Trembling At A High Altitude

It wasn't long before Li Teng climbed up to Liu Hui's side.

Without making a sound, Liu Hui watched as Li Teng meticulously carried out the tasks she had given him, and after several checks, she finally felt at ease and began her second climb of over ten meters.

While climbing, she couldn't help but recall the first time she went rock climbing with her father.

Of course, at that time, it wasn't just the two of them climbing; there were two other companions as well.

Her father wouldn't dare entrust his life to a capricious teenage girl.

Her competitive nature made her learn quickly, and before long, her father started a two-person climb with her alone, covering more than a thousand meters. She did exceptionally well and earned one of the few praises from her father.

Who would have thought that the skills she learned back then would come in handy today?

After being trapped in the Film and Television City, Liu Hui often doubted one thing.

Had her father received some advance warning, or had he traveled back in time? Otherwise, why would he start training her at the age of three?

Moreover, she had heard her father say more than once that there wasn't much time left.

If it was all to prepare for everything happening in Film and Television City today, then her father's harsh training confirmed one thing she was even reluctant to admit.

That was, her father's love for her far exceeded the love for her younger sister, Liu Yin.

So her father didn't give up on her and started training her from the age of three.

Was it really so?

"What are you thinking about?" Li Teng climbed up and, seeing Liu Hui deep in thought while hanging from the rock face, asked her.

"Nothing."

Once she confirmed that Li Teng was securely fixed, Liu Hui once again swung her mountaineering hammer and climbed further up.

After climbing over two hundred meters, the rock face became steeper. Liu Hui let out more of the rope, allowing them to climb several dozen meters at a time before switching.

Li Teng looked up and could only make out Liu Hui's vague figure. He started to feel dizzy and even fearful for the first time.

As if possessed, Li Teng glanced down once again and felt an unwarranted palpitation.

Having been on the rock pillar for so long, one would think any fear of heights would have been cured.

But at that moment, Li Teng was still somewhat afraid.

The rock pillar was, after all, solid; it didn't shake most of the time and provided a stable seat.

Climbing, however, meant relying solely on a few pitons to fix oneself to the rock face. If the partner above were to fall by accident, all the impact would have to be absorbed by these few pitons.

And their climbing rope. Who knew how long it had been left in that tent? What if it had become unreliable?

Any minor mistake, even not caused by human error, could put them in a situation with no way out.

After several switches, finally, the two of them successfully reached the end of the rock face.

There was a snowy platform here where they could rest temporarily.

The ascent from there became much more difficult, as the ice wall above was much harder to breach than the rock face.

However, the ice cliff didn't seem very high, only about one hundred meters or so.

"How do you feel?" Liu Hui asked Li Teng while eating some dried bear meat.

"Not bad, the rock climbing isn't too difficult," Li Teng certainly wouldn't mention the fear he had experienced halfway through.

"When there's no danger, it doesn't feel very difficult, but the real challenge is dealing with all sorts of unexpected situations as they arise, relying only on experience to solve them," Liu Hui couldn't agree with Li Teng's statement.

"Then we can only count on your experience, since I don't have much myself, a pure newcomer to the climbing world," Li Teng laughed.

"I don't have much experience with unexpected situations either. My father is very experienced, but unfortunately, I haven't had many opportunities to climb with him," Liu Hui shook her head.

"All three members of the Liu family have come to Film and Television City one after another," Li Teng always felt that these events were connected, including his successive encounters with the Liu sisters.

"Maybe... has the Liu family been cursed by some mysterious force?" Liu Hui seemed unsure of the reason herself.

After resting for a while, the two continued their climb up the ice cliff of over a hundred meters.

Li Teng didn't find it difficult, and soon he and Liu Hui conquered that stretch of the ice cliff.

However, after climbing the ice cliff, the two of them found themselves in a quandary.

Looking around, they could not find where the original path was.

The peaks ahead were all covered with snow, forming an entire vast expanse of highland. Looking forward, there was a snow peak with an incline of over thirty degrees, and it seemed that they had to cross that snow peak to find the way back to the main path.

"This snow peak is harder to climb than the rock wall and snow wall we just dealt with," Liu Hui frowned.

"It's not too bad, the slope isn't very steep," Li Teng observed the surroundings of the snow peak and found the area below to be very flat and the scenery quite beautiful.

"Hmm, the slope isn't steep, but underneath the thick snow lies the danger; we can't know if below the snow are hard rocks or cliff fissures. It's very likely that a careless step will cause us to fall into a trap below," Liu Hui thoroughly explained to Li Teng.

"Damn it! That damned fatso, it's been traps all along the way, he won't rest until he's done me in!" Li Teng exclaimed, realizing where the danger lay after hearing Liu Hui's explanation.

They had spent too much time, and they had to cross this mountain before nightfall.

Despite knowing that the road ahead was fraught with danger and traps, they had no choice but to set off as quickly as possible.

Although they were walking on snow, the two were still connected by a rope, which meant that if one of them accidentally stepped into a fissure hidden under the snow, the other, connected by the rope, would be able to pull them up.

It was truly a matter of putting one's life completely in the hands of another.

Liu Hui actually didn't have much experience walking on these snowy peaks either, but Li Teng had even less experience.

So it was Liu Hui who took the lead to navigate, with Li Teng following behind, keeping the rope between them at a length of about ten meters.

To prevent the rope from breaking due to prolonged strain, they took the precaution of using two ropes.

Even though Liu Hui was very careful, some traps on the mountain might have been man-made pits by Director Yuan, not something that could be avoided by just being careful.

As she was walking, the snow beside her suddenly collapsed on a large scale. The previously flat snow path suddenly revealed a cliff!

Liu Hui, caught off guard, screamed and fell straight down.

Li Teng, hearing Liu Hui's scream and realizing that something was wrong, quickly adjusted his posture. Before the rope that connected them became taut, he threw himself to the ground and hammered his Ice Pick into the ice with all his might. After several attempts, just as Li Teng was about to follow Liu Hui over the edge, he managed to anchor himself and momentarily stopped sliding down.