The squad leader stopped just two steps after rushing out, confronting an unbelievable sight before us: the bizarre, flame-emitting ladybug had split into three, each one the exact size of the original.

One of the three blue fireballs shot straight for the squad leader, while the other two zipped into the crowd like lightning. Three of us—the squad leader, the cook Old Zhao, and the communications soldier Xiao Lin—were struck by the fireballs and immediately burst into flames. They simultaneously emitted agonizing screams, writhing on the ground, trying desperately to roll out the fire consuming them.

A horrific thing happened: because the soldiers had been overly tense while facing the fireballs, they had all flipped their weapon safeties off, and their magazines were fully loaded with rounds chambered.

The communications soldier Xiao Lin was only sixteen; he lacked the courage and psychological fortitude to face death that the political instructor and the squad leader possessed. The fiendish flames burned away his reason. In the agony of being gnawed by the searing heat, his semi-automatic rifle accidentally discharged—Ta-dang~ Ta-dang~ Ta-dang~ Ta-dang~. Amidst the heavy gunfire, three comrades were hit by his stray bullets and fell into pools of blood.

Matters devolved in the worst possible direction. The political instructor preferred suicide to letting us fire, but in the end, someone did open fire. Being attacked by the strange fire insects was terrifying, but it was nothing compared to the terror of an avalanche triggered by gunfire. An avalanche meant absolute annihilation; not a single member of the small team would survive. In the valley beneath the massive glacier, shouting had, perhaps, only a thirty percent chance of triggering an avalanche, but gunfire guaranteed the most dreadful consequences, two hundred percent certain.

Seeing Xiao Lin, clearly out of his mind, accidentally discharge his rifle and send bullets flying, mistakenly killing three comrades, I couldn't afford to think much longer. Gritting my teeth, I raised my rifle and fired three quick bursts, taking down Xiao Lin, the squad leader, and Old Zhao as they struggled painfully in the flames.

The sound of the rifle shots echoing in the valley, amplified by the narrow width and the mirror-like ice walls of the Great Glacier—it was a natural sound box. The gunfire, shouts, and weeping created wave after wave of reverberation that lingered in the valley for ages.

I hadn't yet recovered from the agony of personally shooting my own comrades, my mind flooded with the images of their living faces and smiles. My senses blurred until I suddenly felt a chill on my head, bringing me back to myself. I touched it and realized a snowflake had landed on my forehead.

The weather was clear, the sun blazing in the sky with dazzling brilliance; snow was impossible at that moment. The instant I felt the snowflake, my heart sank. The first thought that flashed through my mind was: "The avalanche has finally come."

At that very moment, a blue fireball lifted from each of the three burning corpses of my fallen comrades. Now, there was no need to hold back from firing. Gawa’s marksmanship was the best among the squad; he raised his rifle, didn't even bother aiming, and fired three shots in quick succession, each one hitting the center of a fireball. The beetle inside was far smaller than the caliber of the bullet; the entire body of the insect was obliterated by the rounds, and the flames vanished instantly.

After this brief but brutal conflict, of the eight soldiers in our squad, plus the squad leader and the political instructor—ten men in total—only three of us soldiers remained alive: myself, Big Guy, and Gawa, along with the two intellectuals, Engineer Liu and Luoning.

More and more snow powder drifted down from above, and a deep rumbling sound echoed from the sky. The entire valley vibrated. I looked up and saw the massive snow slab above had whipped up a storm, resembling a colossal white tsunami, rolling toward our valley like an overwhelming tide.

Big Guy grabbed me, shouting, "Old Hu! Damn it, what are you staring at at a time like this? Let's move!"

We were positioned in the middle of the valley. The accumulating snow from the avalanche would surely fill the entire valley; there was nowhere to run. But at this moment of life or death, instinct compelled humans to make one last struggle.

Luoning had already fainted from terror. Big Guy hoisted her onto his shoulder. Gawa and I dragged Engineer Liu between us, scrambling toward the opposite side of the Great Glacier, hoping to reach the slightly higher slope across the way before the avalanche hit, to seize this final sliver of hope.

Even in our most desperate hour, we did not discard our rifles. A rifle is part of a soldier's life; discarding it means abandoning a soldier’s honor. But we could afford to lose everything else; all the equipment was abandoned. I tried to unbuckle and throw off my pack, but in the rush, there wasn't time. The five survivors pulled at each other, running madly.

The avalanche approached terrifyingly fast, sweeping over us with the force of a crushing wave. The valley floor shook from the energy of the collapsing, tumbling snow mass—the earth seemed to heave and reel.

I had heard descriptions of avalanches before, but I had never imagined such a powerful, silver giant wave could exist between heaven and earth. At this sight, all hope died; even with two extra legs, escape seemed impossible.

Yet, heaven had not sealed our fate entirely. The violent tremor caused by the avalanche cracked the steep slope before us, opening a large fissure slanting downward.

The snowstorm sweeping down from above arrived. The group had no time to deliberate; they charged with all their might into the fissure opened in the rocks. The slope inside the crack was incredibly steep, and unexpectedly, there was a huge drop. We tumbled down in a heap, rolling a few times before landing hard at the bottom of a large cavity.

Then, a gigantic slab of snow rolled down from behind, sealing the mountain fissure shut with meticulous precision, kicking up countless plumes of snow dust that choked the five of us into violent coughing fits. The rumbling overhead lasted for a long time before finally calming down. Judging by the noise, we were now buried under who knows how many tens of thousands of tons of snow.

Unable to see anything in the darkness, the group, having narrowly escaped death, remained silent for a long time before someone finally spoke. It was Big Guy, recognizable by his thick Northeastern accent. He asked, "If you’re still breathing, make a sound. Old Hu, Gawa, Engineer Liu, Engineer Luo, are you all there?"

I felt like my entire body had been shattered from the fall, aching too much to speak immediately, so I just grunted twice to signal I was alive.

Gawa answered, pulled out a flashlight, and illuminated the surroundings. Luoning sat on the ground, her gaze vacant, seemingly unharmed. Liu was slumped beside her, his eyes tightly shut, unconscious. The bone in his lower left leg was broken, with half of the white bone protruding outwards.