Chapter 82: A Fan's Plea for Help

After exchanging contact info with Zhao Yajun and Li Xintian, Qin Yun saw them back to their hotel, then booked a room for himself, planning to rest for a day before heading off.

After a shower, he collapsed onto the bed, and in no time at all the sound of snoring filled the room.

Meanwhile, in Zhao Yajun and Li Xintian's room, the two of them lay on their respective beds scrolling through their phones, chatting idly.

"Yajun, so are we still going to do our internship when we get back?"

Li Xintian asked suddenly, hugging her phone.

Zhao Yajun had just reached the canyon and didn't even look up: "Internship? Don't we need the internship stamp? Let's get the stamp first, then we'll talk."

Saying that, she glanced up at Li Xintian: "What is it? Seeing how successful Qin Ye's self-media is, are you really thinking of going down that path?"

Li Xintian's face showed a conflicted expression, looking rather unsure of herself: "I've had the thought, but the moment I think about all the filming, editing, copywriting planning and so on that self-media requires, and that one person has to handle it all, it gives me a headache."

The moment her words fell, Zhao Yajun's phone chimed: You have been slain.

A flicker of annoyance crossed her face, then she said: "What's the big deal? If you really want to do it, I'll help you. I can be a singing streamer on the side — who knows, maybe I'll make it big someday too."

Li Xintian immediately crawled over from her own bed: "You're really willing to help me?"

"Of course. If you went looking for someone else, I wouldn't feel easy about it." Zhao Yajun rolled her eyes, saw her hero had respawned, and immediately tailed behind the minions again, running toward the crystal tower.

"Then it's settled — we'll do short videos together. As for the internship stamp, leave it to me. My cousin runs a company in Hangzhou, I can get him to stamp it."

"Fine, whatever you decide."

……

Qin Yun woke up and found it was already past nine at night. He'd slept a full eight hours, his body had recovered to peak condition, and his energy felt like it was about to spill over.

When ordinary people enter society, if they don't pay attention to managing their bodies, they gradually lose their vitality. Many people probably haven't experienced that youthful feeling of waking up, stretching, and being bursting with energy in a long time.

All that's left is a groggy, heavy-headed feeling, needing time and external stimulation to slowly come back to life — the most obvious sign of sub-health.

Qin Yun used to be the same, but ever since getting the check-in task system, he was now full of energy every moment of the day, radiating positivity.

After washing up, he noticed a bunch of new messages on his phone. But what caught his attention was a message from Feng Liu Jie Han Wei.

【Qin Ye, do you know how to mountaineer?】

Qin Yun thought for a moment. With all the skills he now possessed, although he didn't have a mountaineering skill, his rock-climbing ability combined with a Sherpa's acclimatization was more than enough to handle the vast majority of extreme mountaineering conditions.

So he neither confirmed nor denied it, simply replying: "Just woke up. Is there something you need help with regarding mountaineering?"

On the 30th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center, inside a company called Qiyuan Capital, Han Wei was tidying up her things in the office, getting ready to leave work.

Although it was already nine at night, looking out the window, the entire Lujiazui was still ablaze with lights, and the vast majority of the buildings still had their interior lights on.

Just then, the phone on the desk buzzed.

Seeing who had sent the message, Han Wei immediately picked up the phone.

"Qin Ye, is it convenient to talk on the phone?"

The moment that message was sent, the WeChat call screen popped up, and Han Wei tapped to answer.

"Qin Ye?"

"Feng Liu Jie, hello, this is Qin Yun."

Han Wei walked over to a sofa and sat down, crossing her legs — her long legs wrapped in black stockings looked incredibly alluring.

"Qin Ye, just call me Han Wei or Weiwei. All my friends call me that."

"Alright then, Han Wei it is." Facing his generous patron, Qin Yun was all warmth: "You asked about mountaineering — is there something going on? I just woke up."

Han Wei laughed: "Qin Ye, today's livestream was amazing — you were even more impressive than the top skiers."

"Hahaha, you're too kind." Qin Yun said modestly.

The two chatted casually for a while, sharing bits of fun from their own lives, before Han Wei finally got to the real reason for her call.

"Qin Ye, a while back a close friend of mine told me something. I suddenly remembered it yesterday, so I messaged you."

Qin Yun asked, puzzled: "What is it?"

Han Wei's tone grew slightly grave: "Qin Ye, do you know Mount Gongga?"

"Mount Gongga?" Qin Yun searched his memory, then said hesitantly, "The one in Ganzi, Sichuan? The King of Shu Mountains?"

Han Wei nodded: "Mm. The northeast ridge of Mount Gongga, at 7,556 meters above sea level, is the deadliest mountaineering route in the country — a fatality rate of 60% to 90%. To date, there are only two recorded summits."

Qin Yun put his phone on speaker, then went online to search, and within a short while had a basic understanding of the northeast ridge route Han Wei had mentioned.

"But that's not the route I wanted to talk about."

Han Wei suddenly changed the subject, catching Qin Yun completely off guard. He stared blankly, thinking to himself, 'Big sis, if you weren't going to talk about that, why bring it up?'

Then Han Wei's voice continued through the phone: "What I want to talk about is Mount Yaomei, also in Sichuan. Although it's only 6,250 meters and its fatality rate isn't as high as Mount Gongga's, it's still ranked the fourth hardest mountaineering route in the country."

"My friend's older sister is a mountaineering—"

As Han Wei laid it out, Qin Yun gradually grew serious.

The story was simple. Han Wei friend's older sister was someone who couldn't sit still. Her family had plenty of money, didn't need her to inherit the business, and all she had to do was live happily every day and enjoy life.

Over time, she got hooked on all sorts of activities.

At first it was just road-tripping everywhere, taking in the magnificent scenery of the motherland. But after seeing enough, she grew bored and started seeking thrills — that's how she got into the outdoors.

Because she had money and connections, she easily got access to professional teams. As time went on, she became addicted to adventuring all over the world — wherever was dangerous, that's where she went.

She'd been to primeval forests, deserts, the open sea…

Later, she fell in love with mountaineering, wanting to conquer peak after peak. From the beginner-level Mount Siguniang, to Mount Tianger, Mount Altun, then Mount Bogda, Mount Lhotse…

The difficulty kept growing, and she became more and more professional.

As the saying goes, it's usually the skilled swimmer who drowns. And also: walk by the river often enough, and your shoes will get wet.

One day, she told her family she was going to climb Mount Yaomei in Sichuan. After she left, she never came back. The mountaineering team had eight people in total; only three returned. The other five vanished on Mount Yaomei.

"Vanished" was just a nicer way of putting it — it basically meant death.

Qin Yun asked: "And then? Your friend doesn't want to accept that her sister is dead?"

Han Wei shook her head: "No. She wants to go to Mount Yaomei, to follow in her sister's footsteps until she reaches the point where her sister couldn't go any further."

Qin Yun was speechless on the spot. He had just looked it up — the Yaomei Peak Base Camp is at 4,000 meters, and although the Dengshan distance is only a little over two thousand meters, going from Base Camp to C1 Camp requires crossing an ice plateau region.

If one were just an ordinary person, the most they could probably do is walk from Mount Siguniang Town to Yaomei Peak Base Camp; continuing further, the difficulty shoots straight up, and it's definitely not something an ordinary person could handle.

"Then doesn't she know how difficult the Dengshan of Yaomei Peak is?"

Han Wei didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "How could she not know? But knowledge gained from paper always feels shallow — without experiencing it firsthand, she definitely can't imagine the difficulties involved. Still, she's been working out all year to prepare for the Dengshan. It's just that starting in June, she's been looking for a Dengshan team willing to take her, and not a single one has agreed."

"Then there you have it." Qin Yun chuckled, "Better give up that idea early on. If she insists on going, just have your Miss pay a big sum — surely some professional Dengshan team would be willing to take her."

"That's the problem." Han Wei set her right leg down, stood up, and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window, her expression complicated. "Her family is quite powerful. After her family found out about this, several well-known Dengshan teams were all notified."

Qin Yun was somewhat unable to understand: "A living person is worth more than a dead one, right? Does someone have to get hurt before it works? Then why are you telling me about this Dengshan thing — you don't actually want me to take her up Yaomei Peak, do you?"

Although he hadn't specifically gone to challenge himself in Dengshan, given his current physical fitness and professional training, he wouldn't feel the slightest bit of fear.

"It can't really be called Dengshan either. She actually knows her own limits — she just wants to walk along her sister's footsteps, and once she reaches the point where she can't go on, she'll come back."

"Why so obsessed?" Qin Yun couldn't understand. "If she really wants to go, she can just go herself — the stretch from Mount Siguniang Town to Base Camp isn't dangerous at all."

"Because before her sister left, the two of them had a huge fight, and she even said a lot of hurtful things."

Qin Yun took a deep breath, didn't hesitate much, and refused directly: "Sorry, I'm not a professional in Dengshan. Even if I were, I wouldn't dare take an ordinary person up there."

Hearing this, Han Wei's expression showed a hint of disappointment, but she didn't say anything: "Mm, I know, I was just asking — don't take it to heart. But my Miss isn't someone who gives up easily. She said even if Master Qin refuses, it's fine — she'll keep looking for a Dengshan team willing to take her."

Qin Yun shook his head inwardly. Clearly, Han Wei's Miss wasn't willing to stop at Yaomei Peak Base Camp — in fact, the other party might very well have already been there, only to be turned back by the glacier transition section.

After hanging up the phone, Qin Yun didn't take it to heart.

He went out, contacted Zhao Yajun and Li Xintian, and the three of them went out for late-night snacks.

"Master Qin, what are the plans going forward? Where are we streaming next?" Zhao Yajun ate lamb skewers while chugging beer.

Qin Yun shook his head: "Nothing decided yet. We'll wander around and see. If we run into a suitable situation, we'll stream; if not, we won't."

He couldn't be bothered to just open a stream and chat — he was too lazy for that.

"I see a lot of people in the comments section hoping you'll continue doing wilderness survival."

He had noticed that too. To be honest, he was quite interested, but if things go smoothly, he'll be joining a wilderness survival show crew in January, so there's no need for similar content in the short term.

Unless it's somewhere different from forests, rainforests, that sort of thing!

"Streaming isn't the goal — travel is." Qin Yun smiled. "Like this time I came to Jinhua; coming to Pan'an to stream skiing was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, I didn't plan it specifically."

Li Xintian looked at him enviously: "That sounds really nice."

After eating and drinking their fill, the three of them walked around outside for a while late into the night, then each returned to their hotel rooms.

Qin Yun organized all the video footage and uploaded it to Fang Nan's company's cloud drive. Checking the time, it was already 2:30 AM.

Although he wasn't sleepy, he still chose to lie on the bed and forced himself to close his eyes.

But after sleeping for a while, he suddenly sat up.

"Rich, powerful, female — could the Miss Han Wei mentioned actually be herself?"