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Chapter 233 Trip to the Snow Mountain
The three set off at night, took a 10-hour flight to Nepal, landed in Kathmandu, and then rented a helicopter to fly directly to the Everest Base Camp. They finally arrived at the foot of the world's highest mountain at 2 p.m. on the 31st.

April and May are arguably the best time of year to trek and climb Mount Everest. At the base camp, you can see many scattered tents, and mountaineering enthusiasts from all over the world gather here, making a place that should be deserted by people exceptionally lively.

"My God, it's so beautiful." Looking at the mountain range that resembled a giant, Elori exclaimed sincerely.

Indeed, Chen Xuan thought to himself, he had only ever seen the scenery of these mountains in videos and photos in the past, but compared to the feeling of being there in person now, it was on a completely different level.

The endless snow-capped peaks, like a silver dragon, coil at the boundary between heaven and earth. Above them is a sky as clear as a sapphire, without a trace of impurity; below them are icebergs that never melt, their white and blue snow caps reflecting a cold, diamond-like sharpness under the sunlight.

If he had to describe it in one word, it would be "pure".

The sky, glaciers, snow, and rocks are all like this.

It was as if the altitude and the extreme cold could shut out all disturbances.

"How are you all? Is your breathing still smooth?" Lin Qing asked with a smile.

Chen Xuan took two deep breaths and watched as his exhaled breath instantly turned into white mist. "It's no different from being on flat ground."

Are you kidding me? He's the kind of person who can go into space naked!

“I’m fine too,” Elori replied.

The altitude here exceeds 5000 meters. A normal person would definitely feel dizzy after running up here in a day, but fortunately, none of the three of them are in normal condition, so they don't have to worry about altitude sickness.

"Getting here is easy, the trouble is what lies ahead." Lin Qing scratched her head. "From now on, we'll have to rely on ourselves."

The three were able to arrive here so quickly entirely because it was a well-established commercial route. As long as they forged identities and obtained passports and plane tickets, reaching the foot of Mount Everest was a natural progression. The problem was that Mount Everest was only a small part of the Himalayas, and other peaks didn't receive such favorable treatment. For example, their destination was 180 kilometers away, and there weren't even any man-made structures marked on the map corresponding to its coordinates.

No matter how much money they offered, no one would be willing to send them there. To outsiders, flying a helicopter aimlessly through icy mountains is tantamount to suicide, let alone going to a no-man's-land where even landing spots are unknown.

There is no road connecting the two places, and the azure glaciers and steep cliffs make it impossible to travel by land.

"We need to steal a helicopter." Lin Qing turned her gaze to the helipad at the base camp. "There are emergency aircraft here that are always on standby, and fuel and spare parts shouldn't be a problem. The prerequisite is that we can find the pilot among hundreds of people and get our hands on the key."

"No need, I've already thought it through." Chen Xuan took out a talisman from his pocket. "With this, I can go anywhere."

"Hey, didn't you say you couldn't fly?"

"Before I left, I borrowed some talisman techniques from Liu Shuyue," he said smugly.

The ability obtained through trading comes with all of the owner's experience, so he has mastered Liu Shuyue's flying skills, and manipulating the Wind Riding Talisman is no longer a problem.

"Borrow?" Lin Qing noticed his choice of words. "Do you still need to return it?"

"Yes, talisman techniques are more useful for her to build Spicy Village, which is why I told her I could borrow them for a few days."

The only drawback is that if you use it for yourself, the talisman will be put into your inventory once. Once it is traded to someone else, it will be locked and you will not be able to use it to cheat in the future.

"Now she even dares to borrow your abilities..." Lin Qing clicked her tongue, "Xiao Shuyue is such a nice person."

"It's not like we're not going to pay it back." Chen Xuan scoffed. "Our shop treats customers with integrity. What's wrong with lending me an ability? Let's find a place where no one will notice us, and then we'll fly there."

It was clearly difficult to lift Lin Qing with just a single Wind Riding Talisman, but with Elori's wings of light, it was no problem. The two of them grabbed her arms from both sides and together they lifted her into the sky.

To avoid being seen, they deliberately went around to the back of the camp before starting their journey to their destination.

"Am I... heavy?" Lin Qing suddenly asked softly halfway through the flight.

"It's...it's alright," Elori said, panting. "You're not heavy at all!" Chen Xuan thought to himself, surprised that the French girl was so considerate. Fortunately, the Wind Riding Talisman allowed him to fly using the wind, so he didn't feel much weight.

Moreover, Lin Qing's arm was softer than he had expected. He thought the prosthetic would feel incredibly hard to the touch, but in reality, it was no different from a real person's.

Looking down at the endless mountain ridges and ravines, he deliberately changed the subject, saying, "No wonder so few people know about this place, given that they built their treasure vault here. Elori, did that governor lady ever mention how the demons attacked this place?"

The angel shook her head. "No... she only said that this was a rare group operation. Hmph... but the Temple Treasury didn't have much defense to begin with, so it's not surprising that it couldn't be held."

According to later accounts, the Angelic Alliance's biggest mistake was treating artifacts with a guardian's mentality. They collected artifacts discovered around the world and hid them in unknown places, missing the opportunity to use them to strengthen themselves. This approach also resulted in the Alliance's superficial research into artifacts; they failed to recognize the uniqueness of the Mother Lucy, and even when the Temple Treasury was destroyed, they only felt they had been tricked by demons, until new angels ceased to be born, at which point they realized the severity of the problem.

“If they send heavy troops to guard the treasure vault, we won’t be able to sneak in,” Chen Xuan shrugged. “All things considered, there are advantages and disadvantages.”

Tian nodded vigorously, "Yes! In short, all we need to do is seize the artifact first and leave the demon empty-handed."

That being said, there are still many problems that remain unresolved.

For example, how are the artifacts stored, do they have a self-destruct system, and how big is the Matrix Lucy?

This last point was what Chen Xuan was most worried about.

Since the Angel Alliance used it to create so many Mind Rings, it means they extracted a lot of flesh from it. Although each ring contains a piece of flesh smaller than a fingernail, the sheer number of pieces is staggering. From this perspective, it must either have exceptional regenerative abilities or be enormous. If Lucy looked like the Tower of Flesh and Blood in Chang'an, there's no way the three of them could have secretly transported her away.

Unfortunately, information about the strange objects is very limited, not to mention things that were destroyed a century ago.

They'll never know the answer unless they see it for themselves.

"There seems to be something halfway up that iceberg!" Lin Qing noticed with her sharp eyes that a small, unnatural flat area had appeared amidst what should have been a snow-covered mountain.

She checked the map thoroughly, and the coordinates were basically correct, except that the mountains here were not marked at all, just a vast expanse of white land.

Chen Xuan immediately took out an invisibility talisman and erased the three figures from view.

This ensures that they will not be detected by the guards when they approach.

He and Elori approached, lowering their altitude as they went, until they stopped at about 500 meters. At this distance, the three of them could clearly see a wooden house half-buried under the solid ice—its outer walls had collapsed, and its dark interior resembled a cave. Scattered haphazardly on the ground were some containers, including oil drums, shipping containers, and many empty cans.

"The camouflage is very professional," Lin Qing commented. "Even if it were photographed by satellite, it would just look like an abandoned mountaineering base."

Chen Xuan agreed, noting that even the oil drums and cargo boxes placed outdoors looked like they had been around for a long time, with their outer shells completely covered in a thin layer of ice and faint rust spots; the details were definitely up to par.

However, this place is neither in the sky nor on the ground, so why would a base suddenly appear here?

The ability to build a wooden house at an altitude of five, six, or seven meters is itself extraordinary.

“The collapsed building is probably a decoy; the entrance is most likely somewhere else,” he analyzed. “But we can’t go through the main entrance either. We should avoid conflict if possible, and it’s best not to fight the guards. Lin Qing, do you have a way to sneak into a place like this?”

“You’ve come to the right person.” Lin Qing smiled smugly. “Any facility buried underground must have a backup exit and ventilation ducts. The backup exit can only be opened from the inside, so it can be ignored. As for the ducts… I’ve already found them.”

She pointed to the other side of the ridge, "There's a heat source reaction over there, let's fly over and take a look."

The two men dragged her around the abandoned houses and arrived at the back of the snow-capped mountain, where they indeed found several sets of ventilation holes hidden in the cliff face. They were slightly recessed, and from the side, there was not a single flaw to be seen. Below them was a thousand-meter-deep abyss, making it impossible to get close.

Such a strategically important location seems impregnable, but it is not immune to those with ulterior motives who can take advantage of it.

(End of this chapter)