By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 153 The Brilliance of Humanity [Third update, today's 10,000 words have been surpassed, please vote for me!]

The air here is as thin as a veil. For an ordinary person, every step feels like pulling a heavy lead weight. The cold wind cuts like a knife on the face, and exposed skin quickly loses sensation. The loose pebbles underfoot are slippery, and one could easily fall into a bottomless crevice if not careful.

Even more terrifying is that the headache caused by lack of oxygen feels like a drill piercing into the temples, and vision suddenly blurs, making it difficult to even discern directions, as if one is about to be swallowed up by this high-altitude, desolate silence.

This is Mount Gongga, a forbidden zone for life, a place that will never be conquered by humans.

It will never be conquered by something as insignificant as humankind.

Li Younan quickly went to Ding Rui's side and gently checked his breath with her hand.

Fortunately, he was still breathing.

His blood oxygen level was checked with a pulse oximeter, and after a moment, the number displayed on the instrument made Li Younan's heart sink - his blood oxygen level had actually reached 40%.

This number is almost critically low.

In non-high-altitude areas, the blood oxygen level of ordinary people is generally between 95% and 100%, which is a healthy blood oxygen level.

In low-altitude areas, a sudden drop in blood oxygen levels below 95% can already cause mild altitude sickness.

However, this does not mean that a blood oxygen level below 95% will necessarily lead to hypoxia.

The human body has a powerful regulatory function. After a period of adaptation, although blood oxygen levels may not rise, the body will gradually reduce the hypoxia response by adjusting blood pressure, heart rate, and other compensatory mechanisms.

This is why many people experience altitude sickness when suddenly going from low-altitude areas to high-altitude areas, but the symptoms gradually subside after a period of acclimatization.

This regulatory mechanism means that when climbing high-altitude mountains, the safest approach is to gradually increase the altitude, allowing the body to adapt to the reduced blood oxygen levels little by little.

Many Tibetans who live in high-altitude areas have blood oxygen levels that are only around 80%. If they were in plains areas, such blood oxygen levels would indicate extremely severe hypoxia.

When climbing extreme peaks like Mount Everest, a blood oxygen level of over 70% is considered normal.

However, the body's ability to regulate itself has an upper limit and cannot be reduced indefinitely.

No matter how well one adapts to the hypoxic environment, a blood oxygen level of just over 40% is already on the verge of death.

Without saying a word, Li Younan turned Ding Rui over so that he was lying on his back and put a breathing device on him.

At this point, there was no other way but to give him oxygen to save his life.

Li Younan squinted at his surroundings. The sun was still shining, and it wasn't too late. He checked his watch; it was only 2 p.m.

Li Younan was paying attention to the time because it would take time for Ding Rui's blood oxygen level to rise through oxygen therapy.

If it's too late, going down at night will be even more dangerous and unpredictable.

……

Blame yourself.

Besides self-blame, there was also a deep sense of sorrow and powerlessness.

Although he had already reached the main peak of Mount Gongga, Zhao Liang's excitement and joy had been completely overshadowed by the sense of loss brought about by the ruthlessness of nature and the insignificance of humankind.

He and his companions reached the summit, and while shedding tears, he said to the camera, "We've climbed Mount Gongga! We've finally climbed Mount Gongga!"

With just those two clicks, he turned off the selfie stick.

The atmosphere became quiet.

Being too emotional at this time is not good, so the two of them calmed down.

The lack of oxygen at an altitude of 7600 meters made their already near-limited bodies even more uncomfortable.

They couldn't stay up there for long, so they quickly filmed a short video and prepared to descend.

Descending is just as dangerous as climbing. Many physically fit mountaineers have not died on the way up, but have encountered danger on the way down.

At that moment, they both thought of Li Younan.

I briefly told Li Younan about Ding Rui's unconsciousness on the way, but Li Younan didn't explain anything and just left.

In that situation, the two of them were completely unable to call out to Li Younan.

However, Zhao Liang and his companion both saw the two large oxygen tanks that Li Younan was carrying, and a glimmer of hope arose in their hearts.

Gao Yonghui hesitated for a moment, then asked Zhao Liang, "Brother Zhao, you said that brother who went down just now, he was carrying two oxygen tanks, was he going to..." He trailed off.

Everyone knows what it means to give an oxygen cylinder to someone else in a place like this.

Zhao Liang shook his head and remained silent for a while before saying, "That brother seems to have come up with the help of an oxygen tank. His situation is quite different from ours. If he gave his oxygen to Ding Rui, he would be in great danger himself."

Gao Yonghui fell silent. How could he not understand the reason behind this?

At this moment, there were still some questions in their minds that had not been answered. For example, Li Younan was clearly behind them, so why was he able to reach the summit first? Was there a shorter and easier shortcut when he took the detour? However, now was obviously not the time to delve into this question.

Now that it has been confirmed that Li Younan reached the summit with the help of oxygen tanks, his situation is different from that of Zhao Liang and the others.

If one relies on supplemental oxygen to reach such a high altitude, the situation would be even more dangerous if blood oxygen levels dropped below the safety threshold.

Take Zhao Liang and the others for example. After this period of adaptation, even if their blood oxygen level is only 80, they can still move normally. But if Li Younan is relying on oxygen to get up, once his blood oxygen level drops to 85 or even higher, he is likely to fall into a coma.

Zhao Liang said, "Regardless of his experience, we need to explain the pros and cons to him on this point." Zhao Liang knew very well that if they really wanted to save Ding Rui, they would have to keep him on oxygen for at least an hour or even longer.

Even if Li Younan is carrying two tanks of oxygen now, he must have used up most of them during the previous climb.

If most of the oxygen is given to Ding Rui, while I also need to ensure that I have some oxygen to breathe, the end result might be that both of us are trapped here... and die here.

And Zhao Liang and Gao Yonghui couldn't possibly be waiting up there for Ding Rui to get oxygen.

Although they climbed to the summit using their own abilities, staying at such a high altitude for a long time would cause their blood oxygen levels to drop continuously, eventually leading to a coma.

Neither of them spoke, but they both understood that they would ultimately have to give up on Ding Rui.

Compared to Li Younan, the two of them were not as fast when descending.

Twenty minutes later, they returned to the place where Ding Rui had fainted, following the same route they had taken.

The scene before them made their hearts sink slightly. For a moment, they were both amazed and admiring, but also somewhat complicated. Li Younan had indeed put a breathing mask on Ding Rui.

However, when they turned their attention to Li Younan, they were all stunned.

Contrary to what they expected, Li Younan was not wearing a breathing mask at this time.

His expression was very calm. He even sat down, holding a thermos in one hand to drink water, and a chocolate bar in the other hand... which had already been bitten, and he was chewing it.

This scene left the two of them momentarily speechless. What... what's going on?
Li Younan noticed the two of them coming down, turned around and even smiled in a rather cheerful mood: "Have you finished taking pictures? Do you want some water? I have some energy bars here, want some?"

Faced with Li Younan's enthusiasm, Zhao Liang and Gao Yonghui exchanged a glance, both seeing disbelief in each other's eyes.

Zhao Liang slowly moved over and looked at Ding Rui on the ground.

Although Ding Rui was still unconscious after breathing oxygen for a while, his complexion visibly became rosier and more rosy.

He remained silent for a long time, then asked tremblingly, "Brother...don't you need to wear a breathing mask?"

Li Younan nodded: "Me? I don't need it. These two canisters of oxygen should be enough to save his life."

Li Younan didn't use either of those two oxygen canisters at all. If Ding Rui had used them all, it would have been enough for him to breathe for at least 4 hours.

Theoretically speaking, Ding Rui should have woken up in a little over an hour.

At this moment, Li Younan checked Ding Rui's blood oxygen level again. After a period of oxygen therapy, his blood oxygen level had indeed risen from over 40 to around 60.

Because she felt she could save a life, Li Younan was in a particularly good mood.

Even Li Youran found the surrounding scenery more pleasing to the eye.

Gao Yonghui, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure you don't need oxygen? Didn't you come up here with the help of an oxygen tank?"

Li Younan said casually, "I originally brought two canisters of oxygen just in case, but as I climbed higher, I found that my body wasn't in any major problems, so I didn't need them." He smiled and added, "Maybe I'm just naturally more adapted to this kind of oxygen-deficient environment."

This is hard to explain, but it doesn't really matter.

Humans can only exchange about 25% of their oxygen, while whales can exchange up to 80%. It's quite reasonable that one or two people might have a genetic mutation that gives them an even higher oxygen exchange capacity.

Zhao Liang couldn't help but get excited, and the next second his eyes filled with tears: "Brother... I can't thank you enough, I thank you on behalf of my brother!"

The three of them were very close brothers before they even started climbing, challenging nature together. If Ding Rui really perished on Mount Gongga, Zhao Liang didn't even know if he would have the courage to continue climbing in the future.

Li Younan blinked and said with a smile, "You guys go down first. I'm fine up here by myself. If you guys faint later, there really won't be enough oxygen to go around."

Zhao Liang was well aware of this; this was definitely not the time to be sentimental.

They didn't waste any more time. Just as Li Younan said, they wouldn't be of any help here, and if they were to become a burden to Li Younan, they would truly be useless teammates.

Zhao Liang and Gao Yonghui went down first. Halfway down, Zhao Liang turned back and asked, "By the way, brother, I still don't know your name?"

"My name is Li Younan."

“Li Younan?” Zhao Liang silently memorized the name.

After Zhao Liang and Gao Yonghui's figures gradually disappeared in front of him, Li Younan turned his gaze back to Ding Rui, and his expression gradually became serious.

Every two or three minutes, I would check Ding Rui's blood oxygen level, then gently pat his face and softly call his name.

Once you wake him up, things will become easier.

After a while, Ding Rui finally slowly opened his eyes. Li Younan breathed a slight sigh of relief; it wasn't for nothing that he had kept slapping him.

Li Younan gently helped Ding Rui up. Ding Rui was clearly not quite aware of the situation at the moment. He looked at Li Younan with some confusion before he immediately realized that he was wearing a breathing mask.

Li Younan checked the time and said, "No rush, take a few more breaths of oxygen. Judging from your condition, don't even think about reaching the summit. Once you've rested enough, we'll head straight down."

Ding Rui was stunned for a moment, and then his mind started working. He quickly realized what had happened.

Aftermath.

This joy brought tears to his eyes for a moment.

Ding Rui looked at Li Younan, tears welling up in his eyes, and nodded forcefully.

(End of this chapter)