Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

Chapter 338 - 149: Saving a Life

On a clear day in April, the summit of Gongga Mountain was a world of silver and white, with millennia-old snow covering the peak, glistening under the sunlight. In the distance, dozens of peaks over 6,000 meters surrounded the main peak of Gongga, forming a continuous and majestic landscape.

The sky was as blue as if it had been washed clean, with a few white clouds occasionally passing by, creating a magnificent and awe-inspiring scene.

Li Younan leisurely pulled out his phone when he was about 200 meters from the summit.

He operated the camera, first aiming at the peak ahead.

The journey from here to the summit felt like the final red carpet leading to the throne.

Afterward, Li Younan panned the camera around, capturing the surrounding scene, jokingly saying, "Brothers, take a look at where we are. You might not believe it when I tell you... Just two or three hundred meters ahead is the summit of Gongga Mountain. Hmm, this part of the journey seems pretty easy to walk."

Next, Li Younan held his phone, also turning on his sports camera, and started stepping toward the mountain.

He didn’t forget to take out his selfie stick, recording his confident walking posture.

A few minutes later, Li Younan stood at the summit of Gongga Mountain.

He looked around, feeling an indescribable sensation in his heart.

Facing the camera, he said, "Brothers, I want to recite a poem that reflects my current mood... You may not have heard it, ’When will I reach the top and see all other mountains dwarfed beneath my feet?’ It’s a poem by Du Fu, a Tang Dynasty poet..."

But after completing this task, he felt an inexplicable... tastelessness.

Hard to describe.

Because the journey seemed too smooth.

He hardly exerted any effort; it was akin to camping and occasionally climbing hills, effortlessly reaching the summit unknowingly.

The only somewhat challenging part was climbing through the glacier crevice before reaching the platform.

Precisely because there were no difficulties, gaining the summit lacked the excitement of overcoming hardship.

No wonder they say the unattainable is always in turmoil; gaining too easily leads to recklessness.

Even the scenery is like this.

Li Younan sat at the summit for a while, silently gazing at the scenery.

At this moment, an interesting modern poem came to mind, "You are viewing the scenery, while others are gazing at you."

At several vantage points not far from this main summit, people peered through high-power binoculars.

Suddenly, a tourist tapped the person next to him, saying excitedly, "Hey, look! I think there’s a person on the summit."

The person beside him didn’t even think before dismissing him, "Impossible! You must be hallucinating. That’s the main summit of Gongga Mountain. Who could climb to the top?"

"Really, really! There really is someone! Look!"

His telescope was an astronomical one, providing a clear view of Li Younan.

Yet the person next to him still disbelieved, "You’ve got to be kidding, perhaps it’s a bird or some other animal perching up there."

"Seriously, if you don’t believe it, just take a look!" Under repeated urging, the person reluctantly took the telescope, then froze in surprise, "Ah! There really is someone! Oh my God!"

With his shouts of astonishment, several nearby tourists took notice.

Someone pulled out a smartphone add-on telescope to focus on the summit.

Sure enough, they saw a figure on the main summit.

Though too far to clearly see the person’s face, they could see what kind of jacket he was wearing.

Everyone became excited, amazed, and eagerly discussed the person on the summit.

Many tourists interested in this place followed mountaineering circles; they pondered but couldn’t figure out which expert conquered Gongga Mountain alone.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t just this viewing platform where people noticed the figure atop the summit of Gongga Mountain.

Others, either closer or farther, equipped with telescopes, gradually discovered Li Younan.

Thanks to the clear weather today and the extremely thin and transparent highland air.

Amid surprise, many documented this shocking moment through photos, witnessing something extraordinary.

Indeed, it was a remarkable event—that is the main summit of Gongga Mountain!

When was the last time someone scaled this peak? Even visitors unaware of the prestige in climbing Gongga Mountain’s main summit gradually understood through explanations.

By all accounts, this was a mountain arguably more challenging to ascend than Mount Everest!

Li Younan quietly took out a water bottle and poured himself hot water.

Then he glanced at the blood oxygen monitor, feeling a slight heaviness in his heart.

Well, even though he possessed highland genetics, the altitude above 7500 meters at Gongga Mountain’s summit decreased his blood oxygen levels somewhat. His blood oxygen dropped to 94%.

Not even 95!

Li Younan couldn’t help but ponder, if this were climbing Mount Everest, wouldn’t his blood oxygen drop to around 90?

Of course, Li Younan wouldn’t share this mindset with others, especially seasoned climbers, risking a "Versailles" moment that could earn a beating.

Then, Li Younan stretched lazily, murmuring, "No wonder I feel a bit tired; it’s the blood oxygen dropping."

Li Younan had been here for a while, and decided to descend.

Just as he was getting up to head down, from another direction, two figures were slowly moving upward, appearing in his view, almost as if inching forward.

Li Younan blinked, showing a hint of confusion on his face.

On one hand, he was puzzled because the three-member climbing team that was supposedly ahead of him was now appearing from behind him. On the other hand, he wondered, there were three people before, but why are there only two people climbing up now?

And Li Younan immediately noticed that Zhao Liang’s expression and complexion were somewhat grim.

As for his companion, since he was wearing a mask, his expression was unknown, but judging from his eyes, he was also nearly at the physical breaking point.

Li Younan frowned.

...

Above an altitude of 6500 meters, encountering someone unconscious and not providing aid is almost an unspoken rule in the mountaineering community, unrelated to morality.

When Zhao Liang previously talked to Li Younan about this, they themselves had prepared mentally for the possibility that the person lying on the ground could be one of them.

Not long after climbing up, they realized that Ding Rui behind them hadn’t caught up.

Even so, Zhao Liang endured the physical pain and made a trip back.

At that moment, Ding Rui had almost completely lost consciousness, muttering only "oxygen... oxygen..." and even unable to utter these simple words later.

Zhao Liang felt his heart constantly sinking.

But there was no time for sadness, as only two choices lay before him: one was to stop here and call Ding Rui. In such an environment, if he really fell asleep, it would be the end; the second choice was to keep climbing — they had come so far, and stopping now would mean all their previous efforts were in vain.

However, the first choice could hardly be considered a choice.

From the moment Ding Rui lay down, it was already destined that no rescue team could possibly climb up here in such a high-altitude environment to carry Ding Rui down.

Even trying to bring oxygen up to save Ding Rui would involve great risks; it is simply impossible for anyone to do this.

To put it bluntly, even collecting a climber’s body at such an altitude would cost at least a million!

To rescue Ding Rui at this moment would require much more oxygen than one or two cans of mousse-packaged oxygen can provide.

So, in reality, they only had one choice, and that was to abandon Ding Rui and continue climbing.

When choosing the sport of mountaineering, every climber is already mentally prepared for this possibility.

When climbing those peaks, you can easily encounter people who collapsed in the process; their bodies do not decompose and will almost permanently remain there.

Each time he saw such scenes, Zhao Liang couldn’t help but think that he might also become one of them.

After seeing it often enough, one gradually becomes numb.

But unexpectedly, before he himself became one of those corpses, his brother instead...

Seeing that the two of them were in poor condition, Li Younan promptly moved toward them.

At this time, Zhao Liang was feeling very depressed, almost having lost the joy of reaching the summit, and his mind was somewhat numb. But when he looked up and saw someone dashing toward him, his brain couldn’t help but freeze for a moment —

Was this... a hallucination?

After finally climbing to the summit of Gongga Mountain, at an altitude of 7600 meters, there was someone up there! And they were running!?

A hallucination, it must be a hallucination!

However, before he could react, he heard Li Younan’s voice, "Where’s your other teammate?"

At this moment, Zhao Liang finally saw clearly who was approaching and was instantly as if he’d seen a ghost.

Isn’t this the solo climber who was following us and then got left behind?

...

Just a few minutes later, Li Younan had rapidly descended.

He naturally did not forget to bring along the two high-pressure oxygen cylinders.

After quickly hearing from Zhao Liang about Ding Rui’s situation, he set off without a second thought.

That was a living life!

As for the so-called rule of "not rescuing above 6500 meters" in the mountaineering community, Li Younan couldn’t care less.

For others, rescuing could likely put themselves at risk, and more importantly, they simply couldn’t save others.

But Li Younan, at this moment, had blood oxygen levels better than some of the coastal guys visiting Jiuzhaigou for tourism, thus having no such concerns.

While Zhao Liang and his team couldn’t survive on Gongga Mountain summit for a few hours, Li Younan, if willing, could stay here for a week without any problem as long as food and water were adequate, apart from feeling bored.

He could rely entirely on these two cans of oxygen to help Ding Rui raise his blood oxygen levels, awaken him, and then help him descend!

Although Zhao Liang took a long time to climb that section, the distance wasn’t very far.

And with Li Younan’s rapid descent, within less than 10 minutes, he had reached the spot Zhao Liang described.

Ding Rui lay on the ground, clearly long unconscious.