Looking at the dark, unappetizing dough, Zhao Jun had a strange expression on his face. Among these people, he was the wealthiest. He had spent over 100,000 yuan on equipment for this mountain climbing trip. Where had he ever eaten food like this before?
"If you don't want to die, eat this. You'll have the strength to get down the mountain..."
Zhuang Rui stuffed the food into Zhao Jun's hands, then turned around to get some meat for Bai Shi. Although Bai Shi had good teeth, the beef and mutton he carried were as hard as rocks at this altitude and had to be cooked until they were soft before they could be eaten.
After feeding the white lion and quickly eating something himself, Zhuang Rui pulled Jiacuo aside and said, "Brother Jiacuo, you take them down the mountain. I need to take the white lion to find another Tibetan mastiff..."
"What? You're all alone on the mountain?"
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Jiacuo paused for a moment, then waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "No, absolutely not, it's too dangerous. Do you know that Zhao Jun's thigh was injured by a snow leopard? This mountain isn't safe..."
"Snow leopard? There might be a snow leopard here?"
Zhuang Rui knew that this animal was as rare as the giant panda, and was almost extinct in human-inhabited areas. He never expected it to appear on this not-so-famous mountain.
"It must be a snow leopard. I reckon it came from the Meili Snow Mountain area. Not many people climb this mountain, so there are relatively more animals there..."
After hearing Gyatso's explanation, Zhuang Rui understood somewhat. The living space of these animals has been gradually compressed by humans, forcing them to hide in more remote and secluded places. This snow leopard must be one of them.
"Brother Gyatso, with the white lion here, there's nothing to fear from any animal..."
Gyatso's words only strengthened Zhuang Rui's resolve to stay.
If I go down the mountain and then come back up, it will take a whole day. Who knows if the other Tibetan mastiff will be disturbed and leave the snow mountain?
Chapter 743 Snow Mountain (4)
"No, this is too dangerous..."
Gyatso shook his head. Although he did not know Zhuang Rui's identity, he knew that Zhuang Rui was a distinguished guest personally invited by the Panchen Lama to participate in this search. As the guide of the search team, Gyatso had a responsibility to ensure Zhuang Rui's safety.
“Brother Gyatso, there’s no need to say anything more. I’m not going down the mountain. It’s a matter of life and death. You should think about how to bring that young man down with you…”
Zhuang Rui waved his hand to stop Jiacuo from speaking. Over the past year, with the change in status and the increase in wealth, Zhuang Rui had developed an indescribable sense of authority in his every move. This wave of his hand really silenced Jiacuo's next words.
Seeing that he couldn't persuade Zhuang Rui, Jiacuo had no choice but to give up. Zhao Jun's injuries were indeed not suitable for staying on the snow mountain for long. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Alright then, but Zhuang, you absolutely cannot climb the mountain at night, and you also can't pitch the tent here..."
"Why? The terrain here is very flat..."
Zhuang Rui was a little puzzled. Since they came up the snow mountain, this place was the most suitable for setting up camp. There was also a small lake nearby that had not been frozen, so it was easy to get water.
“Brother, there’s a lake here, and many animals come here to drink. That’s probably what attracted that snow leopard…”
Gyatso shone his flashlight on the snow beside the lake and said, "See those animal bones? They were attacked while drinking water..."
Zhuang Rui looked in the direction of the flashlight and, sure enough, there were some animal carcasses scattered on the ground, including a complete skeleton of a argali sheep, with each bone clearly visible. It was estimated that the sheep had been visited by vultures and other scavengers after it died.
"Don't underestimate the animals on these snow-capped mountains. The golden eagle we saw on the way here can snatch cattle and sheep into the sky, let alone people. I'll go up a little with you later and see if there's a suitable place..."
Gyatso's words sent a chill down Zhuang Rui's spine. He didn't want to experience having several more bloody holes in his body and then going through the experience of being an aerial acrobat. The white lion was fierce, but it was probably helpless against the birds of prey in the sky.
"Brother Zhuang... Brother Zhuang, where are you going?"
When Zhuang Rui and Jiacuo stood up and led the white lion up the mountain, Zhu Wei and the other students were terrified. They were already scared out of their wits by the snow leopard attack earlier.
Zhuang Rui smiled and said, "It's nothing, I'm just around here, I'll be right back..."
"Can I come with you?"
Zhu Wei asked.
"I want to go too..."
"And me..."
Apart from Zhao Jun, who was lying on the ground, the others stood up. On this silent snow-covered mountain, they felt a chill in their hearts.
“If you all go, who will come to see Zhao Jun? We’ll be back soon, and then you can come down the mountain…”
Zhuang Rui waved his hand dismissively and quickened his pace with Jiacuo, heading up the mountain.
At night on the snow-capped mountain at an altitude of 5,000 meters, the temperature dropped sharply. Zhuang Rui put on a cotton coat and, fearing he would slip, he used his trekking poles to poke into the ice before stepping up, making his pace much slower than during the day.
After climbing for more than half an hour, I had only walked a little over a hundred meters, and I could still see the lights from Zhu Wei's direction when I looked back.
Suddenly, Gyatso stopped and pointed to a spot about ten meters to his right, saying, "Xiao Zhuang, this place is good..."
Zhuang Rui looked in the direction of the light and saw that the place was indeed nice. It was right next to the mountain and the terrain was flat. Although the place was not big, it was big enough for him to set up a tent.
"Okay, let's do it here..."
Zhuang Rui put down his backpack and took out the tent, while Jiacuo skillfully used a small shovel to break the ice on the ground to secure the tent. The wind was strong on the mountain, unlike on the grassland where you could just set it up directly; it needed to be reinforced.
“Brother Gyatso, come on, let me see you off…”
Ten minutes later, the tent was set up. Zhuang Rui put his backpack inside and then hung a lamp on the tent so that he could find it when he came back and wouldn't have to worry about any animals breaking in.
After returning to Zhu Wei and the others' camp, Jiacuo told them to leave everything else behind except for food and climbing ropes, and that the villagers could come and retrieve it later.
Zhao Jun couldn't walk, so Jiacuo used a knife to cut open a tent and then tied climbing ropes to the four corners to make a makeshift stretcher.
Because of the several layers of tent canvas underneath, the stretcher doesn't need to be fully lifted; it can be dragged on the snow, as long as the people in front and behind keep an eye on the rocks.
After completing the preparations, Zhuang Rui escorted them to an altitude of about 4,000 meters before turning back to climb the mountain. With no outsiders around, Zhuang Rui moved much faster. It took him more than three hours to descend the mountain, but only half an hour to climb back up.
By the time Zhuang Rui lay down in his tent and sleeping bag, it was already past midnight.
The white lion was mostly inside the tent, with only its head sticking out. Although the temperature was below -10 degrees Celsius, it was still bearable for the white lion. ...
The next morning, Zhuang Rui was suddenly awakened by a mournful cry. When he opened his eyes, he found that it was already bright outside, and the white lion that had been sleeping beside him was nowhere to be seen.
"Holy crap, white lion, this... this is what you hunted?"
Zhuang Rui was startled as soon as he crawled out of the tent, because there was a argali sheep more than a meter long on the snow outside the tent.
There were bite marks on the argali's throat, and bloodstains were everywhere on the ground. Following the bloodstains that looked like plum blossoms, they extended to a small lake more than a hundred meters away.
"You really can't stay here, or you'll ruin so many animals..."
Zhuang Rui touched the body of the sheep; it was still warm. It seemed to have just been killed by the white lion, probably when it was drinking water in the early morning and was ambushed by the white lion.
"Woo...woo woo," the white lion growled a few times in a wronged tone, then bit the argali's neck and pulled it closer to Zhuang Rui.
"Alright, I know how you feel..."
Zhuang Rui laughed; he knew the white lion was trying to get him to eat.
However, Zhuang Rui didn't have Peng Fei's ability to skin and dismember the sheep. He could only turn around and take out a machete from the tent. Ignoring the sheep's fur, he violently cut off one of the sheep's hind legs. Only then did the white lion drag the remaining sheep aside and start his breakfast.
Zhuang Rui used the alcohol stove brought by the students to boil a pot of water, cut the mutton into chunks and threw it in. After the water boiled, the mutton was basically half-cooked, and he ate a simple breakfast.
"Come on, smell this. Finding a wife is something you have to do yourself..."
This breakfast took Zhuang Rui more than two hours. After packing up the tent, Zhuang Rui asked the white lion to lead the way and continued climbing up.
The higher you go, the steeper the slope becomes. In some places, even Zhuang Rui has to use a climbing axe to make a hole in the rock and then attach ground anchors and ropes just in case.
Only then did Zhuang Rui begin to feel the sensation of climbing. His body was pressed tightly against the rock face, and when he looked down, there was a hundred-meter cliff. Occasionally, a stone would slide down, and he could hear a crisp sound.
There was a section of land more than 30 meters high that took Zhuang Rui a lot of effort to climb. He didn't feel physically tired, but he was mentally very tense. You know, when the mountain wind blew, Zhuang Rui felt like he was floating with the wind.
The white lion climbed with ease. With its four sharp claws, such a slope was no challenge for it. Its large size made it incredibly agile. Zhuang Rui sometimes wondered if classifying the white lion as a feline would be more appropriate.
As the summit approached, the snow on the mountain grew thicker and thicker. Looking around, everything was a vast expanse of white, and the villages below seemed tiny. The blue sky above appeared even more azure.
"Ah...ah...ah..."
After nearly four hours of climbing, Zhuang Rui finally reached the summit. The expansive view made him shout out loud, and the echoes reverberated through the mountains, accompanied by the low growls of a white lion.
Although it is not as lofty and precipitous as Mount Everest, nor as famous as Meili Snow Mountain, standing on this summit, Zhuang Rui still felt a surge of heroic ambition, like someone who had reached the top and looked down on all the other mountains.
The summit is about 400 square meters in size. After walking around the top and looking at the oxygen cylinders and other items abandoned by predecessors, Zhuang Rui realized that he was not the first person to conquer this mountain.
After resting for a while, Zhuang Rui started cooking. Climbing mountains is extremely taxing, and even with spiritual energy to replenish his energy, Zhuang Rui still needed to eat, not to mention the gluttonous White Lion was there with him.
Zhuang Rui tossed a large piece of cooked mutton to White Lion and asked, "White Lion, where is the partner you're looking for?"
"Waaah..."
The white lion raised its head and growled at the back of the mountain.
"Over there?"
Zhuang Rui looked across and couldn't help but frown. Although the mountains over there weren't high, they were continuous and had many peaks. If they really searched for them, they wouldn't find them even after a month or two.
"Okay, if you can't find me, you won't go back, alright?"
Zhuang Rui took a bite of the half-cooked, bland mutton and said fiercely, "I can't just think of myself and leave White Lion a bachelor. I finally got news of another snow mastiff, and it's right in front of me. I won't give up so easily."
"Hehe, let's leave a little souvenir..."
After finishing his meal, Zhuang Rui cut a piece of canvas with a knife, wrote "Zhuang Rui and Bai Shi have come for a visit" on it, and then tied it to the iron frame of a tent, fixing it to the snow on the mountaintop, like a flag.
While Zhuang Rui was doing these things, the white lion circled around him, occasionally letting out a whimper, seemingly looking down on Zhuang Rui's environmentally unfriendly behavior.
Chapter 744 Snow Mountain (5)
After packing his things, Zhuang Rui, carrying his half-person-high hiking backpack, began his descent from the other side of the mountain, guided by the white lion.
This side of the mountain is much gentler. Standing on it, you can clearly see that there are no very steep places, and there is much less snow than on the other side. At the halfway point, you can see low shrubs and trees.
On the way down the mountain, snow chickens and snow rabbits, which are animals of the plateau, were disturbed by the white lion. Zhuang Rui regretted not bringing his gun. Judging from the size of the snow chicken, if he caught it and made soup, it would probably taste no less delicious than the "flying dragon" in the mountains of Northeast China.
The white lion, having eaten its fill, didn't actually hunt; it was just playing around. But it caused chaos, leaving the animals on the plateau in a state of panic.
While climbing the mountain, you can still see many traces of people, but on the other side of the mountain, it is truly deserted, covered with thorny bushes that appear so resilient and tenacious on this desolate snow-capped mountain.
When we reached the halfway point of the mountain, the weather was no longer very cold, and the mountain breeze felt cool and comfortable on our bodies.
"Waaah..."
"Whoosh...whoosh..."
Suddenly, a low growl of a wild beast came from not far from Zhuang Rui. Just as Zhuang Rui was about to listen carefully, the white lion suddenly roared loudly, its snow-white mane stood on end, and its body shot out like an arrow.
"White Lion, wait for me..."
By the time Zhuang Rui reacted, the white lion had already run dozens of meters to the lower right side of the mountain, where a huge rock blocked Zhuang Rui's view.
Zhuang Rui pulled out a machete from his backpack and then a DV camera. He took off after it, and from the roars that carried to his ears on the wind, he was certain that one of the two fighting sides was the legendary snow mastiff.