I am a Big Player
Chapter 313 - 311, Slap in the Face Came Too Fast (First Update)_1

Chapter 313: 311, Slap in the Face Came Too Fast (First Update)_1

I will ascend to the pinnacle and survey all the peaks beneath me.

Actually, foreigners don’t understand this line of poetry, and even if it were translated into English, it would lose a lot of its charm. This is why Ren He insisted it be shown to the Chinese audience.

He has always liked this verse. Standing on the summit of Mount Everest, he truly grasped the depth of this poem. At that time, he had reached the peak in the most unexpected way and, from that moment, all the mountains lay beneath his feet. Ren He’s spirit was truly elevated.

When the mystery was unveiled on TK’s official website, everyone knew that Knight had gone to summit Mount Everest during this period. This guy was truly always crossing boundaries without ever stopping; after cycling, he took on parkour, and after parkour, he went on to mountaineering, even tackling the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest.

Isn’t that terrifying? Is he even human?

He’s like a cross-disciplinary deity in the sports field; it seems as if all the traditional barriers and limits within the sports world simply don’t exist for Knight.

In parallel worlds, there’s no shortage of Master Level sports figures confidently crossing into other fields, only to be utterly decimated by reality. Some went from football to athletics and failed miserably, others from parkour to basketball and met the same fate.

Indeed, experience has proven time and time again: specialization is key in any profession.

However, this principle doesn’t seem to apply to Knight. If he had simply excelled in other fields, everyone might have understood, but the thing is, every time he crosses into a new field, he manages to claim a "first" title!

However, at this time, the issue of mere photos serving as evidential proof arose, as someone suddenly posted: "While I trust Knight’s past achievements, this time, just posting a photo and saying he’s the first to summit Mount Everest without oxygen, and that he climbed it with bare hands plus skied down from the summit with a vertical drop of 3000 meters—a single photo does not seem convincing enough."

Indeed, the photo only proved that Knight had been to Mount Everest; the glorious achievements posted on TK’s official website couldn’t be substantiated.

Where there are fans, there will be haters; this is the case for everyone, as no one in the world can be universally accepted. So, some seized the opportunity to refute TK’s claims: "If a photo can prove so much, why would others go through so much trouble? Those who skydive might as well just take a picture after landing on the ground."

This was something TK, and even Ren He, had not anticipated.

In fact, before setting off, everyone just thought of completing the summit, not considering anything extra. It was just to prove that Knight had summited, so there was no need for video evidence.

But the challenges Ren He took on during his ascent were too spectacular, too daring, and too thrilling. This excitement caused the TK executives to decide to post everything, even without any solid proof.

Now, a problem arose.

At this time, another thought emerged: "Knight is Chinese, so why didn’t he plant a national flag after summiting, only the TK banner?"

Because the TK official website only featured photos of Ren He with the TK flag; it wasn’t necessary to display the ones with the national flag. This insinuation was cruel, suggesting that Knight was unpatriotic.

They were planning to use moral judgement to banish Knight within the country!

However, just at this moment, an exclusive interview about the elderly climber Xia Boyu’s mountaineering journey was published as a full-page feature by the sports section of People’s Daily!

What seemed like an unrelated matter extinguished all doubts surrounding Knight. The report not only featured Xia Boyu’s interview but also statements from his teammates and American friends!

Many who read the interview smacked their lips, thinking: "That backfired quickly!"

Moreover, at the same time, an interview with the American team leader was published in the United States, with details matching the accounts given by Xia Boyu and others without any discrepancies.

Xia Boyu made it to the People’s Daily for several reasons: first, he lost both feet while rescuing others on Mount Everest; second, he persisted and attempted to summit Everest four times, finally succeeding on his fourth attempt; and third, this time they retreated from the storm with everyone unharmed.

These three points combined were too sensational, and given that the People’s Daily itself carries the responsibility of guiding domestic public opinion, Xia’s spirit was absolutely suitable for leading the ethos of the entire sports community and the mindset of the general populace.

With self-sacrifice and relentless perseverance, who was more deserving of coverage at the moment than Xia Boyu?

As for the American team leader, he was the vice president of the American Mountaineering Association. His participation on Everest was the center of attention. Of course, they had to report about him after the descent. Even though he did not reach the summit, managing to escape the storm unharmed was also an achievement, and everyone knew how terrifying the storm was. Many people in the base camps below thought they were doomed!

However, amidst all these reports, all the previous skepticism about Knight simply vanished.

Someone posted a snapshot they had taken of Knight skiing down with Red Scarf, and with the time stamp from the 6000-meter camp as evidence, it proved that Knight had indeed skied directly back to the 6000-meter camp. There wouldn’t have been enough time otherwise.

Remember that it took them nearly 20 days just to make the ascent!

If he wasn’t skiing down, how could Knight have returned to the 6000-meter camp so quickly?

As for free solo climbing, there was no need to mention it. Photos of Knight standing on the summit, happily eating, were right there in their cameras. The impact was such that journalists could even feel through the photos everything that happened, even Knight’s joyful mood at the time. It was incredibly moving.

Knight wasn’t carrying an oxygen cylinder, nor was he wearing an oxygen mask, which also proved that he indeed conquered Everest without supplemental oxygen.

In fact, Xia Boyu’s interview more than validated this: "I ran out of oxygen early and thought I was finally going to die on this sacred mountain, with my dream of reaching the summit seeming unreachable in my lifetime. But it was then that the young man gave me his oxygen cylinder."

Upon reading this, everyone felt an indescribable shock in their hearts—it was said that at such an altitude, all moral standards would be abandoned, yet decades ago, Xia Boyu had given his sleeping bag to someone else, and now someone had given their oxygen cylinder to him. This cycle of cause and effect taught one to face this cold world with a kind heart.

Indeed, a good deed gets its reward.

"So he conquered Everest without supplemental oxygen because he gave his cylinder to someone else, the team leader is freaking awesome!"

"Holy shit, I’m falling for the team leader!"

"Does the team leader have a girlfriend?"

"Cough cough, given the team leader’s physical condition, one girlfriend probably isn’t enough..."

Seeing this, Yang Xi just looked coldly at Ren He, who laughed awkwardly: "I don’t have those kind of thoughts, you shouldn’t take their nonsense seriously."

And it was from that moment that all the doubts were clarified, and Knight was indeed genuinely the first to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen, the first to ski down to the 6000-meter camp, and the first to free solo climb Everest.

And those domestic individuals who sought to put Ren He in harm’s way with their unpatriotic claims, upon reading on the People’s Daily Xia Boyu’s words saying, "When I reached the summit, the young man had already successfully summited. He was the first; I was the second. The moment I got there and saw the national flag fluttering at the peak, a sense of pride spontaneously arose in me."

In the entire full-page article in the People’s Daily, the most eye-catching was the color photo at the very top: the Five-starred Red Flag was flying freely at the roof of the world!

...

End of Chapter recommendation: A book by my friend Qiudaozhan Fish, "Master of Entertainment", which has reached 1 million words.