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

"No!"

The old squad leader suddenly reached out and grabbed the soft shoulder in the darkness, shaking it violently.

"Little girl, be a good girl!"

"The ground is full of water. If you lie down like this, the heat will dissipate quickly, and you'll get hard in no time."

"And when you lie down, the mud will suck you in."

"That's the gates of hell; once you go in, you never come out!"

"How am I supposed to sleep then...?" Ruan Ruan broke down in tears, "I can't stand up anymore..."

"Back to back," the old squad leader said firmly, "the few of us will form a circle."

"Back to back, with oilcloth and bundles of straw under their buttocks."

"Make sure you squeeze it tightly!"

"Even though we're soaked, as long as we're huddled together, the fire in our hearts won't go out."

A rustling sound arose.

Crazy Brother, Eagle Eye, Soft Soft, Little Tiger, and Little Bean, under the command of the old squad leader, huddled together like a flock of quails seeking warmth in a storm in the muddy, dark night.

Everyone turned their backs to their comrades.

Crazy Brother could feel Hawkeye's thin, bony back trembling violently behind him.

I could feel a soft, burning heat on my left side—that was a sign of a high fever.

This is the night on the meadow.

There was no campfire, no tents, not even a dry patch of ground.

With the slightest movement, the icy muddy water would flood their buttocks, seep into their crotches, slowly draining their heat and gradually eroding their will.

Kuang Ge's consciousness began to blur.

The red alert on the system panel kept flashing, but he was too exhausted to look at it.

hunger.

cold.

exhausted.

And the lingering soreness, seemingly deep in the bone marrow, left by the cooking pot I always carried on my back.

"Crazy Brother..."

Soft head rested on Kuang Ge's shoulder, voice soft.

"I want to eat ice cream..."

"Strawberry flavored..."

"Okay..." Kuang Ge mumbled unconsciously, his lips chapped, "Once we get out... I'll buy you a whole carload..."

"Brother... I think I look too cute..."

"Don't talk nonsense..."

Crazy Brother wanted to pinch himself to perk himself up, but he found that his fingers were frozen stiff and wouldn't obey him at all.

……

After an unknown amount of time, a faint glimmer of dawn appeared on the horizon.

Dawn is the coldest time of day, and also the time when death is most active in reaping its harvest.

The rain stopped.

But the bone-chilling damp cold was even worse than in the rain.

"Soft?"

Hawkeye woke up groggily and instinctively tried to wake up his teammate who was leaning against him.

no respond.

Its soft body was heavy, like a cold stone.

Hawkeye's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly reached out to check the soft breath.

It seems... that's all.

"Softie!"

Hawkeye roared, trying to stand up and shake her awake.

But he forgot that he had sat in the mud all night.

His legs had long been numb and were completely unresponsive.

With a sudden struggle, his foot slipped.

The meadow, already softened by the rain, had now become a deadly trap.

"Pfft."

Hawkeye lost his balance and fell backward.

If it were flat ground, it would just be a fall.

But it turned out to be a soft, muddy pit.

His body sank in instantly, the black mud completely submerging his mouth and nose.

"Ugh—!"

Hawkeye struggled desperately, his hands grabbing at things haphazardly.

"Hawkeye!"

Crazy Brother was startled awake, and the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Hawkeye's hand waving in the mud.

Save people!

This was the only thought in Kuang Ge's mind.

He instinctively wanted to rush over and pull the person away.

But he also forgot about his current state.

Having carried that heavy pot weighing dozens of kilograms for a long time, coupled with a night of torrential rain and extreme hunger, his stamina had long since been reduced to zero.

As soon as Crazy Brother leaned halfway out, everything suddenly went black – a sign of severe oxygen deprivation in his brain.

The hand that reached out to grab Hawkeye froze in mid-air.

This stalemate is the difference between life and death.

Crazy Brother watched as Hawkeye's finger twitched in the mud before slowly sinking down.

Until it disappears completely.

"Ah...ah..."

Kuang Ge opened his mouth wide, wanting to howl, but no sound came out.

The overwhelming despair was not due to the enemy's strength, nor to the ruthlessness of the bullets.

It was all because of a rain shower.

Simply because they were too tired, too hungry, and too weak.

His vision began to turn gray rapidly, and Crazy Brother himself had reached his limit. The dungeon challenge was over.

Just as his consciousness was about to completely dissipate.

He witnessed a scene that broke his heart.

There wasn't a black screen indicating "game over" at this moment; the game was still going on.

The old squad leader, who had been sitting to the side like a statue, slowly stood up.

He glanced at the soft, now stiff body, then at the mud pit that had swallowed Hawkeye.

He didn't cry.

In this place, tears are the most useless thing.

The old squad leader's sallow face was expressionless, only displaying a numb determination.

He bent down.

With his only remaining arm, he struggled to lift the heavy iron pot from Kuang Ge's back.

"Clang!"

The blame fell on the old squad leader.

The weight that had made even the burly man, Kuang Ge, breathless was now pressing down on this disabled middle-aged man.

The old squad leader's back was bent under the weight, but he did not fall.

He turned around and glanced at Xiao Hu and Xiao Douzi, whose lips were also purple from the cold, as well as the other soldiers.

"Walk."

There is only one word.

The old squad leader turned around, leaning on his stick, carrying the pot on his back, and continued moving northward step by step across the muddy grassland.

And at the bottom of that black pot, there was still mud that Crazy Brother hadn't had time to wipe off last night.

From Crazy Brother's perspective, everything went completely black.

"Buzz—"

The moment the neural connection was severed, Kuang Ge suddenly jumped up from his gaming chair.

He was breathing heavily, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

Before me was the familiar e-sports room, brightly lit, with the air conditioner blowing out a comfortable warm breeze.

But he felt as if he were still trapped in that cold, sticky swamp of grass, his nostrils filled with the stench of rotting water plants.

"Damn it!" Crazy Brother slammed his fist on the table, his hand turning red.

"The snow-capped mountain... at least we made it over."

"This grassland...we've only been here for a few days?"

And this is only a few days of game time.

Aside from the fact that nighttime intensifies their drowsiness and fatigue, their marching time during the day is not particularly long.

After a long while, Hawkeye's equally weary voice came through the headphones.

"I reviewed the situation, and we made three fatal mistakes."

Hawkeye regained his composure and began to analyze.

First, underestimating the opponent.

"We thought that since we had overcome the most difficult snow-capped mountains, the grasslands would just be a matter of terrain."

"We underestimated the combined effects of damp cold and hunger."

"Secondly, there was a lack of preparation."

"We have no rainproof equipment, let alone ignition materials."

"That bag of cow dung is a joke in the face of a rainstorm."

"We were frozen to death."

"Third, and most importantly," Hawkeye paused, "we fell asleep."

"We actually... fell asleep."

They didn't die advancing, they died in their sleep.

In that environment, falling asleep was tantamount to death.

Upon hearing this, Ruan Ruan felt extremely guilty.

"I...I really can't hold on any longer...I'm so cold and hungry, my eyelids feel like they're filled with lead..."

"I'm not blaming you," Hawkeye sighed. "This is a physiological limit, not something you can overcome by shouting slogans. We're all the same."

"If you have to blame someone, blame the game for being too realistic."

Kuang Ge leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

All I could see in my mind was the image of the old squad leader carrying that pot on his back, his body hunched over, walking alone into the distance.

That's their problem.

It was a pot that Old Li risked his life to get.

Now, they're dead, they've quit.

But the "data" in the game, the one-armed NPC, took over their responsibility and continued on.

What is this?

The player's failure is paid for by the NPC?

"That old bastard Luo..." Madman muttered to himself, "You fucking...you're a real devil."

The chat in the live stream had changed from its previous teasing and fearful tone to one of unusual heaviness.

"Damn, we've broken through. We can restart if Crazy Bro and the others die, but what about the old squad leader?"

"This game is unplayable; it's not entertainment, it's torture."

"No, Brother Kuang, don't give up! Let's go in one more time, this time we have to find a way!"

"A solution? What solution? We don't even have a place to sleep, how are we supposed to play?"

Just when the live stream was filled with pessimism, Kuang Ge suddenly opened his eyes.

"No."

"We can't just let this go."

Those bloodshot eyes no longer held despair; instead, they burned with an almost obsessive flame.

"Hawkeye, Softie, listen up."

"From now on, we're not here to play a game, nor are we here to beat it."

"We are 'mine detectors'."

"Minesweepers?" Ruan Ruan asked, her voice choked with emotion.

"Yes," Kuang Ge said, enunciating each word clearly, "This grassland is unknown to all of us."

"Where are the swamps? Where are the poisonous plants? What will we do if it rains at night? How will we survive without fire? We don't know any of these things."

"We may die and be resurrected, but we must die with purpose."

"I refuse to believe that we players can't forge our own path!"

"We need to step on every pitfall and every landmine."

"Then compile a strategy guide, a strategy guide that will help those who come after you survive!"

"In order to... prevent the old squad leader from taking the blame alone again."

In the voice channel, Eagle Eye and Soft Soft remained silent.

But Kuang Ge could hear their increasingly heavy breathing.

"I agree," Hawkeye chimed in. "Data analysis is useless now. This place is illogical; we can only risk our lives."

"I...I'll go with you!" Ruan Ruan rallied. "I don't want to be a burden anymore. Next time, I'll take the night watch!"

"good!"

Kuang Ge felt the pent-up anger in his chest finally dissipate a bit.

Just as the three redefined their goals and prepared to work through the night to devise a strategy.

Hawkeye suddenly exclaimed "Huh?"

"Hey bro, take a look at the forum."

There's a post that's a bit strange.

Kuang Ge frowned and opened the Tomato Games Forum.

A post that has been highlighted and featured, with an eye-catching title.

Extreme Speculation and Tactical Assumptions Regarding the Possibility of "Old Li's" Survival in the Snow Mountain Chapter

Poster ID: Unknown.

The post contained no fluff, only dense data and logical deductions.

At the end of the post, there is a summary line.

"Conclusion: Under the current conditions, saving Lao Li is theoretically feasible. If players can give up 10% pain protection and take turns implementing the 'human body heating' plan, they will likely be able to perfectly clear the historical difficulty dungeon even with everyone suffering from severe frostbite."

"This..." Kuang Ge stared at the conclusion, exchanging bewildered glances with the viewers in the live stream. "Is this for real?"

At that moment, the system interfaces of all players in "Red Expedition," whether online or offline, were suddenly covered by a dazzling gold.

A huge line of characters, formed by countless points of light, slowly appeared before everyone.

Congratulations to players Zhu Yi, Zhu Er, and Zhu San for completing "Red Expedition: Snow Mountain Chapter".

[Difficulty Rating: True History (Desperate Situation)]

[Completion Rate: 100% (All members survived).]

[Evaluation: Your will is strong enough to melt ice and snow. Your sacrifice has forged an immortal monument. The torch will be passed on by you.]