As long as they were careful enough and inched across like snails, this possibility could still be controlled.
But if they went that way, facing that monster that could snap big trees with a casual swipe, they would likely be eaten as snacks, not even enough to get stuck between its teeth.
"All right, since it's decided, don't dawdle."
Strange took a deep breath and adjusted his tie, as if it were the source of his courage.
He looked at the narrow death passage and muttered to himself self-deprecatingly: "I used to often brag that holding a scalpel in the operating room was like dancing on the edge of a knife; it seems God heard my boasting and decided to let me actually try what it feels like to dance on the edge of a knife on a cliff this time."
After speaking, he actually stepped out before Alice, moving sideways onto the narrow path on the cliff.
"Long-face Mister?"
Alice was stunned for a moment and hurriedly called out to him.
"Wait, I think it would be more appropriate for me to lead the way. I have experience, and I'm light."
Strange stopped and looked back at Alice.
In the backlight, his long face revealed a rare, gentle smile.
"Hehe, come on, little girl."
He said half-jokingly and half-seriously.
"You're small and light; what if you get blown away by that damn mountain wind halfway across? I'm different. With my build, plus this heavy head of mine, my center of gravity is very stable. No matter how wild or fierce the wind is, it won't move me."
After speaking, he feigned indifference, spreading his arms wide to meet the biting mountain wind on the cliff path, striking a pretentious pose as if he were about to "ride the wind and return."
Well, Alice could actually see that Strange was doing and saying this purely to look after her.
This elite Doctor, who usually appeared arrogant, conceited, and even a bit snobbish, was now, at this life-or-death moment, displaying a sense of responsibility befitting a man.
"You, a little girl, have helped us time and again, leading us to find water and saving us from danger. Yet, a group of grown men like us can do nothing but scream and tremble."
Strange said silently to himself.
"How embarrassing it is for us men. This time, let us at least take a risk for you. If someone really has to fall, let it be me—someone who was supposed to die in the plane crash anyway."
He turned away, avoiding Alice's moved gaze, and concentrated all his focus on the dead-end path before him.
He stretched out his hands, gripping every protrusion on the rock face tightly, his toes testing and securing each foothold, moving inch by inch like a clumsy but determined spider.
Banner followed behind him, then Hughes, with Alice bringing up the rear.
This stretch of road was not long, only about two or three hundred meters.
But at this height and with these road conditions, those three hundred meters felt even longer than a marathon.
Time seemed to have frozen.
There was only the sound of the wind, the sound of heartbeats, and the echoes of loose gravel tumbling into the abyss.
An hour later.
When Strange's feet finally touched the solid, flat ground on the other side, he felt his legs turn to jelly.
Immediately after, Banner, Hughes, and Alice also arrived safely one after another.
"Huff... huff..."
Strange no longer cared about maintaining his image; he sat down on the ground without any grace, gasping for air, his whole body already soaked through with cold sweat.
He sighed wearily, "Walking paths like this will give you a heart attack, really. It's too exhausting; this is a hundred times more tiring than performing craniotomies for three days and nights straight."
Beside him, Banner and Hughes also looked shaken, their faces deathly pale, slumped on the ground unable to get up for a long time.
Only Alice, apart from being slightly out of breath, appeared as calm and breezy as if she had just taken a walk in the park.
She even had the leisure to brush the dust off her dress and fix her hair.
This stark contrast made the three grown men wonder if this seemingly delicate little girl had a heart made of steel.
She was so tough that there wasn't even a hint of fear in her.
"Have you rested enough? We've arrived."
Alice pointed ahead.
Strange raised his head and looked in the direction of her finger.
The next second, he was so excited he nearly jumped up.
"I see the plane! That's the nose."
In an open clearing less than fifty meters ahead, a huge white object was embedded at an angle in the soil.
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