Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 311
The group rested in the village for two or three days to recharge, found a guide, and then continued their journey.

The guide's name was Shunzi.

Shunzi had lived here for a while before and knew the situation on the snow mountain very well.

Over the years, he has also made a living by acting as a tour guide for tourists who come here.

It is worth mentioning that ten years ago, Shunzi's father led a group of people deep into the mountains, but they never returned.

Hu Ming knew that the group of people that Shunzi's father led ten years ago were actually Chen Wenjin and her group who had escaped from the Golmud Sanatorium in Qinghai Province.

After agreeing on the price with Shunzi, the matter was settled. They prepared the equipment and bought a lot of things as Shunzi requested. A total of fourteen horses set off in a grand procession into the depths of the forest.

Changbai Mountain is truly beautiful. Despite its harsh climate, it still attracts a large number of tourists every year.

It's winter now, and the wind and snow are constantly changing, so the conditions on the mountain are basically the same every day.

Led by Shunzi, the group followed the workers' path through the forest at the foot of the mountain all the way up.

About four hours later, we arrived at Girl Lake.

To convince Shunzi that they were indeed tourists, the group even took a group photo by the lake.

Hu Ming simply chuckled twice and said nothing more.

It should be noted that Wu Sansheng had already entered the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds about a month ago.

On the eve of their departure, Wu Xie was asked to ask Shunzi to deliver a message to him on how to enter the underground palace.

When Shunzi met Wu Xie, she no longer believed that they were just tourists.

After passing Maiden Lake, the journey became increasingly difficult.

Before long, the group was walking on a slope of about 60 degrees.

As dusk began to fall, the once vast Girls' Lake appeared to Hu Ming and his companions as no larger than a small pond.

At this moment, taking advantage of their elevated position, everyone noticed that a large group of people had appeared by the lake.

"Looks like we're in luck; we even ran into an old acquaintance in this godforsaken place."

Hu Ming picked up the binoculars and looked over, a smirk playing on his lips as he whistled.

That's Aning.

Upon hearing this, Wu Xie and the others, who were riding forward on horseback, all took out their binoculars and looked over.

Aning's team consisted of about thirty people, and they were setting up tents and establishing camp by the lake.

It was obvious that they planned to spend the night by the lake.

To be honest, the environment by the lake is much more comfortable than the environment Hu Ming and his group are in now.

"I go!"

Wu Xie couldn't help but curse under his breath.

He couldn't help but recall the message Wu Sansheng had given him by the bald man when he was in Changsha.

Wu Xie deduced that the enemy Wu Sansheng wanted to delay was probably this group of people from the ship salvage company.

However, what Wu Xie didn't know was that the enemy Wu Sansheng wanted to delay wasn't just Qiu Dekao's people.

"This is troublesome. Those people are fully armed and have a full range of firearms."

"God knows how they got their hands on the guns. Getting a gun these days isn't easy, let alone such a large quantity."

"Not only are we outnumbered in manpower, but we're also outmatched in weaponry. They're using guns, while we're using entrenching tools and knives?"

"How the hell are we supposed to play like this?!"

The fat man, who observed more closely, cursed repeatedly in frustration.

Those thirty-odd men, each with an assault rifle on their back, made the fat man extremely envious. "You have to understand, this is a border region. They can't do anything about it domestically, but they have plenty of ways abroad."

"Or, they probably registered a legitimate security company or something like that."

"Moreover, they couldn't use public transportation on their way here... It seems that their mysterious disappearance last time served as a wake-up call for them."

Hu Ming smiled faintly.

Let alone the fact that it's unlikely there will be any conflict with Ah Ning and her group on this trip, even if there were, thirty people with thirty guns?
It's not that there's no way to solve it.

It's just that the difficulty has increased.

"Let's go, we need to find a place to camp before night falls completely, we don't have time to watch them complain."

They put away their binoculars and continued on their way.

Chen Pi and his group, and Hu Ming and his group, are two separate small groups.

During the discussion just now, both groups avoided each other.

Shunzi, on the other hand, was excluded by both small groups.

They continued climbing the mountain, and finally, as darkness fell completely, they saw some dilapidated wooden houses.

"This was a supply station for the outposts in the snow-capped mountains. Later, several of the stations here were moved to different locations, and this place was abandoned."

"Once we climb up to the snow line, there are a few abandoned outposts there, and we may need to rest there."

Pointing to the dilapidated house, Shunzi dutifully acted as a guide, introducing it to everyone.

Currently, Hu Ming and his group are still below the snow line, far from reaching the region that has been frozen for thousands of years.

After a quick replenishment of food and water, everyone rested early and continued their journey the next morning.

We continued climbing for about half a day, and by then we had crossed the snow line.

As the journey continued, the surrounding environment changed dramatically.

The vegetation began to thin out, the surrounding snow became thicker, and there were more and more haphazardly piled stones.

Hu Ming knew that these were traces left from a major project that had been carried out on Sansheng Mountain years ago.

In ancient times, transportation was inconvenient, especially in places like the Changbai Mountains with their harsh climate, making it extremely difficult to transport raw materials.

Using local materials is the best choice.

At midday, everything in sight was buried under a thick layer of snow.

Upon reaching this point, there were no roads left, and Shunzi, who was familiar with the terrain, led the way.

They found a fairly open spot and stopped to rest for a while.

"Uncle Ming, what are you looking at? How about having a couple of drinks to warm up? This awful weather is killing us."

"Even my massive build can't stop this!"

The fat man took a sip of the strong liquor he carried with him, exhaled a satisfied breath, and called out to Hu Ming, who was standing alone to the side staring blankly at the compass.

"I didn't see anything."

Hu Ming smiled, put away the compass, took the wine flask handed to him by the fat man, and downed it in one gulp, dispelling the chilling cold.

Ever since crossing the snow line, Hu Ming has been keeping an eye on the compass.

About two hours earlier, no matter how they changed their orientation, the compass, pointing 90 degrees clockwise, remained firmly locked on a snow-capped mountain hidden in the clouds in the distance.

In other words, they are not far from the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds.

I'm reposting this; it got reviewed and blocked three times.

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(End of this chapter)