Searching for someone in northern Myanmar, and you call that earning tuition fees?

The "Ghost's Bane" crevice is not only narrow but also long. The ice walls on both sides are like two unsharpened knives, squeezing the thin air in the middle.

Su Ming walked in the middle, his breathing amplified by the ice wall, becoming increasingly heavy. He stopped and glanced back at the dark path he had come from.

"Why did you stop?" Li Changfeng turned around warily, pointing his gun behind him. "This place is a narrow passage with no cover. If a machine gunner catches up from behind, the three of us will be like candied hawthorns."

Su Ming didn't speak, but took off his gloves and felt the wind direction through the ice crevasse. The wind was blowing upwards, with a whistling sound.

Su Ming said, "They've caught up. They're about 800 meters away. Based on where the sniper fell, the remaining five will be advancing at full speed."

Droma drew her Tibetan knife from her waist, her eyes resolute: "Divine messenger, I'll hold off those demons! The terrain here is narrow; I'm confident I can take down two of them!"

"Come back." Li Changfeng grabbed her sheepskin coat. "Change my ass. They're professional mercenaries. You were detected by thermal imaging before they even saw you. Don't cause trouble for the Divine Envoy."

Li Changfeng looked at Su Ming: "What should we do? We can't outrun those trained guys, and this uphill road is too tiring."

Su Ming took the spool of kite line out of his bag. The spool was already quite thin, with probably a few dozen meters left.

"Captain Li, hold this end for me." Su Ming handed over the end of the thread.

Li Changfeng took the thin, almost invisible thread, looking completely bewildered: "A tripwire? This thing is too thin even for ants to use as a jump rope, you expect it to trip up a fully armed, strong man?"

"It's not that it trips you up, it trips your heart."

Su Ming moved swiftly, wrapping the kite string several times around the protruding ice rocks on either side of the crevice, bringing it to knee height. The string was extremely thin; in the dim light of the crevice, it was virtually invisible unless one looked very close to their face.

"Alright, let's go." Su Ming clapped his hands.

"That's it?" Li Changfeng looked at the empty passageway. "Are you hoping they won't see it and trip over it, or that they'll be scared to death if they do see it?"

"They'll stop." Su Ming continued climbing. "The more professional a person is, the more they think."

Droma followed behind, unable to resist glancing back at the almost invisible line, and muttered to herself, "This must be the 'Demon-Binding Rope.' Mortals can't see it; only demons that bump into it will feel their souls tremble."

Li Changfeng rolled his eyes, too lazy to explain.

……

Ten minutes later.

Snow Fox led four team members, moving silently through the ice crevasse. They were all wearing night vision goggles, and their tactical movements were textbook perfect.

The sniper's death just now made Snow Fox completely abandon his contempt. That wasn't an accident; it was a precise physical murder.

Suddenly, the vanguard at the front raised his fist.

The line came to an instant.

"Boss, something's up." The scout crouched down and pointed to a faint reflection on the thermal imager. "There's a tripwire five meters ahead."

The snow fox squinted and peered closer. Sure enough, an extremely thin thread lay across the middle of the road.

"Booby trap?" one of the team members asked nervously.

Laying booby traps in narrow terrain is common sense in special operations; once triggered, the ice walls on both sides will collapse, burying them all alive.

Snow Fox sneered: "A mere trick. Bomb disposal expert, step forward and inspect."

A team member carrying heavy equipment carefully moved over. He took out probes, wire cutters, and even used an electronic stethoscope to listen to the sounds on the ice wall.

Time passed in tense anticipation.

Sweat beaded on the bomb disposal expert's forehead. The ends of the wire were deeply embedded in the ice crevice, with no visible detonation device connected to it. The more concealed it was, the more unfathomable its depths became.

The bomb disposal expert swallowed hard and reported, "Boss, the structure is very strange... it looks like some kind of tension triggering device. I suggest... could we go around it?"

"How do we get around this godforsaken place? Fly over?" Snow Fox cursed.

Five minutes later, the bomb disposal expert finally made up his mind, freezing the thread with liquid nitrogen spray, and then carefully—

"Click."

The wire broke.

The entire team instinctively ducked and closed their eyes, waiting for the roar of the explosion.

One second. Two seconds.

Only the wind howled.

Nothing happened.

The bomb disposal expert mustered his courage and pulled out the end of the wire to take a look. There was nothing connected to it; it was simply wrapped around a rock.

Even the end of the thread was tied with a sarcastic bow.

Snow Fox stared at the bow, his temples throbbing, a surge of heat rushing to his head.

"Damn it! This is a broken string!" Snow Fox ripped the kite string and roared, "It's a ruse! He's stalling for time! Full speed ahead! Once we catch that bookworm, I'm going to hang him on the helicopter landing gear!"

……

Above the ice crevasse.

Su Ming glanced at his watch: "Hmm, we've bought ourselves some time, enough for us to climb to the top."

Li Changfeng followed behind, panting, and gave him a thumbs up: "You're ruthless. I wouldn't be impressed even if there was a grenade hanging there, but you hung a bow tie... that's like killing someone's spirit."

Droma said with admiration, "The divine messengers are merciful and do not wish to kill, but only use a barrier to trap them."

Li Changfeng covered his ears in pain: "Girl, can you take a break? I'm begging you."