Chapter 35: The Glowing Jelly Mushrooms

　　Wake up, wake up! I need to get up, fast!" The wind howled past, and the chill of melting snowflakes on my face finally roused me from sleep. Huh? Why is it snowing inside the tent?　　I switched on my headlamp. Countless snowflakes were swirling in the gap between the inner and outer tent fly. Fine, powdery snow drifted down through the mesh ceiling of the inner tent, dusting my face and sleeping bag. Turns out, Mr. Egg had been in too much of a hurry when pitching the tent and forgot to properly secure and bury the snow skirt.　　I didn't have the heart to disturb my teammates' rest. Under the cover of Mr. Egg's earth-shattering snores, I quietly pulled on my jacket and set out alone, traveling light, heading for the hot spring pool from my dream. A gut feeling told me it couldn't be far.　　As a precaution, I deliberately brought my own tent stakes. Every fifty paces, I planted one in the snow. The reflective cord loops on the stakes were clearly visible in my headlamp's beam. This would not only help my teammates track me but also, in this featureless landscape, help prevent me from walking in circles.　　Following the direction my intuition provided, I trudged slowly through the deep snow, rather pleased with my own cleverness. But when I finally found the hot spring pool, I realized it was a mere three hundred paces from camp. On this flat snowfield, I could just barely make out the tents with a glance over my shoulder... If I could get lost on a walk that short, I had no business being in the wilderness at all.　　"Hah, wasted effort," I mentally scoffed.　　A faint white mist rose steadily from the pool. But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find the pitch-black opening from my dream. Could it be? Had Lin Molly tricked me again?　　Unwilling to give up, I circled the pool a few times. Finally, near a pile of rocks, I found a long-collapsed cavern. Water seeped through the cracks in the stone, forming small whirlpools. I tried prying at the rocks blocking the entrance, only to get my hands scalded by splashes from the pool.　　"Damn it!" The water had to be at least 50 degrees Celsius. Even if we could clear the opening, we couldn't possibly get in th