Please allow me to record a stream of consciousness. From the moment I agreed to go with Zhang Hai to the time the four of us set off, two days had passed. We entered the snow-capped mountains, and after two weeks of progress, we arrived near the glacial lake on the outskirts of Kangba.

The scenery was stunning—snowy mountains, blue skies, and white clouds—but I truly lacked the energy to appreciate it. The moment I stepped in front of the ice lake, any fleeting emotion I felt was shattered by the sound of the fat guy loading his gun.

There were four of us in total: the fat guy, me, Zhang Haiqing, and a very short German man who looked like a special forces soldier. The German’s Chinese was excellent; he 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, saying 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 Haiqing, being the most polite, called him Feng. The German rarely spoke unless necessary. Unlike most Germans, he was very adaptable and quick-witted, but along the way, both the fat guy and I spoke very little, so there wasn’t much communication with him.

There was no mood for conversation. The road was just too difficult.

Before entering the ice lake, we were still about three kilometers away, and both the fat guy and the German started cleaning 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 “Dumb Oil Bottle,” it was written that there were strange things under the snow in this area, and they felt they had to be cautious.

We entered the ice lake. Along the way, we didn’t encounter much, only seeing a dead deer frozen in the ice at the edge of the lake, reduced to just its head and skeleton.

We had never seen such a sight before, and 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 the head; someone shot it and brought it up to feed it.”

“What could have eaten it like this?” Zhang Haiqing asked Feng.

“Wasn’t it said to be a bear?”

“A bear wouldn’t be so meticulous. Eating it this clean means whatever did this has a high IQ,” Feng replied. He knocked on the ice covering the frozen deer carcass with the butt of his gun. “There are no tooth marks; otherwise, I would have a conclusion.”

“Such ferocity; just looking at the bones, you can tell who gnawed at it,” said the fat guy.

“Feng has a degree in zoology,” Zhang Haiqing noted. “He’s an associate professor.”

“I have a degree too,” the fat guy said. “Your fat lord has acupoints like Yongquan and Zusanli; he’s an associate professor, and I also have an associate footman.”

“Can you stop talking nonsense?” Zhang Haiqing was already used to it. She lit a cigarette and pulled out her weapon, which was a crossbow, hanging the quiver at her waist. Seeing me look at her, she said, “I hate noisy things; this one 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 my fat lord could talk like that. You old hag, you know I started playing with guns while wearing open-crotch pants. Saying that in front of me is too disrespectful—”

The fat guy suddenly fell silent because we all saw another dark shadow swimming past under the ice right beneath our feet.

The shadow was large and moved slowly, resembling a giant worm more than a fish gliding beneath our feet. Both the fat guy and I saw it, and soon Feng and Zhang Haixing noticed it too. We all stood still. The ice cover was very thick, so thick that we couldn’t see any details beneath it, only the rough shape of that thing. Three minutes later, it swam silently beneath us; if we hadn’t looked down, we wouldn’t have felt anything at all. I saw Feng start to tremble, suddenly pointing the gun at the ice beneath our feet.

The fat guy was right beside him and instantly grabbed his firing pin. I saw that Feng’s finger was already on the trigger; if the fat guy hadn’t held him back, the gun would have gone off. Feng continued to shake, but fortunately, he was completely frozen in fear and made no other movements. The fat guy remained motionless until that thing left.

After it disappeared, the four of us exchanged glances. The fat guy took Feng’s gun, folded it, and slung it over his back. Feng looked at the fat guy, who said, “Sorry, Comrade Dung, but you really shouldn’t use the gun.”

Zhang Haixing looked at the fat guy and said, “This isn’t your decision to make.”

“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 guy replied. “Given his current state, it’s safer for the gun to be with me.”

Zhang Haixing looked at the fat guy and said, “Even if your decision is correct, it should be mine to make.”

The fat guy glanced at me and then at Zhang Haixing, clearly finding her reasoning incomprehensible. I was also a bit surprised; although Zhang Haixing had been very assertive throughout our journey, it was the first time I noticed her excessive concern over who was in charge.

After a brief standoff, the fat guy sighed and tossed the gun to Zhang Haixing: “Alright, I respect the elderly.”

Zhang Haixing slung the gun over her shoulder to comfort Feng, while the fat guy made a face as if he was about to break down. Feng’s face was pale, showing no signs of rebuttal or resistance.

“This woman needs to learn the hard way that at times like this, who’s in charge doesn’t matter,” the fat guy said, and then took his own gun off, folded it, and placed it in his backpack.

“What’s wrong? Are you sulking?”

“It’s useless. Having it is just for bravado. You saw the size of that thing in the water; it’s tough enough to withstand bullets.”

I thought that made a lot of sense, especially since we were on the lake with the ice still so thick. I hadn’t taken any weapons, thinking I wouldn’t need them with the others around, but now seeing Feng like this, I realized he was basically unreliable.

The fat guy tossed a dagger to me, and I tucked it in the most accessible spot. Zhang Haixing approached and said, “Let’s get through this ice lake as quickly as possible. Don’t hold us back.”

“Okay,” the fat guy replied, “you go first, Master.”

I shot the fat guy a glare, thinking that our relationship wasn’t particularly smooth to begin with, and he shouldn’t be fanning the flames.

“We’ll move in a straight line. Our destination is that mountain pass ahead. Let’s get through as quickly as we can and be as careful as possible when we land,” Zhang Haixing pointed into the distance.

The fat guy and I looked in the direction Zhang Hai Xing pointed, and I immediately felt it was inappropriate. The fat guy said, “We don’t understand the situation. If we go through the middle of the lake and encounter problems, 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 can be the safest. Don’t be misled by superficial judgments.” Zhang Hai Xing looked at Feng, who seemed to have calmed down a bit, and said, “That thing we saw earlier should be a type of fish in this ice lake. Its size is probably quite large, a result of centuries of feeding by the locals. People wouldn’t feed in the center of the lake; they must be feeding closer to the shore, so the center of the lake is actually safer.”

Zhang Hai Xing looked at the fat guy, who glanced at me. I pondered for a moment but still couldn’t get over my own concerns. Seeing that we were neither moving nor expressing our opinions, Zhang Hai Xing asked, “What’s wrong? Do you have other thoughts?”

“I have a bad feeling,” I said.

“Generally, we avoid places where we have a bad feeling,” the fat guy said. “Comrade Tian Zhen is famously known for her ‘open coffin must have a zombie’ physique.”

“Are you deliberately trying to cause trouble?”

“Miss, have you ever been to a place like this?” I looked at her. The Zhang family overseas is known for their actions and business acumen, seemingly having lost the kind of cautiousness and carefulness that comes from the soul that the ‘Dull Oil Bottle’ had.

“I’ve done more dangerous things than both of you combined.”

“That’s because you’re so much older,” the fat guy replied.

Zhang Hai Xing’s expression turned displeased: “The fact that the Zhang family has survived to this day is not a coincidence. Our rules of conduct are all based on survival as the ultimate goal. Don’t underestimate the wisdom accumulated by our ancestors.”

I sighed, looking at the lake’s surface. I really wanted to go with her, but the uncomfortable feeling in my heart was becoming more pronounced. Finally, I paused and said, “I used to admire people with your kind of wisdom, but later I started to believe in myself. Regarding the situation here, the three of us don’t have your skills or reaction speed. Have you considered that the foundation of your wisdom is your years of training, while we’ve only managed to survive until now by relying on some small tricks and cunning? It’s unfair to hold us to your standards.”

The fat guy also lit a cigarette. Seeing Zhang Hai Xing standing there with a flushed face, he said, “Master, I know you used to command a group of very capable people. We two idiots are just too weak. How about you and the associate professor go through the middle while I and my naive friend climb over from the sides?”

“That kind of creature might be able to move on land,” Zhang Hai Xing said. “You remember, it was written in the notes.”

The fat guy patted his gun: “On land, we might not be afraid of it.”

At this point, there wasn’t much more to say. Zhang Hai Xing and Feng headed towards the center of the ice lake, while the fat guy and I proceeded along our route.

After we separated, the fat guy cursed, “Damn it, isn’t this bureaucratic nonsense? A girl thinks she can command me to go east and west. What a joke.”

I replied, “They’ve been powerful for too long.”

From the trap they set earlier, it’s clear how overconfident and self-important this group of Zhang family members is. Of course, if it were the old me, their tricks would have left me speechless, but now, I’ve changed too much. I used to admire myths, but now I can spot flaws in them at a glance.

We loaded our guns and watched Zhang Haixing and the others cross the ice. I said, “Does this count as being irresponsible?”

“The stubborn ones won’t listen, so it doesn’t matter if you take responsibility,” the chubby guy replied, then patted me on the back. “What I’ve come to realize during this time is that people can’t be responsible for others’ fates; no one is God.”

We walked along the shore, taking a much longer and more difficult route than theirs. We didn’t act out of spite, trudging through the snow with one foot sinking deep and the other barely touching the surface, and we could see from a distance that they had already left us far behind.

After an unknown amount of time, they were nearing their destination, while we were still far away. The chubby guy sighed, “Damn it, this time she’s going to drive me crazy.”

“That’s a good thing,” I replied. “You wouldn’t want them to die right away, then we’d be the fools. It’s better if everyone stays safe.”

The chubby guy said, “No monsters around, so a little mishap wouldn’t be bad, like a fall or something.”

Zhang Haixing was very agile; her balance and reflexes on the ice were likely far superior to ours, so it would be hard for her to fall. The Germans were also quite steady, and it seemed they were wearing good shoes.

After walking for a while without encountering any danger on our side, it seemed like Zhang Haixing and the others were about to reach their destination, which left the chubby guy feeling dejected. Suddenly, I noticed something was off; the situation over there seemed to have changed.