Chapter Thirty-One: You Are Your Eagle (I)

  "How come you're all writing letters today?" he asked curiously.

  "Tomorrow is the day for sending letters, so I wrote one today. Don't you want to write one home? If you do, hurry up and we can hand them in together." said Tang Fei.

  Write a letter? Write a letter home?

  Xiao Lie was dazed for a moment, he didn't know who he was writing to now. He felt like an abandoned orphan, and a lump of sadness rose up in his chest. In that instant, he envied those people who had families, parents, brothers and sisters, while he had nothing left.

  He thought of Xu Jiadai, the woman who was still waiting for him to bring her news. Apart from Xiao Lie, she was probably the person most eager to know about Xiao Yang's situation in this world. Although both Xiao Lie and Xu Jiadai knew that such a hope was extremely slim, even the fading light of the setting moon seemed more brilliant than this hope. Yet she had said: "They say he is no longer in this world, but my heart can still feel his breath somewhere in this world - not in heaven, not in hell, but in this mortal realm. I can sense that he is still alive."

  Xiao Lie had a wry smile, for him and Xu Jia Dai both maintained such hope, in other people's eyes, no doubt like a madman.

  But they knew it wasn't.

  Xiao Lie knew that if he didn't write a letter, then Xu Jia Dai would have no idea where he was or how he was doing. But he also didn't know what to say.

  Sister:

  I'm fine, everything is fine, I've settled in well here, don't worry.

  Xiao Lie's "Today"

  After a few short sentences, Xiao Lie didn't know what else to write. Subconsciously, he felt that he wasn't qualified to say anything to Xu Jia Dai yet, as the Xiao family owed her too much and he couldn't find words to describe it. Xiao Lie regarded her as his last remaining relative in this world.

  When the whole base sounded an alarm, the soldiers immediately picked up their own gear and ran outside, whether it was a drill or something real, when the alarm sounded, they had to take action.

  The weather in May changes suddenly, yesterday was still a sunny day, and overnight it has become a heavy snowfall. Everyone at the base thought that with such a big snowstorm, there wouldn't be a training exercise today, if so, then great, can finally get a break.

  "Comrades, we have just received an urgent order from the headquarters. Twenty kilometers away from us, at Mount Gongla, a group of herdsmen are trapped in the snow. The headquarters has ordered us to rush out and rescue our fellow villagers. We are the people's sons and daughters in arms; when the people are in danger, we will be there. Now is the time for us to fulfill our mission. Everyone, let's move out in units of squads to carry out the search and rescue operation."

  After Zhang Zhiqiang made a brief mobilization speech, with a wave of his hand, the entire base sprang into action.

  The officers and men of such a search and rescue base are not unfamiliar with this kind of thing, they encounter it every year, helping the surrounding residents to build houses, finding cows and sheep on snowy days is very normal. So during the holidays, the surrounding residents and herdsmen will bring their own food to the base to offer condolences.

  "Bring more water and food." Wei Qidong said to Xiao Lie.

  "Yes." Xiao Lie replied, then carefully poured boiling water into the thermos. On snowy grounds, apart from using a thermos to hold hot water, soldiers would carry a personal water bag that used body heat to keep the water warm; otherwise, if they used an aluminum military canteen, the water inside would freeze in just over ten minutes.

  The car was unable to move forward when it was still ten kilometers away from Gongla Mountain. Xiao Lie saw knee-deep snow for the first time, and every step on such snowy ground required more than twice as much effort as usual. When the soldiers jumped off the car, the wind and snow hit their faces non-stop, and visibility was also greatly reduced in the snowy weather. If it weren't for the many comrades by his side, Xiao Lie would have felt a very frightening feeling, and anyone facing harsh natural conditions would always feel a sense of fear.

  "Follow closely," said Wei Qidong, who remembered that there were dozens of herding households in the area.

  "How was it?"

  Zhang Zhi found a herdsman in a room at the mountain pass, four earth houses in the snow were particularly inconspicuous. Here, the nearest police station is more than 40 kilometers away, and the base is closer, so when the residents here encounter something, they usually look for the People's Liberation Army in the base first.

  "Some people have already gone up into the mountains this morning, but the snow is getting heavier and now no one can come down." said an elderly Uyghur herdsman in broken Mandarin.

  "Keep communication smooth, go into the mountain." Zhang Zhiqiang said.

  The soldiers began to climb the mountain in a column formation, which was not easy to walk in the wind and snow.

  Not long after walking, Xiao Lie felt a bit tired. Here, not only was physical strength consumed extremely quickly, but the oxygen content was also very low. Now his body, hat and eyebrows were all covered in frost, and the exposed skin had gone numb. It was hard for Xiao Lie to imagine that under such extreme weather conditions, even if it wasn't in the wilderness, ordinary people would not be able to cope with just surviving. If there was only one outcome, then the final result would be to freeze to death in the wilderness. Probably even wolves couldn't withstand this kind of weather.

  "If we can find them in time, we will definitely be able to rescue them," said Wei Qidong.

  "In such cold weather, can they survive outside?" Xiao Lie asked out loud his own question.

  "Of course, how could they not? The local environment nurtures the local people. People living here have long been accustomed to this climate; otherwise, Russians would have frozen to death in their own homes a long time ago." Wei Qidong smiled and said: "As long as we can get them down from the mountain before nightfall, everything will be fine."

  Two hours later, the troops finally arrived at the search and rescue center. After passing a mountain pass, a flat land appeared before the soldiers' eyes. Zhang Zhiqiang remembered that every summer day, this basin was very beautiful, with lush green grass, cows and sheep grazing leisurely, and herdsmen living peacefully, like a paradise on earth. Every winter, the herdsmen would migrate down the mountain to spend the winter. But this May was different from previous years. In the past, in April, some herdsmen would return here, even if it snowed, it was usually just one or two small snowfalls, not enough to seal off the mountain. By late May, when the local herdsmen were celebrating their own festival, they would always send some beef and mutton to the base first, and sometimes people from the base would come to spend the holiday with the local herdsmen.

  In the telescope, Zhang Zhiqiang didn't find any tents at all. What he was worried about was that these tents might be buried under the snow overnight, which was what he was worried about.

  Zhang Zhiqiang waved his hand, and the soldiers descended in a horizontal line down the mountain. When they reached the basin below, although the wind had died down a lot, the snow was still heavy, similar to that at the foot of the mountain, only reaching up to people's knees. This made Zhang Zhiqiang feel much more at ease. If the snow wasn't deep, then the herders' tents wouldn't be buried under it, so where had they gone?

  "Company Commander, look! There's a sheep carcass." a soldier shouted.

  Zhang Zhiqiang ran over and saw a dead sheep. After removing the snow, he also saw three more dead sheep.

  "They went to the back of the mountain." Zhang Zhiqiang said, looking from the direction of the fallen sheep, the sheep were heading in the direction of the back of the mountain. He knew that there was no wind blowing at all over there, and the snow drifting with the wind would not fall there either. It was a good place to avoid the wind and snow.

  The soldiers began to move forward behind the mountain, and after passing a bend, Zhang Zhiqiang vaguely saw six large tents and some small tents below the back of the mountain. It seemed that those herdsmen were indeed here, and at this time, the soldiers couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

  When the soldiers arrived at the herders' area, the herders saw the soldiers as if they had seen long-lost relatives, and some even burst into tears. Except for some livestock that froze to death, there were no casualties among the personnel. Due to concerns about a blizzard at night, all personnel had to be evacuated. After eating dry rations, the soldiers helped the herders pack up their belongings. Some soldiers and herders drove the cattle and sheep down the mountain first, while the rest packed up quickly and left. The tents were left on the back of the mountain, and they would come back to collect them in a few days.

  "After this time, it shouldn't snow again, right?" Xiao Lie said while packing up his things.

  "It shouldn't be like this, it's never been like this before."

  A female voice with a distinctive Uyghur accent in Mandarin Chinese came into Xiao Lie's ears.

  "Hehe, I came here for the first time, and I don't understand it very well." Xiao Lie smiled.

  "My name is Katarina," Katarina said by way of introduction.

  She was wearing a thick cloak, with a fox-fur hat on her head, and the two cheeks outside the hat were very fair, but without that kind of ruddy complexion peculiar to mountain villagers, and she looked very good when she smiled.

  "My name is Xiao Lie." Xiao Lie estimated that her height was not short, at least around 1.7 meters, only slightly shorter than himself.

  Xiao Lie didn't say much more, and started packing up the household items inside the tent. These things were nothing but some tableware and clothes. Xiao Lie categorized them into different bags and then put them in his backpack. After making sure there was nothing else that needed to be taken away, Xiao Lie swung his backpack onto his back.

  "Hey young man, have a cup of hot milk tea first, it's good for warming up on the road." The Uyghur auntie said with a smile that noon.

  In front of him was a cup of milk tea, but Xiao Lie wasn't used to the taste. The smell of mutton fat lingered in the air, and most people from inland China wouldn't be able to get used to it. Moreover, there was also a fishy smell when drinking it. Some soldiers weren't used to this kind of milk tea before, but they couldn't resist the enthusiasm of the herdsmen, so they held their noses and drank it down. If some soldiers with weak stomachs weren't afraid of violating military discipline, they would probably vomit on the spot. Later, the officers at the base learned a lesson and made sure to have the soldiers drink this special milk tea from time to time, so as not to lose face when they went out.

  When he saw the Uyghur woman, Xiao Lie guessed that she must be Kasali's mother, because the two had some resemblance. It was just that Kasali's hair was golden and her eyes were tinged with azure, which was different from the Uyghur women he usually saw.

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