Although everyone had mostly adapted to Tibet by now, after trekking for half a day like this, even I, who usually maintained excellent physical condition, was completely dizzy and mentally foggy, losing my usual sharp judgment about many things. Like right now, the others didn't even notice the hunger, but usually, the moment anything felt off, I would immediately get to the bottom of it. Unfortunately, I was preoccupied with resting and had absolutely no energy left for detailed thought.

After resting for thirty minutes, feeling mostly recovered, we prepared to continue deeper into the terrain. Unexpectedly, just as we reached a section with a massive fallen tree trunk lying across our path, the trail of footprints we had been following simply vanished!

It was noon by then, and the thin layer of snow around the fallen trunk had almost completely melted. That wasn't the real problem; the critical issue was that even the Tibetan Mastiff, Lion, looked utterly perplexed for the first time—even its scent had completely disappeared!

If the disappearance of the footprints could be somewhat rationalized, what could account for the vanishing scent? A person, no matter what, cannot completely eliminate their body odor. Furthermore, a deserter running this hard would surely be sweating, making the total disappearance of the scent impossible.

Old Li was equally baffled. He led Lion around the fallen tree trunk several times but found no useful clues, as if the deserter had simply climbed the tree and evaporated.

It was inconvenient for him to climb while handling the dog, so I was the one who scaled the trunk myself. The snow on the branches hadn't completely melted yet, showing clear signs that no one had passed through up there.

I took a few steps along the trunk, and the snow on the dead branches kept falling with my movements, quickly coating me in white. Pushing further became incredibly difficult as the branches grew too dense to navigate, so I turned back toward the way I came. The moment I pivoted, my gaze unintentionally swept across a patch of ground devoid of snow.

It was that fleeting glance that revealed something I absolutely wished I hadn't seen.

I scrambled over, almost tumbling headfirst, and clearly saw on the exposed earth scattered fragments of torn cotton shoes and socks littering the ground, all heavily stained with blood.

Could it be that the deserter had already become breakfast for the mountain beasts?

Forcing down the unease churning in my stomach, I stared closely at the debris on the ground, and for a few seconds, my mind went completely blank. It took several seconds, and the subsequent roar from the Mastiff over there, before I snapped back to awareness, and I quickly shouted toward Old Li's location: "Old Li! Here, over here!"

But Old Li seemed not to hear me at all, and something else appeared to be happening on his side as well. I violently suppressed the panic rising within me and clawed my way along the trunk, only to see a black bear not far away, staring intensely at the few of them. Perhaps intimidated by their numbers, it hesitated to attack.

Logically, bears should be hibernating in this weather, yet here it was, out in this ice and snow.

"Technician Luo!" Seeing me emerge from the dense branches, Old Li shouted my name in sheer terror. Before I could figure out why he was suddenly calling out to me with such panic, the black bear charged toward me with a sudden rush of wind.

Damn it, it knew to target the person who was isolated!

I quickly spun around and ran. After only a few steps, I could already hear the heavy thudding sound of the big brute crashing through the underbrush at high speed.

Seeing this, Old Li immediately released Lion’s leash, urging the dog to give chase. Having a Mastiff with you in the mountains usually meant you wouldn't fear encountering large predators. One had to know that the ferocity of these animals was incomparable to the pampered pets back in the interior.

In blind panic, I inadvertently bolted toward the front of that same fallen tree trunk. I had managed to climb halfway up when I heard a massive roar right behind me. Instantly, I felt as if my back had been struck by a vehicle, followed immediately by another tremendous force. My grip slipped, and I lost hold of the branch, falling backward entirely!

The instant I plummeted from the tree, I vaguely heard the crack of a gunshot, and then everything went dark. I didn't know anything that happened after that.