Snow mountain climbing is not like outdoor sports, it's an extremely energy-consuming thing. At this time, everyone is still carrying heavy equipment on their backs, trudging on the ground, and the boots under their feet keep making "creaking" sounds.

  Because this vast expanse of whiteness had also emitted more than half of the little solar heat, so even in such a moving state, each lip was frozen to purple. Fortunately, none of them were too delicate, and they all hummed and struggled to climb up.

  Chaozi and Zhuoxiong, a pair of scouts with rich experience in snowy terrain, predicted the route ahead, as the ground was all snow-covered, and it was impossible to see where there were protruding rocks, which could easily cause landslides and lead to small-scale avalanches.

  The trekking pole was the only support for exploring the road. When Chaoyue inserted it into the snow in front, he felt that this was flat ground after taking a step forward. "Ah!" A sharp cry came over, and only He Yi's two hands were seen waving in the air, disappearing instantly into the snowy ground. The following Zha Wenbin wanted to pull one back, but it was too late, leaving only the snowflakes brought up by Chaoyue still dancing in the air.

  Several people rushed over to take a look, and it was a big black hole in the snow that went straight down into the ground. It seemed that Chaozi had stepped on empty air just now, and his whole body had been swallowed up by this snow-covered pit.

  Zha Wenbin hastily climbed to the entrance of the cave and shouted down: "Chaozi, how are you?"

  There was no echo below, and when Old Wang handed over the flashlight to shine down, it was still pitch black and couldn't see what the situation was like. He was anxious to go down and take a look, so he put down his backpack and put it aside. Zhuo Xiong reacted quickly and stopped him, saying: "Wenbin brother don't rush, let me check around first to see if there are any other holes, in case we get into another mess and someone else falls down."

  Old Wang nodded in agreement, Zhuo Xiong took the trekking pole and looked around, Cha Wenbin on the other side had already prepared the climbing rope. Fortunately, no other landslides were found nearby for the time being, Cha Wenbin tied the rope to a pine tree and was about to go down, with a flick of his wrist, the climbing rope swung down.

  Zhuo Xiong and Cha Wenbin were arguing over who should go down first when they suddenly heard a groaning sound of "Aiyo, aiyo" coming from below. Cha Wenbin hastily asked: "Chaozi, how are you? Are you hurt?"

  Downstairs heard shouting, immediately shouted: "Just gave me a backache, it's just that I feel short of breath, my butt hurts, ouch......" This kid is shouting again downstairs.

  Zha Wenbin hastily grabbed the rope and shouted: "Don't rush, you mustn't rush, I'll be right down."

  The hole was about twenty meters deep. Cha Wenbin, who was worried about Chaozi's safety, didn't have time to look around and soon reached the bottom. Chaozi was lying on a pair of dry pine needles, groaning, looking like he was seriously injured. Then Zhuo Xiong also came down, with experience in wilderness rescue, knowing some emergency treatment methods.

  After He Yi Chao examined him again, fortunately, he was wearing thick clothes and there were pine branches underneath, so he only got a bit shaken. After applying some medicine and drinking a few mouthfuls of water, Super slowly regained his energy.

  "This little brat opened his mouth and said: 'Who the hell dug a hole in this godforsaken place, almost got me killed. I bet it's those farmers upstairs who set up a wild boar trap, didn't expect to get caught myself. Next time I go up there, I'll definitely find them and give them a good scolding.'"

  Zhuo Xiong laughed and said: "Your family's wild boar trap is so deep? If you're not careful when walking, it's a good thing you didn't get yourself killed."

  Look at this kid, nothing's wrong with him. Wen Bin only then thought of exploring the cave. If he hadn't looked, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but as soon as he lifted his head to look, he really scared himself. What could scare him? A dead person!

  The dead would scare Zhao Wenbin, have you ever seen a frozen corpse?

  The cave was surrounded by ice, shining brightly like a mirror. Inside this mirror-like surface, Zha Wenbin suddenly discovered several smiling faces, their smiles stiff and not just one!

  Right within their line of sight, at the very bottom of this cave, there were four smiling faces. These smiles were the kind that people usually describe as "laughing on the outside but not on the inside", and they looked very unnatural. Each face had its eyes wide open, staring at them. Some people who were closer to the ice surface could see more clearly, especially one little boy-like figure with his palms pressed tightly against the ice. From their angle, it looked just like a little boy trapped outside a glass door, pounding on it and trying to get in.

  It's not just Wen Bin who saw it, all three of them can see it now. No living person can live inside the ice, so it must be four dead people.

  "Heavens, Wenbin, what's going on here? How did it...?" Chaozi looked at those things and his scalp suddenly went numb, thinking that he had fallen down and was being surrounded by such a large group of friends, the feeling in his heart wasn't very pleasant.

  Cha Wenbin stood still, looking around and said: "I don't know either, it seems like they're all dead, but this appearance is too much like being alive. It's as if they were put into the ice instantly when they were alive, I've never seen anything so strange in my life."

  Old Wang shouted loudly on top: "Hey, how's it going down there?"

  Cha Wenbin heard and replied, "Nothing's wrong, don't worry, I'll take a look at the situation first, and then go up right away." After that, he said to Zhuo Xiong, "You bring Chaozi up first, I'll follow soon."

  Although Zhuo Xiong also vaguely felt a bit uneasy, staying in the cold and damp cellar was not a pleasant thing to begin with. Moreover, there were a group of inexplicable people staring at him, thinking about it made him not want to stay for even one more minute. He set up Chaozi and supported him to the edge of the rope, asking: "Can you climb by yourself?"

  Chaozi laughed and said, "You also underestimate me too much. Never mind, I'll go up first with Wenbin brother. You'd better hurry up too. Don't look at that thing, it's scary."

  "Hmm." After responding, Cha Wenbin pulled on the rope and saw that it was very sturdy. He then used his hands and feet to climb up. During this time, Zhuo Xiong asked: "Brother Wenbin, what kind of people are these? They all look quite pitiful."

  These people's height, except for that child, felt slightly shorter than modern people, but they were very robust. The clothes they wore were made of animal fur, and the workmanship didn't seem to be very fine, just wrapping raw hides on the outside. These people's hair was long, their beards had no signs of shaving, and their feet were bare without shoes, only with the soles exposed. No matter how Zhang Wenbin looked at them, he felt that they were people from some years ago, and not a short period of time either. It's just that the people inside the ice layer were preserved too well, to the point where it was really hard to tell their exact age from their appearance, looking as lively as ever.

  Cha Wenbin shook his head and said, "Can't tell, doesn't matter, let's go up the mountain first, we'll ask some locals in the village, they should know about such a big cave."

  Chaozi shouted when he was not far from the entrance: "You guys hurry up, there are more corpses in this cave than cow hair, all the way here, don't stay still."

  After hearing Chaozi say this, Cha Wenbin's curiosity, which had already been dispelled, was rekindled once again. He urged Zhuo Xiong on while sticking his face to the ice for a closer look.

  The old Wang's searchlight was quite good, a strong beam of light instantly penetrated the ice layer, illuminating everything inside. Suddenly, a word popped into Zhang Wenbin's mind: "Amber!"

  This amber is a precious natural relic, it's said that trees secrete a sticky substance that wraps around an insect that has passed by, and this insect, because it fell into this sticky substance, was isolated from the air and will never rot. As the geological movement changed, the sticky substance gradually solidified and hardened, forming a transparent mineral close to stone, but the insect inside is still alive after millions of years. This natural amber is indeed priceless, a treasure coveted by generations of nobles.

  Now the people in this cave are frozen one by one, just like amber. However, so many corpses are arranged in a regular pattern here, which is absolutely not formed naturally, and must be done by someone on purpose.

  What's the reason for doing so? When Wen Bin was puzzled, he suddenly thought that if the ancestors of this place used a burial ritual that had never been seen in the Central Plains region, putting the deceased into a well-made square container and then moving it outdoors, where the low temperature would quickly freeze it into ice, and then transporting it here to pile up, it would both preserve the body and achieve burial. Of course, all of this was just his speculation, and he called this method of burial "ice burial". But why do the people here have different facial expressions instead of the usual sleeping expression after death? And there are also rich bodily movements, which cannot be explained.

  With his eyes closed, Cha Wenbin carefully sensed the surroundings. He didn't find any signs of souls or evil spirits, and it was as calm as his own sweet potato cellar. Since that's the case, one less thing to worry about is better than one more thing. Seeing Zhuo Xiong also climbing up, Cha Wenbin tied the rope around his waist and shouted: "Pull me up!"

  The people above pulled the rope together, and Cha Wenbin was slowly lifted up. In front of his eyes, different faces with various expressions began to appear: calm, terrified, sad, happy, sleeping... all kinds of human expressions could be found here, and without exception, they were all men!

  When he arrived halfway, he caught a glimpse of a man without animal skin also being frozen in it. That glance made Cha Wenbin take a big shock: the man's chest had a red mark!

  That mark was all too familiar to Wen Bin, because another brother who lived with him day and night had the same one - the red dragon tattoo on Zhuo Xiong's chest!

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