My Little Poplar - Chap 80
No one knew when Huo Qiao’s fever started, he was fine when he set off but seven hours of continuous running, even the fittest of men could be worn down.
They were chasing hard in the direction of the other team, there was no telling how long it would be before the end of the journey was in sight.
An hour or so later, it’s dawn, the wind and snow have subsided, A-Si has picked up a satellite signal, he said with mixed feelings: “I’ve located the group, they’re less than twelve kilometres away, the good news is that over two more mountains, we’ll reach a larger village and town, there may be medical facilities there, the bad news is that they’re also heading towards the other group. The bad news is, they’re heading in that direction too, there will be transport there too, if they get there first, we’ll be completely out of reach…”
Huo Qiao grabbed a handful of snow and stuffed it into his mouth, coughing twice he said: “Go after them, before they get over the mountain, we’ll catch up.”
Bai Xinyu dropped to his knees, undid his hat, rubbed his face with the snow, the biting cold forced his mind to clear a bit, he had actually reached the stage where he wanted to die if he took one more step, he believed that even the fittest of the group were dying, no one knew if he would be the next one to die of exhaustion but it was better to die of exhaustion than to stay here. but it was better to die of exhaustion than to stay here and wait for death…
A strong arm lifted him off the ground, Bai Xinyu looked up, Yu Fengcheng’s heavily wrapped face showed only two eyes, the long lashes were frosted with white, the eyes were bloodshot, Bai Xinyu could clearly see the worry in them. He felt a sinking feeling in his heart, the sudden death of Zhao had made him realize that life was unpredictable, no one could guarantee that he would make it back alive, if it was him or Yu Fengcheng, he really didn’t want to make a mess of it before he died, he wouldn’t be able to die in peace. This time, instead of swatting away Yu Fengcheng’s hand, he used the strength to stand up, Yu Fengcheng, even if he was not one of them, was his comrade in life and death, no different from the rest of the team.
They held each other up, gritting their teeth, as they made their way deep and shallow through the snow.
The twenty minutes of rest had a little effect, the tightness of the hour forced them not to let up, their bodies faltered but they did not fall.
The sky and the earth were so white, the infinite, uninformed snow, that Bai Xinyu gradually lost track of where the plane was, he even had the illusion that he was walking sideways and backwards, he felt the sky spinning, he felt nauseous and wanted to vomit, his throat was on fire, the mucous membrane of his frostbitten throat hung in his throat, it kept him He had an unbearable foreign body sensation, every time he coughed it seemed as if his whole throat was being coughed out of his body, the sound he made was completely devoid of human movement, he could not speak at all. Bai Xinyu wondered, would he become mute? He was ready for this, if he had been in the past, he would not have been able to accept that he would never be able to speak again but Zhao’s death made him realise that even if he had become mute, he would have been lucky, if he had suffered the same frostbite as Zhao, it would have been him who would have died nameless and without a name in the snowy mountains of Kunlun.
He just wanted to get back alive.
To say they were chasing the mercenaries with their lives would be an understatement, for the first time Bai Xinyu believed in the power of faith, the power that had sustained this exhausted group of warriors, who could have fainted at any moment, as they ran frantically for ten kilometres.
