# 1014
Chapter 1015: Truth and Falsehood
In the wind and snow, two cloaked figures emerged slowly from the misty border.
One of them stood on the pristine white snow, gently pulling back her hood to reveal a youthful girl's face.
She surveyed the icy world around her and let out a long sigh, her eyes filled with complex emotions.
"We've returned..."
"Mm." Beside her, the man nodded calmly.
"It's been three or four years since we left Cangnan." The girl closed her eyes slowly, speaking softly, "Those days..."
"Xiaonan."
The man suddenly interrupted, reaching out his left hand to point at his right hand hidden beneath his wide sleeve.
That hand... no, it could no longer be called a hand.
A black python-like arm slithered out from his sleeve, its red tongue flicking. The head split into five fingers, and on the back of its hand grew a tiny ear.
The man crouched down and quickly traced several Chinese characters with his left finger.
—Loki's Ear, eavesdropping on conversations. Speak carefully.
Si Xiaonan saw the words and fell silent for a moment before continuing expressionlessly:
"Those days... just thinking about them makes me sick."
As she spoke, she crouched down and wrote in the snow:
—When did he implant this in you?
—Just before we set out... We've done too much these past two years. He's starting to get suspicious.
—What a disgusting old fox.
Si Xiaonan fell silent for a moment, then wrote two large characters in the snow.
"True," "False."
She reached out and deliberately touched her nose, then pointed to the word "False."
"Cangnan, it doesn't matter if it's destroyed." She looked into Leng Xuan's eyes as she spoke.
Then she pointed to the word "True" and continued, "Fortunately, I have you by my side."
Leng Xuan愣了一下, quickly understanding Si Xiaonan's meaning.
To deceive the Loki's Ear on Leng Xuan's hand, some of their conversations had to be false.
Si Xiaonan had worked out a gesture in advance to distinguish between truth and lies, to prevent misunderstandings between them. The gesture was touching the nose.
Whatever was said after touching the nose was false.
Everything else was true.
Like just now, after Si Xiaonan touched her nose and said, "Cangnan, it doesn't matter if it's destroyed"—the reverse meaning was, "I hope Cangnan stays safe."
And "Fortunately, I have you by my side," spoken without touching her nose, was the truth.
A faint smile appeared on Leng Xuan's icy face. He touched his nose.
"I never want to return to Cangnan in this lifetime."
Si Xiaonan knew that Leng Xuan understood her meaning. She stood up, her gaze falling on the distant horizon.
"Loki's mission is for us to find the legendary Kunlun Mountains and investigate the truth about Great Xia's gods..."
"The Pamir Plateau is so vast. Where exactly is the Kunlun Mountains hidden?"
"I don't know. We have to search."
"We can't slack on Loki's mission. We must complete it as soon as possible." Leng Xuan touched his nose.
"Mm, let's set out immediately."
Si Xiaonan touched her nose as well.
And so, the two began crawling at a turtle's pace across the snowfield...
...
Pamir Plateau.
On the other side.
The呼啸的 military transport aircraft swept over the snow-capped peaks, its cargo door slowly opening. Cold wind mingled with snowflakes rolled into the cabin.
The recruits, wrapped in thermal suits with parachutes on their backs, gazed down at the towering mountains below, took a deep breath, and jumped out one by one.
Once all the recruits had descended, Lin Qiye and the others walked to the front of the cabin, comparing the map in their hands with the distant route.
"Qiqiye, the Pamir Plateau is so vast. Can we really keep watch over all these people scattered out there?" Baili Pangpang asked with some concern.
"We can." Lin Qiye pointed to the route drawn on the map. "Although the Pamir Plateau covers a large area, the route we've designed only occupies a very small portion. Besides, this route is too treacherous—very few people would pass through here, so it'll be easy for us to manage.
Additionally, I've installed positioning devices in each of their thermal suits. If anyone deviates from the route, we'll know immediately."
"Then what should we do next?" Cao Yuan asked.
"I've divided their six-day journey into six zones. To prevent accidents, the six of us will each oversee one zone." Lin Qiye drew six connected circles along the route on the map, covering the recruits' training path.
"Once we've dispersed to our zones, if any zone experiences an emergency, the person stationed there reports via radio immediately. The two closest zones rush to support, while the remaining three maintain order among the recruits and ensure their safety."
"Do we need to be this cautious?" Cao Yuan asked in surprise. "We're in Great Xia territory, and this location is so remote. Nothing should happen, right?"
"Although the possibility of an accident is low, it's not zero. Moreover, we're in wartime—enemies could sneak in. We should still be careful."
Lin Qiye said seriously.
"The first segment is relatively flat and far from the plateau's edge, so Jiang Er will oversee it. An Qingyu will take the second segment. My sensory range is quite wide, so I'll be stationed at the central third segment to monitor their movements over the largest area.
Old Cao, you oversee the fourth segment. Pangpang takes the fifth, and拽哥 guards the final segment."
After Lin Qiye assigned the zones and no one objected, he nodded and put on the radio earpiece.
"I have a question." An Qingyu suddenly raised her hand.
"Mm?"
"When we're bored overseeing our zones, can I dissect 'mysteries'?" An Qingyu pointed seriously at a black case beside her. "I brought these Klein-level 'mystery' corpses from Shangjing City."
"...As long as you don't scare the recruits, it's fine."
"No problem." An Qingyu's eyes lit up.
"Then let's go. Depart!"
The cargo door opened again. An Qingyu, carrying Jiang Er on her back and gripping the black case, jumped first. Since Jiang Er herself was a ghost and couldn't move her own coffin, An Qingyu needed to set down the coffin for her first so she could move freely.
After the aircraft flew for a while, Lin Qiye leaped from the plane, the difference being that he didn't even carry a parachute.
In the howling wind and snow, Lin Qiye calmly opened his mouth and recited:
"A roc rises with the wind one day, soaring ninety thousand li on the gale."
A fierce gust of wind swept from the void, cradling his body as he descended slowly onto a towering snow-capped cliff.