatty, muttering about a hundred ways to eat the snow leopard walker, seemed regretful but was already following behind Zhang Qiling. Seeing Wu Tianzhen standing there stunned, he even pulled him along.
Distractedly, Wu Tianzhen lifted his foot. Now, he found the sacred snow-capped mountains incredibly annoying, irritating no matter how he looked at them. If he could, he truly wished never to see snow-capped mountains again in his life.
But as he walked, a question quietly surfaced in his mind—
The snow leopard walker had called out Fatty's name and his name, but had it not called out Little Brother's?
To be precise, the snow leopard walker's method of calling people was through special sonic manipulation, which was supposed to be uncontrollable. How could it have precisely avoided Little Brother?
No one answered his inner confusion. The surroundings were filled only with the whistling wind and the crunching sound of footsteps on snow.
Wu Tianzhen could only suppress his suspicions and continue forward. However, he didn't notice that Zhang Qiling, at the forefront, quietly looked back at the still weeping snow leopard walker amidst the wind and snow.
...In fact, Zhang Qiling had heard it, the voice from the snow leopard walker.
But unlike Fatty's and Wu Tianzhen's simple names, what he heard was a complete sentence—
(You've finally come.)
This was precisely when the snow leopard walker had lightly dodged Wu Tianzhen's punch and stood calmly in the distance.
Through the vast white expanse, Zhang Qiling saw the expression on that face – a look of anticipation and fervor that should not have appeared on a feline's face.
This peculiar expression and posture did not linger on the snow leopard walker for long. By the time it lunged at Wu Tianzhen again, this strange feeling had completely dissipated.
And after Zhang Qiling taught it to be a cat with a single kick, its crying and pleading clearly told Zhang Qiling—
The mysterious power that had just descended upon this snow leopard walker had departed.
...It was as if this mysterious power had suddenly arrived in the vast snow mountains, watching him in the silence, solely to speak that one sentence to him.
Wu Tianzhen and Fatty had fallen far behind.
Zhang Qiling stopped, gently extended his hand to catch a snowflake, and watched it gradually melt.
The strange sensation on the snow leopard walker had vanished, but that mysterious power had never left.
It was within these falling snowflakes, on these silent snow mountains, and even in the high, distant sky above.
The Qilin tattoos on Zhang Qiling's body quietly surfaced. He raised his head, puffed out his chest, and glared defiantly at the sky, as if he saw an eye staring at him from the center of the sky.
...Suffocation.
This feeling was as if the entire world had come alive at this moment, watching Zhang Qiling's footsteps with supreme expectation, eagerly awaiting him to reach that door.
"System?" Zhang Qiling softly called out to the system in his heart.
It had been silent for a long time since the Bronze Gate appeared. If Zhang Qiling couldn't still see the 50% progress for Changbai Mountain, he would have suspected the system had left.
...And this trip to Changbai did not come with any tasks from the system.
"..."
"Lit-little Brother!" Wu Tianzhen, finally catching up, bent over and supported his knees, panting heavily. Although the mountain wasn't that high yet, he felt as if he were suffering from altitude sickness.
"My goodness..." Fatty almost wanted to lie down on the slope, but he was afraid of his clothes getting soaked with snow. So, he just sighed, "This trip will probably make Fatty lose quite a bit of weight. I'll have to eat well to make up for it when I get back!"
"Speaking of which, isn't Song Shuning in charge of R&D? No, I need to search around to see if he has anything that instantly builds muscle!"
"? I say, Fatty," Wu Tianzhen said speechlessly, "Haven't you had enough of being a bandit?"
"And eating to instantly build muscle, why don't you just ask him to develop a magical spider, get stung by it, and become a superhero directly!"
"...Is it that I don't want to? It's just that Song Shuning and the others are not capable enough!" Fatty retorted righteously. After this round of banter, he felt he had recovered somewhat, so he put his hands on his hips and straightened up, looking around.
As a result, this glance made him see something strange!
"Isn't it, Tianzhen, look over there," he tensed up instantly, pointing to a nearby snow-capped mountain, "Over there, isn't there a person?"
...In this deep mountain wilderness, there couldn't possibly be a person, could there?
Wu Tianzhen muttered and turned his head—
He saw that in the thick snow, a large patch of bright red, like a bloodstain, appeared before their eyes!
It was a down jacket that seemed to have bled through, and at the top of that jacket, a stiff, pale human head was emerging!
Wu Tianzhen, with his excellent eyesight, could guarantee that this person's eyes were wide open, staring directly at them.