A Weekend in 2461 (Novella) Zhang Baotong 2018.9.11

As the electronic clock rang ten times in a row, the Sherpa sitting in front of the electronic screen shouted to Tenzin, "Group 230 is ready to go." ”

Tenzin said to He Jia and Lee Myung-so, "Assemble. ”

He Jia and Li Mingxiu got up from the fire and stood side by side in front of Tenzin and the Sherpa man. The Sherpa scrutinized the equipment on both of them and turned on the heater in the winter suit. At this time, Tenzin brought two steaming drinks from the table for He Jia and Li Mingxiu to drink. The drink is called Qiangbao, and it tastes a lot like the strong black coffee, which has the effect of protecting against cold, strength and resistance to altitude sickness. After they finished their drinks, Tenzin said to He Jia and Li Mingxiu, "Finally, I would like to invite Mr. Tseso Pazan to speak." ”

The Sherpa named Tsetsok Bazan said to them in a very serious manner in Mandarin, "You must follow Tenzin's commands, and if you encounter an accident, you can contact us directly, and the helicopter will be there at any time." Regardless of whether you make it to the summit or not, you can rest assured that you will be kept safe. After speaking, he shook hands with He Jia and Li Mingxiu and said, "I wish you success in reaching the top." ”

Tenzin also shook hands with Tsecuo Bazan, and then gave orders to He Jia and Li Mingxiu, "Okay, it's ten o'clock, let's go." With that, he took He Jia and Li Mingxiu out of the big house and walked on the mysterious and steep mountain road shrouded in darkness.

The night was unusually quiet, and after almost half an hour of walking, I could still hear the humming noise of generators on the other side of the camp. There was no way up the mountain, and the whole thing was icy and snowy, so they could only walk slowly forward on the solid ice. Because there are sharp studs under the cold shoes, walking on the ice does not feel smooth, but only makes a clicking sound. Tenzin walked in front, Lee Myung-so walked in the middle, and He Jia walked behind. Everyone walked forward without a sound from a distance of three or four meters. In order to prevent falling behind and accidents, the three were connected together with a rope. Maybe it was because he drank the cup of powerful treasure before leaving, instead of feeling any alpine sickness, He Jia felt that he had endless strength in his body. Lee Myung-so was also silently following Tenzin's and walking steadily forward.

After walking for about two hours, He Jia felt a little tired after climbing a steep slope with difficulty. At this time, Li Mingxiu seemed to be a little unable to walk, and felt dizzy and nauseous, and wanted to vomit. Tenzin asked her to chew on two coca leaves. However, she could not get used to chewing this coca, and felt that it had a very bad taste, so she spit out the coca at once. He Jia was very dissatisfied with her behavior, and solemnly said to her, "You are irresponsible for life." "Because everything they carry with them has some important role in the success or failure of their life limit this time. Moreover, Tenzin also frowned and said, "There is still a long way to go, and you can't hold on without coca." ”

Li Mingxiu also felt that what he was doing was wrong, so he put another coca leaf in his mouth, chewed it slowly, and continued to walk forward. After walking uphill for about half an hour, she felt that she couldn't walk anymore and wanted to stop and rest for a while. However, Tenzin ignored her at all, and walked forward vigorously. She couldn't help it, so she had to grit her teeth and walk forward. Although He Jia also felt very tired, he knew that this was only a short part of the long march of thousands of miles, and the distance ahead was still very far. So, he relaxed his pace and walked smoothly behind. This will allow him to save some energy.

After a while, He Jia raised his head and looked towards the top of the mountain. Although the summit does not seem to be very far, after walking for a long time, it makes people feel that the summit is still so far away. He couldn't help but think: Today, thousands of kilometers from Seoul to Kathmandu can only take three hours by levitating magnetic train, but the straight-line distance from the assault camp to the summit of Mount Everest is only two or three kilometers, but they have walked for hours, but they still feel out of reach.

After midnight, people feel not only tired, but also sleepy. Therefore, He Jia also began to chew coca leaves, and after chewing two or three coca leaves, he felt much clearer and his head was no longer dizzy. However, after a while, he felt his mind dizzy again, and his head wanted to be planted. But he knew that walking on such a thick glacier would put his life in danger at all times, and if he was not careful, he would cause serious disasters. He had to keep himself conscious. Looking at Li Mingxiu again, he looked like he was prostration, staggering when he walked, and he fell down at some point. However, he could not help her, because he himself was already exhausted and weak, and he had no strength to help others. As an amateur mountaineer, he knows that when climbing a world peak like Mount Everest, falling down due to physical condition and extreme conditions is not as simple as falling on flat ground every day. This kind of collapse in a state of complete physical exhaustion, physical strength and awareness of the limit, it is not that you can help her up and she can stand and walk again. On the contrary, it will also consume your own physical strength and resources, and put you in danger as well. It's a choice between one life and two lives.

Time flies slowly, but the pace cannot be slowed down. Because Tenzin is ahead of the curve, his pace is not very fast, but it is very steady. This is the most scientific and reasonable cadence that must be adopted to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In order to build up their strength and overcome the dizziness and nausea caused by altitude sickness, they are constantly chewing on coca leaves. But the coca leaf was very limited, only a small packet, so they had to be very economical, chewing it again and again until the juice was all dry, and then they spit it out in the plastic bag of garbage.

Relying on coca leaves, they survived a very difficult few hours. By three o'clock in the morning, the night was quieter and deeper, the temperature was lower, the wind was tighter, and the time was getting harder and harder, and every minute and every second seemed to be very slow and long. He Jia was almost unable to walk, and Li Mingxiu almost fell to the ground several times, but fortunately pulled the rope. However, on this thick ice, it is impossible to rest, and there is no place to rest. You have to go, move forward. This is the path they have chosen for themselves. Originally, they could have gone to Lake Baikal, where there is bright sunshine, blue lakes, beautiful landscapes, comfortable hotels, ski resorts and clubs. However, they chose Mount Everest instead. I don't know what they thought at the time. He thought that Li Mingxiu would definitely regret his death, but they had already walked on this road and had no way out. It's the same as the path of life, once you choose this path, you have to go to the end, whether it's windy or muddy. It's just that they really shouldn't have believed Li Shizhen's words at the beginning, there was a big error between his words and the actual situation, and it was because of his words that they chose to climb Mount Everest instead of going to Lake Baikal.

Tenzin Ho Jia and Lee Myung so donned oxygen masks. Inhaling oxygen, He Jia suddenly felt that his legs were much easier. The thin air is clear and transparent, the sky full of stars is unusually bright, and when you look up, the cone-shaped peak of Mount Everest is faintly presented in the floating clouds, which seems to be close at hand. They walked briskly towards the top of the hill again. After walking for nearly two hours, it was five o'clock in the morning, and I saw that Mount Everest was not far in front of me, but at this time, Li Mingxiu fell. She lay on the ice, panting with difficulty, unable to speak, but swung her hand twice towards Tenzin and He Jia, indicating that she had exhausted her strength and could no longer walk.

He Jia asked Tenzin, "How long will it take to reach the peak?"

Tenzin said, "It's two hours away." ”

He Jia beckoned to Li Mingxiu and asked her to stand up, but Li Mingxiu shook her head slightly, and then slowly closed her eyes. He Jia wanted to pull her up from the ground, but he didn't even have the strength to squat, so he couldn't pull her. Tenzin squatted down, saw the thermometer on her protective suit, and said to He Jia, "She has a fever, 38.2 degrees." ”