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Chapter 299 - 297, Claiming you have altitude sickness means you have it (Third update)_1

Chapter 299: 297, Claiming you have altitude sickness means you have it (Third update)_1

On the eighth day, the 6000-meter-altitude camp once again welcomed several large contingents. The Sherpa people were in front, carrying numerous bags and walking on the snow-dotted mountain paths, followed by several teams arriving simultaneously.

Ren He, with his sharp eyes, immediately noticed many Asian faces, though he couldn’t determine their nationalities yet. There were also two teams with black faces, probably African teams. Ren He had heard from Smeier that African climbing teams were not easy to deal with, as they tended to have bad tempers.

As they approached, Ren He heard the distinct Taiwanese accent and standard Mandarin. It turned out that both Asian teams were Chinese. Ren He was quite pleased to see so many compatriots here at the same time.

Smeier introduced them on the side, one was the Chinese team, and the other was the Taiwanese team. The leader of the Chinese team was remarkable, named Xia Boyu. Although he had failed to summit Mount Everest four times, he had never given up. One time he had to retreat due to a storm, another due to the Nepalese earthquake that caused Nepal’s government to halt all climbing activities... His luck seemed always to be eluding him.

Ren He took a deep look at Xia Boyu, realizing that the man was already in his fifties. Could he really summit Mount Everest at such an age?

People always remember the successful and forget the unsuccessful, so Ren He thought that those who are remembered even in failure must possess some extraordinary quality. At least for him, at this age, to still be striving to conquer Mount Everest was truly remarkable.

What surprised Ren He was that Lei Ming and An Si from his team knew Xia Boyu. It made sense upon reflection: one was a mountaineering enthusiast, the other a travel magazine journalist with extensive climbing experience. Presumably, this elder named Xia Boyu was quite famous in domestic circles—after all, leading a team to Mount Everest was not an ordinary feat in China.

Ren He asked An Si if he knew him. An Si said he had heard of him, mentioning that the elder’s legs seemed fine now, but they were actually prosthetics. On his first attempt to summit Mount Everest at the age of 24, he encountered a storm during his final ascent from the 7900-meter camp. Fortunately, they made a timely retreat, but one of his teammates lost their sleeping bag, and Xia nobly gave up his own.

This selfless act resulted in his legs freezing from red to purple, and eventually from purple to black, leading to amputation.

But even so, he had never given up on his dream to conquer Mount Everest, yet each time, the summit eluded him.

When asked why he insisted on pursuing his dream to summit Mount Everest, Xia Boyu’s answer was interesting, "Because the mountain is there."

After hearing An Si’s introduction, Ren He was deeply moved, especially when he realized that they were indeed prosthetic limbs!

How could he give up when such a person hadn’t given up?!

Thanks to the networking of Lei Ming and An Si, Ren He’s team, Xia Boyu’s team, and the Taiwanese team decided to start joint training exercises in the coming week. This way, when attempting to reach 7600 meters in altitude, they could provide mutual support. There were still five days left before the joint exercises, a time for the Chinese and Taiwanese teams to acclimatize to their new environment.

Smeier had no objection to this arrangement; in fact, he felt it would make things a bit easier for him...

This assault on the 7600-meter camp would be the farthest journey the group had undertaken, lasting several days, with multiple overnight stays in the icy wilderness.

In fact, assaulting Mount Everest is not as simple as a common hike where one can reach the summit in half a day, sip tea on top, and then leisurely descend.

On the road to conquering Mount Everest, everyone must be prepared for a prolonged battle, waiting until their bodies have truly adapted to the altitude before making the final, all-out assault!

However, at the start of the new week, when everyone gathered in the morning to begin their training plan, the Taiwanese team was nowhere to be seen, not a single person.

At 10 a.m. when there was still no sign of them, Smeier and his group went to the Taiwanese team’s campsite to look for them, only to find that they were still asleep.

Xia Boyu confronted the Taiwanese team, questioning why they were still asleep when they had agreed to leave together. The laid-back Taiwanese team leader replied, "Our Sherpa guide did not wake us up on time. If you need to blame someone, blame him."

"Is this your attitude toward climbing Mount Everest?" Xia Boyu’s face darkened immediately. For Xia Boyu, summiting Everest had become the most important thing in his life, and seeing others not take it seriously was something he couldn’t accept.

"We have already conquered two 8,000-meter peaks, so perhaps you Chinese might find Everest challenging, but we don’t think so," the Taiwanese leader said with a laugh.

Upon hearing him say "you Chinese," Ren He’s eyebrows shot up. Well, well, was this a provocation? Had the people of Taiwan Province become so arrogant?

The other Chinese present were also a bit infuriated, yet no one was really going to start a fight at this altitude of 6,000 meters.

Fighting required physical strength and oxygen, after all. What’s the point if you run out of breath in the middle of a fight?

But Ren He was different...

Of course, he also knew that indeed, those with experience climbing other 8,000-meter peaks might not take Everest too seriously, as it did not involve climbing vertical ice walls or impossible human barriers—there were established routes.

But if they really underestimated Everest after climbing other mountains, they were sure to pay a heavy price.

The Taiwanese had arrived at the 6,000-meter camp looking better than most, but Ren He was not concerned about that... it was that... these people were damn trying to divide the motherland, he couldn’t stand it, could he? Although Ren He was not as passionately nationalistic as An Si, he was absolutely uncompromising on such matters.

Forget about values and historical issues, Ren He wouldn’t listen to any of that.

You say you have altitude sickness, so you have it, scared or not?

Due to the Taiwanese team’s betrayal, the sprint to the 7,600-meter training action was put on hold, and Smeier and his team were actively contacting other teams, hoping to make way.

At this point, everyone still hoped for more people to be present, as they would have enough time to return to the lower camps in case of sudden weather changes.

All was well on this side, but the Taiwanese team had a little problem...

Ren He visited the Taiwanese camp daily, finding that there were consistently three people crying and three people vomiting for more than 20 minutes every day. He didn’t bother with whether the symptoms were consistent, he simply cast his skill and then went back to the camp to chat with Yang Xi and An Si.

So the Taiwanese team was confused. Today it’s me crying and someone else vomiting, and the next day it’s reversed, with no warning, no pattern...

All the teams at the 6,000-meter platform were astonished. What in the world was wrong with the Taiwanese team, crying and vomiting?! And each day, different people cried and vomited—the altitude sickness was way too severe, and their mental fortitude was lacking too!

The claims of having climbed several 8,000-meter mountains before were just a bunch of hot air, weren’t they?

...

Thanks for the rewards, good night everyone...