Please allow me to record a brief account of events, starting from the moment I agreed to go with Zhang Hai and the two days that followed before the four of us set off. We entered the snow-capped mountains and made our way forward. Two weeks later, we arrived at the outskirts of Kamba, near a glacial lake.
The scenery was incredibly beautiful—snowy mountains, blue skies, and white clouds—but I simply didn’t have the energy to appreciate it. The moment we approached the ice lake, any slight emotional stir I felt was shattered by the sound of the fat guy and the German loading their guns.
There were four of us in total: the fat guy, me, Zhang Haixing, and a very short German who looked like a special forces soldier. The German spoke Chinese very well and told me his name was Von, which translates to Feng. The reason he was short was that the fat guy insisted on having a short companion, claiming that if a German over two meters tall came along and got injured, he could only cut him in half to bring him back.
So I called him “Grave Mound,” the fat guy called him “Dung,” and Zhang Haixing, being the most proper, called him Feng.
The German rarely spoke unless necessary. Unlike typical Germans, he was very adaptable and quick-thinking, but along the way, both the fat guy and I spoke very little, and there wasn’t much communication with him.
There was no mood for conversation. The path was simply too difficult.
Before we reached the ice lake, we were about three kilometers away when the fat guy and the German began to clean their guns, applying antifreeze oil to all the components and evenly coating the bullets with oil before reloading them into the magazines.
In the notes of the “Dull Oil Bottle,” it was written that there were strange things beneath the snow in this area, and they felt they needed to be cautious.
As we entered the ice lake, we didn’t encounter much, only seeing a dead deer frozen in the ice at the edge of the lake, its body reduced to just a head and skeleton.
We had never seen such a sight before; there shouldn’t be such deer on the plateau.
The fat guy raised his gun, looked around at the vast whiteness, and said, “It’s been fed. Look, there are bullet marks on its head; someone shot it from the mountain and brought it here to feed it.”
“What could have eaten it like this?” Zhang Haixing asked Feng.
“Wasn’t it said to be a bear?”
“A bear doesn’t eat that neatly; it’s too clean. This thing has a high IQ,” Feng replied, knocking on the ice covering the frozen deer’s body with his gun butt. “You can’t see any tooth marks; otherwise, I would have a conclusion.”
“It’s that impressive? You can tell just by looking at the bones?” the fat guy said.
“Feng has a degree in zoology,” Zhang Haixing stated. “He’s an associate professor.”
“I have a degree too,” the fat guy retorted. “I, Fat Master, have acupoints like Yongquan and Zusanli. He’s an associate professor, but I also have an associate footman.”
“Can you stop talking nonsense?” Zhang Haixing said, already used to it. She lit a cigarette and pulled out her weapon, a crossbow, hanging the quiver at her waist. When she saw me looking at her, she said, “I hate noisy things; this is quiet.”
“What’s the loading speed?”
“It depends on how many enemies there are. If there’s only one target, I haven’t tried using a second arrow yet.”
“Hey, I thought only I, Fat Master, could say such big words. You old hag, you know I started playing with guns while wearing open-crotch pants. Saying this in front of me is just too disrespectful—”
The fat man suddenly fell silent, as we all saw a dark shadow swimming past beneath the ice cover at our feet. This shadow was large and moved slowly, resembling more of a big worm than any fish gliding beneath us. Both the fat man and I saw it, and soon Feng and Zhang Haixing spotted it too; we all stood frozen in place.
The ice cover was extremely thick, so thick that we couldn’t see any details beneath it, only the vague shape of that thing. Three minutes later, it swam silently past us; if we hadn’t looked down, we wouldn’t have felt a thing. I noticed Feng starting to tremble, suddenly pointing his gun at the ice beneath him.
The fat man was right beside him and instantly grabbed his firing pin. I saw that Feng’s finger was already on the trigger; if the fat man hadn’t held him back, the gun would have fired. Feng continued to shake uncontrollably, but fortunately, he was completely paralyzed by fear and didn’t make any other moves. The fat man remained still until that thing left.
After it disappeared, the four of us exchanged glances. The fat man took Feng’s gun, folded it up, and slung it over his shoulder. Feng looked at the fat man, who said, “Sorry, Comrade Dafu, but you’d better not use the gun.”
Zhang Haixing looked at the fat man and said, “You’re not the one in charge here.”
“This is an ice lake. If he had fired just now, we’d all be dead, falling into the lake. I would have had to strip you and rub you vigorously to save your life,” the fat man replied. “Given his current state, it’s safer for the gun to be with me.”
Zhang Haixing looked at the fat man and said, “Even if your decision is correct, it should be mine to make.”
The fat man glanced at me and then at Zhang Haixing, clearly feeling it was unreasonable. I was also a bit surprised; although Zhang Haixing had been very assertive throughout, it was the first time I sensed she was overly concerned about who was in charge.
The two of them held their ground for a moment before the fat man sighed and tossed the gun to Zhang Haixing: “Alright, I respect elders the most.”
Zhang Haixing shouldered the gun and went to comfort Feng, while the fat man made a face as if he was about to break down. Feng’s face was pale, and he offered no rebuttal or resistance.
“This woman needs to learn the hard way that in situations like this, who’s in charge doesn’t matter,” the fat man said, taking his own gun down and folding it to put in his backpack.
“What’s wrong? Are you sulking?”
“It’s useless; holding it is just for courage. You saw the size of that thing in the water; its physique is enough to withstand bullets.”
I thought about it and realized he was right, especially since we were on the lake with the ice being so thick. I hadn’t taken any weapons, thinking that with them around, I wouldn’t need to. Now seeing Feng like this, I knew that guy was basically unreliable.
The fat man tossed me a dagger, which I tucked into a spot where it would be easy to draw. Zhang Haixing came over and said, “We need to get across this ice lake quickly; don’t slow us down.”
“Okay,” the fat man replied, “Sister, you go ahead.”
I shot the fat man a glare, thinking that our relationship was already tense, and he shouldn’t be fanning the flames.
“We’ll go in a straight line. The destination is that mountain pass ahead. Move through as quickly as possible, but try to land softly,” Zhang Haixing pointed to the distance.
The Fatty and I looked in the direction Zhang Haixing was pointing, and I immediately felt something was off. The Fatty said, “We have no understanding of the situation. If we pass through the middle of the lake and run into trouble, we won’t have much chance to turn things around.”
“In our Zhang family, there’s a principle: many things may seem dangerous, but in reality, they are the safest. Don’t be misled by surface judgments.” Zhang Haixing looked at Feng, who seemed to relax slightly and said, “That thing we saw earlier was probably a type of fish in this ice lake. Given its size, it must be a result of centuries of feeding by the locals. People wouldn’t feed in the center of the lake; they would definitely do it near the water’s edge, so the center of the lake is actually safer.”
Zhang Haixing looked at the Fatty, who glanced at me. I pondered for a moment, but I still couldn’t get over my own doubts.
Seeing that neither of us was moving or expressing our opinions, Zhang Haixing said, “What’s wrong? Do you have other thoughts?”
“I have a bad feeling,” I replied.
“Generally, we avoid places where our instincts feel off,” the Fatty said, “Tian Zhen is famously known for raising the dead when opening coffins.”
“Are you trying to cause trouble?”
“Miss, have you been to a place like this before?” I asked her. The Zhang family abroad seemed to have completely lost the kind of soul-deep caution and care that the oil bottle had.
“I’ve done more dangerous things than both of you combined.”
“Well, you are quite older,” the Fatty remarked.
Zhang Haixing’s expression turned displeased: “The fact that the Zhang family has survived to this day is no coincidence. Our rules of conduct are all aimed at survival. Don’t underestimate the wisdom accumulated by our ancestors.”
I sighed, looking at the surface of the lake. I really wanted to go with her, but the uncomfortable feeling in my heart grew stronger. Finally, I paused and said, “I used to admire people with that kind of wisdom, but later I began to believe in myself. Regarding the situation here, we don’t have your skills or your reaction speed. Have you considered that the foundation of your wisdom is your years of training, while we’ve only managed to survive by using some clever tricks and petty schemes? It’s unfair to hold us to your standards.”
The Fatty lit a cigarette and saw Zhang Haixing standing there, her face turning red. He said, “Master, I know you must have commanded a group of very capable people before, but we two idiots are really too weak. Why don’t you and your associate go through the center, and my naïve self and I will climb around the side?”
“Those creatures might be able to move on land,” Zhang Haixing said. “You remember, it was written in the notes.”
The Fatty patted his gun: “On land, we might not fear it.”
With that, there wasn’t much more to say. Zhang Haixing and Feng moved toward the center of the ice lake, while the Fatty and I proceeded along our own route.
After we separated, the Fatty cursed, “Damn, isn’t this bureaucratic? A girl thinks she can direct me around, what a joke.”
I said, “They’ve been powerful for too long.”
From the trap they set earlier, it’s clear that this group of Zhang family members is underestimating their opponents and overestimating themselves. Of course, if this were the old me, their tricks would have left me dumbfounded, but now, I have changed too much. The old me used to idolize myths; now, I can spot flaws in them at a glance.
We loaded our guns and watched as Zhang Haixing and the others crossed the ice. I said, “Does this count as being irresponsible?”
“The stubborn ones won’t be swayed, so it doesn’t matter if you take responsibility,” the fat guy replied, then patted me on the back. “What I’ve come to realize during this time is that no one can be responsible for someone else’s fate; none of us are gods.”
We made our way along the bank, which was much farther and harder to traverse than their path. We didn’t let our pride get in the way, stepping carefully through the snow, one foot sinking deep while the other barely touched the surface, and from a distance, we could see they had already left us far behind.
I didn’t know how long we had been walking, but they were almost there, while we still had a long way to go. The fat guy said, “Damn it, this time she’s really going to get us in trouble.”
“That’s a good thing,” I replied. “You wouldn’t want them to die right away; then we’d look like fools. It’s best if everyone stays safe.”
The fat guy said, “No monsters around, so a little mishap would be fine, like a fall or something.”
Zhang Haixing was very agile, and I figured her balance and reactions on the ice were far superior to ours. It would be hard for her to fall, and the Germans seemed quite steady too; it looked like they were wearing good shoes.
After walking a bit further, nothing dangerous had happened on our side, and it seemed Zhang Haixing and her group were about to reach their destination. The fat guy was getting frustrated. Suddenly, I noticed something was off; the situation on their side appeared to have changed.
