Chapter 411: Snow Mountain (XI) “Om Mani Padme Hum Om Mani Padme Hum”

People resist aging, not just because they fear the final outcome of death at the end of time, but also because they resent the weakening of their bodies, unwilling to see a soul, made heavy and powerful by the accumulation of time and experience, trapped within a frail and powerless physique.

Some have fabricated the legend of achieving immortality after death and spread it as a fundamental truth. This beautiful lie is widely accepted by people as spiritual solace; they believe that after death, they can discard all sickness and gain freedom for their souls.

Others believe in the legends of returning youth, painstakingly searching for elixirs that prolong life, viewing white hair and a youthful face as a symbol of achieving enlightenment, and becoming ecstatic over a few unexpected strands of black hair among the white.

Adults long for the life of a child—a time without worries, free from the pressure of struggling for a livelihood, and untouched by the ugliness of the world. They treat it as a sanctuary for the soul, a safe zone for escaping reality.

But what if one truly reverted to childhood? In reality, this is not a joyous prospect. Any phenomenon of reverse growth that contradicts natural law and universal common sense is enough to trigger widespread panic.

It is not only because temperament, intelligence, and memory degenerate, leaving a childish soul housed in an incompatible, massive shell; nor is it just because unexpected developments are uncontrollable, causing the timid to shrink back and avoid risk; it is because—the end of this path is nothingness.

Humans come from nothingness, and now they must revert from adult to infant, then to embryo, fertilized egg, until finally, nothing remains, not even a grave to mark their existence.

They are erased, their possibility of existence fundamentally denied, as if they had never arrived in this world. How could this not fill one with sorrow?

Inside the inn, Zhou Ke, Dong Xiwen, Zhang Yiyu, and the players led by Lin Jue sat facing each other, reviewing the events and clues gathered since entering the instance.

After one night, aside from Vasilievna, who was skinned to death, Zhang Hongbin, Chu Yining, and Alexei Olegovich were still alive, but all exhibited some degree of strangeness.

At Lin Jue’s request, all the players took a piece of white paper and wrote down their age based on their first impression.

Zhang Hongbin wrote thirty-one, ten years younger than his actual age; Chu Yining wrote twenty-two, six years younger; their behavior was also noticeably more childish than before.

Alexei’s situation was more severe. Although he looked to be forty or fifty years old, his self-perceived age was twenty-six. Furthermore, he had completely lost twenty-two years of memory, believing it was his first year entering an instance and that he had just become a formal player.

The only thing worth celebrating was that he had been a player for a relatively long time. This regression did not push him back to before he entered the sinister game, saving others the trouble of having to spend time giving “the newcomer” a pep talk.

Lin Jue pondered for a moment and asked, “Alexei, do you still have your Identity Card on you?”

Alexei was currently a young lad in his early twenties, exuding clear naïveté from head to toe, along with a trace of the unconditional trust players of that era held for Lin Jue.

Hearing Lin Jue’s question, he scratched his head. “God Lin, what is an Identity Card? The guides on the forum didn’t mention it, and I’ve never heard of it…”

Lin Jue said, “Look at the upper right corner of your vision. A faint image of a card should appear there. Move your gaze over it and hold it for a moment; you should see the relevant prompt.”

Alexei was silent for two seconds, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. “It really is there. 【High Priest of Calamity】. The effect is…”

“No need to tell us,” Lin Jue shook his head and interrupted him. “Identity Card holders might have a competitive relationship later on. Although I hope everyone can cooperate and work together to clear the final instance, I would never take advantage of someone’s vulnerability.”

“God Lin, I have always agreed with your philosophy…”

“Too much can happen in twenty-two years. The person you were then might not agree with the person I am now.” Lin Jue reassured Alexei and began organizing the division of labor.

Besides Lin Jue, who was responsible for negotiating with Sangji, the twenty people split into ten teams, each responsible for one section, turning the entire town of Shangri-La upside down before regrouping at the inn to summarize their clues and findings.

Lin Jue adjusted his glasses and said, “We can basically confirm that this instance has two layers of death mechanisms. The first comes from nighttime danger: after Sangji knows the room number, the person in the room has a probability of dying. The second is age regression, specifically manifesting as childish thought patterns and younger self-perception, triggered by repeatedly discussing time while bearing sin.

“This instance’s judgment of sin follows the Sinister Game’s basic rule that ‘everyone is guilty.’ As long as we haven’t completed atonement through a mechanism acknowledged by the instance, we are all’Sinful People.’ Next, we must try our best to avoid discussing specific times. If we must mention related topics, please use other ways to refer to them.”

“Lin Jue, can we find a way to complete the Atonement as soon as possible?” Chu Yining asked.

She knew her life was likely counting down, yet she maintained her composure, sketching in a notebook while analyzing, “I always feel that the death condition associated with this ‘Atonement’ mechanism is not as simple as just age regression. Perhaps as we delve deeper into this instance, various crises will emerge endlessly.

“To truly clear this instance, we need to climb the Snow Mountain. I asked Baima, and the Snow Mountain is the Mother Goddess’s body. If we climb it carelessly, we risk offending the Mother Goddess. I wonder if us, as’Sinful People,’ defiling the purity of the Snow Mountain with our sins, would also be considered an offense?”

“Your line of reasoning is correct, and I am also considering methods of Atonement.” Lin Jue nodded slightly, yet revealed a wry smile. “Sangji said that Atonement can be achieved through chanting scriptures and kowtowing, but I tried both methods yesterday, and nothing happened.”

He paused, pulled a booklet from his jacket, and placed it on the small table among the group. “Also, I found this in a shop.”

It was a brownish-red booklet that appeared to have been soaked in water, its edges wrinkled like seaweed chewed by fish. In the center of the cover was a blank rectangular imprint, and above it were three words written in Sanskrit.

The players’ system interfaces immediately refreshed with the corresponding translation—【Scripture of Salvation】.

Lin Jue lifted his hand and turned to the first page of the *Scripture of Salvation*. Dense, tadpole-like black characters sprawled crookedly before the players’ eyes, as if they might break through the page and pierce the onlookers’ eyes at any moment.

Two lines of text appeared on the system interface just then:

【The Pure receive blessings; the Guilty endure wind and snow. The Mother Goddess’s grace is boundless; all beings climb the mountain and bathe in divine light.】

【One must save oneself before saving others; saving others can also save oneself. For every person saved, one portion of sin is absolved, witnessed by the Mother Goddess.】

Dong Xiwen, who read the fastest, couldn’t help but complain, “This phrasing clearly has a trap! Anyone who has studied language arts can tell that the conditions for’saving oneself’ and’saving others’ are fundamentally contradictory, right? You have to save yourself first to save others, but we must rely on saving others to save ourselves. How is this different from ‘you need to show your ID card before you can apply for an ID card’?”

“It’s not contradictory,” Lin Jue said calmly. “Based on the original phrasing,’saving oneself’ is a necessary but not sufficient condition for’saving others.”Saving oneself’ might not only be achieved through’saving others.’ I hope to find another path, because based on the current information, the method of’saving others’ is too outrageous.”

He turned the next page. Simple sketches appeared on the paper, where reddish-brown lines smoothly depicted horrific scenes, ranging from skinning and sacrificing livers to manufacturing ritual implements from human bones.

Although there were no explanatory notes, the players could all grasp the underlying meaning from the vivid images: the so-called “saving others” meant preparing the Guilty using traditional Shangri-La methods to please the gods and thereby absolve one’s own sins.

But what kind of Atonement was this? Selecting scapegoats from the crowd and cruelly killing fellow humans for one’s own survival was clearly a greater and more tragic sin… “I remembered something,” a young man in a black suit suddenly spoke, his voice cold. “I chatted with Sangji a bit last night. He mentioned that many people in Shangri-La Town are sinful, including him and the pilgrims chanting scriptures on the street. They are very likely to target us and’save’ us.

“Vasilievna’s death might be considered a form of’salvation’ in their eyes. More directly, the NPCs will kill travelers according to the instructions in the *Scripture of Salvation* in order to absolve their own sins. Shangri-La Town is no longer safe for us; as newcomers, we will be the prey of all the’Sinners.'”

As he spoke, the wind chime at the inn’s entrance was caught by the wind, shaking frantically and letting out a continuous, broken tinkling sound, reminiscent of the prelude to a ghost’s appearance in a horror film.

Whether it was an illusion or not, the previously bright light instantly dimmed by several degrees, as if a pall of gloom had drifted from afar, enveloping the town.

Everyone present was an experienced veteran player; they would not relax because of a facade of peace and tranquility, nor would they panic upon knowing the dangers lurking in the shadows. But suddenly realizing they were surrounded by wolves and observed intensely by ghosts inevitably created a sense of unease at being targeted.

“Heh heh ha ha ha ha…” In the stagnant atmosphere, a soft laugh rang out inappropriately. It started low and airy, growing more unrestrained as the players’ gazes converged on the source.

“Is this the level of the so-called Chief Player?” Zhou Ke bent over, clutching his stomach, laughing breathlessly for a moment, and finally continued at the tail end of his gasp, “The fact that we slept defenselessly last night, yet most people didn’t die immediately, proves that the death condition criteria for this instance are quite strict.

“Furthermore, this instance is clearly intentionally preserving the effective strength of the player group. Even if two or more people meet the death conditions simultaneously, the NPCs will only kill one person per day. The existence of the *Scripture of Salvation* and the’Salvation’ mechanism merely serve to increase urgency, preventing us from lingering too long in Shangri-La Town and delaying the climb up the mountain.

“As for climbing the Snow Mountain, ‘Atonement’ and’Salvation’ are not necessary conditions. The line ‘all beings climb the mountain and bathe in divine light’ makes it very clear: both the Pure and the Guilty can climb the mountain; the only difference is the difficulty and the events that might be triggered. The former ‘receive blessings,’ and the latter ‘endure wind and snow.’ It’s that simple.

“Of course, if you insist that you must ‘atone’ before climbing the mountain and are worried about becoming prey for those NPCs, I do have a solution—”

Zhou Ke stopped. Xiao Fengchao pressed, “What solution? Tell us first. Why do I feel like it’s totally unreliable?”

Dong Xiwen and Zhang Yiyu also stared unblinkingly at Zhou Ke.

They pretended to be Zhou Ke’s teammates, but their understanding of him was likely no greater than the other players’. They were merely unfortunate companions who met by chance in the instance and were badly trapped by a Soul Contract. They’d be lucky not to be sold out, let alone get clues from Zhou Ke.

“Want to know? It’s nothing much…” Zhou Ke narrowed his eyes, his smile brewing with unconcealed malice. “Since we are all going to die anyway, we might as well keep the benefits within the family. Excluding Lin Jue, we have exactly twenty people. We can select ten people to kill the other ten, completing ‘Atonement.’ What do you think of this proposal?”

The suggestion sounded utterly preposterous, almost like a joke, yet judging by the young man’s expression, he genuinely seemed to endorse this radical and ruthless method of handling things.

“What do you mean?” The young man in the black suit’s voice grew colder. He stared intensely at Zhou Ke, his hand resting on the hilt of the sword at his waist, ready to act at any moment.

Zhou Ke sat calmly on the sofa, his smile unwavering. “Seeing your expressions, it seems none of you agree with this plan. In that case, it’s even simpler. I have a second plan, one that might allow all of you to clear the instance directly.”

A rusty tape recorder materialized out of thin air in his hand, apparently retrieved from his item inventory. Zhou Ke pressed the switch, and eerie chanting echoed throughout the silent space:

“Om Mani Padme Hum Om Mani Padme Hum… Om Mani Padme Hum Om Mani Padme Hum…”

The players exchanged glances, confused by the meaning. Some, however, recognized the source of the strange melody: it was the sacred hymn chanted by the pilgrims of Shangri-La Town while kowtowing.

Zhou Ke hummed along with the Sacred Hymn for a moment, his tone gentle, like sleep talk. “Because they have not completed Atonement, they cannot achieve true eternal life. The thoughts and memories of the’Sinners’ are gradually lost as their bodies decay, inevitably leading to a vicious cycle where they can no longer’save’ travelers who come from afar.

“Therefore, the Sacred Hymn appeared. The moment we entered the Holy City, the entire city began chanting the hymn. The pilgrims thus knew of our arrival and could use the song to pinpoint our location. Once night falls and the Sacred Hymn rings out again, they will gather by following the sound.

“Of course, it’s not just the pilgrims who need to atone; Sangji needs Atonement too. To prevent the pilgrims from stealing his prey, he shakes the prayer wheel to drive away the oblivious pilgrims…”

Zhou Ke paused, a smile that could almost be called gentle appearing on his face. “And by the way, here’s some bad news: I bought all the Prayer Wheels in Shangri-La Town and threw them off a cliff. They should be frozen in the glacier by now, right?”

Only then did the players notice that Zhou Ke’s complexion was paler than when they had seen him that morning—a sickly white, like someone who had lost too much blood, making him resemble a walking corpse drained of all vitality. His voice also carried a noticeable weakness; he had to gasp after every sentence, as if he might suffocate at any moment.

During their previous exploration of Shangri-La Town, the players learned that everything in the city had to be exchanged using one’s own soul, flesh, or items. A normal person’s first choice would certainly be items, but judging by Zhou Ke’s appearance, it was clear that his items had run out and he had resorted to using his flesh and blood… At this moment, the players harbored not a shred of doubt regarding Zhou Ke’s claim of having “bought all the Prayer Wheels.”

“Buddy, what exactly are you trying to do? It’s not what I think, is it?” Xiao Fengchao’s expression turned ugly.

Lin Jue remained silent, watching Zhou Ke with a grim expression, clearly having figured out the latter’s intentions as well.

The sky outside the inn completely darkened. It was evening. The rustling sound of fabric rubbing and the thudding sound of heads hitting the ground rang out chaotically, swelling into a tide in the distance, and approaching in groups.

The players saw mountains of corpses piled outside the inn. Countless pilgrims, draped in sackcloth with hollow eyes, kowtowed step by step, surrounding the inn like a pack of hyenas, exuding a dense aura of death…