Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

Chapter 337 - 148: Overtaking the Predecessors? [First Update!]

So far, Li Younan has felt that climbing up to here has been too easy, so easy that he once doubted he hadn’t yet reached the truly difficult part.

The point Li Younan hasn’t grasped is... he is actually a master with level two climbing skills.

For someone at his level, a 90-degree angle is called a wall, and an 89-degree angle is called a slope.

Whether it’s 90 degrees or 180 degrees, or even larger angles, theoretically, as long as there’s a place to leverage, it can be climbed.

Of course, Li Younan wouldn’t deliberately set obstacles for himself by forcing his way to find those high-difficulty cliffs to climb.

But with such abilities, the mountain in front of him is hard to make him feel "this is difficult" in any way.

This is the effect of multiple skills stacked together; if he only had a mountaineering skill or solely a high-altitude lineage, he wouldn’t be able to achieve this level.

Only after Zhao Liang and the other three climbed that steep slope did Li Younan head toward that position.

After a while, Li Younan also arrived there; he observed this slope for a moment.

In terms of angle, it’s indeed intimidating but not to the point where one would feel it’s impossible to climb.

One doesn’t even need climbing techniques to get up this slope.

The only difficulty is that the altitude here is nearly 7,000 meters.

Li Younan glanced at his watch; it was showing over 6,800 meters.

At such an altitude, slopes that normally don’t seem difficult can cause oxygen deficiency if high-intensity climbing methods are needed.

Besides, the slope is covered with a thick and solid layer of snow.

However, judging by the traces left by Ding Rui, it seems even without the use of crampons, one can climb up. Li Younan stood here observing for a while, confirmed there were no other paths nearby, and then began trying to climb up.

Earlier, Zhao Liang and the others confirmed with their experience that there was no risk of collapse here, but Li Younan still climbed very cautiously, secretly deciding that if any abnormal movement occurred, he would immediately return.

The system’s predictive ability didn’t make him feel any danger, so while trying, Li Younan climbed up without any unexpected issues.

After climbing this section, there was another slightly gentler slope ahead, where he could see the other guys again.

Li Younan didn’t rush to continue climbing; instead, he took out his selfie stick and sports camera to continue recording the scenery.

He also brought binoculars; standing at this spot, he could gaze toward the peaks in other directions.

Light paths are reversible; just as people stood at the viewing platform suitable for watching Gongga Mountain and looked this way, Li Younan also treated those people as scenery.

The air here was almost free of impurities, allowing for a very long view.

With binoculars, Li Younan noticed ant-like silhouettes at the pass in the distance; standing on the peak watching them was indeed a unique experience.

After capturing video footage, Li Younan then took out a camera. Though not usually fond of photographing scenery, he stood here attempting to capture the nearby mountains from multiple angles.

After fussing around for quite a while, he leisurely packed up his gear, planning to continue climbing a bit further.

He checked the blood oxygen monitor’s reading; at such a high altitude, Li Younan’s blood oxygen was still above 95%.

For a moment, Li Younan was a bit surprised, sighing that this system truly was an extraordinary assist.

Though the skills given to him didn’t contain any supernatural elements, they were certainly world-shocking, world-class.

The blood oxygen monitor was based on photoplethysmography scanning techniques. Although there were errors, it could generally monitor health fairly accurately. This made Li Younan increasingly confident.

Onward.

At this time, a crosswind swept ahead, blowing snow across the sightline, completely blocking those silhouettes from view.

The wind, filled with snow, became something traceable, appearing quite awe-inspiring.

Yet, in this moment, Li Younan felt no fear, only an appreciation for the magnificent natural scenery.

...

Zhao Liang and his team had to stop once more.

The altitude at their position had now reached an astounding 7,200 meters, with less than 400 meters remaining to reach the summit.

After climbing the steep slope earlier, they had successively climbed several places of considerable difficulty, but overall, it was fairly safe.

However, standing before them was an unexpected obstacle.

An ice crevasse nearly perpendicular to the ground, about three people’s width, not very deep, but standing several meters high breached their path. As it was their first time on this route and not many had climbed Gongga Mountain before, there was little experience to draw from, leaving them unsure of what strategy to take.

On level ground, the three would hardly hesitate to simultaneously choose to enter the crevasse and climb up from the rock face, as that would be the shortest route.

But in their current state, they could never support such high-intensity movement; should their bodies become oxygen-deprived, death would be near.

They remained silent for a while, until Ding Rui took the initiative to break the awkward atmosphere: "Brother Zhao, you decide."

After pausing, Zhao Liang finally said decisively, "Take a detour."

In that choice lay a hint of helplessness, but it was utterly resolute.

Truth be told, he wasn’t sure exactly where to detour.

Yet he knew clearly that climbing from here was impossible given their current state.

No one had objections, and they began searching for a new path to the side.

After some time of this struggle, Ding Rui felt his head growing increasingly painful, began to uncontrollably emit low howls.

Every step was accompanied by a roar, as if each voice pouring from his lungs was battling against impossible natural limits and lives past.

The states of the other two weren’t much better.

They climbed without oxygen tanks, relying solely on their bodies.

Slowly, they realized why Gongga Mountain was a peak harder to conquer than Mount Everest.

Nearing the summit of Mount Everest, especially along Nepal’s southern slope, most areas had slopes of only forty or fifty degrees, requiring no climbing skills.

Theoretically, having oxygen and legs sufficed to climb up.

So, previously there was a person with no legs who climbed to the summit of Mount Everest with prosthetics and continuous oxygen supply, and it became news for a while.

But on Gongga Mountain, that is absolutely impossible.

The potential obstacles on the route are far too many, some of which are even tough challenges at lower altitudes, let alone in such an extreme environment.

The extreme oxygen deprivation also slowed everyone’s brain down. Ding Rui was now practically moving forward on instinct.

His mind was getting increasingly muddled. After walking for a bit in a haze, he suddenly forgot why he was heading in that direction.

At this moment, he heard a faint voice from far, far away: "Ding Rui... Ding Rui..."

The voice grew louder and closer in his ears, and suddenly, he jolted awake.

Zhao Liang’s loud shout jolted him back to reality.

He stared blankly at Zhao Liang.

Zhao Liang asked loudly, "Are you still okay?"

Ding Rui grunted, the sound coming from deep within, low and hoarse like that of an ox.

Zhao Liang looked at the slope ahead.

The slope was at a 75-degree angle or steeper, impossible to climb without an ice axe.

But there were several grooves extending along the slope, allowing one to place their feet in the grooves and climb up slowly with their body against the slope.

Once they climbed over this, it would be a smooth 200 meters to the top.

"Almost there, almost at the summit.!"

A journey of a hundred miles starts at ninety.

But right now, this is the only obstacle, and it must be overcome no matter what.

Zhao Liang was in the best condition and said, "I’ll go first, you follow me."

He equipped an ice axe and spiked boots, thrust the axe into the thick ice slope, pressed his body against the ice wall, and began to climb up.

Ding Rui was the last to climb.

In his view, his two teammates had already started moving up, but his brain had a temporary crash.

For a moment, his thoughts were disjointed: Where was he? What was he doing? He was in a daze before he snapped back to reality.

He then unhooked the crampons from his back, preparing to put them on his shoes. Just as he bent down, a strong sense of dizziness hit him.

Breathing heavily, he slowly squatted down... and couldn’t get back up again.

The figures of his two teammates gradually disappeared from his sight.

He struggled to make a sound from his throat, unclear how loud it was, as if so small, yet as if using all his strength. Deafening.

At this moment, there was a slight sweetness in his throat, as if he could feel the sunshine on the back of his head, warm, and the last trace of clarity... was slowly fading away.

...

At this time, Li Younan stood before the glacier crevasse, a hint of confusion and inquiry in his gaze.

He leaned in, standing at the bottom of the crevasse, looking upwards.

Inside the crevasse, there were many exposed rocks, making it unviable to rely solely on crampons and ice axes; certain rock climbing skills were necessary to ascend.

For Li Younan, it was, of course, no issue.

His curiosity lay in... given the speed of those people, if they climbed one after another, there’s no reason to climb that fast.

In this moment, Li Younan even felt a bit of admiration.

Perhaps, he had underestimated them.

Although he had a system, there were plenty of people without such a system who could also climb Gongga Mountain.

After thinking for a moment, if they could climb so fast, it indicated there should be no risk of collapse.

Upon his assessment, this was roughly his conclusion regarding this area’s condition.

Comparatively, for Li Younan, this was almost the most risky spot along the whole climb.

But it didn’t count as a challenge.

Though unexpected possibilities were nearly non-existent for him, he hesitated slightly.

He exited the glacier crevasse, took several photos with his phone, recorded a bit with a camera, and gazed down at the other mountains beneath Gongga Mountain, which seemed to prostrate like submissive subjects. He sighed softly, "Alright, since I’m here..."

After packing his photography equipment, he re-entered the glacier crevasse and began climbing up.

The beneficial part of a glacier crevasse is that there’s no crosswind blowing through.

It actually felt quite comfortable.

Disregarding the high-altitude oxygen deprivation, it was actually safer inside.

After a dozen minutes, an ice axe rose from below the rock, firmly embedded into the ice wall.

Li Younan then poked his head out.

He looked around, finding himself in quite a flat position.

In no time, he climbed up to the flat surface.

Looking towards the summit, only a gentle slope of two to three hundred meters remained.

Next, there would hardly be any unexpected events to reach the summit.

However, at this time, his expression grew even more perplexed—

Where were the three people in front walking?