paranoianovel Chapter 449 Unfair...?
Chapter 449 Unfair...?
Everyone froze in place.
There was a deathly silence on the stone steps for two seconds.
Then, the short-haired girl who was carrying the stretcher with the one-armed man suddenly collapsed, her legs giving way, as if her entire body had been emptied out.
"Oh my god..."
In Group A, a young woman covered her mouth, swallowing back her scream.
Her gaze lingered on the direction of the abyss for only a moment before she turned her attention back to the group of people in Group A.
"Let's continue on our journey."
No one moved.
The short-haired girl, slumped on the ground, seemed not to hear anything and continued to huddle there, trembling.
In the middle of Group A, another one-armed man stepped forward.
Like the man who had just fallen off the cliff, his left sleeve was empty.
The difference was that he was a bit older, in his early forties, with a rugged face, high cheekbones, and a chin covered in bluish-gray stubble.
He raised his head and growled in Xia Ning's direction:
"Guide! Isn't this mission incredibly unfair to us disabled people?!"
"We are already missing an arm, our balance is not as good as ordinary people, and our physical strength is not as good as ordinary people, yet we have to take on the same tasks, climb the same snow-capped mountains, and carry the same stretchers as the healthy chosen ones!"
He raised his hand and pointed towards the abyss.
"The person who just fell is missing an arm; he can't even stand on the ice. Why are they making him carry a stretcher? Why?!"
Several people in Group A who already harbored resentment subtly changed their expressions, their gazes unconsciously drifting towards Xia Ning.
When Xia Ning turned her gaze and it fell on the one-armed man's face, the surrounding air seemed to freeze for a moment.
"Your arm," she said calmly, "was broken during the mission to pick the Chengxin fruit."
"You made the wrong choice at that moment."
"In addition, you were just a little bit unlucky when it came to voting for someone who had lost an arm."
"The two factors combined led to this result."
indeed.
At that time, Lin Feng's group had already clearly laid out the answers; as long as they followed them, they could pass the test safely.
But they chose to be self-righteous.
"This is the consequence you should bear." Xia Ning withdrew her gaze and looked down at the cliff. "Of course, if you want to lie flat on your back—"
"It's very simple, just jump off the cliff and it'll all be over."
Dead silence.
Even the sound of the wind seemed frozen by those words.
The one-armed man's face turned from purplish-red to ashen, and his gaze unconsciously shifted, glancing towards the pitch-black icy abyss—
Where his companion fell, snowflakes were still slowly drifting down the cliff face.
Then he looked away.
Lower your head.
He didn't say another word.
There's not much to say.
Every word the Guide said is correct.
His disability is his fault, his suffering is his consequence, and he has no right to accuse the rules of being unfair, because the rules have always been the same for everyone.
He didn't jump.
Although the prospect of survival is bleak, although the road ahead is fraught with peril, although it's uncertain how much longer this broken body can endure—
But... living a little longer is just that—living a little longer.
"Group A." Xia Ning's voice rang out again, this time with a clear instruction.
"Two people step forward to take over the stretcher."
There was a moment of silence in Team A.
Then, two figures emerged from the back of the crowd.
Without saying a word, the two walked to the stretcher one after the other, bent down, lifted the bar, and stood up.
The short-haired girl who had collapsed to the ground was helped up by the people next to her. She staggered back to the middle of the line, her tear stains still wet, but at least she had stopped trembling.
Group B remained silent throughout.
They stood quietly on the stone steps, watching the miserable state of Group A and the girl who had collapsed being helped up.
If an outsider witnessed this scene, they might think Group B was cold-hearted and heartless.
But only they themselves know what lies hidden in this silence—
It was a lingering fear.
It's fortunate.
It's a kind of unspoken luck.
They were in the same group as Lin Feng.
They don't need to carry stretchers up the snow-capped mountains.
They had more than double the chance of survival.
This is incredibly lucky.
So much so that they dared not show the slightest bit of relief.
Who dares to laugh? Who is worthy to laugh?
One person from Group A just died, their body is barely cold, and you're grinning like that?
Besides, they were really just lucky.
Being grouped with Lin Feng was not due to their strength or their choice; it was purely a random decision made by fate during the Temple's group assignment process.
They're no better than those in Group A; they're just lucky.
If you're lucky, just keep it to yourself and enjoy it.
No one is stupid enough to wear it on their face.
........................
The team resumed moving.
Group A was in front, and Group B was behind. Two strong men carried a stretcher and walked steadily in the middle of Group A.
Xia Ning remained at the front, her pace unhurried. The two black-clad stewards behind her remained silent, their gazes sweeping over the entire group like two emotionless knives.
The mountain path stretched endlessly before us, the stone steps grew narrower and narrower, and the snow grew thicker and thicker.
The wind blew down from the mountaintop, carrying tiny ice crystals that stung my face.
Soon, the snow arrived.
It wasn't the kind of snowflakes that drift gently down, but rather fine, sand-like snow particles that were whipped up by the gale.
Visibility dropped sharply.
Xia Ning's white robe in front of him turned into a blurry white mass in the snow.
The stone steps have completely disappeared.
The path beneath our feet had turned into a snow-covered icy slope. With each step, our boots sank into the soft snow, causing us to slide a little further down. We had to use even more force to maintain our balance.
The air is getting thinner and thinner.
Each breath felt like tearing through a layer of ice with my lungs.
The two burly men carrying the stretcher in Group A had noticeably slowed their pace.
Their breathing was heavy, like bellows, and the beads of sweat that seeped from their foreheads froze into tiny ice crystals that stuck to their eyebrows and temples.
At the back of the line, the short-haired girl who had collapsed earlier stumbled along behind the crowd.
Her complexion was terrible; her face was ashen, her lips were purple, and every step she took seemed to be the last of her willpower to keep going.
Nobody noticed her.
Or rather, everyone is so focused on their own lives that they have no energy left to pay attention to others.
The wind is getting stronger.
She stepped into a snowdrift, and when she pulled herself out, she was a beat too slow and ended up at the back of the group.
She tried to quicken her pace to catch up, but her legs wouldn't obey her; her calves were shaking violently, and her toes were numb from the cold.
"Wait...wait..."
Her voice was so soft that it was torn apart by the wind as soon as it came out.
The people in front did not turn around.
She gritted her teeth and took another step forward.
The soles of my boots touched a patch of ice covered with a thin layer of snow.
My entire foot felt like it was on oil, completely losing its friction, and my body's center of gravity slipped out of my control in an instant.
She didn't even have time to scream.
She leaned back, her arms flailing wildly in the air, her fingers desperately trying to grab anything she could, but she caught nothing.
Then, as if wiped off the cliff by an invisible hand, she silently slid into the snow-covered abyss.
Only a short, sharp sound, like someone strangling someone, flashed by in the wind...