Trembling in the Skies

Chapter 7: I Can’t Let Myself Starve to Death

Although Li Teng felt he might never wake up again But when the sky brightened once more, he found himself awake again. It was just beginning to get light. To be more precise, Li Teng was woken by the cold. His hands and feet were numb from the cold. His entire body was ice-cold. Li Teng considered it a miracle that he hadn’t died in this condition. Where was the rescue team? Why hadn’t they arrived yet? There were clearly drones flying overhead—so why weren’t they sending a rescue helicopter? Could it be that the agency in charge of rescue operations doesn’t have the money to buy a helicopter? Li Teng felt that, given his current situation, even if he were rescued, it wouldn’t be a waste of national resources. After all, he wasn’t some reckless hiker who’d gone off on his own and gotten stranded. He’d been kidnapped. But why wasn’t anyone coming to save him? For a moment, Li Teng even felt a little wronged. He opened his eyes, and his weakened body slowly regained its sight. Looking up at the gloomy sky above him and taking in his surroundings, Li Teng once again felt the urge to curse. It was actually… snowing! And it was a blizzard, no less! Are you kidding me? Isn’t it supposed to be April right now? A thin layer of snow had already settled on Li Teng’s tattered, thin blanket. His head and face were also covered with quite a bit of frost. Li Teng no longer had the energy to complain about it. “Why isn’t anyone coming to save me?” “Just let me die!” “Damn it all! Just let me die!” Li Teng shouted in despair and rage. But his mouth, defying his will, began licking the flakes of snow and ice from the corner of his lips. A moment later, Li Teng suddenly sat up, used his hands to gather the snow from the blanket in front of him into a snowball, and then shoved it forcefully into his mouth. His mouth, already frozen stiff, couldn’t melt the snowball, so Li Teng had no choice but to chew it vigorously with his teeth. Although the cold made his teeth ache, he persisted until he finally swallowed the snowball into his stomach. Cold. The cold traveled all the way from his mouth to his stomach. It was an extreme, bitter-sweet sensation. His stomach cramped up again. It felt like the world was turning upside down. The snowball didn’t satisfy his hunger at all; it just made his stomach feel terrible. The pain was so intense that Li Teng bent over, pressing his fist against his stomach. At that moment, Li Teng couldn’t help but feel like crying again. It’s no shame for a man to cry… The problem was, he didn’t even have the strength to cry right now. After eating one snowball, Li Teng—cold and hungry—simply didn’t have the courage to eat another. The cold seeped from the outside in, making his body grow stiffer and stiffer until it was almost beyond his control. Li Teng slowly dragged himself to the edge of the bed and looked down at the base of the stone pillar. Because of the falling snow, he couldn’t see anything beneath the stone pillar anymore. With a blizzard this fierce, even if help were coming, it probably wouldn’t make it here. I’m as good as dead. “Just jump.” “If I jump, it’ll all be over.” “Maybe this is just a dream.” “Just a nightmare.” Li Teng kept trying to convince himself, to muster the courage to jump off this ledge. To end it all. Even if he didn’t jump now, he figured he wouldn’t last much longer anyway. If he jumped, at least people would know how he died. It would mean his life wasn’t completely meaningless. Jump… Just as Li Teng was wavering back and forth about whether to end it all, a rumbling sound reached his ears. It grew louder as it drew nearer. The sound grew louder and louder. It wasn’t quite like the sound of a commercial airliner approaching last time. A tiny speck appeared in the dim distance. A small black dot. Through the snowy haze, the small black dot gradually grew larger. The rumbling sound also grew clearer and clearer. It became deafening. It even generated a powerful gust of wind that sent shivers down Li Teng’s spine. It’s a helicopter! The strong wind from the helicopter’s rotors! Finally, he could see clearly! It really was a helicopter! An all-black helicopter. So black that even the cockpit window was black—Li Teng couldn’t make out the pilot inside. It flew in from below, gradually ascended, and finally hovered directly above Li Teng’s head. “Is it a rescue team?” “Did yesterday’s drone call them?” “With a blizzard this bad, would there even be a rescue team?” “Did help really come?” “Or… is it just my imagination?” Li Teng sat on the edge of the bed, tilting his head back and staring blankly at the helicopter overhead, so absorbed that he even forgot he should be getting up to shout for help. But there was no need to panic—this helicopter was clearly coming for him. After hovering for a moment, the helicopter lowered a rescue rope ladder. “They really are here to save me!” “Thank you, country! Thank you, government!” “Thank you, rescue team!” “I knew you wouldn’t abandon me!” In an instant, Li Teng was in tears. As long as he could make it back alive, he’d be able to figure out who had kidnapped him and brought him here. Li Teng wasn’t going to let this matter rest so easily. Of course, deep down, Li Teng also had some doubts about the origin of this helicopter. He suspected it didn’t belong to a rescue organization, but had been sent by the people who kidnapped him. Was the helicopter actually sent to take him to another, even more dangerous place? But… no matter who owned this helicopter or what its purpose was—even if it were to take him to an execution ground and execute him on the spot—he would climb aboard without hesitation. He was no longer afraid of death—what else was there to fear? Li Teng reached out with both hands and, mustering his last ounce of strength, grabbed the rope ladder. After struggling to climb two rungs, his feet finally found purchase on the ladder. But he no longer had the strength to continue climbing. Fortunately, the crew on the helicopter realized this, and the rope ladder automatically retracted into the cabin, pulling Li Teng up with it. After another arduous climb near the cabin door, Li Teng finally crawled into the helicopter’s cabin. The helicopter retracted the rope ladder, closed the cabin door, and then tore through the snowy curtain, speeding off into the distance. The stone pillar below, along with Li Teng’s bed, soon vanished into the vast snowy expanse. It wasn’t until Li Teng had climbed into the helicopter’s cabin that he realized it was completely empty. Once the cabin door closed, the black glass blocked out all light, plunging the interior into pitch darkness where one couldn’t see one’s hand in front of one’s face. Naturally, he couldn’t make out what was happening outside either. The front cockpit and the rear cabin were separated by a metal bulkhead; Li Teng couldn’t enter the cockpit, couldn’t see the helicopter pilot, and couldn’t speak to him. Li Teng had no idea where the helicopter was flying or where it was taking him. Still, it had to be better than staying on top of the stone pillar, right? Li Teng remembered seeing a box in the cabin when he first got on board. Although he couldn’t see it now, he could still feel around with his hands. Soon he felt the box. An unlocked box. After opening it, Li Teng rummaged around inside and found several plastic bags of food. And drinks! He tore open one of the bags, took a whiff, and took a bite—it was bread; the other two bags contained cookies. Then there were a few bottles of drinks. Li Teng first opened one of the drinks and took a few sips to moisten his throat and stomach, then tore open the bags of bread and cookies and devoured them all in a flash. Then he downed the remaining bottles of drink in one gulp. To him, no matter what kind of food it was, it tasted like the most delicious treat in the world right now. Even if the food has been poisoned. Even if I die, I won’t die of starvation.