It was supposed to be a casual game, but the Long March dungeon brought tears to everyone's eye

【00: 55】

The red countdown is like a Damocles' sword hanging over your eyes.

Kuang Ge's vision had become a blurry mess of gibberish.

There was no oxygen in my lungs, only fire; every breath felt like swallowing burning coals.

"Move...move for me!"

He screamed inwardly, but his leg felt broken and wouldn't obey him at all.

The knees rubbed against the snow, and the already worn-out cotton pants offered absolutely no protection.

With each movement, I could feel the crisp sound of my kneecaps pressing directly against the hard ice shards.

Blood mixed with snow water, leaving a shocking red trail behind him.

【00: 48】

Don't look at the time!

Hawkeye's voice was right next to my ear, as he struggled to suppress his panic and disarray.

He was like a madman at that moment, pressing his shoulder firmly against Kuang Ge's ribs.

"Just watch your step! Even if it's just one centimeter! Keep pushing forward!"

Hawkeye's feet were slipping, and his stamina bar was already empty.

What is burning now is the last shred of dignity as a "human being".

Ruan Ruan couldn't see anything. She could only rely on the pull of the straw rope and use her thin back to desperately hold against Kuang Ge's right side.

"Babies...give me strength..."

She was actually praying to the viewers in the live stream.

That face, which once cherished makeup above all else, was now covered in frostbite and tear stains, yet it looked more like a warrior than ever before.

【00: 30】

The old sergeant, clinging to Kuang Ge's back, was getting colder and colder.

That kind of cold wasn't the cold of snowflakes; it was a deathly stillness that seeped into your very bones.

Only the hand tucked into Kuang Ge's collar, because it was pressed against Kuang Ge's carotid artery, still retained the last bit of borrowed warmth.

Crazy Brother felt the life slipping away on his back, and fear made his heart tighten.

"Don't die...please..."

Crazy Bro, this tough guy who always swears and argues with everyone, now had tears and snot all over his face.

"Old man, you can't die..."

"You said you'd cook noodles for me... Liar... You NPCs are all liars..."

"Get up, you son of a bitch!"

The last five meters.

This is the very top of the pass, where the wind speed is astonishing.

The gale was like an invisible wall, threatening to push these few ants who dared to challenge the might of heaven into the abyss.

Little Bean and Little Tiger rushed up.

Two teenagers, one dragging the old squad leader's left leg, the other dragging his right leg.

"Class monitor! We're pushing you!" Little Bean cried out, his face turning blue.

The five people, like a bizarre and tragic conjoined twins, were making their final charge in this white hell.

【00: 10】

The boulder was right in front of us.

Once you get around that rock, you'll reach the leeward side.

Kuang Ge's consciousness was beginning to fade.

He couldn't see the road clearly; he only knew to mechanically repeat the motion of lifting his leg, pressing down, and shuffling forward.

step.

Two steps.

【00: 03】

The system's red alert had filled my entire retina, and the piercing buzzing sound seemed to be about to explode my brain.

[Warning! Vital signs are extremely weak!]

[WARNING! Player is about to lose consciousness!]

"ah!!!!"

Madman roared, exhausting all his life points and even his soul, and lunged forward!

Driven by inertia, everyone, in that instant, forcefully created a gap in this world sealed off by ice and snow.

【00: 00】

The world suddenly fell silent.

The threatening winds that seemed to say they would tear someone to pieces came to an abrupt end.

Crazy Brother fell heavily to the ground, but he didn't feel any pain.

Because there is sunshine.

A beam of golden, warm, and long-awaited sunlight pierced through the thick clouds, like a golden sword, piercing straight into the snow-white mountain pass.

Immediately afterwards, the clouds churned and scattered like defeated deserters.

The snowstorm that had been raging had stopped.

"You...you made it through?"

Hawkeye lay sprawled on the ground, panting heavily, his chest heaving violently.

He stared at the beam of light, somewhat bewildered.

Ruan Ruan tore a small gap in the blindfold, her eyes watering from the bright light, but she still squinted, staring intently at the golden spot of light.

"We survived..."

In the live stream, countless people slumped in their chairs, sweating profusely, as if they themselves had just climbed a snow-capped mountain.

"Class monitor..."

Crazy Brother didn't have time to rest.

He scrambled to his feet and reached behind him to untie the straw rope on his back.

Along the way, fearing that his old squad leader would fall, he tied himself tightly to the old squad leader.

"Squad leader! Wake up! We're here! We're here!"

Kuang Ge's voice was trembling.

He carefully put the old squad leader down and let him lean against the huge rock that was blocking the wind.

The old squad leader's face was ashen, and his lips had lost all color; he was truly exhausted and on his last legs.

But he was still breathing.

Faint, but still there.

The old squad leader's eyelids twitched a few times, and he slowly opened them with great difficulty.

At that moment, Kuang Ge, Ying Yan, Ruan Ruan, and all the viewers watching the live stream had their hearts in their throats.

The old squad leader slowly turned his head.

His gaze passed over Kuang Ge, past the boulder, and landed on the other side of the mountain.

That was a place they risked their lives to finally cross.

Kuang Ge had lied to him, saying that once they crossed the border, it would be springtime, with rapeseed flowers and vast plains.

But now, the truth is laid bare before us.

Beyond the mountains... there are still mountains.

The snow-capped mountains stretch endlessly, undulating.

One after another, they stood silently between heaven and earth, like a group of white behemoths.

There were no flowers, no grass, no plains.

There is only a longer, more dangerous, and more hopeless road ahead.

At that moment, Kuang Ge felt an unprecedented sense of suffocation.

He wanted to cover the old sergeant's eyes and continue weaving that clumsy lie.

"Squad leader, actually..." Crazy Bro stammered, "Actually, the fog is too thick, look..."

"It looks good," the old squad leader suddenly said.

His voice was soft, no longer that Sichuan-accented shout, but instead conveyed a gentleness and relief he had never experienced before.

He looked at the still desolate, still cruel snow-capped mountains, at the snow-capped peaks that shimmered golden in the sunlight.

His cloudy eyes didn't show the disappointment that Kuang Ge had worried about; instead, they shone with a frightening brightness.

"It's so beautiful..."

The old squad leader laboriously raised his one arm and pointed to the endless expanse of white snow in the distance.

"Crazy kid, look."

"So many mountains... so much land..."

The old squad leader's lips curled up little by little, revealing a toothless but honest smile.

"From now on, everything belongs to our children."

Crazy Brother was stunned.

Hawkeye lowered his head, biting his lip hard, while Ruan Ruan was already sobbing uncontrollably.

They thought the old squad leader wanted to see the scenery, the spring.

Actually not.

All he wanted to see was the road beneath his feet, still under the feet of his own people.

As long as the mountains remain, as long as the roads remain, as long as people are alive, that is the best spring.

Just then.

Right in the center of everyone's vision, the game title that they had always complained about as a "fraudulent title" suddenly started to shake as if by electrical interference.

The original sweet, refreshing, and ironically ironic artistic lettering—"Journey of Healing."

At this moment, it was as if a layer of disguise had been burned away by fire.

The true form beneath slowly emerged, accompanied by a deep, bell-like sound effect.

【A Healing Journey: A Vow Beneath the Snow-capped Mountains】

At that moment, the entire internet fell silent.

In Luo An's studio, Luo An's eyes were red-rimmed, filled with mixed emotions.

He looked at the title on the screen that had finally completed its transformation and gently pressed the Enter key.

"It's not just candy and flowers that can heal," Luo An murmured to herself.

"For a nation that has forgotten its past, the only cure is a painful memory."

After a brief pause, the comments in the live stream exploded like a torrent.

"I'm an idiot... I'm such an idiot... I always thought this was just a sham torture game disguised as a game..."

"Me too... I was just criticizing the streamer, asking if he was a masochist..."

"A vow... So this is the true meaning of the title?"

"What vow? Is it the vow the old sergeant made to his daughter?"

"No...it's not just that."

A golden bullet comment, suddenly out of place on this entertainment-obsessed live streaming platform, was both striking and thought-provoking.

"That vow was—we will live on with you."

In the game, the system notification sounded again.

This time, it was no longer a cold, impersonal warning, but rather carried a solemn and dignified tone.

[Server-wide announcement: Congratulations to players Kuangge, Yingyan, and Ruanruan for successfully conquering Jiajinshan Pass!]

[The core objective of the current instance, "Crimson Expedition: Snow Mountain Chapter," has been achieved!]

[Settlement in progress...]

There were no fireworks, no cheering sound effects.

Only a faded, grayish-brown map was slowly unfolded in front of the three of them.

On the map, a thin red line extends from the starting point to where they are standing.

Behind that red line lies a long, winding, and seemingly endless gray fog.

[Current progress on the Long March: 5%]

"How much...how much?!"