Fortunately, we didn't have too much stuff with us.
Once everything was divided up, the load for each person wasn't too heavy.
While we were figuring out how to get the three kids down safely, Wang Jun and the others had gone back into the car to discuss their own plans.
The black-clad men secured the ropes to the row of stone posts by the roadside.
Then, Suo Tian slung a coil of rope over his back and began descending the cliff.
He was probably going down to check whether the rope was long enough—after all, from where we stood, we couldn't see what was below at all.
If it wasn't long enough, he could tie on another length while he was down there.
As Suo Tian went down, I hurried over to the edge of the broken road and leaned forward, craning my neck to look.
I couldn't help but feel anxious.
I knew he was a cautious, capable man who rarely made mistakes, but watching him slowly disappear into the swirling mist below still made my heart pound.
After a short while, Suo Tian reached the lower layer of fog and vanished from sight.
Only the taut rope told us he was still hanging on it, not yet on the ground.
I kept my eyes fixed on that rope, tense and alert—every time it swayed even a little, my whole body went rigid.
I didn't know how long I'd been watching when Uncle Gazi and the others finally finished packing everything.
They bundled the three kids in extra layers of clothing—nights in the mountains were freezing, and a chill could be dangerous.
I stuffed some basic medical supplies—disinfectant, anti-inflammatory meds, gauze, and bandages—into my backpack.
You never knew when such things might come in handy.
Just then, the bearded man suddenly shouted, "The rope's gone slack!"
Startled, I snapped my head toward it.
Sure enough, the rope that had been pulled tight was now drooping loosely, swaying slightly in the mountain wind.
My face went pale.
I turned helplessly to the middle-aged man beside me and stammered, "Wh–what happened? Suo Tian isn't in trouble, is he?"
He glanced at me calmly and said, "No. Boss has a gun. He must've reached the bottom and is checking the surroundings."
Though the man was usually cold and distant, those words somehow eased my panic quite a bit.
About half a minute later, the bearded man's walkie-talkie crackled to life with Suo Tian's voice: "Come down."
So he had a walkie-talkie with him the whole time.
After receiving the order, the black-clad men pulled out two more coils of rope, tied them to the stone posts, and threw them over the edge.
The ropes seemed to be professional-grade—tough, even in length and thickness.
Since the first rope reached the bottom, these two would be long enough too.
Shen Feng strapped Rongrong securely to his back with a cloth bag and was the first to go down, followed by two of the black-clad men.
Fortunately, Rongrong wasn't as chubby as before—she'd grown so thin over the past few days that she was practically skin and bones—so Shen Feng didn't seem to struggle much carrying her.
Next went Xu Shu.
Uncle Gazi wanted to carry Tingyun himself, but Yangyang stopped him and, after a long round of persuasion, convinced him to let him take the child instead.
I wanted to speak up and stop Yangyang several times—at least to ask one of the black-clad men to help—but seeing the confident look on his face, I couldn't bring myself to say it.
Even though I was worried sick, I forced myself to stay calm and reminded myself: Yangyang's grown up.
He can handle this.
Then it was Han Xue's turn.
Her physical strength was about the same as Xiao Xue's, and she wasn't very brave either.
I had to talk her into it before she nervously grabbed the rope and prepared to descend.
Just before she did, one of the black-clad men came over and tied a knot somewhere along her rope.
Blushing, he mumbled, "This will make it safer."
Then he quickly ran back to his own rope and started climbing down without another word.
Han Xue stared blankly at the knot by her feet for a moment, then finally began her descent after I gave her a few words of encouragement.
Uncle Gazi went down right after, followed by Chen Pu and Jun Di.
Taozi was clearly terrified—Zhou Wen offered to carry him on his back, but he must've thought it'd be more dangerous that way.
Pale-faced, he grabbed the rope himself and started climbing down.
Finally, there were only three of us left at the top—me, Xiao Hu, and two of the black-clad men.
The two of them were decent enough; they each carried a huge pack full of supplies and even came over to take the backpack off my shoulders.
Xiao Hu had already been tied securely to my back.
I'd told him over and over again that once we got down, he must hold on tightly to me, keep his eyes shut, and not look down—because if he cried and distracted me, and one of us slipped, we'd both be meeting the King of Hell.
Xiao Hu was terrified of the King of Hell, so he nodded furiously, promising he wouldn't.
Just as we were about to descend, Wang Jun and his group came walking toward us from a distance.
Seeing this, the two black-clad men picked up their walkie-talkies and said something into them, then came to stand beside me—they didn't plan to go down just yet.
Wang Jun had his baby wrapped in a blanket and tied to his back.
Lili looked extremely weak and was being supported by Sister Liu.
Wang Jun must have already told her about what happened; she stared at the huge drop where the bridge had collapsed, her body swaying as if she might faint at any moment.
When they reached us, Lao Si spoke up.
"We thought it over," he said, "and it's better if we all go down together. With more people, we can look out for each other, right?"
I glanced at him, then looked at Lili and asked, "Can you manage the descent?"
Lili's eyes flicked toward Wang Jun and the baby strapped to his chest.
She bit her lip tightly, then forced a small, strained smile.
"I can," she said softly.
"Alright." I gave her one last look, then steeled myself and turned to signal the two black-clad men that we would start our descent first.
As for Wang Jun and the others—if they could find a way down, fine; if not, then fate would decide.
One wrong step here, and they'd be dead for sure.
The black-clad men gave Wang Jun's group a few instructions about the ropes so they could retrieve them afterward, and then the three of us started climbing down.
Thanks to the earlier practice, it wasn't too difficult this time—but carrying Xiao Hu on my back definitely made things harder.
About halfway down, the two black-clad men were already far below me.
I stopped to take a couple of deep breaths, made sure Xiao Hu's eyes were still shut, and then continued descending.
I had to stop several times along the way; by the end, my arms were trembling uncontrollably from exhaustion.
But finally, I saw the ground below, and the others who had gone down first were already waiting for me.
When I was almost on the ground, Xu Shu and Han Xue rushed over to help unstrap Xiao Hu from my back.
I moved aside and gasped for breath, rolling my shoulders and stretching my sore arms until the burning eased a little.
The last two black-clad men came over to report to Suo Tian that Wang Jun and the others were also making their way down.
Suo Tian lifted his head, looked up briefly, then said calmly, "Let's move."
He clearly didn't plan on waiting for them.
That was just like him—back on the road, it had been the same.
And honestly, it made sense.
In a world like this, it was nearly impossible for two groups to merge and truly trust each other.
Wang Jun's group should've had the advantage, since we'd known them before.
But for some reason, the moment I saw him again, something felt off—he wasn't the same person anymore.
Maybe I'd never really known him before.
Or maybe the endless wandering and hardship had changed him into someone else entirely.
Everyone still pitied Lili, but in times like these, pity couldn't rebuild the trust or friendship that once existed between our groups.
Before coming down, Suo Tian had probably already surveyed the surrounding terrain.
Now, he led us toward a wide open area ahead.
Far in the distance, beyond that clearing, stood the same great mountain we had seen earlier on the road.
After descending to the bottom, the mountain seemed even larger than before.
Xiao Hu sensibly took Han Xue's hand and walked forward on his own.
Taking advantage of the moment, I looked around carefully.
The terrain down here resembled that of a valley—it really was a valley, surrounded on all sides by mountains.
Because the bridge had been blown up earlier, many chunks of rock had fallen to the valley floor, making it difficult to walk.
If one wasn't careful, it was easy to scrape against bits of rubble with exposed rebar.
Judging by the distance to the mountain, I roughly estimated that this relatively flat open stretch was about two or three kilometers long.
Before long, the three children could no longer continue walking.
They were still young, after all.
Only Rongrong could hold on a bit longer; Tingyun and Xiao Hu were carried by Shen Feng and Yangyang respectively.
Rongrong clung to Suo Tian's side, whining pitifully, "Aiya, aiya," as if begging for sympathy.
After a few more steps, Suo Tian—apparently helpless against Rongrong's antics—bent down and lifted her into his arms before continuing onward.
Watching Suo Tian pluck a blade of grass to amuse Rongrong as they walked, I felt a wave of indescribable emotion.
Suo Tian had always lived in this absurd, game-like world as if he were blessed with some divine advantage—calm, steady, and unshakable.
Yet when it came to children, he always seemed especially attentive.
Especially toward Rongrong.
Perhaps because she was naturally attached to him, his usually unchanging expression often softened into genuine tenderness only when she was around.
When we were almost at the foot of the mountain, we finally spotted Wang Jun and the others far behind, hurrying to catch up.
Before starting the climb, Suo Tian ordered us to stop and rest.
I sat down heavily on the ground, gulped a few mouthfuls of water, then fixed my gaze on the small black dots approaching in the distance.
Squinting, I tried to see whether Lili was among them—but the distance was too great to make out clearly.
After waiting for quite a while, I finally managed to distinguish the group.
Scanning them one by one, I at last spotted Lili at the very back, supported on either side by Zhang Qicong and Lao Si.
I suddenly sprang to my feet, staring hard into the distance, utterly speechless with shock.
After all… Lili had just given birth.
How on earth had she managed to come down from such a great height?
— The end of the Chapter–