Trembling in the Skies

Chapter 30: A Group of Kind People

It was another sunny day. Li Teng was starving to the point of seeing stars. He waited all morning, but the helicopter from the film studio never came to pick him up. After being out in the sun all morning, by noon he was once again incredibly parched. Li Teng crawled under the bed, wrung out the bundle of quilts—which had been soaked by snowmelt and hadn’t quite dried yet—with all his might, and cupped his mouth beneath them. To his surprise, a few drops of foul-smelling water squeezed out. Unfortunately, that was all—just a few drops. He hoped the helicopter would come in the afternoon. If it doesn’t come soon, he really won’t be able to hold on much longer. Was he really going to have to drink his own urine? But he didn’t have a container! Is he supposed to cup it in his hands? He waited from noon until the sun set in the west. Li Teng still hadn’t seen the helicopter. It looks like the three-to-five-day gap between performances—this time, it won’t be the minimum of three days; it could be four, or even five. Of course, it could also be a week. It probably wouldn’t be a whole week, would it? If it really took a week, wouldn’t the actors all starve or dehydrate to death on top of the stone pillar? What good would that do for the film studio? Come to think of it, it’s strange enough that the film studio is doing this in the first place. Why put these people on top of stone pillars and force them to film a movie? Who is this movie even for? Resentment began to build up inside Li Teng again. But soon he didn’t have the energy to be angry anymore. Better to save some energy for tomorrow’s helicopter. Tomorrow, the helicopter will definitely come. He believed that everything would be all right tomorrow. Holding onto this hopeful thought, Li Teng placed the still-damp mattress pad on the bed, covered himself with the tattered quilt, curled up, and fell asleep. It was another sunny day. A strange wind was blowing today—a gusty wind that veered from left to right, and at times would suddenly pick up in intensity. Extreme hunger and thirst pushed Li Teng’s physical condition to the brink of collapse. He had grown incredibly weak and lay on the bed, not wanting to move a muscle. He tried hard to recall the last time he boarded the helicopter. Inside the helicopter was a box containing bread, cookies, and drinks. Li Teng strongly suspected that these weren’t ordinary bread, cookies, and drinks, but might actually be high-tech nutritional supplements. Otherwise, given how frail his body was at the time, it would have been impossible for him to sleep for a few hours in the helicopter, eat only bread and cookies, and then arrive at the film studio feeling almost as good as a normal person. Perhaps that weakness was just some kind of illusion? As long as they, the actors, didn’t actively jump off the stone pillars, they wouldn’t actually starve or die of thirst? Of course, all of this was merely Li Teng’s speculation—or perhaps his wishful thinking. But it had become the only motivation and conviction keeping him going at the moment. It was noon, and still there was no sign of a helicopter. Li Teng was feeling a bit dazed from the midday sun. Suddenly, he noticed that the sunlight was being blocked by something. Li Teng quickly glanced toward the sun, and to his surprise… …he spotted a hot air balloon! Floating at an altitude of over 1,100 meters, it passed directly overhead, briefly blocking the sun’s rays from Li Teng. Moreover, it seemed to be descending slowly. “Hey! I’m right here!” Li Teng shouted at the hot air balloon with all his might. But Li Teng soon gave up shouting. Because it looked like the hot air balloon was actually heading straight for him! Could it be that this time, instead of taking a helicopter back to the film studio, they’d switched to a hot air balloon? That’s unlikely, isn’t it? Hot air balloons can’t fly in a specific direction; they can only control their direction by ascending or descending to take advantage of air currents at different altitudes. Trying to approach a specific location at a constant altitude is nearly impossible if the wind isn’t blowing in the right direction. However, Li Teng was in luck: after the hot air balloon descended to a height roughly level with the top of the stone pillar, it drifted toward the pillar with the wind! Li Teng could clearly see that there was someone in the hot air balloon’s basket! There looked to be at least five or six people! They spotted Li Teng too, and someone was waving at him from a distance. “Help me!” “I’m trapped! Help me!” Li Teng hurriedly waved back at them. They didn’t look like they were from the film studio—did that mean they could rescue him from here? Take him back to the world he originally came from? Li Teng’s heart was pounding wildly, filled with the longing to be rescued, yet he feared that if he hoped too much, he would only end up with deeper disappointment. The wind didn’t let Li Teng down; it continued to blow the hot air balloon toward the stone pillar. Just as the basket beneath the hot air balloon was about to reach the edge of the stone pillar, a strong gust of wind blew the balloon away from the pillar’s side. Unfortunately, the hot air balloon ultimately drifted past the stone pillar, ending up more than ten meters away. In this situation, there was nothing the balloon pilot could do; he could only control the balloon’s ascent and descent. To land precisely next to the stone pillar and rescue Li Teng would require an extremely fortuitous wind direction—the probability was very low, and it could only be left to chance. As the basket beneath the hot air balloon drifted past the stone pillar at a distance of more than ten meters, Li Teng saw someone inside the basket drinking from a bottle of mineral water. Li Teng quickly mimed the act of drinking and pointed to his parched lips, hoping the person would toss him a bottle of water. For Li Teng at that moment, a bottle of water was a matter of life and death. The man saw Li Teng’s gesture and clearly understood what he meant. He leaned down, quickly grabbed an unopened bottle of mineral water, and threw it with all his might toward the top of the rock pillar where Li Teng was perched. Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough strength. From a distance of over ten meters, and while still in mid-air, it was far too difficult to throw a bottle of water onto the narrow top of the stone pillar. A bottle of mineral water—incredibly precious to Li Teng—landed right below the stone pillar, just three or four meters in front of him, right before his eyes. The person who had thrown the bottle shrugged his shoulders in disappointment and called out to Li Teng over here. Perhaps because of the wind, Li Teng couldn’t make out exactly what he was shouting. Just as Li Teng watched the hot air balloon drift away in utter disappointment, thinking he was about to miss this precious rescue opportunity, the wind direction near the stone pillar shifted again. Carried by the wind, the hot air balloon drifted back toward the stone pillar. This time, another man in the basket tied a bottle of mineral water to a rope and threw it toward Li Teng. They seemed like a kind group of people; after spotting Li Teng, they were indeed making a serious effort to rescue him. The rope was a bit thick, with a thin cord tied to its end to secure the bottle of mineral water. The first two attempts failed, but fortunately, since the bottle was secured with the rope, it didn’t fall to the ground below the rock pillar. Finally, on the third attempt, the bottle was successfully tossed to the top of the stone pillar, where Li Teng caught it. Li Teng quickly untied the bottle from the thin rope, then grabbed hold of the rope—though he didn’t dare grip it too tightly, fearing that a sudden shift in wind direction might cause the hot air balloon to drift away from the stone pillar and pull him down. The basket continued to sway back and forth near the stone pillar. The man who had thrown the rope earlier was shouting instructions and gesturing to Li Teng, seemingly suggesting that Li Teng find a way to secure the rope to the top of the pillar so they could slowly maneuver closer and rescue him into their basket. Li Teng… was thinking exactly the same thing. But where could he secure the rope? The only place to secure the rope was on the bed legs. However, Li Teng wasn’t entirely confident in the strength of the bed legs. The hot air balloon, buffeted by the wind, exerted immense pulling force and could easily snap that bed leg. Li Teng had another idea that might save him.