Trembling At A High Altitude

A moment later, seeing the large pool of blood beneath him, Li Teng's heart was incredibly tense.

It was the wound inflicted by the vulture's peck that was bleeding; moreover, the bleeding would not stop.

Having no other choice, Li Teng used the vulture's claws to tear the bedsheet into strips of cloth, then he found a suitable strip and began to wrap it around the wound.

The pain nearly made Li Teng pass out.

At last, the wound was wrapped.

Blood was still flowing, but at a much slower rate.

This was all he could do for now.

There was an issue with this makeshift bandaging, however, it seemed he was unable to urinate.

But at the current stage, the most critical thing was to stop the bleeding. As for urination, that was a problem to consider in the next phase.

Being unable to urinate wouldn't kill him straight away, but if the bleeding didn't stop, he would definitely die.

Eating the flesh and blood of the vulture gave Li Teng energy, and he didn't pass out again.

But the pain of being conscious was hard for him to bear.

Especially since the pain from that specific area was several times worse than any other part of his body, making him wish he was dead from the pain.

"Childbirth must be even more painful than this, right?"

"If women can endure it, I can endure it too!"

"I can't take it!"

"It's killing me!"

...

When night approached and he was close to falling asleep, the bleeding stopped, and the pain finally lessened a bit.

However, the accumulated urine in his bladder became a big problem.

Li Teng was not knowledgeable in medicine, and he didn't know whether he could unwrap the bandage now.

If he unwrapped it and the bleeding was unstoppable, that would be a big trouble.

But what frightened Li Teng even more was... he noticed the temperature around him wasn't dropping, yet he felt very cold.

There was only one reason for that; he was running a fever.

His fever made his body temperature higher than the surrounding environment, thus making him feel cold.

It seemed like a harbinger of bacterial infection.

It was uncertain whether the infection was due to the wound or eating raw vulture, a scavenger, but without a doubt, any infection at this point could be fatal for him.

Next would be sepsis. If the helicopter didn't come for him by tomorrow, the infection would claim his life directly.

The distended bladder, the burning pain of the wound, the mysterious pains all over his fevered body—all these together made Li Teng feel as if he was in hell.

And there appeared to be no end to this hell.

Eventually, Li Teng didn't know whether he fell asleep or passed out.

Yet, whether he slept or fainted, it was a blessing for him.

It was his body's instinctive stress response that temporarily shut down his sensation of pain; otherwise, his willpower might have collapsed under the torture of the pain, leading to a complete breakdown of his body.

...

The day brightened once again.

A gust of wind blew over, making Li Teng very uncomfortable.

There was also a rumbling sound.

In a flash, Li Teng suddenly realized something.

He quickly opened his eyes, only to see a black helicopter approaching!

And a rope ladder was being lowered to him.

"At last, rescue has arrived."

At that moment, Li Teng felt an urge to cry.

But very soon, he realized a problem.

Due to the infection and fever leading to severe sepsis, his life hung by a thread, and he was so weak and debilitated that he couldn't even move.

One could say that it was a miracle he came to consciousness at all.

It was a testament to his strong will to survive.

The very idea of climbing the rope ladder into the helicopter under these circumstances was pure folly.

"I must get up!"

"I have to get into the helicopter!"

"Otherwise, I'm as good as dead!"

Li Teng roared inside his head.

But wanting to climb into the helicopter, mere will to survive was not enough.

If the body can't move, it's all in vain.

His bodily functions had completely collapsed, and his attempt to sit up only brought him close to fainting.

Perhaps it had been too long a wait, but the helicopter, not seeing Li Teng climb up by himself, started retracting the rope ladder, looking as if it was preparing to leave!

"Don't go away!" Li Teng tried to shout loudly but couldn't make a sound.

The helicopter did not leave.

Instead, it lowered its altitude, bringing the cabin door down to the same level as Li Teng.

But even so, Li Teng still couldn't get into the helicopter's cabin.

He didn't have an ounce of strength left in his body, and it was only by sheer willpower that he was hanging on to his last breath.

After a while, a metal plate was extended out of the helicopter's cabin.

Two mechanical claws were also stretched out from the sides of the door.

The claws picked up Li Teng's body like a piece of cargo, placed it on the metal plate, and then retracted it back inside the cabin.

"They're not treating me like a corpse for retrieval, are they? I'm still alive!"

Li Teng sensed that something was amiss.

Last time, the refined old lady's body was retrieved in the same manner, right?

If he were treated as a corpse for retrieval, what awaited him was the fate of being preserved in wax.

So, he couldn't die now.

He had to wake up the moment he entered Film and Television City and clearly prove to them that he wasn't dead.

After Li Teng was brought into the cabin by the mechanical arms and the metal plate, the cabin door closed, and the inside of the cabin became pitch black.

Li Teng knew there was a box beside him, a box filled with bread, biscuits, drinks, and other items that could help him recover.

However, he couldn't get up to open the box and take them.

To prevent himself from falling asleep and slipping back into unconsciousness, Li Teng kept scratching himself with his fingernails.

Because of the high fever, his sense of pain had diminished a lot, making it difficult for him to stay awake.

His bladder was so painfully distended, it felt numb.

When Li Teng felt that he couldn't hold on any longer and was about to fall unconscious, he tried hard to urinate.

The act caused his wound to tear open, bringing a sharp pain that made Li Teng gasp for air and finally cleared his head somewhat.

His arm gained a bit of strength as well.

Li Teng quickly reached out and felt around; the box with food and drinks was right next to his arm!

These food and drinks were high-tech products, and Li Teng had experienced their miraculous effects twice.

After consuming them, they could restore his body from an extremely weakened state to near-normal levels.

Although he didn't know the principle behind it... he didn't need to understand it.

All he needed now was to get a hold of them and somehow get them into his stomach.

His hand touched the lid of the box, but raising the lid and taking out the food and drinks—a task so simple—proved beyond his strength.

After struggling, his raised arm dropped down powerlessly once again.

To him now, the distance between the food and drinks inside the box and himself was the distance between life and death.

If he wanted to stay conscious when he arrived in Film and Television City and prevent them from thinking he was just a corpse, it all depended on whether he could get to those food and drinks now.

The helicopter being able to come for him today was a stroke of luck amidst disaster.

It gave him one chance.

He had to seize this opportunity to survive.

At one moment, Li Teng suddenly realized the true meaning of the three knocks that Sunglasses Woman had given on his head when they last parted.

He also guessed why she wouldn't let him confirm the answer after he figured it out.