Night’s Nomenclature-Chapter 496: On the Razors Edge

At this moment, Qing Chen was trekking through the snow-capped mountains, searching for the most suitable place to complete the Trials of Life and Death according to his plan.

Although the key to the Trials of Life and Death is to experience life and death, this does not mean that Knights will not do any preparation.

Before the challenge, planning the route of the challenge is a necessary homework for every Knight.

High Mountain Hida is a very suitable place for skiing, even in May, the main peak, Mount Okuhotaka, is covered with snow all year round.

Mount Okuhotaka (3190 meters above sea level), Mount Karasawa (3103 meters), Mount Kitahotaka (3106 meters), Mount Maehotaka (3090 meters), Mount Nishihotaka (2909 meters).

These peaks, collectively known as the Hotaka Mountain Range, are not as high as Mount Fuji, but because there are too many extremely steep cliffs, the climbing difficulty is far higher than Mount Fuji.

Some peaks, viewed from a distance, look like a kitchen knife standing upright in the mountains, and walking on the ridge is like dancing on the blade.

Many works by Japanese novelists about falling to one's death happen here.

For example, in Yasushi Inoue's "Ice Wall," Utsuri and Kosaka fell to their deaths here.

"Ice Wall" seems to be a very descriptive name.

Qing Chen walked along the mountain trails used by skiers in the white snow.

There were many skiers, but most of them were playing in the gentle ski resort in the middle of the mountain, and not many people ventured into more dangerous areas.

The Trials of Life and Death cannot be completed in the ski resort. The Ice Binding of the Trials of Life and Death has extremely strict requirements on speed; it challenges the limits of skiing speed!

So, Qing Chen set off from the middle of the mountain and continued to climb towards the peak.

Before long, a ski resort staff member shouted loudly from the middle of the mountain, "Hey, you can't go any higher, you'll die at the summit in this weather!"

Qing Chen turned his head, but his next step suddenly missed in the snow.

He swayed for a few moments before continuing his difficult upward trek.

However, Qing Chen suddenly discovered a problem: the mountain peak he was on was all "powder snow," and no one could accelerate in powder snow.

The conditions for the formation of powder snow are generally very strict. There must be heavy snow, but the temperature cannot be extremely low. Before the condensation nuclei are fully frozen, they must fall to the ground.

If you hold up the powder snow, it will even slip through your fingers like quicksand.

Although High Mountain Hida is covered with snow all year round, the temperature rarely drops below zero. This is a very strange geographical environment.

Moist, warm water vapor blows from the ocean, encounters cold air at high altitudes on land, and forms snowfall. The fluffy snow accumulates on the mountain. If the technique is not good when skiing, you may even get stuck in the snow...

If you want to challenge skiing speed, then the snow layer must be compressed extremely tightly.

Just as running on a cement floor will definitely be faster than running in mud and sand.

Qing Chen frowned and continued to climb upward resolutely.

This time, perhaps poverty limited his imagination. He chose this place as the location for the Trials of Life and Death challenge because everyone said that powder snow is the best and most suitable for skiing, and also the most luxurious.

But because he hadn't really skied before, he didn't expect that powder snow wasn't suitable for challenging the Trials of Life and Death.

At this time, many skiers suddenly looked up from the middle of the mountain and saw a small black shadow on the peak, slowly trekking between the peaks. They were all stunned.

What's the difference between climbing to the summit in this season and seeking death?

But Qing Chen not only didn't stop, but he continued to climb higher and higher until he disappeared into the wind and snow.

...

...

7:50 pm.

The sky in Bai Chuan Village had already darkened. Shinguji Maki glanced at the quartz clock in the house and then returned to the window, eagerly looking out the window and waiting.

At this time, in this earthly paradise, the warm yellow lights in front of the hot spring inn were lit up.

To save electricity, the little girl turned off the lights in the house, but only left the light at the entrance.

This is because she was worried that Qing Chen would be late and that if the light in front of the inn was also turned off, he might not be able to find the inn.

The skiers had already returned to Bai Chuan Village one after another, and each hot spring inn had prepared a hearty dinner for them early, as well as clean hot springs to wash away their fatigue.

This is the most comfortable moment for all skiers.

But Qing Chen hadn't come back yet.

No normal tourist would stay at the ski resort until this time, and Shinguji Maki began to worry.

At this time, another group of skiers passed by the door.

The little girl opened the window, letting the wind and snow pour into the room. She waved to the skiers in the distance and shouted, "Sir, is there anyone else at the ski resort?"

The skiers said, "No, we're the last batch, and the ski resort was closed when we came out."

"Oh, thank you..." Shinguji Maki retracted her head. She was even more worried now. The older brother didn't bring a snowboard either, and there should be no one left on the mountain at this time. Where could he have gone?

Don't let anything happen to him.

The little girl kept looking at the clock on the wall and then out the window. Such a kind older brother should also be a punctual person, right?

Although there is no connection, she firmly believes it.

A 7:59 pm, Shinguji Maki saw a slender figure in a windbreaker slowly walking from the darkness behind the wind and snow from afar.

Shinguji Maki's eyes lit up. She quickly left the window, ran to the door like the wind, took slippers from the shoe cabinet, then opened the door of the hot spring inn and waved to Qing Chen, "Older Brother!"

The clear voice was mixed with the wind and snow, drifting far, far away.

Qing Chen looked up at her, then lowered his head and walked against the wind and snow.

Shinguji Maki didn't get discouraged when she saw that Qing Chen didn't respond to her.

The little girl happily put the slippers on the ground, then ran into the kitchen in a flash, brought the prepared food to the table, and happily ate rice balls herself.

The food was still rice, fried fish, thick omelet, and miso soup.

Shinguji Maki seems to only know how to make these, and she can't even do them well.

Qing Chen took off his windbreaker and sat down, carefully eating all the food, without leaving a drop of soup.

The little girl asked expectantly, "Was the food delicious today?"

Qing Chen shook his head: "It wasn't delicious."

The little girl: "...Oh."

Qing Chen looked at her: "Why are you still eating rice balls? Haven't I already advanced the rent?"

Shinguji Maki thought for a moment and said, "Grandma needs money for medicine... Rice balls are delicious. I added pickled cucumbers in them today."

Qing Chen was silent for a few seconds: "Where are your parents?"

Shinguji Maki said, "When Dad was working as a tour guide for tourists, a tourist accidentally slipped and fell off a cliff. He tried to save the tourist, and as a result, they were both pulled down. Mom remarried to Hokkaido. Grandma told me not to blame her. She also needs to have her own life."

"Aren't you sad?" Qing Chen knew that this question would hurt the little girl, but he still asked. fгeewёbnoѵel_cσm

Shinguji Maki was silent for a while, then smiled: "Actually, it's also very happy to live with Grandma. Everything will be fine. I'll be as strong as Grandma. She was diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago, and she went back to work at the inn to earn money while treating herself. She always told me, "Maki, everything will be fine!""

Qing Chen knew that the little girl's life would not get better.

Lung cancer is currently one of the most difficult cancers to survive. Even the targeted drugs in the Inner World only prolong the patient's life by a few years and cannot save late-stage lung cancer.

Presumably, the little girl's grandmother's cancer cells have already metastasized throughout her body.

At this time, the grandmother had spent 95% of her time in a coma, and the frequency and amount of food intake were very small, clearly at the end of her life.

If Grandma passes away, how will the eight-year-old little girl survive?

Shinguji Maki said to Qing Chen: "Don't talk about these things, Older Brother. I paid the uncle next door to clean the hot spring pool today, and the temperature of the hot spring is just right now. You should go soak for a while."

"Um," Qing Chen nodded, leaving the little girl alone in the living room.

She walked back to the window, leaned on the windowsill, and blinked her big eyes at the outside, where many children were having a snowball fight frantically and were piling up strangely shaped snowmen in front of the hot spring inns.

At this time, Qing Chen came out again and saw this scene. Shinguji Maki turned to look at him: "Older Brother, what's wrong?"

Qing Chen looked at the figures of those making snowmen outside the window, then said to Shinguji Maki, "Make the bed."

"Oh, oh, sorry, sorry, I forgot, I'm really very sorry," Shinguji Maki took out the bedding from the compartment.

The bedding in the hot spring inn is stored in the cabinet every day and only taken out at night to be laid on the wooden floor.

Shinguji Maki was making the bed when she suddenly noticed Qing Chen's hands, which were covered with frostbite.

She felt something strange.

This older brother seems to be different from others in every way.

...

...

Morning.

Shinguji Maki woke up early today. She thought to herself that she couldn't sleep late today. She had to make breakfast for Older Brother.

But it was only 7:10 in the morning, and Qing Chen's room was already empty.

As yesterday, the bedding was neatly folded and placed.

And there was a note: I'll be back before 8 o'clock, leave me some food.

The only difference is that the snowboard was taken away this time.

Shinguji Maki felt a little lost. She always felt that no matter how hard she tried to show her enthusiasm, she couldn't melt the older brother's coldness.

She lowered her head slightly in discouragement.

The next moment, she put on her worn-out cotton-padded clothes, opened the door of the hot spring inn, and went to Bai Chuan Village to buy some fresh ingredients.

But she saw a tall snowman piled up at the entrance, she didn't know when it was built.

On the snowman's Face[-], someone had used seaweed to paste a nose, eyes, and mouth.

The snowmen at other hot spring inns all Face[-] outward, as if welcoming guests.

But this hot spring inn's snowman faces inward, as if it only belongs to Shinguji Maki alone, leaving its back to everyone passing by.

Shinguji Maki wrapped her grandmother's old knitted scarf around her neck and ran out happily.

...

...

Qing Chen carried his snowboard and took the sightseeing car to Mount Hotaka again. He still didn't go to the ski resort but climbed upwards again.

The skiers looked up and saw the familiar figure. Last night, some people were worried that he would die in the mountains, but now they were numb.

Qing Chen calmly arrived at the summit, fixed his snowboard, and leaped down.

Then he fell into the thick powder snow...

The fluffy powder snow was not enough to support his weight, and he didn't even slide!

This was a mistake, but it was enough to prove that powder snow couldn't allow him to complete Ice Binding. He had to find a colder place, a place with firmer snow.

Qing Chen lay silently in the snow, gazing at the distant mountains.

Leave Japan?

Compared to the Trials of Life and Death, assassinating Shendai was a small matter. After all, he had to complete his promotion, return to the a02 Secret Military Base, and Face[-] a more cruel reality.

Therefore, if this place was not suitable, Qing Chen had to leave. Nothing was more important than that.

Wait.

Qing Chen looked at the knife-like mountain ridges in the distance and suddenly thought of another Trials of Life and Death!

Ridge riding downhill, a dance on the razor's edge!

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l