Chapter 63

  I managed to grab two hours of rest for myself.

  A series of long downhill slopes allowed me to relax thoroughly, although I encountered some trouble when crossing a forest and almost crashed into several large trees growing together. Fortunately, the brakes were applied in time, and all that was added was a purple bump on my forehead.

  And judging from the direction of the mountain, for a large part of the journey ahead, it should be mostly downhill and relatively long, I should be able to arrive at my destination on time.

  I found a sheltered spot and built a snow wall in the shape of a triangle, then crawled inside to get some rest.

  But it's no use.

  The temperature was below zero, and I wasn't even wearing that kind of fully sealed warm combat suit, but I just slept through it. Frostbite is a minor matter, if things go wrong, you can actually freeze to death in your sleep!

  It can only be a daze for a while, and from time to time, I still have to get up and move around.

  It suddenly stopped moving, and the feeling of fatigue all over its body and the cold sensation began to take over.

  First, I felt that all the bones and muscles in my body were not right, no matter how I adjusted my resting posture, I still felt uncomfortable all over, and I wanted to take off my clothes and stretch my body thoroughly.

  Then there's that slight tingling sensation coming from the tips of your fingers and toes.

  In blizzards, many people unknowingly frostbite their hands and feet during prolonged walking.

  When Amuriken attacked Iraq, a British assault team suffered severe frostbite during an all-night march. The most severely frostbitten one was walking and suddenly saw that his hands had turned black.

  Take another close look and only then did I realize that a pair of hands had been frozen to the point of being crippled, this lifetime will never be able to lift even the weight of a single straw with one's own two hands again!

  I quickly rubbed my hands and feet while eating some high-calorie foods.

  Drinking water is not a concern, as our military uniform has a built-in water bag that uses body heat to keep the water warm, so it's still a bit warm and won't consume our already limited energy like drinking snow water.

  After a short rest, I continued on my journey forward.

  It didn't take long for a thick layer of ice to form on the windproof mask, and I had to use force to remove the gradually hardening ice every few minutes. Although goggles can protect my eyes, staring at the vast expanse of whiteness for an extended period, I reckon it won't be long before I get mild snow blindness!

  But I couldn't stop.

  The observation team behind me had vanished, and I couldn't even distinguish the rhythmic engine sound of the snowmobile from the howling wind and snow.

  Between heaven and earth, it seems like I'm the only one left.

  Loneliness.

  A sense of loneliness I had never felt before almost instantly took over my heart.

  I remember that in Myanmar there were some armed groups who liked to use landmines to punish traitors or captured enemies.

  The person to be punished is thrown into a four or five meter deep but only one square meter vertical pit, and then the entrance of the pit is covered. Within two hours at most, in an absolutely quiet environment, people can even hear their own heartbeat and blood flowing sound.

  What's more, the inability to see anything and the slightest noise could trigger people's suspicion and fear. In such a situation, almost no one who was thrown into the pit could survive for two days. Either they were frightened out of their wits or they tried every means to end their lives.

  And I, as if I were the only one being punished in the vast universe.

  I'm used to group action, I'm used to group life.

  But now I am alone.

  I can only vaguely sense the direction, I couldn't see the road beneath my feet, and I even suspected that I would be swallowed up by the swirling snow in the next minute!

  I'm starting to feel scared...

  It was as if I were a child walking alone at night, and yet I burst into song in the midst of the increasingly thick fear and loneliness that was attacking my heart.

  To this day, I still can't remember what I was singing at the time.

  I only knew I was singing, it seemed like I sang all the songs that I could remember from childhood to adulthood over and over again, until my throat really couldn't make a sound.

  Looking back, a military officer with a snow-white body, almost merging into the sky and earth, shouting loudly while pulling a sled forward, should be a funny scene for anyone who sees it.

  But I was like that at the time.

  Although I'm afraid, although I'm lonely, and although I feel that in the next second I can lie down on the snowy ground forever, I still move forward towards my goal, constantly moving forward.

  It's actually not just me who is like this...

  After the training ended, I once asked some brothers who participated in the winter training, such as Jiang Kuan and Yang Ke. At least half of them admitted that they were also moving forward with a ghostly cry without realizing it.

  Why sing songs?

  It seems like just wanting to prove oneself still exists and hasn't been swallowed up by the snow that's everywhere in the world, right?

  But every brother did not stop his pace of progress.

  Because we are Chinese soldiers wearing a horse jacket!

  Like this, I walked non-stop for two days and two nights. My eyeballs felt like they were frozen in their sockets, and even when I wanted to take a look around, I could only mechanically turn my neck, rather than taking a casual glance like usual.

  Generally speaking, when people are exhausted to the extreme, they become numb. Several times I was heavily slammed on the ground before suddenly waking up and continuing to struggle forward.

  But when I fell down, my eyes were open, and I could see the white scene in front of me clearly, only my brain had fallen asleep uncontrollably.

  The continuous trek through the snowy terrain was also amazingly energy-consuming. In two days and two nights, I had already consumed half of my food, and even the water in my water bag was almost gone.

  I could only stop again, take some accumulated snow and stuff it into the water bag, letting me use my precious body heat to make some drinkable warm water.

  It was just as I struggled to get up that a pair of large hands suddenly stretched out from behind me and easily helped me straighten my body.

  Then I heard the standard Mandarin with a perfect Beijing accent in my ear.

  Baldy, are you okay?

  I let out a sigh of relief and said it's okay, but why did you come onto my route? Weren't we supposed to take different paths?

  That authentic Mandarin voice laughed and said, "Baldy, you're still dizzy from walking. Don't we have a gathering point?"

  We're less than a kilometer away from our gathering point in a straight line. Look over there, you can already see the other brothers.

  Among us brothers, although we all have undergone dialect training, when speaking Mandarin, more or less, there will always be a hint of our hometown accent, it's just not that easy to notice.

  Only one person's Mandarin can reach the standard of a CCTV announcer.

  Our Tibetan brother Sonam Dajie.