Why fight because the enemy is there.
These are the famous words of the seven groups that shocked the Federation back then, but Lan Xiaolong, who said this at the Nebula Awards, has already achieved fame and is not on the front line.
Why climb the mountain, because the mountain is there.
This is a gold-rimmed famous saying that many adventurers take as their creed. However, Xiong Linquan and others looked at the unattainable mountain in the dim twilight, and looked at the dangerous wall cut off by the lead cloud, and then climbed up directly with Xu Le's words. In comparison, there is no blood at all in his chest.
The monkey took out the tactical manual, informed everyone about the altitude of this mountain, and then shrugged his shoulders and said: "The upper half of this mountain is all above the turbulent clouds, and the military satellites in the sky can clearly see the ground images. If we want to If you want to sneak over, you can only walk at night, and it is still very risky."
The altitude value is a bit surprising, not to mention climbing in the dark, which is even more dangerous. The team members looked at Xu Le. Although they did not directly object, the hesitation in their eyes had already shown their attitudes.
"We're going to climb this mountain, and of course it's not because it doesn't look good to me and I have to step on it."
Feeling the silence, nervousness and suspicion that pervaded the team, Xu Le said an uninteresting joke, pointed at the snowy peak and said, "It's because we can't find any other way other than to climb directly over it, the closer we are to the natural danger. In distant places, it is often easy to encounter dangers from the same kind."
"I haven't seen you for three years, how did you become a third-rate philosopher, boss?"
Xiong Linquan said with a frown, then took out a precise map from the marching backpack and began to try to find a relatively safe climbing route. It is one thing to laugh, but another to follow orders.
This dangerous peak standing on the edge of the southwest mining area of Mohua Planet has no name. There is not much green vegetation between the mountains with an altitude of about 6,000 meters. There are only gray-black volcanic rocks and no minerals. They are busy digging graphite mines on this planet. The Empire, for thousands of years, has not paid its real attention.
The final target chosen by the team is a blank on the left side of Wuming Peak, with an exact height of 5477 meters. This route is relatively safe and easy to walk.
The weather in the mountains was a little unusual. The lone army struggled along the rugged mountain road, through the lonely forests on the mountainside, and finally walked out of the strange foggy area, and suddenly came into a cloud of lead that was not many meters thick.
The battle-hardened team members could not understand why this tragic battle would oppress the clouds to such a low place.
If Xu Le was given some time, he would probably be able to form a formula between the amount of ammunition invested by both sides, the electromagnetic turbulence and this strange celestial phenomenon through some fuzzy calculations.
However, at this time, he was holding the stretcher tightly in both hands, staring at the steep mountain road under his feet, dripping with sweat, and he had no energy to do those boring jobs at all.
If they had been recuperating for a long time, the old seventh group who had just entered the battlefield would not be difficult to climb this mountain in one night, but now this team has been fleeing for many days in the southwest theater, and they are already exhausted.
All the equipment of the lightly wounded were taken over by the other team members. Paul and the imperial prisoner who were in charge of carrying the stretcher were already exhausted, and they were replaced by Xu Le and Xiong Linquan.
As the two most physically powerful people in the team, they also carried five or six heavy firearms on their shoulders, and they looked like two greedy hedgehogs of Bidong, with too many fruit thorns all over their bodies.
The team members walked in silence within a distance of less than 20 meters, no one spoke, no one talked and laughed, saving all their physical strength.
No one flattered or tried to take the guns from Xu Le and Xiong Linquan's shoulders, because they were fleeing, fighting, and all they needed to do was to maintain efficiency.
The mountain road is getting steeper and steeper, and it can't even be called a road at all. The team just picks up the gap between the gray-black volcanic rocks and moves forward. The temperature in the surrounding environment is getting lower and lower, and the increasingly heavy breathing sound forms a thick white mist in front of the players' lips.
After passing through the volcanic gravel scattered area of about seven kilometers, the team stopped to replenish some nutrients and refreshed their strength.
Xu Le took the water bottle and took a sip, then handed it back to Xiong Linquan beside him. Looking at the thinning mist through the close-up pathfinder light above his head, he asked, "How long will it take to get out of the clouds?"
"almost."
Xiong Linquan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, took out the self-warming military blanket from the marching rucksack and put it on the stretcher behind him, and said, "The problem is that according to the height difference table on the map, the road above is much steeper than it is now. It is very likely that there is still snow on the top, and now we can carry the stretcher, there must be no way to do it later."
"Walk on your back."
Xu Le licked his dry lips, and said without hesitation, "We'll switch between the two of us. Then you should pay more attention to the warmth of the team members, especially those injured numbers. There must be no problem."
Xiong Linquan nodded and didn't raise any doubts. Although climbing a dangerous peak with a seriously wounded man on his back would definitely take a certain degree of risk, he was used to doing things according to the boss's orders, and was proud of this trust.
On the stretcher behind the two, Dongfang Yu raised his right arm with difficulty, and tugged at the military blanket that was gradually heating up on his body. Hearing this conversation, he seemed to want to say something, but after all, he didn't say anything. Just chewing on the mushy nutritional paste seriously.
Leaving the gray and black volcanic rock area, he could no longer find any ready-made passages. The monkeys who were good at climbing explored the way between the steep cliffs and marked the direction with the light sticks tied behind their hips. The rest of the team carefully followed him. Behind him, always be careful not to step in the air and fall into the endless dark night beside the rock.
The stretcher with all the hydraulic equipment removed was left under the cliff. Xu Le moved the heavy firearms in front of him, tied Dongfang Yu behind him with a marching belt, followed behind Paul, and kept an eye on his movements. to avoid accidents.
Xiong Linquan followed at the back of the team and said, "Walk another 100 meters to change."
Xu Le's right hand wedged deeply into the crevice of the cliff and climbed up with a grunt, without saying anything.
Similar to the calculation results, after a short climb between the steep cliffs, the team passed through the lead-ash cloud area and came to the clear night sky. Although the time consumption was not long, this section of the road was particularly difficult and dangerous. .
The big round white moon is still on the other side of the skyline at the moment, and most of its beauty is covered by clouds, but the top of the rock peak is still bright, because there are still stars in the sky.
The tired team members suddenly saw that the rock wall in front of them became bright and white. They looked up subconsciously, and saw that in the blue-black night sky, there were countless shining stars, blinking softly, turning the silver light into the sky. Sent to the peaks, plated on the cliffs and tired travelers.
The scenery is very beautiful, the starlight is very tranquil, the exhaustion and injuries in the players' bodies, and the numbness of gunpowder smoke brought by countless battles seem to be washed away in an instant.
They were very willing to fall asleep watching Xingguang like this, and they would never want to lift their lead-filled legs, climb towards the more dangerous Canxue Pass, and return to the thick lead-colored cloud again.
Looking at the stars in the sky, Xu Le squinted his eyes, patted Paul's thin shoulder in front of him, motioned him to move on, and then whispered, "Continue."
The mountain wall here is gradually slowing down, and the physical strength of the players has reached the brink of collapse, but he cannot allow the players to stop and rest, because the altitude here is too high and the temperature is too low, once it stops, it is easy to cause problems.
More dangerously, military satellites outside the atmosphere are more likely to spot them while starlight illuminates their path.
"Substitution."
Xiong Linquan crawled over panting, grabbed Xu Le's military boots, and said, "You eat too much of your quota, so I'll give you some points."
Xu Le looked back at him and smiled. His neat teeth were extraordinarily white under the starlight, and he said, "When I'm panting like you, you can change it again."
Dongfang Yu, who was tied to his back, was the easiest person in this climb, but the low temperature and bumps between the peaks still made him extremely uncomfortable, but he didn't want to affect the progress of the entire team, so he was silent all the way, even Even when there was severe tearing pain from the abdominal wound, he just frowned more tightly, licked the blood biting out from his gums faster, and refused to let out a moan.
However, when he heard Xu Le's words at this time, he finally couldn't help speaking. He tightened the blanket on his body with his only movable hands, and sneered, "He likes to pretend, Big Bear, you can let him pretend."
Xu Le ignored him, and followed Paul's footsteps and started to walk with difficulty again. The heavy guns on his chest were like pendulums under an old-fashioned wall clock, swaying back and forth, which seemed particularly rhythmic.
After hours of hard climbing, this lonely team, regarded as an enemy by all humans, finally successfully climbed the unmarked pass.
At the pass with an altitude of more than 5,000 meters, the oxygen density is extremely low, but there is still a burst of soft cheers that cannot be suppressed. The exhausted team members, with arrogant smiles on their faces, walked under the cliffs with difficulty, ignoring the snow and ice between the stones, and lay down like this.
There is a cliff and rocks to cover, so there should be no need to worry about being discovered by the military satellites in the sky, so Xiong Linquan did not prevent the team members from collapsing in a carnival style, took a deep breath, drove away the exhaustion between the chest and abdomen, and began to distribute the support medicine to the team members.
Xu Le piled Dongfang Jade and the heavy guns in the corner below the cliff, took the energy bar handed over by Xiong Linquan, and found on the sign that it was actually provided by the imperial troops, and then remembered that they had fled in the Southwest Theater for two. Months, the original provisions must have been gone.
After chewing two bites of the energy bar, he walked over to Paul and whispered a few words, then picked up his marching rucksack and walked out of the cliff.
Xiong Linquan, who was replacing the medical tape on the monkey's back, looked at his back in doubt, not knowing what he was going to do. He knew that staying under the bright starlight for one more second at this time might bring some benefits to the team. more danger.