When he made the decision to go mountain climbing a couple of days ago, Chen Yuan had thought about borrowing a camera to take some nice photos of the two sisters and a group shot for posterity. He gave up on the idea after a moment’s thought.

His phone could take pictures just fine, and lugging a heavy camera up a mountain would make him look like an idiot.

"Wow, every deep breath is just heavenly. Can you hear that? Is that a mountain spring flowing down? Where is it coming from?" Jiangg Yao darted back and forth on the stone path, looking this way and that.

No matter which way they looked, all they could see were dense pine and cypress trees blanketing the rolling mountains. The constant RUSHING sound of flowing water filled the air.

"There’s hardly anyone here," Jiangg Ning remarked, a little curious.

"It’s a weekday, and this place is pretty off the beaten path anyway. This is perfect. If we’re the only three tourists on the entire mountain, doesn’t that mean we have the whole place to ourselves?"

"That would be ideal," Jiangg Ning said with a nod. "I can’t stand being packed in with a bunch of other tourists."

As she spoke, she started up the path, her slender legs carrying her up the steps one by one.

Looking up, they could see an arrow sign just past the parking lot.

The three of them followed the sign, listening to the birdsong in the forest, feeling utterly content.

"You’re kidding. Yaoyao’s never been mountain climbing before?"

"She’s just lazy. There are tons of attractions in Lanjing, and I’ve tried to take her with me more than once, but Jiangg Yao always refused. All she wanted to do was stay cooped up at home and play games with her friends. In the end, I had no choice but to go with my girlfriends. You should know, she once accomplished the grand ’feat’ of not leaving the house for three whole months. You have no idea how pale her face was. Chen, have you ever seen *Twilight*?"

"Vaguely."

"So what if I’ve never been? I’m here now, aren’t I? The lazy, old me is dead! Before you stands a vibrant, beautiful girl! I’ve decided to become a nature-loving forest goddess," Jiangg Yao shot back, unable to hold her tongue after hearing what Ningning said.

"Well, in that case, I’ll have to take you two out more often in the future. We can’t have you going stir-crazy from being cooped up all the time."

Chen Yuan said to the sisters with a wide smile, then turned his head away.

Jiangg Ning and Jiangg Yao both froze when they heard this.

They exchanged a look. The exact same feeling washed over both of them: confusion at his use of the word "future."

But with him standing right there, neither of them could bring themselves to ask, so they had to swallow their questions.

...

「Forty minutes later.」

Chen Yuan chugged his mineral water, GLUG GLUG GLUG. Beads of sweat were already forming on his forehead as he looked up at the dilapidated shack ahead, which looked like it was cobbled together from shipping containers.

"We’re here."

"Here where? The summit?!" Jiangg Yao asked, panting with exhaustion. From a few paces back, a glimmer of hope suddenly ignited in her eyes.

"Nope. We’re at the ticket office at the foot of the mountain."

"Pfft! Then what was that whole forty-minute climb?" Jiangg Yao blinked, finding it hard to believe.

"A warm-up."

Jiangg Ning shot her a look of undisguised schadenfreude, as if to mock her for celebrating too early.

’The real misery of mountain climbing hadn’t even begun.’

’True exhaustion is when you get to the steps so steep you can’t even fit your whole foot on them. It’s when you look up to see an endless mountain path stretching before you, knowing you can’t turn back and can only keep climbing.’

"Huh?"

Jiangg Yao completely deflated. A dejected look washed over her delicate features. Frowning, she leaned against the railing, her face a mask of misery.

...

"Hello? Anyone here?"

The flat area in front of them was eerily silent. The stainless steel railings meant for crowd control were covered in scratches. If it weren’t for the sausage griller plugged in and running by the door, the three of them would have suspected there wasn’t even anyone there to sell tickets.

Chen Yuan knocked on the door. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

「Two minutes later.」

"Coming, coming!"

A middle-aged woman poked her head out from the top of the shipping container, descending a different set of stairs. "Hold on, I’m coming right down!"

It might be the off-season, but this was a bit much. It was hard to believe they were the only visitors at a scenic spot like this.