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

"Crazy Bro, are you crazy?" The comments section was filled with confusion.

"You know nothing!" Madman's hands, veins bulging, pressed firmly against the large pot. "This pot belongs to Old Li! This road belongs to the old sergeant!"

"If you just drag any random Tom, Dick, or Harry in, do they even know what the 'chain of life' means?"

"Can they entrust their lives to me? I can't entrust my life to them either!"

Crazy Brother exerted his strength suddenly, his thigh muscles tensed to the point of spasm.

"The three of us are a bit useless, a bit weak!"

"But we rolled down Jiajin Mountain together!"

"I won't throw this pot away! And I won't add anyone else!"

"Hawkeye! Softie! Stop playing dead!"

"If we can't even get over a mud puddle, how are we going to see Old Li?!"

That roar was like a shot of adrenaline hitting people's hearts.

Although Hawkeye in front didn't say anything, he suddenly clenched his teeth, and the rope in his hand stretched taut, digging into his flesh.

Ruan Ruan also cried out, hanging her entire weight on the rope.

"rise--!!"

Splash!

The large iron pot lurched forward a bit in the mud.

One step, two steps.

Three mud-covered "mud monkeys" pushed the big black pot that carried their hopes, like snails, inching their way across the deadly swamp.

The moment they climbed ashore, the three of them collapsed onto the grass, too exhausted to even move a finger.

The veteran sergeant stood on the shore, looking at the three raw recruits who were almost exhausted but were becoming more and more mature, and slowly squatted down.

Then, with that one arm, he gently patted Crazy Brother's shoulder, which was still heaving violently.

"Rest for two minutes, then get up," the old squad leader instructed in a hoarse voice. "The mud is cold; if you lie there too long, your soul will be stolen away."

……

At this moment, in the real world.

A video titled "I found Luo Laozei's conscience! The first 'perfect clear of the snow mountain' replay on the entire internet!" is frantically topping the charts at a rate of 50,000 views per minute.

The video's creator is a scenery enthusiast streamer known as "Salted Fish Sauce".

He doesn't pursue the limits like Crazy Brother, nor is he obsessed with tactics like Hawkeye.

In the video, Salted Fish Sauce is huddled behind a secluded pile of rocks on a snow-covered mountain, shivering from the cold.

"Brothers, I really can't run anymore." Salty Fish Sauce smiled bitterly in the video, his voice trembling, "But I noticed a detail."

"Look at the edge of the map, there's a burned-down village ruin. I initially thought it was just background, but I noticed that the airflow pattern there is different."

He risked dying from hypothermia by taking a two-kilometer detour through the snowstorm.

Then, next to the frozen corpse of an enemy scout, he used his frozen fingers to pry open half of a charred wooden beam.

In the ruins, a small bag of dried chili peppers and half a piece of shriveled ginger lay quietly.

The video progress bar is moving forward.

Salted Fish Sauce handed the two items over to the old squad leader.

In the video, the old squad leader's eyes changed.

In his previously withered eyes, it was as if a tiny flame had been ignited in an instant.

He used the cooking pot left by Old Li to boil a pot of boiling snow water.

The chili peppers were shredded, and the ginger slices were cut extremely thin.

It was a pot of "soup" that would seem extremely rudimentary to modern people.

But at that moment, a golden buff icon popped up on the screen.

[Hidden storyline triggered: The Elixir Soup.]

[Effect: All allies gain +20% cold resistance, +30% stamina recovery speed, and a 40% reduction in willpower deterioration speed.]

Although Old Li still sacrificed himself to protect the pot in the end, when the team crossed the mountain pass, everyone's face had a bit more color.

At the end of the video, Salty Fish Sauce sat in front of the camera with red and swollen eyes.

"We used to criticize the game designer as a devil in human skin, saying that this game gave us no way to survive, but I was wrong."

"He hid his most compassionate side in the most cruel place."

"He gave us younger generations a chance—if we are careful enough, if we are willing to fight for that tiny spark, we can make our comrades suffer less."

"Luo An really wants us to experience that parallel world, even if it's just a little bit of warmth."

"And there are probably many more hidden storylines like this; we just need to explore them ourselves..."

This video flashed through the system notifications for the three members of the "Crazy Brother" group.

"The Elixir of Immortality..."

Kuang Ge looked at the bright red color and suddenly sat up.

In his eyes, the will that was on the verge of dissipation re-formed.

"I told you, even though Luo the old scoundrel is mean, he's definitely not the kind of trash who just tortures people for the sake of torture!"

Hawkeye also stood up, propped himself up with a stick, wiped the mud off his face, and looked cold and stern.

"So this is not a dead end; all the suffering is to filter out unqualified participants."

"He is selecting who is truly capable of carrying on the 'flame' and continuing the legacy."

"This is the true difficulty of historical research!"

Ruan Ruan hugged her knees, staring blankly at the screenshot of the "miracle soup".

"Crazy Bro, Hawkeye, we need to be more patient."

She spoke softly, her voice growing more mature.

"We didn't find any chili peppers, but the old squad leader gave us sticks. This must also be a 'path' left by Designer Luo."

At this moment, the old squad leader also stood up and leaned hard on the worn-out stick.

"Stop looking, that's Songpan ahead."

"For hundreds of miles, all you can see is green grass, but it is actually the largest graveyard in the world."

He turned around and looked at the three "new recruits" who hadn't had enough rest yet.

"Catch your breath."

"Keep your mouth shut and walk carefully for the next few days."

"As long as the pot is still there, our class will still exist."

Kuang Ge carried the heavy pot on his back, feeling the soreness in his spine, but suddenly chuckled.

"Let's go! Old squad leader, you lead the way."

"As long as you don't tell me to stop, I'll crawl, I'll carry this pot out of this green carpet!"

On the third day of marching across the grasslands, Kuang Ge and his men felt that their stomachs no longer belonged to them.

The feeling was like a million ants frantically gnawing at the walls of my stomach.

Every time I swallow, my esophagus burns with pain.

"Is there any food left?"

Kuang Ge's voice was weak, and no one paid him any attention.

Hawkeye was leaning against a crooked, withered tree, trying to find some kind of starch substitute from the cracks in the dry bark.

His eyes were unfocused, and his usually precise calculation ability turned into a jumble of words in the face of extreme hypoglycemia.

Ruan Ruan leaned against the cooking pot behind Kuang Ge, her face ashen.

She didn't even have the strength to cry anymore.

Everywhere you look is green.

The boundless, lush pastures swayed in the breeze, their vibrant life almost despairing.

"How ironic." Hawkeye exhaled a dry breath. "There are plants everywhere here. If we were sheep, this would be paradise."

"But we are human beings, and this is a rich desert."

"Damn it..." Crazy Brother stared at a thriving green plant by the roadside, a ruthless glint in his eyes. "I've never been treated like this in my life."

"The roadside is all green, are we going to starve to death here?"

He swayed as he stood up and reached out to grab the plant that looked like wild celery.

The plant had a succulent stem, tender leaves, and an enticing fragrance.

"etc!"

A small figure rushed over and forcefully knocked away Madman's hand.

Little Bean clung tightly to the clump of plants, his eyes filled with fear.

"Don't eat it! This is Shilongrui!" Xiaodouzi's voice was sharp and urgent.

"Brother Kuang, if you eat this stuff, your mouth will swell up like a sausage, your intestines will rupture, and you'll die!"