Mastering the Sword Manual, sweeping across the globe

"What's the difference between 300 and 3 million? The difference is whether you've troubled others. If you sneak in and come out safely, that's just good luck. A 300 fine is for breaking the rules. But if you go in and can't get out, and others have to risk their lives to get you out—helicopters, fire brigades, civilian rescue teams, local guides—a whole bunch of people working around the clock for days because of your whims, that's what 3 million is for."

"That's reasonable. It's your business to court death, and it should be your business to pay the price. If you court death but don't die, you get a small penalty; if you court death and have to be saved by others, you get a big penalty."

"So here's the question: I went in, didn't call for help, and just toughed it out myself, but I was caught on camera by the conservation station along the way... Should I pay 300 or 3 million?"

"Let's say 3. The surveillance camera captured you illegally crossing the road, so you'll be fined. Since you didn't call for help, there were no rescue costs incurred."

"What if my teammate calls for help for me?"

"I'll probably pin it on you too. Unless you can prove that you clearly stated 'I'm going to die here and I don't need anyone to save me,' and that your teammates called for rescue against your will. But do you think that's possible?"

Nobody thought that was possible.

The list of places to follow up is getting longer and longer, including Xiaowutai Mountain, Daocheng Yadingkas Hell Valley, Wolf Tower C Line, and Wusun Ancient Road.

By noon the following day, every registered illegal crossing hotspot across the country had been apprehended.

Even though some areas have never experienced a rescue incident that would alarm the entire nation, the nature reserve management bureau rushed to issue a notice.

An editor from a certain management bureau spoke the truth in the comments section of their official account: "It's not that we want to grab attention... Damn it, if everyone else is charging 3, and we only charge 300 here, what will we do when all the crazy people in the country rush here?!"

Equipment manufacturers also joined in the fun.

That same evening, a domestic brand of outdoor jackets released a poster with two lines of text next to the product image: "XX outdoor jacket may not guarantee your safe descent from the mountain. But at least it looks like you've prepared 300 million compared to wearing short sleeves up the mountain."

One comment read, "Is this ad selling clothes or selling your life?"

The brand replied, "We sell them all."

Three days later, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, together with the Ministry of Emergency Management, issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Punishment of Illegal Crossing of National Nature Reserves," which formally incorporated "a fine of 300 yuan for illegal crossing" and "a fee of 3 million yuan for rescue operations" as unified standards into the document.

When Lin Xiaotang saw this news while she was in her hospital bed, the nurse had just finished changing her dressing.

The frostbite is healing better than the doctor expected; the toes were saved, and two fingers are still a bit unruly, but amputation is not necessary.

"And..." Lin Xiaotang was on the phone when the person on the other end said, "...The court's opinion is that if you choose the fifty-year plan, the monthly payment will be about five thousand...Your salary card will definitely be linked to the court's account, and it will be automatically deducted every month to leave you with basic living expenses."

Lin Xiaotang listened to this while staring at the ceiling, and after a long while, she finally spoke: "Then can I still eat hot pot?"

"It depends on how you define hot pot... If mala tang counts as hot pot, then it should be okay."

Lin Xiaotang sighed.

“By the way,” the person on the other end of the phone continued, “don’t be too discouraged. The court also said that if you participate in outdoor safety public service announcements, you can offset part of the interest. For example, you can make a video about how you got trapped, how you suffered from hypothermia, and what you were thinking at the last moment. They will use the footage to show those idiots who are still posting ‘just go’ posts online. If the video is well-made, the interest will be reduced by 10 percent.”

Lin Xiaotang blinked: "What is ten percent?"

"If it's interest over fifty years... I'd probably save over ten thousand."

"Then I'll take the picture."

……

Some old stories were also brought up.

A long post stayed on the trending topics list for an entire day.

The post's title was quite restrained: "Some Follow-up on the Rescue Incident of a Mountaineering Team from a Certain University."

The post didn't mention any school by its full name, but everyone knew who it was talking about.

It was a famous school in the Jiangnan region. More than a decade ago, an 18-member mountaineering team, consisting of current students, alumni, and staff members, entered an undeveloped area in a mountainous region of East China without authorization and got trapped in danger along the way.

After receiving the distress call, local police organized a search and rescue operation overnight. During the operation, a 24-year-old police officer tragically fell off a cliff and died.

The post devoted a considerable amount of space to the memorial service.

Eighteen students read apology letters at a memorial service organized by the university; the entire process lasted only about 20 minutes.

The police officers' family members were seated in the last row against the wall. After the memorial service, no one guided them to the front; it was the funeral home staff who helped carry the urn down from the platform.

What truly ignited the comments section were a few candid photos taken at the memorial service.

In the photo, several students who participated in the rescue are standing on the steps at the entrance of the funeral home, less than 20 meters from the door of the farewell hall.

When the reporter took pictures of them, some had their hands in their pockets, some were chatting, and the corners of their mouths were turned up.

The poster did not add any captions to these photos, only adding a timestamp below: 7 minutes after the memorial service ended.

The post included screenshots of reports from many media outlets:

According to media reports, only three of the 18 people had intermittent contact with the Zhang family, but none of them established stable emotional or material support, and there is no public evidence of financial assistance.

"To date, no student has publicly expressed heartfelt gratitude or repentance in their own name, nor have they taken the initiative to speak out or show up to accompany the martyr on key occasions such as the anniversary of the martyr's sacrifice or the martyr's father's surgery."

“At the martyrs’ graves, the most common bouquets of flowers for mourning came from the local fire brigade and strangers online, rather than the rescued. The callous remarks made back then about ‘how to control public opinion’ and ‘police should serve taxpayers’ are still remembered by the public and serve as a cautionary tale of ‘highly educated but morally deficient’.”

Scroll down to find a list of commitments.

After the incident, both the school and the mountaineering team made several public promises: to establish a consolation fund for the families of the fallen police officers, to provide support for the elderly in their later years, and to organize teachers and students to visit the memorial site every year.

"As of the date of this post, there is no evidence to suggest any progress in fulfilling the aforementioned commitments."

Finally, there's a photo.

The film was shot in 921 in the corridor of the inpatient department of a county hospital.

In the photo, an elderly man with completely white hair is sitting in a wheelchair with a thin blanket draped over his knees and an IV needle inserted into the back of his hand.

The person pushing the wheelchair was a middle-aged woman dressed in dark clothes, whose face was partially obscured by the armrests of the wheelchair.

The caption below the photo reads: "Medical staff revealed that out of respect for the heroic father, only the caregiver secretly slipped the elderly man 500 yuan to help him."

In the comments section, someone asked: "What about the recipient? What about the school? What about the promised funding?"

The poster did not reply.

157 Personal Privacy Rights

Zhou Yuanzhi saw it as early as the first day that the four unlucky guys from the Wushan Dragon Ridge Line were trending on social media.

At that time, Zhou Yuanzhi had just finished the weekly meeting and was walking back with his coffee when he caught a glimpse of a push notification on a colleague's phone screen in the corridor: "Four people were fined 300 million each for illegally crossing the Wushan Line."

Zhou Yuanzhi didn't stop there. He returned to his workstation, turned on his phone, and read the news from beginning to end.

After watching it, Zhou Yuanzhi slammed his phone down on the table, leaned back in his chair, and felt a little uncomfortable.

So what if I went hiking during the holiday? So what if I was unlucky and the weather changed? What's wrong with pursuing the beauty of nature? Isn't the point of life to see further? What right do these people have to sit in their cubicles scrolling through their phones and mock someone who wants to see a sea of ​​clouds?

He recalled the feeling of climbing a snow-capped mountain for the first time when he was in college.

Standing on the mountain pass at an altitude of over 4,000 meters, the clouds surged beneath my feet, and the distant mountain peaks were gilded by the setting sun.

The sheer awe, the feeling of being utterly shattered and reassembled by nature, is something those who haven't experienced it will never understand.

However, Zhou Yuanzhi didn't say anything.

As social elites, understanding the social climate is the most basic common sense. The global list of the worst people is out there, and the entire nation's online community is celebrating. Now, speaking up for those four unfortunate souls is not called speaking out for justice; it's called turning oneself in.

Zhou Yuanzhi threw the coffee cup into the trash can and went home from get off work.

The next day, sure enough, people in the company were talking about it.

Lunch was served in the staff restaurant on the third floor of the company. A whole wall of floor-to-ceiling windows faced the river, and hot dishes, cold dishes, fruits, and desserts were lined up in a row, with the chefs cutting and preparing them fresh behind the open kitchen.

Zhou Yuanzhi had just sat down with his plate when Xiao Liu from the marketing department came over, followed by Sister Fang from the human resources department and Lao Zhao from the strategic development department.

Before even picking up his fork, Xiao Liu spoke up: "Yuanzhi, did you see yesterday's news? Those four from Wushan, three million each."

Zhou Yuanzhi picked up a piece of braised pork and replied indifferently, "I saw it."

"Do you think they can really pay that back? If it's spread over fifty years, wouldn't that mean they'd be working for someone else their whole lives?"

“It’s not like I’ll be working for someone else my whole life,” Old Zhao said, sitting down across from me with a bowl of freshly cooked beef noodles and blowing on it. “When executives switch jobs, headhunting fees alone are more than this.”

“What you’re saying,” Sister Fang said, sitting down with a fruit platter and pointing at Old Zhao with her fork, “anyone who didn’t know better would think that everyone here is a high-level executive.”

“Yeah, it’s only 300 million,” Xiao Liu moved the salad bowl closer to him. “Your strategic development department gets a bonus from just one project.”

"Don't give me that," Old Zhao lifted his eyelids from his bowl of noodles, "Our department's year-end bonus last year wasn't even as much as your marketing department's quarterly bonus..."

"Xiao Liu, are you making financial plans in advance?" Sister Fang tilted her head: "When are we going to see the sea of ​​clouds in Wushan?"

“I’m not going,” Xiao Liu immediately surrendered. “I only take the cable car up Huangshan Mountain… By the way, ask Brother Yuanzhi, he usually likes to climb mountains.”

“Yuanzhi…” Sister Fang turned her head again.

Across from him, Zhou Yuanzhi had already walked away, leaving only a full plate of food in front of his seat.

We hosted a dinner for our clients in the evening.

The host was the company's vice president, Sun Guoliang.

The client is the purchasing director of a group company from Beijing. His surname is Qin, and this is his first time here.

Vice President Sun specially booked the best Huaiyang cuisine restaurant in the area, with carved screens and mahogany round tables in the private room, showing off his status.

Mr. Qin is in his early fifties, with gray hair, speaks with a Beijing accent, and has a good capacity for alcohol.

Vice President Sun drank three glasses with him, his face already slightly flushed, but he kept his mouth shut, talking about everything from project progress to industry trends without missing a beat.

Zhou Yuanzhi sat to the left of Vice President Sun, responsible for supplementing details and pouring drinks. He knew by heart when to speak, when to remain silent, and when to raise a glass.

The first half of the dinner went smoothly.

When President Qin brought up the personnel changes in Beijing, Vice President Sun responded just right, neither appearing too eager to inquire nor creating an awkward silence.

Zhou Yuanzhi occasionally added a couple of data points from the side, his tact was just right.

The sixth dish was braised crab meat lion's head meatballs.

As the waiter brought out the dishes one by one in white porcelain bowls, President Qin put down his wine glass, leaned back in his chair, and casually remarked, "The air here is better than in the capital. This morning, when I looked out of the hotel window, there was still fog on the river, like an ink painting. In the capital at this time, all you see outside the window are buildings."

“If President Qin likes mountains and rivers, he can stay for two more days next time he comes,” Vice President Sun said with a smile. “Although our area can’t compare to Jiangnan, we still have a few places to visit.”

"Oh?" President Qin became interested. "What are they?"

“The closest one is Qixia Mountain, a forty-minute drive away. The furthest one,” Vice President Sun thought for a moment, “is something like… Niushou Mountain? I heard it’s been renovated quite well in the last two years.”

“The Niushou Mountain Underground Palace is worth seeing,” Zhou Yuanzhi added naturally. “It was just opened the year before last and enshrines the Buddha’s skull relic.”

President Qin nodded and took a sip of tea.

The atmosphere at the table relaxed, and everyone casually started chatting about the nearby mountains.

Xiao Zhao said that the company went to Moganshan for team building last year, but Lao Zhao said that Moganshan is a guesthouse, not a mountain climbing trip.

The conversation gradually shifted from local mountains to mountains in other places, and from mountains in other places to even more distant hiking routes.

Mr. Qin recounted his time as a sent-down youth in Northeast China, where he would go up the mountain in winter to haul firewood, where the snow was up to his thighs.

Vice President Sun said, "You're in good health, you can still climb mountains, right?"

"I can't do that now, my knees can't take it anymore," Mr. Qin said with a smile and a wave of his hand. "I can only accompany my wife to climb Fragrant Hills."

At this moment, Xiao Zhao probably felt the atmosphere was right, and after drinking some more wine, he leaned forward with his glass in hand: "President Qin, climbing Fragrant Hills is fine, but higher mountains are very risky now."

President Qin turned his head and glanced at him: "What risks?"

Xiao Zhao put down his wine glass and continued with great interest: "The four unlucky guys on the Misty Mountain Dragon Ridge Line were just caught in a blizzard and trapped for two days. That's fine, but each of them was also fined 300 million."

President Qin put down his chopsticks and said "Oh" with great interest.

Seeing that the customer was interested, Xiao Zhao became even more enthusiastic and was about to continue speaking when Zhou Yuanzhi slammed his wine glass on the table.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was enough to quiet the whole table down.

"This is President Qin's first time in Yingtian," Zhou Yuanzhi said, not looking at Xiao Zhao, but staring at the plate of crystal pork jelly on the table as if talking to the dish, "Couldn't you have mentioned some local attractions? Are you afraid we'll keep President Qin here too long?"

Xiao Zhao's face flushed red instantly, and his hand holding the wine glass froze in mid-air.

Vice President Sun quickly picked up the conversation, laughing and changing the topic to Yingtian's tourist attractions and cuisine.

President Qin was a worldly man; he simply smiled and acted as if nothing had happened.

The dinner continued, with toasts and laughter filling the air, and both host and guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

After Zhou Yuanzhi sat down, he didn't drink much more wine.

He knew he had overreacted, but he just couldn't control himself.

A newbie who just joined the company knows nothing, yet dares to use this kind of thing as a topic of conversation in front of clients.

He poured another glass of wine and toasted President Qin.

On the third day, tragedy struck.

When Zhou Yuanzhi arrived at the company in the morning, before he even sat down, he saw several apps on his phone simultaneously pop up with a notification.