His voice was cool. “No one would use a person missing in the snowy mountains as the premise for a scripted livestream.”
“What some viewers are calling a coincidence is simply the result of my making the right judgments and choices.”
“I’ll do my best to explain the reasoning and details behind each step during the livestream. If there’s anything you don’t understand, leave a few more comments. I’ll explain when I see them.”
[Don’t be angry, Brother Lu! One idiot’s comment isn’t worth ruining your mood over!]
[The streamer said earlier the missing person probably wouldn’t have gone too far from where he disappeared. He’s been walking for almost an entire day now, so isn’t entering the GPS signal range perfectly normal? It just proves he judged correctly! What’s everyone arguing about? —Alpaca on Horseback gave the streamer 10 Sushi]
[Exactly! I’ve been watching ever since shortly after the stream started, and I absolutely believe it isn’t scripted!]
[We support you, Brother Lu! Keep going!]
Lu Liran maintained his pace, refusing to let the interruption in the chat slow him down.
Under the clear sky, the Arlok Glaciers looked as magnificent as a palace of blue ice. Jagged ice-covered rocks and hanging icicles took on fantastical shapes, forming a beauty that seemed crafted by the hands of nature itself.
His livestream showed the glaciers from multiple angles in high definition. Viewers marveled at the scenery and, for a moment, even forgot how dangerous the place was.
“I haven’t eaten anything in nearly ten hours. I have to find something to eat,” Lu Liran said.
He glanced at the comments admiring the landscape and curled his lips. “Walking for so long and digging a shelter have used up my strength very quickly. If I keep going without food or water, I’ll soon reach a point where I can barely move in these glaciers.”
“Both the missing person and I need energy. I hope I can find something useful along the way.”
[Find food? You don’t keep any instant rations or nutrient solutions in your terminal?]
[It’s wilderness survival. *Survival*, get it? Why not give him a compressed tent that pitches itself with one button while you’re at it?]
[But with all this snow and ice… where could he possibly find anything to eat?]
[+1. Not getting my hopes up.]
Lu Liran surveyed his surroundings as he walked. Pointing at the steep cliffs around them, he said, “Glaciers move. The fastest can travel five hundred meters a year. They act like enormous files. The steep, jagged walls of these glacial valleys are marks left by that movement.”
“A few ferns often grow in crevices in the rock. They’re one of the rare food sources in a climate this cold, which is why jumping sheep frequently come to terrain like this.”
[666! Is the streamer planning to hunt a jumping sheep for dinner?]
[Whole roast lamb… Now I’m hungry.]
Lu Liran shook his head with a helpless smile at the excited discussion. “With nothing but a little knife and a length of rope, catching a wild jumping sheep, an incredibly agile animal, would be pure fantasy.”
[Hahahaha! Streamer is #KeepingItReal!]
[Then why did you bring them up? You wouldn’t mention them for no reason, right?]
Lu Liran nodded. “It’s the ferns I’m interested in.”
The comments fell silent for an instant, then the screen erupted in laughter.
[Hahahaha! Fighting the jumping sheep for their food! Streamer, are you okay?]
[Allow me to shed a tear for the streamer’s hardships. The struggle to survive! Hahaha!]
Lu Liran watched the gleeful teasing with some resignation. He had just decided to pick a comment or two to answer when he abruptly stopped walking, his pupils contracting slightly.
Ke Ji noticed the change and looked ahead. All he saw was an expanse of loose white snow, seemingly no different from anywhere else.
But after narrowing his eyes, he could make out something unusual beneath the surface.
Unfortunately, as a “rich heir who didn’t know anything,” he had to pretend he had noticed nothing, continuing forward at an unhurried, defenseless pace.
Lu Liran caught sight of him and seized his wrist, yanking him back just as he put his front foot forward.
“What’s wrong?” Ke Ji asked, looking appropriately bewildered and at a loss.
Lu Liran frowned and glared at him. “Never walk ahead of me. Understand?”
After speaking, he found a lump of snow with just the right firmness and hurled it at the stretch of white ground ahead.
The apparently level surface suddenly fractured. Snow tumbled down in great crashing sheets, revealing a gigantic fissure about two people wide.
[HOLY SHIT! Is the streamer psychic?! How did he know there was nothing underneath?!]
[If you fell into that, wouldn’t you be dead for sure?!]
[Thank goodness he pulled him back in time! That scared me to death!]
[That was close. The universe nearly lost a rich, beautiful omega.]
[Was this arranged ahead of time? Did his team build the set? It looks so fake!]
[Fake, my ass! How can you call something this dangerous fake? Have you no heart?!]
Lu Liran ignored the chat. He lay flat on the snow and spoke quietly. “See that? That thick layer of snow extends for at least a hundred meters. It looks just like the surrounding ground, but from this angle you can just make out that there’s empty space beneath it. The snow forms a bridge across the fissure.”
“This is a crevasse—the gateway to hell in a glacier.” He cautiously skirted the area as he spoke. “Glacial terrain means crevasses like this are everywhere. They’re terribly deceptive, hidden under heavy snow, and some are dozens of meters deep.”
“No one wants to fall down one. You never know how deep it is, or whether you’ll land on flat snow, plunge into an icy pool, or even fall onto sharp spikes of ice pointing straight upward.”
Ke Ji regarded Lu Liran’s back with admiration. The man was extraordinarily observant and cautious. No wonder the Bounty Hunters Association had taken an interest in him.
[Nyah nyah! The streamer’s attention to detail is incredible! Where’s the person who said it was a set? Go on, build a hundred-meter crevasse like that. Feeling embarrassed yet? —Salty Fish Fish Fish gave the streamer 1 Buddha Jumps Over the Wall]
[It’s terrifying, but seriously… wow. That’s magnificent. Nature really is incredible.]
“Thank you for all the gifts, and especially Salty Fish Fish Fish for the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. That was very generous.” Lu Liran was a little surprised. If he remembered correctly, this viewer had sent him the same gift not long ago. It was worth a thousand star coins. Had he picked up a wealthy fan?
“The steep ice walls and ancient blue ice around us are all warning signs that the geology here is unstable. There will be plenty of crevasses like this,” Lu Liran explained, making sure Ke Ji understood.
He took out the rope and fastened it around both their waists so he would have a chance to save Ke Ji if the other man stepped through the snow.
Ke Ji gave the connecting rope a light tug and looked at Lu Liran seriously. “If you tie yourself to me, I might drag you down and kill you.”
“Hah. Since you’re aware of that, I’d say it’s much less likely to happen.” Lu Liran’s mouth twitched. When he raised his head, however, he met those gentle steel-blue eyes and paused, letting some of the mockery fade. “I told you to stay with me, and I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Don’t overthink it.”
Ke Ji was momentarily startled.
“Keep up,” Lu Liran urged.
[Aaaah! Brother Lu is so alpha! I ship them!]
[Strong alpha, beautiful omega—I’m in!]
[Who could say no to a rich, sweet omega?!]
Far away in the penthouse suite of Star City Central Hotel, Cubby lifted his innocent little face to Jin Fei and asked in a milky voice, “Uncle Jin, what does ‘strong alpha, beautiful omega’ mean?”
Jin Fei: “…”
He typed [Stop randomly pairing up the young master…], but his message vanished instantly beneath the flood of comments.
The author has something to say:
An interview with Brother Ji: Did that make your heart flutter?
Ke Ji: Jealous?
Lu Liran was too busy watching his footing and checking his bearings to pay attention to the comments.
He frowned slightly. The precise coordinates on his detector pointed toward a vast snowy plain ahead on the left, where the enormous crevasse, more than a hundred meters long, stretched into the distance.
They were already close to the missing omega, yet there was not a single person in sight.
Lu Liran said nothing and continued forward, stopping only when he was fifty meters from the coordinates.
He pressed his lips together and directed the camera sphere toward a prominent fissure ahead to the left. “That crevasse looks newly formed.”
Ke Ji looked where he indicated and narrowed his eyes. The snow around the fissure showed a break in its layers, difficult to notice against the endless white plain, but a potentially fatal warning.
Someone had stepped through the snow and collapsed the bridge over the crevasse.
Meanwhile, Lu Liran explained to his waiting audience, “This is a newly formed crevasse. The glacier’s movement, shifts in the underlying plates, the biggest blizzard in recent years… any of those could have created what you’re seeing.”
“A newly formed crevasse means this entire region is geologically active.”
[What exactly does ‘active’ mean…?]
[I heard several experienced bounty hunters recently went missing in the Arlok mountains. Is that connected?]
[I heard that too! Even veteran hunters disappeared. There’s still a notice on the bounty board at Arlok Camp warning hunters to think twice before entering the glaciers!]
[That’s horrifying…]
“I have a rather unpleasant suspicion…” Lu Liran pressed his lips together. “The person we’re looking for may have fallen into a crevasse.”
“The coordinates on the detector point directly to that fissure. I have to get closer and check.” As he spoke, he began untying the rope linking him to Ke Ji.
“The snow in that area is very unstable. I have to go alone.” He glanced at Ke Ji and, to his surprise, saw clear disapproval in the other man’s eyes.
“You said yourself how dangerous it is. If you happen to fall through, at least I can act as your safety line. I’ll catch you.” Ke Ji plainly did not approve of being untied.
Lu Liran was slightly surprised, but mostly amused. Expecting a pampered, useless rich omega to be his safety line? He might as well hope that their commander, Ke Ji, would descend from the heavens to rescue them.
“Thank you, but no.” Lu Liran gently declined the offer with a shake of his head. “I’m more concerned that if I take you with me, you’ll step into a crevasse.”
Ke Ji: “…” Did he really look that incompetent?
[Hahahahaha! Our beautiful idiot has been rejected!]
[Correction: our warmhearted, rich, beautiful idiot. Unfortunately, he has absolutely no idea what he can and can’t do! Hahahaha!]
[Sweetheart, do you remember that not long ago, you nearly stepped straight into a crevasse?]
[I think the streamer would survive perfectly well on his own. With this omega along, I’m not so sure. (doge)]
Lu Liran untied them anyway. He told Ke Ji to stand where he was and not wander off, then slowly and carefully approached the fissure.
Just as he had warned, the surrounding snow was exceedingly unstable. Even Lu Liran nearly stepped through it twice.
When his final step landed on solid ground, everyone watching breathed a collective sigh of relief and filled the chat with congratulations.
“As you can see, this crevasse is very wide, about the width of two people.” Lying on the snow, Lu Liran pointed to the fissure immediately before him so the audience could see it clearly. “It’s deep, and visibility is poor. You can hardly see what’s below, so there’s no way to determine whether our target is down there.”
[Damn, he isn’t actually going down to check, is he?!]
[But didn’t the streamer say crevasses were incredibly dangerous? Going all the way down to check for a missing person who might not even be there doesn’t seem worth the risk!]
[Don’t push yourself, streamer!]
