Grace City is located in the southwestern border of Xuanguo, in the southwestern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, bordering the Ngari region in the west, Naqu City in the north, Lhasa City and Shannan City in the east, bordering Neil, Peacock and other countries on the outside, and is located in the Taydamia Mountains In the middle section, the national border is 1,753 kilometers long, with a land area of 182,000 square kilometers and an average altitude of over 4,000 meters. It is also the city closest to Mount Hyjal.
The vast majority of mountaineering teams will choose to take a plane to Grace City in Xuanguo or Zetu City in Neil Country, and then transfer to an off-road vehicle to continue climbing the Taidamia Mountains.
Grace City also built railways and airports after the founding of the Xuan Kingdom. It was originally a key agricultural and pastoral area for national development. However, with the exploration of Mount Hyjal by countries around the world, the city's tertiary industry has gradually developed. Become a famous tourist city in Xuanguo—Compared with Xuanguo cities that have been polluted by industry, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with blue sky and white clouds does have the effect of purifying troubles.
The main purpose is to purify the afflictions of being poor. Rich people are busy enjoying life, and they all go to tourist holy places to stay in five-star hotels to purify their afflictions.
At night in Grace, the starry sky is also particularly clean. Although it is not as spotless as the Antarctic, the galaxy is brilliant, and the nebula is blooming, but it is summer, and people in Grace can directly observe the stars with the naked eye. This experience is comparable to that of people in the city seeing dim The night sky is much cooler.
When Zhang He came here, he was not in the mood to admire the starry sky. He was sitting in a single ward on the third floor of Grace People's Hospital, with the ashtray next to him full of cigarette butts, and his eyes were fixed on the screen of his mobile phone.
He took out the cigarette case and found that there was only the last cigarette left. He was about to light it when he heard a knock on the door: "Mr. Zhang."
Zhang Helai sighed, put the cigarette back into the case, turned off the phone, and said, "Please come in."
A group of outsiders entered the not-so-relaxed ward one after another. Zhang Helai saw that besides the high-ranking official Cube in Grace City whom he had known in the afternoon, several foreigners also came in.
"I'm really sorry to disturb Mr. Zhang's recuperation." The middle-aged Shi Cube looked at his watch, "It's almost midnight now, but due to special reasons, I hope Mr. Zhang can forgive me."
"It's okay." Zhang Helai sat back on the hospital bed, "It just so happens that I haven't fallen asleep yet. Although I'm very tired today, but... it's even more memorable."
Shi Cufang looked at Zhang Helai apologetically, and the foreigners were also scattered around the ward. Unlike in the afternoon, the person who came to ask Zhang Helai for details this time was not Shicube's secretary, but a Xuanguo man in a black vest.
"Mr. Zhang Helai," the black vest asked, "you returned to the fifth camp on the north slope of Mount Hyjal at 12:30 noon today, on April 8th, at an altitude of 9600 meters, right? Then in the afternoon At 3:15, you took the Xuanguo transport helicopter at the fifth camp and returned directly to Grace City at 6:30 pm, right?"
Zhang Helai nodded: "That's right."
At this time Zhang Helai noticed that the foreigners also nodded one after another, and couldn't help being a little surprised—they also understand Xuan Guo dialect
"I need you to recall everything that happened after you set off from the fifth camp in the early morning of April 8 today." The black vest looked at his watch, "You haven't slept for 24 hours now, is that okay?"
"No problem." Zhang Helai said with a smile: "I haven't been able to completely calm down until now, and I just lay down for a while, so it's okay."
Everyone understands him very well—no matter who it is, it is very normal to be unable to sleep and make noise in the head when encountering such a miracle.
"Is it just starting from the fifth camp? I thought it would be better to start directly at 9:30." Zhang Helai reminded.
"It's okay, we want to fully understand the details this time." The black vest said: "Don't worry about forgetting anything, just say what you think of."
"Okay." Zhang Helai subconsciously took out the cigarette case, and then stuffed it back in. The black vest smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang, it's normal to smoke to refresh yourself."
"Huh? Oh..." Zhang Helai saw that Shicufang didn't say a word, acquiescing that the black vest was the leader here. Although he was a little puzzled, he still lit the cigarette and let the hot smoke pass through his lungs, making him recall the 24-hour period again. previous story...
——
Zhang Helai's mountaineering team is basically all members of Xuanguo, including the team leader, a total of six people.
Although it is now spring, it is not the best time to climb the mountain, but it is only relative to summer. In fact, Hyjal mountaineering tourism has been very industrialized, and the danger of climbing the summit in spring is not higher than that in summer—as long as the captain Spectrum words.
Zhang Helai came to Grace City in early March. He first met the team members and arrived at the gate of the northern slope of Mount Hyjal: the base camp at an altitude of 96 meters on March 5. After the tents and other equipment were delivered to the base camp, they carried out more than 20 days of training to gradually adapt to the plateau climate and familiarize themselves with the summit route.
One of the team members had to return to Grace City for treatment because of severe altitude sickness, vomiting and vomiting, and there were only five people left in the team.
Although the process seems to Zhang He to be a very memorable climbing record, it is actually quite common: in the more than 50 years since conquering Mount Hyjal, countless mountaineering teams have spent their lives finding the safest climbing route and camping place. In addition to the base camp, there are advanced camps on Mount Gal, the first camp, the second camp, the third camp, the fourth camp, and the fifth camp. As long as all safety facilities are in place and you follow the climbing route, the danger to your life will be suppressed to a minimum. point.
On April 3, the three mountaineering teams from the base camp found that the weather was fine and decided to attack the summit of Hyjal together. They reached the second camp in one day, the third camp on the second day, the fourth camp on the third day, and the fifth camp on the fourth day. However, the fifth camp at an altitude of 9,600 meters is too high, and the Kamiya people have no way to send up the oxygen cylinders, so they have to replace the oxygen cylinders at the fourth camp to complete the next thrilling journey.
Zhang Helai is a middle-aged man in his thirties with a successful career. Although he has no children, his wife is pregnant. He came to climb Mount Hyjal this time purely to realize his dream: he joined the mountaineering club when he was in college and met his first love. Their dream at that time was to conquer Mount Hyjal together.
They climbed step by step the 5,000-meter entry-level peak Haba Snow Mountain, the 6,000-meter advanced-level peak Animaqin, the 7,000-meter professional-level Muztag Peak, and the 8,000-meter master-level peak Cho Oyu. Only those with the 8,000-meter mountaineering certificate meet the requirements of the Xuanguo Mountaineering Association, and they can choose to challenge the 10,000-meter peak Hyjal Peak—a layman without a mountaineering certificate can only wander in the 96-meter Hyjal Peak Base Camp at most.
Later, when his first love was in danger while climbing a mountain, Zhang Helai worked in a daze for several years, met his current wife, and struggled until now.
He knew that this year was his last chance. If he waited until his wife gave birth to a child, the great responsibilities that would follow would completely overwhelm the last dream hidden in the heart of this middle-aged man.
Men are boys before they become fathers, and this is the last time Zhang Helai will be willful.
However, although Zhang Helai came to the fifth camp with the team safe and sound, he had a small problem.
Oxygen cylinder consumption has reached a critical point.
It's not that the amount of oxygen cylinders is insufficient, but that Zhang Helai consumed more oxygen during the process from the fourth camp to the fifth camp, which compressed the amount of "spare oxygen". If he still wants to continue climbing to the top, he can barely make it to the top without making any mistakes.
Zhang Helai can also choose to wait in the fifth camp, and wait for the mountaineering team to come down and take him away after reaching the summit. In this way, he does not need to move and his oxygen consumption is greatly reduced.
"That is to say, you are risking your life to reach the summit?" A blond foreigner suddenly asked in Xuan Mandarin.
"Yes."
"Why do you want to do this?"
"Why? Dreams, memories, luck... I also had mixed feelings when I made this decision, but if it is the root cause, it should be... not reconciled." Zhang Helai said with a faint smile: "I know, if I chose to give up at that time, Then I'll be complaining about that decision for the rest of my life."
"It's also because of this... I was able to meet her with other team members."