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Chapter 295 - 293, Reached the 6000-meter altitude camp! (Fourth Update)_1

Chapter 295: 293, Reached the 6000-meter altitude camp! (Fourth Update)_1

The Sherpa people, also known as the Bodhiya people, reside in Nepal. In this vast mountain, no cars or wheeled vehicles can be seen, for they are incapable of crossing rivers to reach this place.

The Kingdom of Nepal once closed its borders, but with the passage of time, Nepal slowly began to open up to the outside world, and the tens of thousands of tourists who visit each year have become the main source of income for the Sherpa people.

They are hardworking, intelligent, and accustomed to living above 4000 meters above sea level all year round, so they are well adapted to the cold and the oxygen levels here. Gradually, they also started to join climbing expeditions to conquer Mount Everest, and Sherpa people who successfully scaled Mount Everest gained tremendous honor within their clan society.

Some joke that as long as you have money, the Sherpa people will even carry you to the top of Mount Everest. On one hand, this praises the power of money; on the other, it acknowledges that the Sherpa people are the true masters of this great mountain.

No, it’s not correct to call them masters, rather, it would be more appropriate to say they are the people cherished by Mount Everest.

But this is all just the glittering surface. In reality, Sherpas account for a full thirty percent of the deaths on Mount Everest!

It’s not because of their lack of ability, but because they climb too frequently – avalanches, storms, and the like can all snatch away their lives.

The supplies and baggage for the 6000 meter camp are all carried up by the Sherpa people. Just like Ren He with his pile of professional gear, if he had to carry it into the mountains himself, even his stamina would be severely tested.

As the number of tourists grew, the local economy flourished more and more, countless hotels sprang up, electricity was installed, and hospitals and schools were built. But, on the flip side, the lowland forests began to be felled for fuel, and the Sherpa people abandoned many of their traditions.

Nobody can say for sure whether this is good or bad – human development is always accompanied by such dilemmas.

After spending a night here, Smeier began to lead Ren He and An Si onward. It takes the Sherpa people just three days to traverse from Lukla to the 6000-meter base camp of Mount Everest, as they are adapted to the thin air here, but foreigners can’t handle it.

Ren He didn’t notice anything amiss; it seems his robust lungs could extract oxygen from the blood more effectively than the average person, and the Divine Punishment System had granted him a physical condition that didn’t impose any additional strain on him. Even Smeier was somewhat surprised. He never expected his investor to exhibit such extraordinary strength beyond that of an ordinary person.

It was different for An Si though. In fact, high-altitude training is a part of many equestrian training programs, and An Si had once undergone three months of high-altitude training, which put him much ahead of most people who have never been to high altitudes.

However, he still found Smeier and Ren He’s pace a bit too much to handle.

Before he came, An Si thought that summiting Mount Everest wasn’t such a difficult task nowadays. He even considered whether he should spend the money to experience the climb once. But reality dealt him a heavy blow. After his retirement, he was indeed too lax in exercising.

An Si had a shock not long ago when he discovered he had started to develop a little potbelly. He sighed, wondering if he was about to enter middle age.

Because of An Si, the group slowed their pace and, like all climbing teams, only traveled for a short four hours each day before taking a break. Tattered flags of faith fluttered in the wind by the roadside, planted by the Sherpa people, with piles of stones stacked underneath them.

The path led them through copses of larch, dwarf white birch, pine, and rhododendron plants, past thundering waterfalls, enchanting stone gardens, and trickling streams.

As the temperature gradually decreased, the coverage of snow grew larger. By this time, Ren He and the others had fully realized: they had finally entered the realm of Mount Everest!

After a full seven days, the party of three finally reached the 6000-meter camp of Mount Everest! They could have rested another day in the village below, but Ren He was already impatient to proceed.

Smeier had arranged for the Sherpa people to head up to the campsite with the deputy team leader and five other teammates ten days ago. The deputy team leader wasn’t going to summit Mount Everest, his job was specifically to manage such logistical tasks.

They had arrived early to clear out a suitable place for camping, and then carve a path through the thick blanket of snow at the lower reaches of Mount Everest.

It was like cutting a tiny notch in the edge of a huge, white cake.

When Ren He stood at the foot of Mount Everest and looked up at the towering snowy mountain, he could hardly imagine how cold the summit must be or how fierce the wind could blow. It was a place of nature’s greatest wonder, awe-inspiring to behold.

The path at the base of the mountain was still covered with snow up to a person’s height and had not been cleared. Ren He still needed to undergo the final phase of rest, acclimation training, and psychological guidance here.

Even helicopters couldn’t reach this place because the air was so thin that the rotors could no longer provide enough power to the aircraft.

This was the edge of the Forbidden Zone for Life, where even the Sherpa people would not choose to build a village.

Ren He and the others finally joined the main force here, and Smeier led them into a large tent. They discovered that six people were already seated inside. When the six saw Ren He and his group, they jubilantly made room for them. It was lonely here, with no mobile phone signal, no television; seeing new faces was truly a joyous occasion.

However, to Ren He and An Si’s surprise, among the other five teammates, there were two other Chinese!

One was named Lei Ming, a 27-year-old CEO of a domestic company valued at over a hundred million dollars, who purely loved mountain climbing and had a wealth of experience.

The other was a girl named An Quan, with an ordinary appearance but a certain charisma. She was a reporter for a domestic travel magazine, here to write an article. Her expenses were all covered by the magazine. Before this, she had already climbed mountains over 6,000 meters thirteen times, so the fees they paid were actually quite normal. Only Ren He had paid a high price to be here.

The other three were Americans, like Smeier.

Meeting compatriots in a distant land is a matter for celebration, but Ren He found that his new teammates seemed to have heard from the deputy team leader about him, the inexperienced youth who had come purely to seek death...

Ren He couldn’t be bothered to defend himself. Since everyone thought he was incompetent, there was no point in trying to save face with words. He just chatted casually with everyone, sharing the reasons behind their journey to Mount Everest and their emotional experiences along the way.

This was what they called psychological guidance, which could help everyone to approach Mount Everest with a calm mind, without too much emotional upheaval.

As they talked, Ren He found himself zoning out, not sure why, but the closer he got to Mount Everest, the more he missed Yang Xi.

It was as if he had a premonition that he might encounter misfortune on Mount Everest, which made him all the more cherish everything he had now, yet once he arrived here, it was impossible for him to even make a phone call to Yang Xi.

In the entire camp, only a large expedition group made up of 14 Sherpas and professional mountain climbers had a satellite phone. Smeier’s team did not.

...

Dedicated extra Chapter for Monarch of the Blazing Spiritual Flame.