Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Just when things seemed to be at a standstill, the writer's family made his diary public. While sorting through his belongings, they found an unremarkable notebook. According to the family, they opened it by chance. Inside, they discovered the diary of the group's expedition to White Mountain. From that moment, their experiences began to surface and became known to the public.

**Writer's Diary:**

Today is our first day entering the mountain. The scenery of White Mountain truly lives up to its reputation. Being far from the city's noise and chaos, I felt an involuntary sense of relaxation. We bypassed the west side to avoid forest rangers and entered the mountain from the south. Aidan, the explorer with us, is knowledgeable and great at communication, always providing explanations at the right moments. Throughout the journey, we followed Aidan and the scientist, Domenic. I wasn't sure of our destination, and it didn't matter to me since I was here to gather material for my writing. Everyone called the scientist Domenic. Domenic spoke very little, and his student, Brodie, was equally reticent. We saw a fawn hiding behind a large tree not far away, watching us with innocent, unspoiled eyes.

**Writer's Diary:**

Today is the fourth day in the mountain. The cold is bone-chilling, and the silence is eerie. I've completely lost my sense of direction; everything is a vast expanse of white. The initial excitement of entering the mountain has worn off, and conversations have dwindled. We spend the entire day traveling. I started to feel that something was off. Domenic seemed to be searching for something. I was puzzled; if he was looking for something, why didn't he report it to his research institute and form a professional team of scientific experts? Or was it that what he was searching for couldn't be known to the authorities? But looking at the others, the photographer was captivated by the mountain scenery, snapping photos non-stop, and the journalist seemed indifferent to our destination. The remaining few seemed to be in the know. Suddenly, it felt like I was the only outsider in the team. I was extremely anxious. During a break, I secretly pulled Aidan aside to ask him. He didn't reveal our destination, only giving me a mysterious smile and assuring me that the trip would be worthwhile. Where exactly were they going?

**Writer's Diary:**

Seventh day in the mountain. We've been traveling non-stop these past few days. The photographer said he was tired and wanted to rest, but the expedition sponsor persuaded him to endure a little longer and not delay the team's progress. He was quite surprised, "Do we have a schedule?" He was indeed clueless. We faced a severe problem: we were running out of food. They probably didn't anticipate staying this long when planning. They hadn't found their target and were reluctant to turn back. It was clear that we had deviated from their initial plan. Occasionally, we saw some wildlife in the forest-deer, roe deer, and so on. Strangely, when we had enough food, we would occasionally encounter them. But now that we were short on food, we couldn't find any. It was also possible that we had reached a place where these animals didn't want to come. They sensed everything. They avoided danger. I was starving. How could a hungry person keep traveling? Finally, I couldn't hold on any longer and fainted on the road. In my unconscious state, I felt a foul-tasting, hot liquid flowing into my mouth and soft food being fed to me. When I woke up, everyone was sitting around the fire. They all looked satisfied. Seeing me awake, they smiled and showed concern, very friendly. I responded on the surface, but inside, I was puzzled. They usually weren't like this, especially Domenic and Brodie. Was it because I had fainted? I approached the fire and smelled an unusual aroma coming from the roasted meat on the rack. It looked like some kind of meat. What was it? Before I could ask, I already had the answer. A wrinkled silver-white snakeskin was placed to the side. "Is this snake meat?" I couldn't help but ask. "Yeah, you fainted from hunger, so we had to find something to eat. We didn't expect to come across this thing in the forest," Cayson said enthusiastically. "This snake was huge, at least five meters long and as thick as a bowl. Thanks to Domenic, you wouldn't think a scholar could be so good at catching snakes with Aidan." He gestured, clearly adding more details to his journal. "We fed you snake blood and meat while you were unconscious." I still felt something was off but couldn't pinpoint it. "There's plenty of snake meat, just in time since we ran out of food. This meat should last us a few days." Right, we had just run out of food, and it felt like someone had planned to provide us with food. I stared blankly at the pile of snakeskin. Then I saw that the snakehead in the middle of the pile seemed to move. No, that wasn't a snakehead. It was a roe deer's head?