Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

When Adam’s team heard Ruo Manni suggest sitting down to slide down, they all agreed it was a good idea. So they lined up and sat down, with Hebrew Adam leading the way, sliding down the slope like on a slide.

Sitting on the ice kept them from being blown over by the wind. The smooth ice surface made sliding easier, and despite the cold, the friction between their seats and the snow created just enough heat to be bearable.

If they weren’t in a training exercise on a towering peak, or facing the biting snowstorm that made it hard to keep their eyes open, they would have found this sliding experience incredibly refreshing.

Even so, they found it quite invigorating, as Adam’s team realized they descended the most difficult steep slope at a remarkably fast pace. The seven or eight hundred meters of mountain path took just over twenty minutes to slide down, while it had taken them over an hour to climb up.

However, at this point, the mountain slope had significantly flattened out, and the wind had noticeably diminished. The increasing snow on the ice surface made their sliding slower and slower, eventually forcing them to give up sliding and start walking.

But descending was still tricky; the ice surface was slippery, and with the wind and snow constantly buffeting them, Ruo Manni, who couldn’t afford to use her telekinesis constantly, would fall if she wasn’t careful.

Fortunately, the snow accumulation on the glacier and the gentler slope meant that while Ruo Manni fell several times, she didn’t end up tangling with her teammates.

Each time Ruo Manni fell, Tino Venamoen, who was behind her, would pull on the rope to help her get back on her feet.

Despite these efforts, falls were inevitable, and even Tino Venamoinen, who usually spoke very little, couldn’t help but suggest loudly, “Deputy Team Leader, should I help you walk?”

Hebrew Adam, walking in front, heard the commotion and turned around just in time to see Ruo Manni getting up from the ground. He frowned and asked, “Did you get hurt? If so, let me pull you up by my backpack.”

Ruo Manni, trying to ignore the pain in her bruised buttocks and maintaining a nonchalant facade, said, “I’m fine. We’re just a few hundred meters away. I can hold on.”

Indeed, in such situations, it’s advantageous to have someone with a stable weight. Sheila, being taller and heavier than Ruo Manni, had only fallen three or four times, while Ruo Manni had fallen seven times.

Just as Ruo Manni began to doubt whether her aching buttocks could hold out any longer, they finally reached the end of the glacier river.

At the glacier’s end, there was a glacier lake formed by the melting ice and presented a clear, brilliant blue color.

However, the mountain path below the glacier lake was different from the one they had come up on. There were no high cliffs, just a continuous forest extending down the mountain.

The team stopped at the edge of the forest by the glacier lake.

In the dim light, the endless expanse of dark forest gave the team the sense that this descent might be even more challenging than the climb up.

“Since it’s getting late, we’ll camp here tonight to rest and recover. We’ll continue tomorrow morning when it’s light,” said Hebrew Adam.

No matter the time, maintaining a certain level of physical fitness is crucial. After the strenuous climb to the peak, everyone was exhausted and hungry, with their energy significantly depleted. Therefore, there were no objections to the leader’s decision.

Previously, in the forest on the way up, they were already in poor condition, especially Ruo Manni, whose mental energy had only recovered a third. This led to their struggle when danger struck, and they couldn’t hold out until the instructors arrived. So, even though stopping might allow the following teams to catch up, they preferred not to take any risks.

Hebrew Adam instructed Tamaki Kazia to join him in hunting in the forest, while Su Forty-Three and Tino Venamoinen set up camp.

In such strong winds, the capsule apartments had to be securely fixed; otherwise, it would be a disaster if they were blown away in the middle of the night.

The two girls went to collect firewood for cooking later. This task was the easiest, as there were many dry branches on the forest edge, and the wind wasn’t strong enough to blow them away. In less than half an hour, the two girls had gathered a large pile.

Ruo Manni assigned Sheila to start the fire. She then walked to the edge of the glacier lake, about a hundred meters away. After using her mental power to sense the surroundings and confirm there were no dangerous creatures in the lake, she collected a large pot of water using a rubber-made pot.

Ruo Manni added a disinfectant to the water, allowed it to settle and separate, then added a cleaning agent, allowed it to settle again, and finally obtained clean water. She poured this clean water into another rubber-made pot and disinfected it again.

Finally, Ruo Manni returned to the campfire with two pots of clean water and poured the processed water into a large pot made of rubber to heat it.

In reality, the Adam team was very thirsty. By the time they reached the peak, their water supply had already been exhausted. After over two hours of battling wind and snow, they hadn’t had a sip of water. None of these highborns wanted to eat snow unless absolutely necessary.

Sheila was somewhat dissatisfied with the cleanliness of the water, but she knew that the processed water was indeed very clean. Seeing Ruo Manni, Su Forty-Three, and Tino Venamoinen drinking the boiled water, she couldn’t resist having a bowl herself.

After spending a day in the icy and snowy peaks, even though Sheila didn’t feel extremely cold, the hot water not only warmed her stomach but also made her feel warm all over. She couldn’t care less about the cleanliness of the water and drank another bowl.

Hebrew Adam and Tamaki Kazia had been gone for nearly half an hour, and their return was still awaited. The four of them were getting uneasy. Just as Su Forty-Three and Tino Venamoinen were about to go find them, Hebrew Adam and Tamaki Kazia came back in time. They carried back a mountain goat-like beast, over two meters long, using a long tree branch.

The meat of the herbivorous mountain goat-like beast was highly prized by humans, and the hungry individuals’ eyes lit up with excitement.

Although Tamaki Kazia looked exhausted, his eyes still sparkled as he said, “I’ll handle the grilling. I’m very good at it.”

Ruo Manni found this great: “Grilling is actually my weak point. Here, I brought some seasoning.”

Ruo Manni opened her backpack and handed Tamaki Kazia two small packets of seasoning, which he received with great joy.

Ruo Manni thought for a moment and added, “Grill all the beast meat, and use the remaining bones to make soup. If there’s any leftover, we can keep it for tomorrow. Then, we can forage for some edible plants in the forest tomorrow morning and make soup for breakfast.”

The team had no objections and quickly got to work. Soon, a delicious aroma wafted around the campfire.

After the Adam team had eaten and drunk their fill, they started feeling drowsy. Seeing that no other teams had come down from the mountain, they didn’t worry about it. After dividing the night watch duties, those who weren’t on guard duty went into the capsule apartments to sleep.

By the campfire, Ruo Manni and Hebrew Adam were left unmoving, as they were the first shift for the night watch.

At this point, the sky had completely darkened, and the mountain wind continued to howl intermittently. In the near-zero temperatures of the night, the flickering firelight provided the deepest warmth.

On such a night, a handsome boy and a beautiful girl faced each other alone…