Chapter 201 The Strange King of Snow Mountain

【“It likes to attack lone tourists. When it comes into contact with that tourist, it will not do anything, but will take off its goggles and ask for eye contact.”】

【“When someone looks at him, they will be hypnotized, feel their body quite warm, and will involuntarily approach the Snow Mountain King. Once they do this, the Snow Mountain King will let the tourist follow him. No one knows where the Snow Mountain King will take the person.”】

【“The Snow Mountain King will not only hypnotize one person, but if it encounters a lone tourist, it will continue to hypnotize, expand its team, and take them back to its territory. As for what it will do, we don’t know. The only thing we know is that we have never seen those hypnotized tourists again.”】

【“If someone around reminds you at this time, you can interrupt the Snow Mountain King’s hypnosis, because the Snow Mountain King’s hypnosis can only work on one person. When he faces several climbers, then he will We haven't received any intelligence about what happened, but we haven't seen any climbers coming down the mountain."]

【"Perhaps the legend that there are spirit messengers on the snowy mountain leading the dead on the snowy mountain to the spirit world is passed down by someone who saw the hunting process of the Snow Mountain King."]

【"When those people disappeared, one to two hours later, we found their bodies near the snowy mountain. Without exception, all of them were frozen to death due to hypothermia. However, this is not the end. After dozens of hours, these bodies will turn into mummies and look like they have been dead for a long time."]

【Faced with the monster in the snowy mountain, our shelter is always trying to find ways to shelter the Snow Mountain King, but Mount Everest is like the Snow Mountain King's back garden. No matter how hard we try and how many advanced equipment we use, we can't find the Snow Mountain King, and even some task force members have been lost. 】

【"After our hard work on the snowy mountain, we finally found a survivor who escaped from the Snow Mountain King, codenamed L. We hope to learn more about the Snow Mountain King from him."】

█████: Tell me what happened after you encountered the monster.

L: It was about 13 o'clock, I think less than 10 minutes after leaving the summit. This is the most difficult part of the climb. You reach the summit, you are so excited and proud of yourself, and feel that you have completed the most difficult challenge in your life, and find that you have to start again immediately, otherwise you will end up like the victims. The others were 5 to 6 meters ahead of me - I fell behind for a while while adjusting my hood. That's when I saw it coming over the mountain.

█████: What was your first reaction when you saw it?

L: Surprise at least. We were told that no one else was climbing today. I thought he must have climbed up from the other side or was left behind by his companions. I should have waved to get his attention.

█████: What happened after you got its attention?

L: It looked at me, and then it started. I suddenly felt…happy? Relaxed? It was like the pain, sadness, and coldness had left me. I couldn't feel the blisters on my feet anymore, and I could feel the tip of my nose again. It was like I was back in ██████████ and was warming my feet in front of the fireplace, and it felt like I had forgotten all my troubles and I was enjoying a complete rest. But…

█████: …But?

L: Haven't you heard of the phenomenon of paradoxical undressing? When your body starts to cool down, really cool down, your blood vessels dilate and you start to feel warm. So you start to undress because you think you need to cool down - and everyone knows what happens, you curl up naked in a snowbank and freeze to death. I had a friend who died that way in '98.

█████: So you felt like it was all a hallucination.

L: Of course. So I tried to shrug it off, but I couldn't take my eyes off the guy, and it was crawling towards me. And then it all went to hell.

█████: And then?

L: All the warmth and comfort was gone. I was suddenly cold - colder than I'd ever felt before. Colder than I'd ever felt. I couldn't feel my fingers or my face. My lips were cracking. I tried to breathe and my lungs felt like they were full of water. My legs seemed to clamp down and I collapsed. My companions were about 30 meters away. I tried to yell to them but could only whisper. I watched the man - the thing - and it was still coming.

█████: How long did it take for it to get to you?

L: An hour? I'm not sure. I couldn't read my watch and I couldn't feel anything. I tried to move my arms on the ground and it was my legs that moved instead. It looked like even if I recovered now I wouldn't be able to get back to camp before dusk. I was beginning to think I was really going to die on the mountain this time - but I felt even worse about the man. The closer it got, the more I felt something in the back of my head - something repressed, and threatening, and worse, hatred.

█████: What happened after it reached you?

L: It grabbed me by the arms and pulled me in front of it. I was looking straight at those goggles, those eyes…

█████: Was it the goggles or the eyes?

L: Neither. Both. I don’t know. I seemed to be able to see things in there. And yet I couldn’t see them, so… felt them. Images and feelings in my mind. Anger, and happiness, and… confusion.

█████: Confusion?

L: I don’t think it was used to people resisting it. It asked a question.

█████: Did it speak?

L: Not words, not really. I could hear it, but not with my ears. I saw images of people—people sitting in the bathtub, lying by the campfire, sunbathing on the beach. Warm, happy people. But I knew their faces. I’d seen their faces in books, in pictures, of people who’d gone up the mountain and never come down. I saw Green Boots! The one still lying in the death zone. And I heard its question.

█████: What question?

L: "You're rejecting my gift?"

(L is very upset at this point and is silent for a moment)

█████: Go on.

L: It was hard to feel what was happening... but I knew that this thing in front of me was a greater threat than any storm or snowstorm. It was harder to move my lips than anything I've ever done... but I did it, and I told it "yes."