Mastering the Sword Manual, sweeping across the globe

Pulling it back won't help.

It was still cold, it was still hungry, and the wind still blew in through my collar, like a dull blade sawing back and forth across my heart.

It's ironic, really.

Lin Xiaotang came for the name "Wushan Dragon Ridge". It is a ridge line in the hinterland of Cangwu Mountain that connects Wushan and Taiyi Mountain. In the hiking community, it is called the "graduation line", which means that after completing this line, you can graduate from being a novice.

She wasn't an experienced hiker; she just watched too many short videos and saw others filming seas of clouds, sunrises, rock formations, and meadows, and felt that she would be missing out if she didn't see them in person.

Just then, someone started forming a team online, so Lin Xiaotang signed up.

The team leader, nicknamed Old K, was in his early thirties. He introduced himself as having hiked this route for the third time, having successfully completed the first two attempts.

She checked online and found that this person had indeed posted two time-travel stories. The photos were beautiful, the guides were detailed, and the comments section was full of people calling him a "master".

Lin Xiaotang felt that following this kind of person would prevent any trouble.

The entire route is at an altitude of over 3,000 meters, requiring crossing more than a dozen mountains. Most of the route is uninhabited, with no supply points or cell phone signals, making rescue extremely difficult. The climate is also notorious for its "four seasons in one day and different weather every ten miles," with clear skies one moment and blizzards and gales the next.

Several years ago, relevant departments explicitly prohibited unauthorized crossings, and management stations and barbed wire fences were set up along the route.

Everyone who takes this route tries to find loopholes, either sneaking in through unmarked paths before dawn or bypassing checkpoints by climbing over barbed wire.

Old K said he had a safe route.

We went into the mountains at six in the morning.

As dawn broke, Old K led them uphill from the direction of Tangkou Village. When they passed the management station, everyone switched their phones to airplane mode to avoid being detected and to avoid trouble.

Lin Xiaotang felt a little awkward doing this, but seeing that no one else said anything, she followed suit.

Seven people, four men and three women.

Old K is the team leader, and there's another guy in the team called Old Ghost, who is said to have traveled through the Wolf Tower, Wusun, and Locke routes and has more experience than Old K.

The other two men were a pair of friends who came together. They weren't very brave. Lin Xiaotang remembered that one of them kept saying, "Won't this fog cause trouble?" as soon as they started climbing the mountain. The other replied, "Don't fucking jinx it."

The weather was indeed nice in the morning, so nice that Lin Xiaotang thought those terrifying legends about Fog Mountain were just scares.

Sunlight shone on the meadow, and the distant stone sea gleamed grayish-white against the blue sky.

Old K walked quickly ahead, while Old Gui followed behind, occasionally commenting on the road conditions with a composed tone that suggested he had seen it all.

After lunch, Lin Xiaotang noticed that Lao Gui started looking frequently in the northwest direction.

She looked in that direction and saw a small patch of cloud on the horizon, grayish-white with a hint of dark blue. It wasn't large, but its shape was off, as if someone had pressed it down from above, slowly pushing it downwards.

Old K saw it too.

He stopped, planted his trekking pole on the ground, remained silent for a few seconds, and then spoke: "The weather might change... My suggestion is to turn back the way we came. Weather forecasts are unreliable at this altitude, and things could change at any time."

Lin Xiaotang remembered that when he said this, his face was expressionless, but his voice was a little more tense than before.

The two timid teammates almost immediately seconded the idea.

Just as Lin Xiaotang was about to raise her hand to say that she also wanted to go back, Lao Gui spoke first.

“Going back now is definitely the safest option, but,” he said, hands on his hips, catching his breath, “I’ve saved up this vacation and climbed all this way, it would be a shame to give up halfway. Lao Junping is just two kilometers ahead, it’s sheltered from the wind and the terrain is flat, so why don’t we rest there first and see how the weather goes? If the weather really changes, we can retreat from Lao Junping in time.”

Laojunping is a traditional rest stop. It is located at an altitude of just over 2,000 meters. The terrain is flat, sheltered from the wind, and close to water sources, making it one of the few relatively safe locations on the entire trekking route.

Lin Xiaotang had read travel guides online before setting off and remembered the name of this place.

Old Gui speaks with an unwavering certainty that's hard to refute. As he speaks, he pulls out his phone and swipes a few times, showing the others the route map, as if everything is under control.

In the end, four people remained: Lao Gui, Lin Xiaotang, and two men, one named A Jun and the other named Da Liu.

Old K led the other two men back.

Two hours.

From the breakup to the sudden change of events, only two hours had passed.

The idea of ​​"going to Laojunping first" that Lao Gui mentioned went wrong right from the start.

The break occurred silently, as if some link in the chain of fate had quietly snapped.

First, the sky suddenly darkened, as if someone had drawn a thick gray curtain across the sky. The visibility around them gradually decreased, and the wind rushed in from behind the mountain ridge, carrying a smell that Lin Xiaotang had never smelled before—damp, cold, and fishy, ​​like stones soaked in an ice cellar.

Then came the fog. The fog came so fast that before she could even zip up her windbreaker to her chin, everything around her was already a white blur, and even Old Ghost, who was walking thirty meters away from her, couldn't see her clearly.

Experienced hikers know that when dense fog rolls in on the "Foggy Mountain Trail," visibility can drop to 10 to 30 meters. Near the Taiyi Mountain ridge, there are no landmarks except for an abandoned navigation frame. Once the fog rolls in, all you see is endless wilderness.

Old Ghost shouted from ahead, his voice torn to shreds by the wind, leaving only a few scattered words in Lin Xiaotang's ears: "To the left..." "No..." "Stop first..."

Stopping is the right decision, but the right decision must be based on the right premise: you need to know where you are.

I don't know Lao Gui, I don't know A Jun, I don't know Da Liu, and I don't know Lin Xiaotang either.

The four of them stopped in the fog for a while. Old Ghost suggested that they wait for the fog to dissipate, but after waiting for more than half an hour, the fog did not dissipate and the rain started to fall.

Then they started wandering around aimlessly.

The landscape here is a remnant of the Quaternary glaciation, with stone seas, stone rivers, knife-edged ridges, and steep cliffs. The surface has been torn apart by glacial movement.

The fog dissipated for a few seconds, revealing a large gravel beach in front of us. The stones ranged in size from the size of a fist to half a person's height, piled up haphazardly, like a sea of ​​stones that had been poured down from the entire mountain.

They had to flip over the rock, using all four limbs and crawling like animals, just to barely keep moving.

Falling down is inevitable.

If the fall wasn't too bad, they would get up on their own; if it was a hard fall, they would help each other up. Lin Xiaotang's hiking pants had a large chafed patch at the knees, and her skin rubbed against the cold, damp rock surface. At first, it hurt, then it went numb, and finally, she couldn't feel anything at all.

The freezing rain has stopped.

The group thought they were saved.

The wind is blowing again.

The wind came suddenly, without warning, and was more violent and fierce than when the freezing rain came, lashing my face like sandpaper.

The wind speed on mountain ridges can easily reach level 10 or higher in open areas, which translates to speeds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour.

Lin Xiaotang was blown backward and crashed into a large rock, seeing stars.

Ah Jun was about twenty meters ahead of her, lying on a rock, too afraid to move. Da Liu had fallen to the very back at some point. Lao Gui was at the very front, hunched over and inching forward step by step.

The temperature plummeted, and Lin Xiaotang put on everything she could from her backpack: a windbreaker, fleece, and a thin down jacket, but it wasn't enough, far from enough.

There was no tent, no sleeping bag, no sleeping mat; these items were not originally in her one-day light backpack.

On the first night, they found a recessed stone wall that provided some shelter from the wind, and the four of them huddled together, but none of them could fall asleep.

Old Gui pulled a first-aid blanket out of his backpack, and the four of them wrapped themselves together.

Lin Xiaotang didn't know the time; she only knew that cold had a sound: the sound of the wind, the sound of teeth chattering, the sound of someone crying.

After an unknown amount of time, the crying stopped and was replaced by a muffled murmur, as if he were talking to himself, or as if someone was talking to him.

She tried to think of something warm to combat the fear of dying, but she couldn't find anything. Her body stubbornly resisted the erosion of hypothermia, and her mind was filled with jumbled fragments.

Radiators, hot water bottles, the soft, fluffy feel of carpets in the morning, the wall behind the stove at my grandmother's house when I was a child, blackened by firewood, and the beach with my roommate the year I graduated, where my feet were scalded by the sand.

She thought about many things, but grasped nothing.

The images were like pieces of paper scattered by the wind, drifting past her eyes one by one. She wanted to pick them up, but her hand couldn't reach out.

The next day, they began to descend.

Nobody knew the way; they just knew that going downhill was better than being blown to death by the wind uphill.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Da Liu slipped on a rock and tumbled down the slope. He rolled seven or eight meters before being stopped by a clump of low bushes. He hit his forehead and got a big gash, with blood flowing down half of his face.

Old Gui gave him a simple bandage, which was basically just tearing off his own headscarf and wrapping it around his head.

After a while, Ah Jun suddenly pointed into the distance and shouted, "Road! There's a road!" Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing: there was nothing there.

There was nothing in the fog.

But Ah Jun wouldn't give up. He shook off Lin Xiaotang's hand and ran towards the "road". When Lao Gui chased after him and pulled him back, Ah Jun's eyes were fixed, his pupils were dilated, and his lips were moving, but the sounds he made didn't sound like any language.

Lin Xiaotang knew that Ah Jun was dying.

She knew even more that she was no longer capable.

She was no longer hungry; she hadn't eaten for two days, and the feeling of hunger suddenly disappeared at some point.

Lin Xiaotang had also heard that people who freeze to death feel hot in the final stages and unconsciously take off their clothes, which is a sign that their body's temperature regulation system has completely collapsed.

Lin Xiaotang was starting to feel a bit hot.

She told herself not to sleep, absolutely not to sleep, because if she fell asleep she wouldn't wake up.

But eyelids are the heaviest thing in the world; they don't need to reason with you, you just can't win against them.

It looks like someone... picked her up.

Whether it was Old Ghost, Big Liu, or just an illusion, Lin Xiaotang could no longer tell.

She vaguely felt her body moving, as if someone had bounced her up a bit. Then the mountain wind seemed to have subsided, and the fog seemed to have thinned out a little.

Lin Xiaotang mustered her last strength to open her heavy eyelids.

Frost formed in my eyes, my eyelashes were frozen and stuck together, and my vision was so blurry it was like looking through frosted glass.

She first saw an outline, which slowly transformed into a human figure standing with his back to her, speaking to Old Ghost and the others:

"The errand fee is 300 million per person. If you can move, just nod."

156 Commitment

300 million?

Lin Xiaotang snapped back to reality in a second. What kind of crazy rescue team is this?!

Why aren't Lao Gui and Da Liu saying anything?

The rescue team turned around.

Oh, so it's you, sir. Well then, whatever you say goes...

An hour later, the Cangwu Mountain Nature Reserve Administration issued a notice:

"At 15:40 p.m. that day, Lin, Liu, He and Chen, who went missing two days earlier after illegally crossing the Wushan Longji Line, were all rescued by Mr. Ma Xiaoming, a kind-hearted citizen. They are all in stable condition and have been transferred to the medical department for further observation."

"At Mr. Ma Xiaoming's suggestion and with the approval of the higher authorities, each of the above four individuals will be charged RMB 3 million in rescue fees. This sum will be supervised and executed by the Wushan County People's Court and will be used specifically for the following expenditures: 1. Providing reasonable subsidies to volunteers who participated in this rescue; 2. Daily operation and maintenance and personnel training for the management stations along the Wushan Longji Line; 3. Setting up and maintaining warning signs in the Cangwu Mountain area; 4. Purchasing and updating emergency search and rescue equipment in mountainous areas."

"Cangwu Mountain Nature Reserve reiterates: The entire Wushan Longji Line is a legally established prohibited area, and no unit or individual may enter without authorization. Violators will bear corresponding administrative and civil liability in accordance with the law. Life is paramount, and safety comes first. We urge all outdoor enthusiasts to strictly abide by laws and regulations, cherish life, and stay away from illegal crossings."

The announcement immediately topped the charts.

"Holy crap, 300 million? Are these four bastards really that rich?" "Rich? Nothing to them. Just ordinary office workers." "Do you think truly wealthy people would risk their lives?"

"Isn't that 300 million just empty talk?"

"Didn't you see the court supervising the enforcement?"

"Tch, of all people to owe, why Ming-ge? You've got some nerve, bro..."

"Just pay as much as you can, and pay the rest slowly. You can get a 30-year mortgage on a house, so surely you can pay off a 50-year mortgage on a life?"

"The man didn't die, but the money ran out."

The Qilian Mountains were the first to catch up.

The Qilian Mountains span the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai. The Hala Lake traverse is a top-tier hardcore route recognized by outdoor enthusiasts. The entire route is in uninhabited areas at an altitude of over 4,000 meters, passing through glaciers, swamps, and permafrost zones. It can only be traversed during the window of opportunity in July and August each year, and people get stranded every year.

Many of those rescued were seasoned hikers with excellent equipment and rich experience, but they still suffered from hypothermia, got lost, and altitude sickness and pulmonary edema.

Experienced hikers are more prone to accidents: novices simply dare not go.

"Notice from the Qilian Mountains National Nature Reserve Administration Regarding the Handling of Illegal Crossings of Hala Lake: Effective immediately, anyone caught entering the core area or buffer zone of Hala Lake without approval will be fined RMB 300. If rescue is required, a separate rescue fee of RMB 3 million will be charged. This fee will be supervised and enforced by the local People's Court and will be specifically used for the development of high-altitude rescue capabilities and the management of the reserve. We urge all outdoor enthusiasts to strictly abide by laws and regulations. Life is paramount, safety comes first."

Next is the Gongga Grand Loop in the Hengduan Mountains.

This route centers around Mount Gongga, known as the "King of Sichuan Mountains," and features glaciers, forests, hot springs, and lakes along the way. The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful, but the dangers are also outrageously high, with avalanches, crevasses, rockfalls, and getting lost, resulting in fatalities almost every year.

A large portion of them even fell into ice crevasses and their bodies were never recovered.

"...Anyone who illegally crosses the border will be fined RMB 300. If official or civilian rescue resources are consumed, a rescue fee of RMB 3 million will be charged separately. If the full amount cannot be paid, the People's Court will take measures such as installment execution, restriction of high consumption, and inclusion in the list of dishonest persons subject to enforcement, until the full amount is recovered."

Mount Siguniang, Meili Snow Mountain, and the east slope of Mount Everest have all joined in.

The format and wording were highly uniform, with each company sticking to the same two sets of figures: a fine of 300 yuan and aid of 3 million yuan.

The only difference lies in the postscripts: Qilian Mountain emphasizes the procurement of high-altitude rescue equipment, Gongga emphasizes the construction of glacier search and rescue capabilities, and Siguniang Mountain emphasizes monitoring coverage of undeveloped areas of the scenic spot. Each has its own shortcomings that need to be addressed.

The outdoor forum received an enthusiastic response.