Night’s Nomenclature-Chapter 502: Choice

The second day of hiding in the snowy mountains.

The wind on the mountain subsided slightly. Qing Chen carried his mountain bike to the top of Ao Sui High Peak, under the astonished gaze of the little girl.

Only then did Shinguji Maki finally understand why Qing Chen had been clearing the mountain ridge.

"Older Brother, are you going to ride your mountain bike on the ridge?" the little girl asked curiously.

"Hmm, it's time to start training," Qing Chen nodded. "The wind is calm today. Wait for me at the top of the mountain."

The challenge couldn't be completed in one go.

Back then, the success in the icy, dark waters of Greenland was preceded by hundreds of training sessions in the world of Conquer with Virtue. This time, he had nothing, only his still-unrefined skills and courage.

With that, he rode his mountain bike and swooped down from the highest point.

Shinguji Maki, wearing a red coat, stood on the snowy mountain. She wanted to stop Qing Chen, but ultimately didn't speak.

The little girl was a little dazed. For some reason, as she watched the figure speeding down the knife-edge ridge, she felt an inexplicable sense of harmony.

She covered her mouth, afraid of making any sound that might distract Qing Chen.

The mountain bike bumped along the ridge, the sound of the wheels crushing stones and Qing Chen's own breathing intertwined.

Only when he actually started training on the ridge did Qing Chen realize how difficult this Trials of Life and Death was.

Abysses on both sides, and a path ahead.

This is the only path in your life.

Only by going through it can you live a more exciting life.

Qing Chen accelerated frantically, calculating in his mind how long it would take him to reach the 120 kilometers per hour standard for ridge speed descent.

At this moment, he realized that he needed to be even more frantic.

120 kilometers per hour, even in a car on a highway, this speed would be enough to make many people's hearts pound.

What more, with an abyss thousands of feet below?

The next moment, the mountain bike's wheel, due to a lack of control, made a fatal deviation.

Qing Chen, along with his mountain bike, tumbled off the ridge and fell into the abyss.

Shinguji Maki screamed from the top of the mountain, running down the ridge regardless of the danger of falling herself.

But before she had run far, she suddenly saw a hand reach out from the ridge ahead, desperately grasping the edge.

Qing Chen gritted his teeth. With his other hand grasping the mountain bike that almost fell off the cliff, he used only one arm to pull himself back onto the ridge.

However, the ease was only because he hadn't used the Reverse Breathing Technique, and his speed wasn't fast enough.

If it were a real challenge, this fall would have been almost certain death.

He looked at Shinguji Maki, frowning: "Who told you to come down? Don't come to the ridge alone without me, you must wait for me on the summit platform."

Shinguji Maki was a little flustered: "Okay…"

Qing Chen thought for a moment: "Continue cleaning the ridge."

"Oh…"

The young man stood on the knife-edge of the ridge, gazing into the distance. This Trials of Life and Death was harder than he had imagined.

The little girl looked at Qing Chen's palm, where a cut had been made by the rocks. She finally couldn't help but ask: "Older Brother, what exactly are you doing?"

Qing Chen answered calmly: "Feeling life and death."

"Ah?"

"Watch carefully how I do it, you might have to walk this path someday."

"What path?"

"Among all the shortcuts in the world, the farthest one."

Qing Chen still hadn't decided whether to make the little girl a Knight.

But at one moment, he suddenly felt like his master back then, watching his younger self.

Taking Li Ke as an apprentice was because Li Ke truly had the tenacity and talent, and the master also required him to choose a Knight heir from the Li Clan.

Hu Xiaoniu, on the other hand, took advantage of the time and place in the Outer World, and even if she couldn't pass the Trial of Heart, she could still take the Knight path.

Shinguji Maki was different. She was too young, and Qing Chen didn't know if she could withstand the hardships of the Knight path…

…

…

At night, Qing Chen, covered in wounds, returned to the ski resort with the tired little girl.

The visitor center no longer had the liveliness of the day.

Qing Chen's phone lit up.

Big Rich Man: "Are you even human? You made such a cute and innocent little girl pick up stones with you in the freezing cold for two days. Is that something a normal person would do?!"

Qing Chen raised his eyebrows and typed back: "Let's talk business."

Big Rich Man: "…Many Time Travelers from the Shadow Agency have arrived in Osaka. Combined with the previous ones, there are a total of 431. They've caught two more escaped potential Time Travelers, so the Shadow Agency knows you intervened for the little girl."

Qing Chen pondered. He had appeared here as a stranger, so even if the other party knew it was him, they couldn't confirm his true identity.

Big Rich Man: "But what's interesting is that the Shadow Agency didn't find you in Bai Chuan Village, so they think you might have escaped to other cities and haven't thought of you running to the snowy mountains, so they haven't connected it yet. After all, in this snowy season when the mountains are blocked by snow, only a crazy person would take a nine-year-old girl to the mountains."

Big Rich Man: "So, they only left a few dozen people to search the mountains, and the rest went to Nakagawa City."

Qing Chen nodded. This was good news: "Have they been to the ski resort?"

"They searched, but found nothing. They're waiting for headquarters to transport professional mountaineering equipment from Osaka. It'll probably be ready in a day."

Qing Chen: "Okay, thanks."

Big Rich Man: "You better be nice to the little girl!"

Qing Chen turned off his phone.

He was a little surprised that Surface World One would like Shinguji Maki so much.

He even suspected that Yi knew something about the little girl's special identity, just like he had been noticed as soon as he arrived at Prison 18.

The visitor center was dark and silent.

At this moment, only the sound of Shinguji Maki's suppressed sobs could be heard from the next tent, but in this quiet environment, it was very abrupt.

"Does it hurt?" Qing Chen asked, lying on his arm in the tent.

This was the second day he had taken Shinguji Maki to the mountains. The little girl's already tender hands had blisters on all five fingertips from clearing the rubble on the mountain ridge.

"It doesn't hurt," Shinguji Maki stubbornly said.

"Pain is an objective feeling, you don't have to avoid it," Qing Chen said calmly. "It won't disappear just because you avoid it."

"It hurts…" Shinguji Maki said aggrievedly.

"Are you complaining about me?" Qing Chen asked.

"A little, but it's gone quickly," Shinguji Maki said softly.

"Why?" Qing Chen asked again.

Shinguji Maki said in a very soft voice: "Although it's very tiring and painful, I also worry about Older Brother being alone on the ridge. It must be very boring to be alone clearing rubble on the ridge. Older Brother must have been there alone for the past few days, and because he was bored, he wanted me to accompany him."

Qing Chen was silent for a moment. What kind of nonsense was this? The little girl's imagination was really beyond the comprehension of an adult.

He thought for a moment and said: "Come, I'll pop your blisters, put on some medicine, and you'll be fine after a sleep."

Shinguji Maki quickly came to the entrance of Qing Chen's tent, but was a little scared: "Will it hurt?"

"No," Qing Chen shook his head.

Shinguji Maki sat down carefully outside the tent, carefully spreading out her palms, with at least twelve blisters on her two small hands.

"Wait for me here."

Qing Chen went to the visitor center to find a first-aid kit. When he passed a TV, he saw that the TV had turned on out of nowhere.

In such a dark environment, a TV suddenly turning on was terrifying.

Qing Chen watched expressionlessly, but saw a line of words appear on the TV: "Buy the little girl a phone, the money will come from my payment."

"You like her?" Qing Chen asked calmly.

"Okay."

"If it's just okay, I won't buy her a phone," Qing Chen responded calmly.

"I really like her."

"Then I'll deduct the cost of the medicine I used on her from you," Qing Chen said.

"You are ruthless, you are cold-blooded, you are unreasonable."

"What kind of crap are you watching recently…" Qing Chen left expressionlessly.

Since arriving in Japan, Surface World One had followed him here.

It seemed that Yi particularly liked the little girl, otherwise, he wouldn't have offered to buy the little girl a phone in the middle of the night.

Qing Chen took the first-aid kit, found a sewing needle, and then pinched Shinguji Maki's small hand.

The little girl looked eagerly: "It really won't hurt?"

"Hmm."

The next moment, when Qing Chen pricked the blister, he pulled the little girl's skin, and her eyes welled up with tears: "Older Brother, didn't you say it wouldn't hurt?"

Qing Chen: "Hmm, I don't hurt."

Shinguji Maki: "…"

Qing Chen took out black ointment from his pocket. He had brought it from China, originally intending to keep it for himself, as he would inevitably be injured during the training for the Knight Trials of Life and Death challenge.

As a result, he had already used more than half just treating the little girl.

He definitely had to get the money from Surface World One.

"Older Brother, why do people have to suffer so much when they are born?" the little girl whispered.

"Pain, setbacks, misfortune, are the stepping stones for geniuses, the baptismal water for believers, and the bottomless abyss for the weak. Fate only gives you choices; it's up to you to choose how."

"Oh."

Qing Chen finally finished pricking the blisters on the little girl's hands, but found that Shinguji Maki had fallen asleep in his arms while he was putting away the first-aid kit.

Qing Chen sat cross-legged.

The little girl rested her head on his lap, her thick hair falling like a waterfall, like a blooming black mandala.

He tried to pull the little girl away, but heard the little girl pleading in her sleep: "Older Brother, don't go."

Qing Chen sighed and sat there all night.