Trembling At A High Altitude - Chapter 27
Chapter 27: Long Night
Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
There was a countdown timer in the helicopter’s cabin, showing five minutes.
Clearly, these five minutes were for Li Teng to get back on the stone pillar with the rope ladder.
If he still didn’t get down past this time, there would only be one outcome—that was to be sent back to the film studio.
And to return to the film studio at this time would lead to one thing—that was to be sealed into wax on the spot and become a handsome wax statue.
Li Teng had to encourage himself to overcome the fear and despair, and then, along the shaky rope ladder under the helicopter, climb down toward the top of the stone pillar extremely carefully.
Finally, Li Teng’s feet stepped onto his own bed once again—the bed on which snow of half a meter thickness had accumulated.
After the helicopter completed the escorting mission, it swiftly flew into the distance and disappeared.
Li Teng was left all alone on top of the stone pillar.
Back then, at the film studio, though there had been the danger of dying during the shooting, at least, it looked a bit similar to the real world.
But back here, it was like a nightmare.
I really don’t want to be back!
The cold was bone-deep.
After looking up at the gray and grim sky, Li Teng gave a long, shrill cry.
What is a life lonely as the snow?
This is.
…
Though the snow was already very light, because it had already been snowing for a whole day, a thick layer of snow was piled up on the bed. Even the bottom of the bed was filled with snow blown inside by the wind.
Needless to say, the blanket, mattress, and such under the snow were probably all drenched and hardened by the cold now.
It was impossible for him to even lie down to sleep.
Do the heavens want to end me?
How am I to spend the next few days!
Without even a place to sleep and shelter from the wind, would I not even make it to tomorrow morning and die directly?
When buying clothes at the clothing shop in the film studio, it hadn’t crossed his mind that he would still be sent back here.
Otherwise, he would have bought some thick clothes to keep out the cold.
The points are too few and really not enough.
Never mind. I should stop thinking about things of the past.
I had better think properly about how to keep out the cold, live through the extreme cold tonight, and make it to the next time into the film studio.
A gust of cold wind blew over, bringing some scattering snowflakes into Li Teng’s collar.
Also, it brought away the precious heat in his body.
There wasn’t much time left for him. He had to act as soon as possible.
The wooden bed is partly broken, with only three legs left.
It actually left Li Teng a small platform on the stone pillar top by the bed.
After clearing away the piled snow on this small platform beside the bed, Li Teng stood there and peed down the stone pillar. Then, after thinking for a moment, he knelt down and very carefully started digging under the bed.
The space under the bed was full of snow, so long as he dug out the snow in the gap between the bottom of the bed and the top of the stone pillar, he could produce a snow cave to stay in.
Though it was also cold inside the snow cave, at least he could be sheltered from the wind.
After half an hour, Li Teng finally made a snow cave under the bed that could contain himself.
Then, he pushed the snow toward the edge and tried his best to compact it, constructing four snow walls between the bed and the stone pillar, only leaving an air hole on the side that didn’t face against the wind, making for himself a snow den.
While hiding in this snow den, although it was still very cold, without the cold wind blowing directly onto his body, it was much better, after all.
After looking out through the hole, Li Teng noticed the sky had already completely darkened.
The long, dark night was coming.
Upon recalling everything that had happened during the day, it was like a dream.
Although the role he had played in the film could die any time, and he could become a wax statue because of it, Li Teng would rather stay in the film studio and shoot films all the time, rather than returning to the top of this stone pillar again.
Although he could look forward to using points to lower the height of this stone pillar in the future, the immediate adversity made it so hard for him to carry on.
Li Teng seriously doubted if he could really make it to the day the stone pillar was lowered to the ground.
He could only feel despair and anger.
That old woman, that girl, that white-collar woman, Gao Fei, and the others, aren’t they going through the same as me?
Those women had persisted through, why can’t I, a grown man, endure it and go on?
Nevermind, stop thinking too much. I may as well save some energy so that I can live longer.
With his head on a pillow made from a pile of snow, Li Teng recalled the details of what had happened during the day, and his consciousness slowly started blurring.
Even after drinking so much coffee, it couldn’t keep out his sleepiness. Perhaps coffee didn’t work on Li Teng.
After an unknown amount of time…
Li Teng had drunk a lot of coffee, so he felt very much like peeing.
He found himself on the streets of the film studio.
The streets were dark; it seemed to be night.
He was about to pee in his pants. He hurried into the toilet beside the street, unzipped his pants, and released himself.
For some reason, he couldn’t finish releasing it at all, like his whole belly was filled with water.
After a while, Li Teng heard footsteps from outside.
He forcefully stopped, walked to the door of the toilet, and looked into the street.
A large group of people stood outside the toilet, all of them looking at Li Teng, who just came out of the toilet with creepy smiles over their faces. But all of them stood completely still.
Inside the crowd, Li Teng also saw Guo Zhipeng. He didn’t smile but had a vicious look over his face.
“Here again! Who are you scaring?” Li Teng cursed.
He turned around and was about to go back to the toilet to continue peeing. Unexpectedly, that group of wax statues all came alive and rushed toward him under Guo Zhipeng’s lead. Some grabbed his arm, and some grabbed his feet and legs, forcefully dragging Li Teng toward the Waxwork Museum opposite the street.
“Let me go!” Li Teng struggled hard.
Yet he woke himself from the struggling.
It was completely dark around him.
This is clearly not the film studio. Where is it?
After a moment, Li Teng remembered.
This is the top of the stone pillar!
He was in the snow den he dug for himself in the pile of snow beneath his bed!
The urge to pee was real. He was dreaming just now, about going to the toilet in the film studio to pee. But now he really woke up from the urge to pee.
He had to find a way out of the snow den to pee. But soon, Li Teng discovered a serious problem.
It was that he couldn’t get up at all!
His body was beyond his own control!
Faintly, he felt that his body moved, crawled out of the snow den, and he even stood at the edge of the stone pillar and peed downward.
Unexpectedly, he found that he was lying completely still.
It was like he was having sleep paralysis!
He knew that he was awake, where he was, and what he wanted to do, but he just couldn’t get up!
Why is this happening?
Maybe, I should keep on sleeping.
No, I have to pee at some point!
I can’t pee in the pants, right?
Has my body been frozen and gotten out of control?
After another series of dreams and idle thoughts, Li Teng suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation.
Could it be that the snow got heavy again at night and closed off that hole I used to get air?
Is my state of sleep paralysis because of a severe lack of oxygen?
If that’s the case, once I fall asleep again, I really won’t wake up anymore!
“Wake up! Wake up!
“WAKE UP!”
“YOU CAN’T SLEEP ANY MORE!”
“WAKE! WAKE!”
Suddenly, the increasingly stronger urge to pee eventually completely aroused Li Teng’s consciousness. His arm moved a bit in an instant, and then his whole body regained sensation.
Though his body regained sensation, his whole body had no energy, like he was poisoned by coal gas.
After reaching out and feeling, Li Teng found that the air hole was indeed blocked! There already wasn’t much oxygen left in the snow den; every breath was extremely stuffy!
Did I dig a grave for myself!?