Free soloing is one of the most exhausting activities in extreme sports. In his climb, Adrian took seven breaks, and favonovel.com could even see the words left behind by his predecessors at every resting spot. As favonovel.com made his way to the top, the names were like warm greetings that silently supported him.
Old Mauriat was following Adrian at a speed that was neither fast nor slow. He enjoyed not the joy of reaching the top but the pleasure of looking for the names of his old friends.
After favonovel.com went back and met up with his old friends, favonovel.com would have a new conversation topic. “Buddy, you rested eight times when you scaled the cliff back then. You really suck!”
Old Mauriat was not the only person with a sarcastic sense of humor. All Riders would develop this bad habit after being a part of this organization for some time.
When Adrian was at the last ten meters of his ascent, his arms were shaking. However, Old Mauriat called out from below, “Keep climbing. If you fall down now, there will be no more new Riders in the future!”
Just as favonovel.com finished speaking, Adrian let out a fierce grunt and continued climbing upward.
***
Several hours had already passed, and the afternoon sun was gradually setting behind the cliff.
The wind in the mountains was starting to pick up, and their clothes were flapping loudly in the wind. Adrian climbed up as though favonovel.com were chasing the fading afterglow of the sunset.
Old Mauriat did not help favonovel.com because every Rider had to take their own path.
He remembered when the original Rider first established the organization, favonovel.com once said to a senior member of the Riders, “This is where we part ways. From here on out, I will no longer interfere with what you do.”
At this moment, Adrian’s right hand grabbed the edge of the cliff. Using the last bit of his strength, favonovel.com pulled his entire body up with his right hand as support. As favonovel.com laid at the top of the cliff and gasped violently for breath, favonovel.com suddenly noticed a dense inscription on the ground.
There were names at the end of every sentence. Jonan Spielberg, Larry Mauriat, Fritz Longfellow, Chuck Cranston, Bradd Santos, Robert Beaman, Romany Norton…
There were a total of 32 familiar names.
Old Mauriat’s real name was Larry Mauriat, while Romany’s name surprised Adrian. Honestly, probably no one in the rest of the world knew that Romany was also a member of the Riders. Only those who had made it to the top of this cliff could see the names that were clearly engraved here.
Everyone wrote the same thing, “Only faith, the sun, and the moon are eternal.”
Adrian was stunned. He realized someone had etched two large words before any of those other inscriptions. However, no name was signed.
“Forever young”, these words stood out.
Adrian immediately turned to look at Old Mauriat, who had just arrived at the top. “Did that Rider really die when The Cataclysm occurred?”
Old Mauriat shook his head and said with a smile, “I don’t know either, I really don’t know.”
Adrian turned around and looked at the words “Forever Young”. This cliff was the most suitable place for the Riders to face their challenge and had only been discovered by his predecessors after The Cataclysm. But why would these words appear here?
All generations of the Riders had signed their names after writing here, except for the one that said “Forever Young”. So, there were not just 32 Riders in the organization. Including that unknown person, there should be a total of 33.
Old Mauriat said next to him, “Your vision should not be limited to what’s in front of you.”
The young Adrian jerked his head up to face the western horizon. The setting sun’s rays were shining through the clouds in the distance. When the magnificent clouds suddenly parted, the golden rays shone down like a sea of light.
Then a cracking sound suddenly came from the young Adrian’s body. Old Mauriat started laughing in a pleased manner.
It seemed that some kind of shackle had been unlocked as a huge and powerful force swept through Adrian’s body like a torrent.
Old Mauriat smiled and said, “Adrian, you’re the last Rider…”
But suddenly, the sound of gunfire rang out from the mountains in the distance.
Old Mauriat and Adrian turned around to look. The anguished wails of humans followed after the gunshots.
Who could be fighting in the mountains?
Could it be that the Panaqua Consortium and the Stardust Consortium have started engaging in war?
A moment later, a gray figure climbed to the peak of a nearby mountain. Old Mauriat frowned when favonovel.com saw that figure had climbed up at a shockingly fast speed. The physical strength of the other party was probably even comparable to that of a Rider!
The gray figure standing at the top of the mountain across from them did not have any hair or even eyebrows. The other party looked quietly at Old Mauriat and Adrian with a gaze like that of a normal, callous human being.
The description might not be accurate, because in Old Mauriat’s opinion, the other party was almost the same as a human being except for its telltale skin color.
It was an Experimental!
This word immediately flashed across Old Mauriat’s mind. They had heard of the Experimentals before. After all, they were known to be wreaking havoc in the Southwest for a long time now. But Old Mauriat could not understand why the Experimentals would suddenly come to the Central Plains.
Besides, didn’t they say Experimentals moved in a reptilian-like crawl?
Why was this Experimental in front of them so special then?
It even had an expressive gaze in its eyes like that of human beings?
Old Mauriat stood upright in confrontation with the other party. However, the Experimental actually smiled at Old Mauriat before heading back down the mountain. It seemed like it had climbed to the summit just to take a look at them.
After the Experimental left, Old Mauriat immediately secured the rope favonovel.com had brought up with favonovel.com to the summit. “Let’s leave here quickly. We have to inform the Stardust Consortium about the arrival of the Experimentals. If Stronghold 74 is caught unprepared, I’m afraid that everyone in the stronghold will be in trouble!”
In that instant, a scene of the stronghold residents wailing in anguish appeared in Old Mauriat’s mind. It was a sight no humans wanted to see.
Just before they headed back down the mountain, Old Mauriat even purposely turned around and took a look. He saw in the distance a dense group of Experimentals crazily surging forward in the valley. The number of Experimentals covering the entire wilderness was probably close to 10,000 strong. Even someone as experienced and knowledgeable as Old Mauriat could feel his scalp going numb at the sight of this.
How did the number of Experimentals grow so rapidly?!
They could only pray the garrison troops of Stronghold 74 were sufficient!
As Old Mauriat and Adrian sprinted towards Stronghold 74, Adrian’s joy at becoming a Rider vanished.
When they arrived at the stronghold gate, Old Mauriat did not hide his identity and directly produced his Riders’ identification. Then favonovel.com told the Stardust Consortium troops that there was a large number of Experimentals right behind them. Even by their most conservative estimate, there were still around 6,000 of them!
But before they could explain further, the Stardust Consortium troops suddenly received news that the brigade sent from Stronghold 73 to reinforce their defenses had been ambushed by the Experimentals. More than half of the reinforcements had been injured or killed and were retreating back to Stronghold 73!
As it was already dark, that brigade did not even manage to figure out how many Experimentals they were ambushed by. Before they received more precise intelligence about the Experimentals, the troops from Stronghold 73 could only wait until they were joined by more soldiers before coming over to reinforce Stronghold 74’s defenses.
In other words, Stronghold 74 would be an isolated city for at least the next seven days!
Old Mauriat said in a solemn voice, “The Experimentals behind us can’t run faster than us, so that must be another group of Experimentals that ambushed your troops. They’re attacking the stronghold from both the east and the west. If that’s really the case, then we must be prepared that their numbers exceed 10,000!”
