musicians of old

Chapter 831 Gunshot
A swing? Fan Ning's heart skipped a beat.

There really was a swing on the edge of the cliff.

In the midst of icy mountains and snow, this is indeed very unusual. Sunlight penetrates the ice layer on its rocky chains, revealing the underlying bluish-black texture, making it difficult to determine for a moment whether it is a man-made object or a coincidental natural landscape.

The cliff faces the sunlight, while the opposite side is a bright white void.

wrong.

Fan Ning and Ruoyi quickly recalled that one of Fan Chenxun's "Swing" series of paintings seemed to have a similar theme.
It's not one picture, but multiple pictures with various elements.

Did Fan Chenxun have some kind of premonition or foresight? Logically speaking, the timeline of his oil painting creation should be earlier.

"These are the 'road signs'?" Ruoyi went a step further, recalling one of the conditions Joan had put forward when she came: to remove the road signs she saw along the way.

She gave Joan a questioning look.

After receiving a confirming look, she raised her ice axe against the permafrost, trying to see if she could dig out the "swing base" and push it off the cliff.

"Stop moving! Back up!" Lerich's men immediately shouted threateningly.

"What's all the noise about?" Ruoyi pouted and withdrew her hand.

"Draw a line and cordon it off." Leridge's voice came from behind, issuing orders to his subordinates. "Hmm, this secret route really has something going on. Note the location, take a picture, so that next time we come up and can't find it, any unusual locations are all brought under control, and all results are taken back for analysis."

"Hehe, when we bring the bigwigs from various countries up for their 'inspection,' we'll have to let them see something. But we need to figure out exactly how to 'inspect' them first. Everyone, keep a close eye on things. Take away every single suspicious item we find along the way, including those in these people's luggage!"

"Yes." One of the subordinates pointed the camera at the swing sign and snapped a series of photos.

Furthermore, another dozen or so people were making clanging noises as they constructed a fence resembling a "dangerous construction area" around the area, and even erected a bright orange sign!
"Looks like there's no point in talking about it," Joan suddenly sighed.

Our side is removing road signs, while this group surrounds them. Our side wants to find the sheet music to burn, while this group plans to take everything they see with them.

Not only will they waste time traveling by being slow and indecisive, but even if they do reach their destination, they probably won't let them leave easily.

"Bang!" A snowball hit the back of the head of the deputy who was directing the work.

"What are you doing?!" The man turned around in shock and anger.

“What I meant when I asked you was,” Joan sighed again, “that this place looks special, the whole place, not just a swing.”

"Is the whole place special?"

Because of their leader's earlier order to "look carefully," the provoked group temporarily suppressed their temper and looked around with even more suspicion.

"This place? This terrain?"

These people were all seasoned mountaineers, and with such a strong emphasis, after glancing around at the surrounding terrain for a few seconds, they immediately guessed what the purplish-red-haired girl guide was referring to.

Several concave ice slopes, a large drum-shaped hill to the north, and at least four or five obvious stress concentration zones. The higher elevations are covered with layered snow accumulation. Two long, wide, filled gullies run along the mountainside, one in front and one behind. Upon reaching our position, the slope suddenly becomes gentler, turning into a cone shape, with only a slightly upturned cliff to the west, in the direction of the swing marker.
Everyone suddenly had a bad feeling!

"Hey, I've got something good to show you."

Joan's cool voice carried a hint of sweetness unique to young girls, but when the group saw what she was holding, they all changed color! Several even made a move to rush forward and snatch it away!

"Don't cross that icy line, or I'll pull the trigger right now, and I'll pull it a lot at once."

The girl weighed the old-fashioned dark silver Desert Eagle pistol in her hand, and spoke in a very gentle voice as she gave the warning.

Despite its numerous shortcomings by today's standards, this firearm has superior alternatives in various situations, and its direct threat to those present was extremely limited.
However, its firing noise is very loud.

Very big!

It doesn't even need to be this big; given this extremely dangerous terrain, one shot from any other gun would probably be enough.

Damn it, what's wrong with this surrounding environment?! It's like a rickety pile of building blocks that kids played with! It should have triggered an avalanche long ago! How is it still sitting here "safely" all this time?!

"Are you alright?! Little girl?!" The once arrogant henchman was now ashen-faced, forcing a smile. "Haha, we didn't really do anything to you, did we? We just asked you to lead the way, is it really that big of a deal?"

Indeed, quite a few people in this group of local bullies started to feel their legs go weak.

Even if our side has a large number of people and a lot of weapons to threaten others, in this dangerous high-altitude place, we can't withstand someone overturning the table!
"Does this lady named Ruoyi have any objections?" Qiong Tiantian turned her head with a smile. "Oh, don't be in such a hurry. I still need to ask my client first."

"Me? Hahaha." Ruoyi stretched. "You probably won't get any advice from someone who's going to die tomorrow. Yeah, it's really frustrating dealing with this group of people. The perfect plan to stargaze has fallen through. If we change it to burying them in snow, it'll be less aesthetically pleasing but more exciting."

"And what about this brother named Fan Ning?" Joan continued sweetly.

“I think things are getting interesting,” Fanning shrugged. “And there’s a very insightful ‘saying’ that’s been gaining traction on the internet in our country in recent years—”

"Ok?"

"A lose-lose situation is better than a win-lose situation."

"."

Another unsettling silence followed.

"Alright, alright, alright." Leridge's expression suddenly turned into a somewhat absurd smile as he spread his palms and stood between the two opposing groups. "Is this how kids talk business? 'Business' and 'rules' aren't meant to be understood like this. Okay, it's a kind of powerful bargaining chip, isn't it? So, tell me, what do you want in exchange? Money? A promise or a guarantee?"

“Step back, lie down if you want, but in twenty seconds, don’t let me see any orange-red in my field of vision,” Joan said.

"Sigh, who exactly did you learn to become a guide, young lady?" Lerich shook his head with a pained expression. "Your negotiation and bargaining skills are so green. Hey, you two, go and have a proper chat with this young lady, don't just keep doing this—"

“Then listen carefully,” Joan said.

Everyone was taken aback, and subconsciously pricked up their ears, ready to hear the other party's negotiation terms.

"Listen, a gunshot has gone off." A shallow dimple appeared on Joan's fair face.

? ?
The girl held the gun with its muzzle casually pointing it upwards, and the flashes of Magnum bullets disappeared several times.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Eight rounds of standard .0.44 caliber ammunition fired in quick succession!