From humble beginnings to the pinnacle of life

But Wang Ge did not give up. He immediately laid the sheep flat on the snow and knelt down beside it to begin CPR.

I stood to the side, my hands clenched tightly, my heart pounding wildly.

I knew in my heart that if the heart stopped beating for too long, no amount of chest compressions would likely be able to bring it back to life.

Wang Ge pressed on her chest repeatedly, and at the same time, he pried open her mouth and bent down to perform artificial respiration.

They persisted like this for a full three minutes.

Just when I was about to despair, Yangyang suddenly choked and his chest heaved violently as his eyelids slowly opened.

At that moment, Wang Ge and I were so excited that we couldn't put our words into words.

They literally snatched her back from the jaws of death.

It seems the sudden stop wasn't too long, and luck was on our side; otherwise, no matter how hard we tried, we wouldn't have been able to save him.

Once she regained her breathing, Wang Ge, exhausted, collapsed onto the snow, panting heavily, his chest heaving.

I quickly picked up the water bottle and handed it to him so he could drink some warm water to calm down.

I poured another glass of water at just the right temperature, held it to Yangyang's lips, and waited for her to drink it before gently asking:

"How are you feeling now? Are you any better?"

She could no longer utter a complete sound; her mouth opened and closed slightly, and with great effort, she nodded gently at me.

Wang Ge sat in the snow for a while to rest before his breathing gradually calmed down.

Then, he unzipped his backpack and pulled out the folding stretcher.

With a whoosh, it unfolds into a soft stretcher.

These were emergency supplies he specially prepared before going into the mountains.

As Wang Ge fastened the buckles and assembled the stretcher, he told me, "She can't walk on her own at all right now. Let alone two days of mountain road, even if we help her stand up and walk a dozen meters, her pulmonary edema symptoms will instantly worsen, and she won't be able to bear it. We can only carry her."

I frowned deeply: "It will be very tiring for the two of us to carry a stretcher across this rocky slope covered in thick snow. There are hidden rocks and burrows under the snow, and we could easily slip and fall if we're not careful. If the stretcher tips over, it could be fatal for Yangyang."

"There is no other way to go."

Wang Ge shook his head, but his hands didn't stop moving.

"This is the only way to get her out of here and live on."

He wasn't exaggerating at all.

If it were just the two of us, this journey would be much easier for us.

But now that we've pulled her back from the brink of death, we can't just leave her here unattended.

I stopped arguing, squatted down, and carefully checked all the remaining supplies.

After the inventory was completed, we began making final preparations before departure.

Wang Ge pulled out a spare thermal blanket and laid it on the canvas of the stretcher. He would wrap it around the sheep later to protect it from the wind, snow, and the cold air coming through the metal frame.

I fed her a little bit of compressed biscuits and a few sips of warm water.

I took out the medicine and fed her the last nitroglycerin pill that A-Qiu had left behind.

After a long while, she finally managed to lift her heavy eyelids, and her unfocused gaze slowly came together.

Her lips trembled slightly, her breath as weak as a wisp of smoke about to dissipate: "Should we...leave?"

"Yes, we can't stay in this hole any longer. We'll carry you out."

As soon as I finished speaking, Brother Wang added, "The road is very bumpy, it will be very uncomfortable. Try to stay awake, and if you can't breathe, tell us immediately."

Sheep nodded slightly, her eyes filled with fear, yet also with a stubborn determination to survive.

Wang and I carefully reached out to support her back and thighs, and slowly moved her onto the stretcher.

Then wrap yourself tightly in layers of thermal blankets, leaving only your mouth and nose exposed for breathing, and pull your hat up to your brow bone to prevent snow from sticking to your face and causing frostbite.

After settling Yangyang in, we went back to pack up all the remaining equipment in the stone hut, redistributing the weight between the two of us to minimize the extra burden on the stretcher.

Outside the stone hollow, the light snow was still falling slowly, but it was no longer the fierce wind that could have blown people away like last night.

Wang Ge grabbed the two shoulder straps at the front of the stretcher, and I walked to the back and put the straps on my shoulders.

As soon as I took on the weight of the sheep, I immediately felt a heavy pressure on my shoulders.

"Are you ready?"

Wang Ge turned to look at me, and as he spoke, a cloud of white mist drifted from his mouth.

I gritted my teeth, the wound under the gauze on my forehead throbbed with pain with each heartbeat, and dizziness surged up from time to time.

I shook my head hard, forcibly suppressing the drowsiness.

"Ready, let's go."

We slowly straightened up, and the stretcher sank down with us.

The sheep lying on top swayed slightly, let out a muffled groan, and immediately let out a rapid, bubbly panting sound.

"Are you alright?" My heart tightened, and I quickly asked.

"good."

Sheep gritted his teeth and used all his strength to squeeze out two words from his throat.

We dared not take big steps, but slowly and deliberately walked out of the stone hollow, our feet sinking into the snow that was above our ankles.

The snow covered the ground smoothly, but underneath lay a dense mass of scattered rocks.

Before taking a step forward, I had to gently probe with my foot to make sure it wasn't a hidden pit, before I dared to put my full weight on it.

With the ice axe in Wang Ge's hands, he carried the stretcher while occasionally digging the tip of the axe into the snow in front of him to test what lay beneath the snow layer.

Fine snowflakes kept falling on our shoulders and backs, and soon a thin layer accumulated.

The melted snow water seeped into my body through my collar, chilling me to the bone.

I had only walked less than a hundred meters when my shoulder straps were already burning painfully.

The weight of the entire stretcher pressed heavily on my shoulders. At an altitude of 4,800 meters, the air was thin, and every breath was extremely difficult, causing my chest to ache.

The wound on his forehead throbbed with every step he took, and cold sweat kept seeping out from under his skin, soaking through the outer gauze.

I could only gasp for breath, inhaling frigid air at minus ten degrees Celsius that stung my nasal cavity.

Wang Ge wasn't in much better shape either; he hadn't slept a wink all night.

Puffs of white mist kept escaping from his mouth, his cheeks were red from the cold, and a fine layer of cold sweat seeped from his forehead.

But he didn't utter a single word from beginning to end.

The sheep on the stretcher bounced gently with each step we took.

She was trying her best to hold back and not make a sound.

But if the stretcher shakes suddenly, she can't suppress a groan, and it makes your heart clench.

The snow was still falling heavily, and the road ahead was buried in a white fog, with no end in sight.

The two of us carried the stretcher, trudging through the snow, inching forward little by little in the silent snow-covered mountains.