Chapter 456: Chapter 324: The Cold Cave Hanging High on the Cliff Face_2
He looked up cautiously.
Although he had constantly talked about the heights of this giant peak reaching thousands of meters, he couldn’t determine exactly how high it was just by estimating with his eyes. The approximate height was somewhere between one and two thousand meters.
He had only been climbing for about ten minutes and had already reached a position over three hundred meters high.
Thanks to the augmentation of his arm strength, he could climb two to three meters at a time, allowing him to ascend so quickly.
At this rate, he might even reach the summit within an hour!
Of course, Xu Xin wasn’t naively optimistic. He didn’t think this expedition would be so simple.
Climbing further might bring some dangerous situations, and he needed to regain his strength!
The cave where he was sitting now was actually the beginning of a change.
This kind of cave, or one might say a large pit, was something he hadn’t encountered at all in the previous three hundred meters of rock climbing.
And above...
He looked up once more.
Even though his field of view was limited, Xu Xin could still see that there were quite a few such stone caves above.
This gigantic peak seemed to be divided into sections from bottom to top, with each section of the rock face being different.
If the section from the ground to fifty meters was the first, the rock face was rough and suitable for climbing, with relatively higher temperatures. From fifty to three hundred meters was the second section, where the rocks became smoother, making them slippery and began to cut off communication.
Now, above three hundred meters, it was the third section.
He didn’t know what he would experience in this section. However, the temperature here was really low.
It felt like it was below minus forty degrees.
After resting enough, Xu Xin grabbed the rock face and began climbing again.
As expected, as he had just predicted, the surrounding environment had changed significantly.
The rock face was no longer slightly smooth; instead, it became rougher, making it easier for Xu Xin to hold onto.
However, every time he grabbed the rock, a chilling cold would seep from his palms into his body, a cold that even his snow fox scarf couldn’t block from penetrating straight through his skin.
Xu Xin finally understood the reason why the temperature dropped so rapidly during his ascent. The temperature here was so low entirely because of these rock walls! These walls were incredibly cold, actively radiating coldness, thereby affecting everything below!
If they made his hands feel cold, could these rocks be below minus fifty degrees!
So cold!
Fortunately, though the rock temperature was low, the air temperature wasn’t too low.
With the influence of sunlight, the air temperature remained at around minus forty degrees, still within the tolerance range of his snow fox scarf.
Xu Xin exhaled a breath of white air.
He dove into another cave.
In this environment, his hands were continually corroded by cold, depleting his strength significantly.
Even though he had the apricot (blue) which could slowly restore his strength, it couldn’t offset this intense depletion.
The cave walls radiated such coldness that the internal temperature was extremely low, almost reaching the limit his snow fox scarf could withstand.
Xu Xin swept away the accumulated snow at the entrance of the cave but didn’t dare sit down because it was too cold, freezing his backside.
But the small cave was not tall enough, only about one meter two in height, so he had no choice but to squat and rest a bit.
Luckily, his purple-grade steel boots were reliable, perhaps due to their thick soles, at least not letting his feet feel the piercing cold.
After some hesitation, Xu Xin took out a fragment of the energy core.
No way, too cold, time to warm up a bit.
The surroundings were immediately lit up by a soft white glow, and the temperature began to rise.
Minus fifty degrees, minus forty degrees, minus thirty degrees...
Twenty degrees above zero!
Under the influence of the energy core fragment, the surrounding temperature soared back to normal!
Xu Xin let out a long sigh of relief.
Comfortable!
This energy core fragment could actually bring the temperature back to normal from such a low degree!
However, he didn’t dare do this for long. Just judging from the glow of the energy core fragment, this time the glow, though still soft and not glaring, was much brighter than before.
This meant that the energy core fragment was consuming its energy at an incredibly fast rate, maintaining the surrounding temperature!
Xu Xin enjoyed the normal temperature for only a minute before packing the energy core fragment away.
This precious energy wasn’t for him to indulge in; it should be used when the temperature became genuinely unbearable.
Just as he was about to step out of this area once more, a light sound suddenly reached his ears.
"Crack..."
He froze instantly, ears perked to catch the sudden sound.
After climbing for so long, it was the first time he had heard something besides himself make a sound, making him instantly tense with high alert.
"Crack..." The faint sound seemed like something was slightly cracking.
This sound was very close to him, likely just five or six meters above his head!
Xu Xin stood completely still for a long while, yet the sound did not occur again.
... No point wasting time. His enhanced hearing had already pinpointed the origin of the sound; since it wasn’t recurring, he would go explore himself!
He grabbed the rock face once more, the icy chill stabbing into his body, making him shiver.
Without pausing, he pushed with his arms and climbed another two to three meters.
Then, he gripped the rock face again, immediately grabbing onto the mouth of a cave and sinking into the snow.
Compared to the extremely cold rock face, the snow was surprisingly warmer.
He pushed with his arms again, stepping into the cave.
So cold...
Xu Xin shivered.
The cave he entered now was a genuine one, not just a wall pit he could only squat in previously.
The cave was two meters high, fully allowing him to stand and walk, though running might not work well as he would likely hit his head.
Indeed, the cave was deep.
The interior was pitch black, but with his night vision from the red berries, Xu Xin could still see clearly.
A narrow cave, two meters high and less than one meter wide, extended several meters inward before turning a corner, deeper than Xu Xin could see from the entrance.
The faint sound that had entered his ears earlier, as if something was cracking, had come from this cave.
The cave walls, emanating a chilling aura, made Xu Xin feel the cold continuously seeping out even just standing at the entrance. The entrance was at the extreme of minus fifty degrees, indicating even colder temperatures within.
This narrow cave, hanging in the air hundreds of meters above ground, was truly mysterious; what could it hold inside?
However, it seemed unrelated to his goal of climbing the summit.
"Crack..." Again, a faint sound emanated from within, making Xu Xin’s heart skip a beat.
Should he go in and take a look, or just leave?