Chapter 146: Encountering an Avalanche!

The avalanche descended with terrifying speed, threatening to engulf them instantly. Spotting a valley not far behind, Chu Xiao immediately ordered everyone to seek shelter there. It was a desperate gamble, but they could only pray the snow would not bury them too deeply.

The soldiers scrambled in a panic, leaving much of their equipment behind. Chu Xiao shielded Wang Lulu as they dashed into the valley, joined by Yuan Rui and the representatives of the three allied nations. However, more than a dozen soldiers in the rear were swallowed by the cascading snow, their exact fates unknown.

Watching helplessly as the soldiers were swept away, Chu Xiao tried to rush out to help, but Wang Lulu grabbed him. She knew that running out now was tantamount to suicide; in the face of an avalanche, human strength was utterly insignificant.

Before long, Chu Xiao and the others were also buried under the snow. Fortunately, the small valley they had chosen prevented them from being buried too deep. With strenuous effort, Chu Xiao dug his way out, soon followed by Yuan Rui and the three foreign representatives.

They immediately set to work rescuing the other soldiers. Once everyone was freed, Chu Xiao anxiously called out for the dozen men lost to the avalanche, but there was no response. Frantic, he dug through the snow in every direction, yet failed to find a trace of them.

Yuan Rui and the foreign representatives stopped Chu Xiao's aimless search. Those men were likely dead; everyone had anticipated such a possibility when setting out from Jiuzhou, and each had written a will beforehand.

They had even agreed that should any of them meet with an accident, the others must not attempt a rescue and should instead prioritize the mission for Jiuzhou. If luck favored them and they survived, they would make their own way back to rendezvous with the team. After a moment of heavy silence, Chu Xiao finally pulled himself together.

They prepared to press onward, but traversing this path after the avalanche would be infinitely more difficult—virtually impassable, with the constant peril of triggering a secondary slide.

This time, Wang Lulu pulled Chu Xiao back. She had already geared up, ready to take the lead. Initially, Chu Xiao was reluctant to let her take such a risk, but Wang Lulu had been to the Arctic before and knew how to handle these sudden emergencies.

Seeing her determination, Chu Xiao relented. There was no denying that Wang Lulu possessed exceptional wilderness survival skills; with agile and practiced movements, she scaled upwards of ten meters in a flash.

Chu Xiao’s impression of her was completely renewed. He had known she possessed rich wilderness experience, but he had never imagined her physical agility was so formidable—something that could only be honed through years of rigorous training.

Soon, Wang Lulu secured the safety ropes. Fearing for her safety, Chu Xiao went up first. Originally, the journey was expected to take a single day, but with the delay caused by the avalanche, it would now take two. Thanks to Wang Lulu's guidance, however, they reached the summit in less than a day.

Seeing how exhausted Wang Lulu was, Chu Xiao instructed the group to find a wind-sheltered spot nearby to set up camp for the night. Shortly after, a returning scout informed Chu Xiao that a massive cave lay just ahead, perfectly suited for shelter.

Upon entering the cave, Chu Xiao and his group discovered several corpses. Judging by their attire, they had been dead for decades. Everyone was baffled as to why these people had died so peacefully inside the cave.

There were no visible wounds on their bodies, yet their pupils were dilated, as if they had been frightened to death. The mystery deepened: what on earth had they witnessed to be scared out of their wits? Chu Xiao urged the soldiers to remain on high alert.

Dangerous predators likely roamed this area. Tents were quickly erected, but since most of the tents, water, and food supplies had been lost in the avalanche, a dozen soldiers now had to cram into a single tent.

Water was the least of their worries since they could melt snow, but their food supply would only last three days. With the grueling marches demanding immense physical exertion every day, running out of rations meant they might never make it out alive—this was Chu Xiao's greatest fear.

"Brothers, the avalanche destroyed most of our supplies. What little food we have left must be rationed. From now on, we will eat only one meal a day so we can barely manage to make it out of here."

The soldiers accepted the news without a single complaint. Chu Xiao distributed the rations personally. Some soldiers quietly tucked their portions away, saving them for a rainy day, while Chu Xiao handed Wang Lulu an amount equivalent to two full meals.

"Brother Xiao, what is the meaning of this? Why do I have more than the others?"

Wang Lulu looked at him, puzzled. With rations already scarce, she should have received less than the soldiers, not more.

"You are the only woman here, and it is only right that we take extra care of you. This is a decision I made after consulting with the soldiers and the representatives of the three nations."

Wang Lulu, however, had no intention of accepting such preferential treatment. She refused to be a burden and wanted to prove her own capability, rather than relying on Chu Xiao's constant coddling.

"Eat it, Lulu. This is my share. When I get hungry, I'll ask you for some."

In truth, Chu Xiao couldn't bear to eat his own portion and wanted to save it for Wang Lulu, willing to starve himself rather than let her suffer the slightest hardship. But when Wang Lulu realized he was starving himself to give her his food, she became even more resolute in her refusal.

She demanded that Chu Xiao eat with her; otherwise, she would not touch a single bite and would wait until he ate. Left with no other choice, Chu Xiao finally agreed to share the meal with her.

Just as Chu Xiao and the others finished eating and prepared to sleep, the ground began to tremble faintly, much like it had during the morning avalanche. But this time, it was different—it felt as though something was walking, sending rhythmic vibrations through the earth.

Curious, a few soldiers went to the cave entrance to observe. Moments later, they came scrambling back in a blind panic, tumbling over one another as if they had seen a ghost.

"C-Captain... it's... it's a bear!"

"Look at you trembling like cowards! It's just a bear, and it scares you out of your wits? Are the guns in your hands just for show?"

Yuan Rui was furious to see the soldiers stammering in terror over a mere bear, and he sternly reprimanded them. Chu Xiao, however, sensed something amiss, instantly recalling the corpses in the cave that had been scared to death.

He motioned for Yuan Rui to follow him outside. Approaching the cave entrance, they saw a colossal bear lumbering slowly toward them from not far away. The creature stood easily over twenty meters tall and stretched more than fifty meters in length; if it stood on its hind legs, it would loom nearly a hundred meters high.

None of them had ever laid eyes on an Arctic bear of such monstrous proportions. It was no wonder the soldiers had been terrified out of their minds, and it was entirely likely that the men who died in the cave decades ago had met their end at the sight of this beast.

"Good god, how could a bear grow this large? Was it fed hormones?"

Wang Lulu had followed them out. Recalling her past expeditions with adventure teams to the Arctic, she realized some of her former companions must have fallen victim to this very monster. Chu Xiao surmised that the beast had likely consumed ice berries, causing a genetic mutation that fueled its terrifying growth.

"Everyone, proceed with extreme caution! If it doesn't attack us, do not provoke it. There's a chance it's not alone out here—there might even be a whole pack of them!"