Chapter 215: I Admire Your Courage, But How Would You Like to Die?
“Aren’t we staying to confirm if the Angel is dead?”
The Captain with the goatee thought that if the Doctor survived and returned, they would have a way to verify.
But Raheman knew the Doctor definitely wouldn’t survive.
To prevent the Doctor’s sacrifice from being in vain, staying far away was their best option. As long as there were no living beings nearby, the Angel would have nothing to parasitize and would die completely.
Moreover, if the Angel unleashed some terrible, large-scale contamination before dying, they would be caught up in it too.
And if the Doctor, against all odds, had even a one-in-ten-thousand chance of survival, he wouldn’t need their care anyway.
As for determining if the Angel was dead, they just needed to see if the mission completion prompt appeared.
Facing his teammate, Raheman said casually, “We’ve been here for a while. The Eternal Clan will arrive soon. If they run into us, we’re finished.”
In the eyes of the regular mountaineering team and most Chosen Ones, a single member of the Eternal Clan was a boss-level threat, an entity they couldn’t afford to provoke.
If discovered by a whole squad of them, or worse, by the Eternal King himself, wouldn’t this whole journey be for nothing?
This might also be a pitfall in the hidden mission. To go through all that hardship to complete the task, only to get captured—that would be worse than dying at the very start.
Hearing Raheman’s explanation, the mountaineering team instantly abandoned any thought of rescuing the Doctor. Their own skins were more important, so they quickly slipped away via another route.
The Black-Feathered Clan leader knew this area well. Coupled with the nighttime blizzard, their tracks would be very hard to follow.
After trekking through the blizzard for another half-hour or so, the group finally returned to the Feather Tribe village.
Along the way, Raheman saw a prompt.
[Congratulations on completing the hidden mission ‘Angel Crisis’. You will receive additional bonus rewards upon settlement.]
Seeing this message, Raheman knew the Angel was completely dead.
As for whether the Doctor survived, he didn’t know.
In Raheman’s Strange-Tale world, the Doctor did not survive.
Because the Doctor had judged that it was highly likely one wouldn’t notice when parasitized by the Angel. Meaning, he himself might have been parasitized without knowing, possibly even when he first approached the “human”.
Therefore, when the “human” ate the food, he immediately bit through the capsule. The poison quickly flowed from his throat into his stomach.
As he fell, the Doctor saw the “human” also lying on the ground, face filled with shock and confusion, not understanding why his creator, the Doctor, wanted to kill him.
There were also several eyes that had already appeared on the back of his hand. All these eyes showed panic, desperately rolling around as if searching for any living thing nearby, but finding none.
Seeing this scene, a faint smile touched his lips. Having fulfilled his mission, he fell into eternal slumber in this glacial crystal canyon.
——-
On the big screen of Ramen Nation, Gregory started later but also finished the fight within five minutes.
Although he fought with his eyes closed, he was the main combatant, with the “human” providing support from behind.
The two quickly cooperated to slay the Angel. The Angel didn’t even get a chance to use its parasitization ability before being destroyed.
This situation was quite similar to Zhang Yangqing’s. The Angel would only resort to parasitization when it judged the fight was truly unwinnable.
As long as its main eyeball was destroyed before that, the Angel would lose a significant part of its judgment ability. After that, it was just a matter of finishing it off.
Gregory also demonstrated the immense advantage of a Transcendent.
If not for lacking a skill to dispel contamination, which required the “human” to act as his “eyes”, he would have soloed this place long ago.
The boss itself was no big deal to him, but contamination was something he truly dared not provoke.
While clearing the area, Gregory was thinking how much he wished he could open the live feed of the Dragon Nation’s Celestial Master right now, to see if his performance measured up.
After all, in this stage, his intelligence had been performing exceptionally well, with virtually no mistakes.
Fortunately for him, he couldn’t open the Dragon Nation Celestial Master’s feed. Otherwise, the smile would have frozen on his face.
The guy next door had crushed the Angel with one hand, facing it head-on without a hint of fear.
Apologies, but having a multitude of skills really does allow one to act with impunity!
By this point, most Chosen Ones had completed the mission and returned to the Feather Tribe settlement.
As for those who hadn’t, most probably weren’t coming back.
——-
On the big screen of Pyramid Nation, the mountaineering team had returned to the lodge.
The Black-Feathered Clan leader was overjoyed. With the Angel destroyed, it was only a matter of time before the Eternal Clan left this place. Then they could return to their original homeland. Not wanting to disturb the mountaineering team further, he left the lodge.
When the goateed Captain was about to return the sacred artifact to the White-Feathered Tribe, Raheman stopped him.
“What’s wrong? Is there a trick to this?” the Captain asked, puzzled.
Within the team, Raheman was undoubtedly the brains. At critical moments, everyone trusted his judgment, as he had repeatedly helped them escape danger. Without him, the team might not have made it this far.
So at this crucial juncture, all eyes were on him.
Raheman pondered and said, “Let’s give it to them tomorrow when we need their help. Traveling in this blizzard now is difficult.”
He wasn’t worried about the White-Feathered Tribe breaking their promise, but the night was still long. Who knew what might happen? What if it got stolen? What if the Eternal Clan discovered the loss and came looking for trouble? These were all uncertainties.
So, a face-to-face handover later would be better. They could even ask the Black-Feathered Tribe leader to act as a judge.
Zhang Yangqing considered this point but still returned the artifact directly to the White-Feathered Tribe. After all, if the White-Feathered Tribe didn’t want to be wiped out, they’d better behave tomorrow.
With that thought, Zhang Yangqing settled down to sleep.
Curling up under the covers in this natural, icy environment was indeed a pleasure. He was also the first Chosen One to rest; one might even say he had been enjoying this world-trip the whole time.
Tonight, many Chosen Ones tossed and turned, struggling to sleep, fearing an attack. Others constantly searched for side missions, striving to increase their safety margin.
——-
Early the next morning, the blizzard dissipated. A sliver of light appeared on the horizon, offering only a slight increase in visibility.
As agreed, the White-Feathered Tribe, using their flight, carried the Chosen Ones and their teams over the previous avalanche zone to another snowfield.
This was a special area of the Perpetually Frozen Land, a place where rare treasures could be found: the Ten-Thousand-Fathom Ice Caverns.
The combat ability of the White-Feathered Tribe was lacking, even inferior to some teammates. They could only deliver the mountaineering team to this point. Going inside would just add to the trouble, so they turned back.
The mountaineering team faced numerous entrances. According to the goateed Captain, entering these led to a complex network of passages. However, most of these passages eventually led to the core area at the heart of this iceberg.
In other words, after climbing for so long, the team had finally reached the entrance to the final stage.
And within the core area of the iceberg resided the Icy Prism Sacred Tree. There was only one in the entire Perpetually Frozen Land, and the amount it produced each time was unknown.
——-
Before entering, the Captain began briefing everyone on precautions.
The Ten-Thousand-Fathom Ice Caverns were inhabited by special creatures guarding their treasures. Once intruders entered, they would attack without mercy.
It was called the Ten-Thousand-Fathom Ice Caverns because there were also areas with deep pits. Once you fell in, don’t think about getting out.
Inside, everyone needed to be highly alert and proceed in a standard team formation.
The real terror of this stage wasn’t the special creatures in the caves, but the bizarre teammate.
Because this was the final phase, to ensure they obtained the Icy Prism Fruit, or perhaps for other purposes, the bizarre teammate would make their move. If they weren’t planning to act, why would the rules hint at it?
But at this moment, very few Chosen Ones knew who the bizarre teammate was. It wasn’t that they hadn’t tried, but they lacked a good opportunity to verify.
Most could only adapt as situations arose, dealing with danger when it actually appeared.
And then there was clinging to the goateed Captain.
Because they seemed able to judge that the Captain was an ally, and only he could suppress the bizarre elements. Conversely, one could infer that the bizarre teammate would likely target the Captain first.
Once he died, the team would fall apart, and the Chosen One could be easily killed. Rather than saying this stage was about clinging to the Captain, it was more about helping him avoid danger. As long as he lived, the Chosen One was relatively safe.
Before entering, many Chosen Ones spotted a potential pitfall.
Raheman didn’t let his guard down. Having completed such a complex hidden mission, failing at the final hurdle would be a death he couldn’t accept.
Based on his observation, the caverns were all ice surfaces, with no accumulated snow. This presented a special dead-end.
[Rule 6: Remember, if someone drips blood on you, quickly clean it off with snow.]
Outside, with snow everywhere, they weren’t too worried. But if there was no snow inside, then getting blood dripped on you meant certain death, right?
Therefore, at this stage, some Chosen Ones gathered snow from nearby, shaped it into snowballs, wrapped them in thick cloth, and stored them in their backpacks. This way, they kept an “antidote” on hand.
After these preparations, other teammates also equipped their defensive items, and followed the Captain into the Ten-Thousand-Fathom Ice Caverns.
There were ten entrances. Which one they entered didn’t matter much. Inside were many intersecting paths. As long as they kept going inward and downward, there was a chance of converging. But that was only a chance. If separated, they might only meet again at the destination. Worse, encountering those special creatures while alone meant almost certain death.
The cavern entrance was about four meters high and ten meters wide. The internal structure was chaotic, with ice stalactites hanging precariously from the ceiling. Ice pillars lined the paths, offering potential cover.
The Captain seemed to remember something and said, “I heard from my ancestors that the special creatures here are very cunning. They create confusion, then transform to look like teammates to trick everyone into fighting each other.”
What Raheman and other ordinary Chosen Ones heard was: The Captain told them to follow closely and never fall behind, as falling behind could mean being killed by the bizarre creatures.
What Zhang Yangqing’s teammates heard was: They must stick close to Zhang Yangqing. If they got separated and encountered him again later, their fate would likely be death.
After this time together, his teammates understood his temper quite well. To avoid unnecessary trouble, anyone encountered after getting separated would basically be slain by him. The danger wasn’t the enemy, but this teammate himself.
Hearing the Captain’s warning, the team members seemed somewhat dismissive. As long as no one fell behind, how could an extra teammate possibly appear? Everyone was carefully observing their surroundings. Being so vigilant, could someone just materialize out of thin air?
But that’s just how things are—the more you talk about something, the more likely it is to happen.
After the team had traveled a distance into the caverns, a sudden, strange gust of wind blew through. This gust stirred up white powder, causing immense discomfort, making it hard to keep their eyes open.
The team could only squint and shake their heads to look around, but visibility was very low. And due to the howling wind, they couldn’t hear sounds nearby either.
The team remained highly alert, expecting some attack. Yet when the wind died down, they seemed to have encountered no danger.
What happened next left them dumbfounded.
Upon opening their eyes, the team wondered if they were hallucinating. The originally five-person team had suddenly become six.
Raheman stared at the person identical to himself and froze on the spot. And the expression of bewilderment on his face was perfectly mirrored by his counterpart. Not only that, but his movements, voice, even his breathing rhythm were flawlessly replicated.
The most terrifying part was that his teammates had already backed away from the two of them, watching both Rahemans with wary expressions.
Raheman understood this stage: he needed to find a way to prove he was the original. Otherwise, if the special creature gained the team’s trust first, he was dead.
In front of the big screens, many were guessing how the Chosen One, being the least capable, whose life and death rested in others’ hands, could prove they were the real teammate.
Least capable?
Suddenly, a large number of viewers seemed to remember someone and flooded into the Dragon Nation’s live feed.
While other nations’ screens were filled with tense atmospheres, Dragon Nation’s screen presented a comical scene. On the screen, there were actually two Celestial Master Zhangs!
Seeing this, Dragon Nation’s audience burst into laughter.
: This special creature, you really have nerves of steel. Do you know who you’ve transformed into?
: Holy cow! Transforming into Celestial Master Zhang? You can imitate his face, but can you imitate his skills?
: Other special creatures transform into the weakest to create chaos. This guy goes and transforms into the strongest. Isn’t that just asking for trouble?
: I don’t know why, but I’m laughing my head off. This is literally the funniest scene I’ve seen in this Strange-Tale so far.
Not only were the viewers enjoying the spectacle, but Zhang Yangqing’s teammates also seemed to be watching with amusement, showing no intention of intervening.
They greatly admired the special creature’s courage. Of all people to choose, you pick him?
Zhang Yangqing looked with utter speechlessness at the special creature that had transformed into him. His expression seemed to say: I admire your courage, but how would you like to die?
