Chapter 99: The Crisis Approaches

Qin Yun glanced at his blood oxygen monitor; his blood oxygen saturation had reached 95%.

Even with Sherpa adaptation abilities, the low-oxygen environment at this altitude had significantly lowered his blood oxygen saturation.

At just over six thousand meters it was already this bad—he doubted he could summit Mount Zhufeng without oxygen; it was probably impossible.

As he thought this, he did not immediately choose to descend; having come this far, he naturally wanted to fully enjoy the view from the summit—otherwise, leaving right after completing the task would be too dull.

Whether because he had summited or for some other reason, the snowstorm had quietly ceased, the sky had turned a deep blue, and the visibility was excellent, filling him with a sense of spacious serenity.

As for the system's previous reward, Qin Yun hadn't given it much thought.

Compared to other skills, a mere language ability seemed unfitting for this check-in task.

After all, he already spoke English and Chinese; other languages were merely minor ones with few opportunities for use.

He felt this reward was even inferior to his erhu skill.

……

Early in the morning, Wu Lei and the other three members of the Peak Climbers Alliance began their ascent first, tackling the stretch from C1 to C2; half an hour later, Yang Jia's Storm Climbing Team also set out.

But since Storm Climbing Team was merely attempting the climb, they soon encountered difficulties—not because Yang Jia couldn't continue, but because two other team members had begun to lose strength and showed symptoms of altitude sickness.

If it had been just one person, sending them down would've been fine; but with two in succession, Yang Jia had no choice but to abandon this attempt on Yaomei Peak.

She led the rest back to C1 camp, then seized the right moment to return to base camp for rest.

Seeing the tent at base camp, Yang Jia hesitated, but couldn't resist her curiosity.

"Hello, I'm Yang Jia, captain of Storm Climbing Team. Can we talk?"

Han Wei opened the tent and invited Yang Jia in, then saw the phone in her hand, with the howling wind and snow coming through the speaker.

Then a voice rang out: Damn, it's snowing.

Han Wei quickly grabbed the phone, looked at the screen, and her heart sank; her face turned grim.

Yang Jia's gaze fell on the phone, instantly recognizing the figure on screen—a blurred shadow in the snowstorm, like something from a movie.

Yang Jia's heart trembled; she couldn't help asking: "He… he's really going to challenge Yaomei Peak alone?"

Han Wei didn't respond, her eyes fixed rigidly on the screen.

Yang Jia didn't mind; her attention was also drawn to the livestream.

"Brothers, under these conditions, I must keep going. Though returning to C2 seems safer, it's easier to go up than down—I have no choice."

Just hearing the livestream's voice, Yang Jia's eyes filled with disbelief. From her climbing experience, this kind of snowstorm was extremely dangerous.

She thought the Peak Climbers Alliance would likely retreat the same way they came, but the man on screen was pressing forward.

Most importantly, this man had no protective gear at all—was he even human?

It completely overturned her understanding of climbing.

In every previous climb, she had prepared meticulously, ensuring perfection from within and without—nothing like Qin Yun, who treated it like a casual stroll.

Yang Jia glanced unconsciously at the top-right corner of the phone; when she saw the number of viewers in the livestream, her pupils contracted slightly.

She pulled out her own phone and checked—it had no signal; clearly, Han Wei's connection wasn't using her phone's data.

"Miss Han, this is far too dangerous. Can you contact him? In this storm, even one mistake could…"

Yang Jia didn't finish, but the implication was obvious.

Han Wei heard her, several times wanting to post a comment in the livestream, but each time she held back; at this moment, the man on screen likely couldn't even see her comment—and it might interfere with his decision.

Seeing Han Wei say nothing, Yang Jia let out a faint sigh and fell silent.

The two women watched the screen, saying nothing.

Meanwhile, hundreds of meters below Qin Yun, on the north face's ice wall, four figures were trapped.

Under the raging wind and snow, Wu Lei and the Peak Climbers Alliance hung motionless against the wall, afraid to move even slightly, fearing they might lose their balance.

Wu Lei and his three companions were all experienced climbers who had attempted this before many times.

The first time, a rockfall on the ice avalanche fan injured one member, forcing them to withdraw.

The second time, an unexpected avalanche forced them to abandon the climb.

The third and fourth times, they encountered physical deterioration on the route after C1.

Now, this was their fifth attempt; the Peak Climbers Alliance had prepared extensively.

So far, with sufficient oxygen supply, none of them had suffered physical issues; if they maintained this, they believed they could successfully pass the 5600-meter checkpoint.

But now…

The gale raged, snow swirled.

In this hostile environment, Wu Lei's heart sank to the bottom.

Through the radio, he said: "Xia Cuo, Song Bin, Cao Jinmin—report your statuses."

Xia Cuo spoke first: "Captain Wu, my first high-pressure oxygen tank still has three-fifths left—plenty. My physical condition is good, blood oxygen saturation at 96%."

Then Song Bin and Cao Jinmin each reported their statuses—all excellent, no issues caused by the sudden snowstorm.

Wu Lei hung on the ice wall, torn; he didn't know when the wind and snow would stop, so whether to go up or down was a painful dilemma.

Compared to continuing upward, descending was clearly the safer option—but Wu Lei felt that if they turned back now, it would mean another failed attempt on Yaomei Peak.

How could he accept that?

Beyond these concerns, Wu Lei also worried about another matter—the body's test under altitude.

Climbing this ice wall, the sustained physical exertion and heart rate fluctuations, even with oxygen, could easily trigger severe altitude sickness.

Anyone who regularly climbs high peaks knows that prolonged exposure at high altitude renders oxygen useless; human tolerance to hypoxia has its limits.

Finally, Wu Lei made a decision.

"Rest here and wait for the storm to pass. If it hasn't cleared in one hour, we abandon."

The word "abandon" came out of Wu Lei's mouth hoarsely—he knew this decision was agonizing.

Xia Cuo and the others were subdued; among them, Cao Jinmin felt his heart rate accelerating.

During a break, Xia Cuo suddenly remembered Qin Yun, who had climbed up ahead of them.

He didn't know how far Qin Ge had gotten—maybe he'd given up and descended from another side.

Before they realized it, more than half an hour had passed, yet the four of them felt as if each day dragged on like a year.

But the snowstorm showed no sign of letting up.

The longer time passed, the greater the pressure became.

Cao Jinmin began to feel a throbbing pain in his head, coming in waves, like needles pricking him.

Fortunately, they had oxygen tanks; otherwise, such obvious altitude sickness would have pushed his body to its limit rapidly.

But now, what had been occasional oxygen use became continuous, pushing oxygen consumption to a peak.

Cao Jinmin's face grew grim—he knew that if things continued like this, he wouldn't be able to go on.

Yet giving up felt unbearable, and each time he opened his mouth to speak, he forcibly swallowed the words back.

As time passed, he lowered his oxygen tank several times, trying to conserve it, but each such action made his mind sluggish.

Another half hour passed; Wu Lei quietly sighed and decided to abandon this attempt to climb Yaomei Peak.

As team leader, he had to be responsible for his team members' lives.

Just as he was about to speak, a sudden "crash—crack!" echoed from above.

Wu Lei's face changed instantly; he pressed himself flat against the cliff face and shouted into the radio: "Watch out—rockfall!"

Xia Cuo and Song Bin quickly pressed against the wall, pulling their heads deep into the recesses of protruding rocks.

"Sssssss—!"

The sound drew nearer; stones of varying sizes scraped past their faces and plummeted rapidly downward.

Cao Jinmin's sluggish mind couldn't react in time—a rock struck his head squarely.

"Bang—!"

His limbs gripping the ice wall instantly loosened, and his entire body plunged downward.

Wu Lei, Song Bin, and Xia Cuo all felt the rope yank taut with sudden force.

Wu Lei's face turned pale: "What happened?"

They were separated by dozens of meters—especially Wu Lei and Cao Jinmin at the rear, thirty meters apart, invisible to the naked eye.

Xia Cuo, positioned third, looked down and saw a swaying figure hanging motionless in midair.

The sight terrified Xia Cuo.

He cried out: "Captain, it's bad—Brother Jinmin might've been hit by a rock. He's probably unconscious."

Fear flashed in Wu Lei's eyes, but he didn't hesitate—he shouted: "Song Bin, Xia Cuo, find a new suitable spot to set anchor points."

On Yaomei Peak, there are no permanent bolt anchors—climbers must establish their own anchor points and build rope systems themselves.

Wu Lei's meaning was clear: they had to abandon the old rope system and construct a new one.

Without hesitation, the three immediately began working.

Soon after, their climbing harnesses were reattached to new main carabiners.

Wu Lei slowly descended; when he saw the dangling figure, his heart sank to the bottom.

"Cao Jinmin is done."

It was the only thought in his mind.

At this height, in this brutal environment, they had no means to rescue anyone.

Without rescue, before Cao Jinmin's blood oxygen levels kept dropping, his body would rapidly reach its limit—death was imminent.

"Cap… Captain, what do we do now?" Song Bin's voice was heavy; as an experienced mountaineer, he knew all too well what Cao Jinmin might face.

Precisely because he knew, he couldn't remain indifferent.

For now, they faced a life-or-death decision.

"Descend. Immediately. This storm won't stop anytime soon."

Wu Lei gritted his teeth—he knew this attempt had failed again, and with this, it was his fifth failure.

Five failed attempts—he no longer believed he'd ever get another chance to climb Yaomei Peak.

Because now, one life had been added to the tally.

What about rescue?

Impossible. Above five thousand meters, there are no rescue teams.

Thin oxygen, extreme cold, unpredictable weather—professionals struggle to adapt, let alone rescue personnel.

Unless you're of immense value, he remembered how last time someone on Yaomei Peak was caught in a snow-ice avalanche; countless resources were deployed, yet they never even recovered the body.

So the moment he learned Cao Jinmin's condition, Wu Lei made an instant decision: abandon the route and retreat.

Immediately, the three began descending toward Camp C1.

But after what had just happened, all three of their conditions had changed, to varying degrees.

Besides Wu Lei, both Xia Cuo and Song Bin now felt headaches too; fortunately, since they were preparing to retreat, they didn't need to conserve oxygen—once altitude sickness began affecting them, they immediately strapped the oxygen masks to their faces.

Going up was easy; coming down was hard. What should've taken an hour took over an hour and a half.

And just as they reached Camp C1, the snowstorm quietly ceased—a ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds.