Chapter 230: Never Back Down
Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_
Wang Tong began to initialize his tactics in his own icy room. To be honest, this was the perfect chance for Wang Tong’s own practice. In fact, the resonance of the five genome sources in his body had become stronger ever since the blizzard began. Hence, Wang Tong decided to make use of this environment to strengthen his basics. Moreover, the natural coldness seemed to be able to enhance the resonance.
Unlike most ordinary people, an experienced fighter would always make use of the environment for his or her own good.
The harsher the surroundings, the more energetic Wang Tong would become, and obviously, he would never miss such an opportunity to enhance his practice. Wang Tong’s brutal experiences at Norton had shaped him into a tough survivor. In fact, even Ma Xiaoru and Li Ruo-Er would never be able to do what Wang Tong had achieved, even though they had also been through some harsh training. In short, Wang Tong’s past experience was what differed him from most ordinary students.
Wang Tong gradually fell asleep after he finished initializing his tactics. However, Wang Tong’s Tactics of the Blade would still carry on initializing by itself even though he had fallen asleep. It couldn’t be helped since the continuous initialization of tactics was the only way to survive Norton’s five times greater gravity. In this case, the continuous initialization of tactics of the Blade would be able to protect Wang Tong from hypothermia.
In other words, this auto-initialization of tactics of the Blade would be able to act as a protective barrier that could keep Wang Tong’s body from harm in a harsh environment.
However, it seemed like Wang Tong had forgotten that only his version of Tactics of the Blade was able to do so, while Tactics of the Enchantress had no functions like this!
As Wang Tong woke up the next day, he couldn’t tell if it was morning or noon, because everything was still blinded by the blizzard. Since there was no sound from the girls’ room, Wang Tong decided not to wake them up and carried on with his initialization. This time, he was surprised to discover that the five genome sources had started to change after absorbing the cold aura. Wang Tong could feel an icy layer of GN Force channeling from his palms.
Wang Tong smiled satisfyingly. He couldn’t believe that he was lucky enough to learn that in such a short period of time, and he decided to brag about his unexpected discovery to Einherjar Wannabe as soon as he got back.
The wind was still roaring outside, Wang Tong checked his watch and noticed that another hour had passed, but still there wasn’t any sound from the girls’ room. Wang Tong got a bit worried and decided to check on them.
Soon, Wang Tong discovered that Ma Xiaoru and Li Ruo-Er were still lying on the mat. However, their faces looked quite pale and immediately Wang Tong realized that this was bad. What was worse, the girls were having a fever.
In general, those who practiced martial arts were unlikely to fall sick, and to fall sick would mean that the body had reached its limits. Things wouldn’t be that bad if the girls listened to Wang Tong and initialized their tactics, but it seemed like they had forgotten about it. In the end, the coldness gradually penetrated into their body, not to mention their bodies were practically vulnerable without the protection of GN Force. Hence, they developed the fever.
“Xiaoru! Xiaoru! Hey, wake up! Wake up!” Wang Tong then tried to wake the two of them. However, the girls could barely remain conscious. Their bodies were feverish hot, and they were murmuring about the coldness and headache. Things were not looking good at all.
Wang Tong was well aware that they were all in deep trouble, and there was no way he could find any help in the middle of this snowstorm. Normally, fever wasn’t some sort of big issue, but it could develop into a life-threatening situation in this extreme environment.
If it weren’t because they were wearing the jackets and sleeping on the warming mat, both ladies would’ve been frozen to death already.
This was Wang Tong’s first time surviving in a cold and snowy region, as for the girls, this happened to be their first time being stranded in the wilds, and he absolutely had no idea that the girls’ bodies were that weak.
Wang Tong looked outside and noticed that the blizzard showed no sign of dying down. The ground was covered with thick layers of snow, and it was quite dim. Their lives could be in grave danger if they chose to head out. But if they chose to stay, Ma Xiaoru and Li Ruo-Er would be dead for sure.
The condition of both ladies was gradually getting worse. However, no one had brought any medications in the Space Crystals. Even if Wang Tong were to give them his clothes, still it wouldn’t make any difference.
Wang Tong was not a hesitant person. However, the blizzard was raging continuously. Nevertheless, he was aware that time was running out, and if they were to wait any longer, their body temperature would start to drop, and the girls would be doomed.
According to his map on Skynet, Wang Tong could roughly identify the direction towards Aurora City. However, this would be a gamble of death. If he failed, nobody would live.
After checking on the weather, Wang Tong decided to head out. In fact, he wasn’t going to pack anything because this had to conserve his stamina. There was only one chance. Whether they succeeded or not, the three of them would not be coming back to the shelter as soon as they marched towards the blizzard.
Wang Tong knew that he couldn’t wait any longer as he saw Ma Xiaoru’s suffering expression, and even though he was not very fond of Li Ruo-Er, he had no intention of leaving the spoiled princess here by herself. After all, he was raised as a gentleman.
Wang Tong then carefully fed both Ma Xiaoru and Li Ruo-Er some water. Fortunately, both ladies were able to regain some consciousness after drinking some water. After that, he quickly explained what happened to the both of them.
“That… would be too d… dangerous… We’ll be… fine…” Ma Xiaoru mustered her strength and said. Apparently, she was already too weak that she could barely speak.
Yet, Wang Tong insisted on his dangerous plan.
Li Ruo-Er didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to show her weaker side. Honestly, she was aware that her current condition was very bad. Unlike men, women’s body would suffer greater damages after being exposed to the coldness for too long.
“I’m not gonna waste any time. Hey Ms. Li, I’m not molesting you, but I’m gonna carry you on my back and carry Xi… Ms. Ma Xiaoru on the front. So please bear with me.”
“Do you think you can make it?” Li Ruo-Er said as she stared at the blizzard.
“Never tried, so don’t know. Since we still have the map, I say we give it a shot!” Wang Tong replied. To be honest, he knew that this would be too risky, but hopefully, the blizzard would be getting weaker in a while, and then the rescue team would respond immediately.
But what if the blizzard got worse?
Both girls were extremely weak, and the coldness would eventually trigger other complications. Hence, leaving the shelter would be their final chance of survival.
Li Ruo-Er then said nothing and turned towards Ma Xiaoru.
For some reason, Ma Xiaoru felt like she could trust Wang Tong as she looked into his determined eyes. Something was telling her that this guy would definitely be able to bring them back alive.
After a pause, Ma Xiaoru nodded in agreement to Wang Tong’s plan, while Li Ruo-Er remained silent as always.
Wang Tong then fed them some water again. However, this time they were unable to swallow anything. Apparently, the water was too cold and had become undrinkable.
After strapping up their jackets, Wang Tong tied Li Ruo-Er tightly on his back and carried Ma Xiaoru with both arms. Then, he took a deep breath and took one last glimpse at the map. Since the majority of his vision was blinded by the blizzard, Wang Tong would need to rely on his other senses throughout the journey.
Wang Tong was trying to say something as he looked at Ma Xiaoru, but in the end, he chose not to and marched into the blizzard.
Instead of retaining his energy, Wang Tong decided to fully initialize his Tactics of the Blade, because this had become a situation of life and death. If Wang Tong were alone in this mess, his chance of survival would still be high. But now, with the lives of two ladies on his hands, Wang Tong would have to be more careful.
The total net weight of both ladies was approximately one hundred kilograms. To be honest, this would be a piece of cake for Wang Tong under normal circumstances. But the rough terrain, raging wind and also their bulky clothing had increased Wang Tong’s burden, causing his energy to burn out even quicker.
Wang Tong could feel that the tiredness was kicking in as time went by, and instead of running, he had to proceed step by step in order to maintain his balance in the rough terrain. In fact, Wang Tong was using most of his strength to maintain his own balance while carrying both ladies. He would be dead in no time if he were to accelerate. Moreover, he had to stay focused and secure the both of them. If he dropped one of them, he would never be able to find her back in this terrifying weather.
Half an hour had passed, yet Wang Tong realized that the distance that they had traveled was only how far they would normally walk in five or six minutes. If this continued, the three of them would be buried by this everlasting snow.
Li Ruo-Er’s consciousness had gone from bad to worse. Apparently, she was currently having her periods, and it would cause her body to become weaker. Thus, her condition seemed to be worse than Ma Xiaoru’s. But still, none of them were looking good.
As the wind raged, Wang Tong’s breathing became heavier. It seemed like God was trying to test their faith by putting them on this suffering journey.
Wang Tong remembered his previous training on Paradise Island and decided to organize his stamina and GN Force properly in order to not overstress his body. Somehow, he felt like thanking Massa for his lecture about stamina. Fortunately, Wang Tong had been keeping on training on his own on a daily basis, or else, he wouldn’t have been able to walk this far.
Ma Xiaoru was also feeling Wang Tong’s heavy breathing. According to Li Ruo-Er, she had never met him before, and only Li Ruo-Er herself had met Wang Tong once during the tournament between Ayrlarng and Capth. But they had never fought because Li Ruo-Er was secretly dueling with her body double in order to protect her identity. Yet, Ma Xiaoru somehow sensed a familiar kindness and warmth, like she had known him for quite some time.
All of a sudden, Wang Tong was hit on the head by something that was driven by the strong wind. He was completely caught off-guard by the “attack” and began to feel a slight dizziness. However, Wang Tong chose to ignore and carried on marching forward. Ma Xiaoru could barely open her eyes, but she could tell that Wang Tong was beginning to struggle, and she was getting more uncomfortable. If it weren’t because of the familiar feeling of safety, she would’ve given up already.
“Wang Tong, whether we could make it back or not, th… thank you very much.” Ma Xiaoru mustered her strength and said to Wang Tong as she saw his shivering face.
Apparently, Wang Tong was only wearing a single piece of shirt in order to get a better grip on both ladies and also to lighten his burden.
A strong current of wind raged across when she was saying that, hence Ma Xiaoru wasn’t able to tell if Wang Tong had heard what she said or not. Soon, her consciousness had also gotten worse.
Wang Tong’s speed was getting slower as he marched forward step by step. Then he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely get you back to safety!”
The blizzard carried on raging, terrorizing every inch of the icy terrain. Yet, the boy showed no sign of giving up and continued to move forward!
Nevertheless, Wang Tong could tell that his alertness was getting bad as his stamina decreased. Currents of freezing wind had caused his body to go numb. Soon, Wang Tong even began experiencing hallucinations. If it weren’t because of the girls, Wang Tong would’ve fainted already.
Wand Tong hung onto the small cluster of warmth from Ma Xiaoru and soldiered on!
