From humble beginnings to the pinnacle of life

One message after another, separated by thousands of kilometers and twenty days of being out of contact, filled with deep worry.

She knew perfectly well that there was no signal in the no-man's-land and that I wouldn't receive the messages, but she still persisted in sending them one by one.

Besides Su Qing, there were a few messages from her cousin, and two more from the club's owner.

I took a deep breath, calmed my turbulent emotions, and dialed Su Qing's number directly.

At this moment, the person I most want to contact is her.

The phone rang only twice before being answered almost immediately.

The receiver picked up Su Qing's trembling voice: "Hey? Lin Ye? Is that you? Your phone has a signal? Have you guys come out?"

The moment I heard her voice, I was overwhelmed with emotion, and tears welled up in my eyes once again.

It is the emotion of surviving a disaster, and the release of long-standing worries.

"It's me, Su Qing. We're out..."

As soon as I finished speaking, the other end of the phone suddenly went silent.

I tried feeding it several times, but all I heard from the receiver was crackling static; the signal dropped completely.

The one bar of signal that had finally appeared was too weak; it disappeared completely after driving just a short distance.

I was thinking about Su Qing and wanted to say a few more words to her.

But the most important thing right now is to hurry on our way; there's no time to take a detour and try our luck finding a signal.

The convoy continued forward, and strangely enough, the fatigue that had been weighing on me seemed to have mostly dissipated, so I unconsciously increased the speed a little.

Luo Peng's teasing voice quickly came through the walkie-talkie: "Hey Lin, you're in such a hurry, aren't you? You can't wait to get out of this no-man's-land, can you? Why are you driving faster and faster?"

I picked up the walkie-talkie and replied with a smile, "What, don't you want to get out sooner? Then drive slowly, Su Wan and I will go first and wait for you at the exit."

"No, no, no! We haven't even completely left the wasteland yet. If you leave me behind, even if you give me another twenty days, I'm not sure I can get out on my own!" Luo Peng shouted hurriedly.

Having survived a life-or-death ordeal, everyone was noticeably more relaxed, and Luo Peng suddenly became very talkative.

He paused, then asked into the walkie-talkie, "Hey, Brother Lin, Sister Wan, what's the first thing you want to do after we're completely out of the no-man's land?"

Without hesitation, I replied, "I don't want to think about anything else. I just want to get a good night's sleep."

Luo Peng laughed heartily: "I think exactly the same as you! I still want to eat my fill. In these twenty days, I estimate I've lost at least twenty pounds."

I deeply understand what you mean.

I can clearly feel that the waistband of my pants has loosened. Before, I could wear them without a belt, but now I have to tighten them.

For those who want to lose weight, a trip to the no-man's-land is more effective than any other weight loss method.

Luo Peng then asked Su Wan, "Sister Wan, what about you? What's the first thing you want to do after you get out?"

After a moment of silence on the walkie-talkie, Su Wan's usual calm voice slowly rang out: "Take a shower first, then get some sleep."

It turns out the three of us had similar ideas.

For the past twenty days, no one has had a good night's sleep.

Speaking of bathing, I only took a bath in a hot spring in the heart of the glacier about ten days ago.

Su Wan didn't take off her clothes at the time; she merely soaked them briefly, which hardly counted as washing.

They had endured wind and rain, sleeping outdoors, and were covered in dust and sweat; everyone was incredibly filthy.

We chatted as we drove, and as dusk fell, we finally saw the familiar asphalt road ahead.

We drove onto National Highway 109.

Although we were already on the national highway, this area was still on the edge of a no-man's land, and we could hardly see any other vehicles on the road.

I couldn't help but marvel at the impressive infrastructure in China; even in this remote wilderness, asphalt roads have been laid.

However, the road surface has been in disrepair for many years, with potholes and broken sections everywhere.

Even so, compared to the gravel and ice-covered dirt roads of the previous twenty days, this road is already better than I ever imagined.

As darkness fell completely, we found a sheltered spot to park and set up camp.

After a quick bite of dry rations, the three of them sat around the fire, gazing up at the dense array of stars overhead.

There is still no cell phone signal in this area at night, making it impossible to contact the outside world.

As I gazed at the starry sky, I wondered to myself if Su Qing was also looking at the same night sky at that moment.

I don't know if she heard me say I was safe before the call was cut off.

But as long as she hears my voice, she should understand that we are not far from leaving the no-man's land.

After a night's rest, we did a quick inventory and clean up the remaining supplies in the vehicle.

The next morning, the three vehicles continued their journey along National Highway 109.

With improved road conditions and barely contained excitement, we naturally increased our speed.

The endless barren Gobi Desert slowly receded into the distance, with scattered vegetation sprouting along the roadside, and herds of yaks even visible on the distant hillsides.

The moment I saw the yak, I knew in my heart that there were already herders here, and the real life of ordinary people was getting closer and closer to us.

We barely stopped to rest all day.

Apart from stopping to eat or get off the bus to relieve themselves, the rest of the time was spent on the road.

After spending twenty consecutive days seeing the wilderness and glaciers, even the most magnificent scenery becomes tiresome.

We have no time to appreciate the scenery; we just want to see signs of human habitation soon.

Just then, several car horns sounded in the distance.

This was just an ordinary car horn sound.

For a full twenty days, in the desolate no-man's-land, we never heard any sounds belonging to the human world.

The moment I heard that voice, my heart skipped a beat, and I felt an extraordinary sense of warmth and familiarity with it.

The further you go, the more obvious the traces of human activity become.

You can still see some temporary stone houses built by herders by the roadside, and even the air seems to smell better.

We drove over 200 kilometers in one day.

This is simply impossible deep in the no-man's-land; a maximum of 100 kilometers a day is already the limit.

This was also the last night we pitched our tents on this trip to the no-man's-land, and we took out all the food we had left in the car.

After saving food for tomorrow, we planned to eat the rest.

For the past twenty days, we haven't dared to eat too much. Everyone has set a limit on their portion size, and we haven't had a single meal where we were full.

But to my surprise, I couldn't eat it at all, because the smell of the dry food made me lose my appetite.

But it was this unpalatable food that sustained us through the no-man's-land.

It rained that night, but for those of us who had experienced blizzards, it was nothing.

On the contrary, sleeping in the tent and listening to the rain hitting the tent became a way to fall asleep.

When I woke up in the morning, the sky had already cleared up.

Even more unexpectedly, two rainbows appeared in the sky.

The air was clean and there were no obstructions in the uninhabited area, so the two rainbows were very clear.

It was breathtaking, just as breathtaking as the golden sunrise we saw on the Purogangri Glacier.

These are two different distinctions; the rainbow at this moment is more like a victory welcoming us after a long journey through wind and rain.

I took out my phone to capture the moment, ate a quick breakfast, and continued on my way.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we should be able to completely leave the no-man's-land and return to the civilized world this afternoon.