Chapter 20: Escape

Someone once said that sometimes you don’t have to simply trust your own eyes. You have to experience things for yourself to know what they really taste like.

This is a more literary and philosophical way of saying it, but in the countryside it is much simpler: it is a saying that goes something like this: “A horse will die of exhaustion if you look at a mountain and run to it.

It means that even though the mountain looks close, it can actually be so far that it will kill the horse.

Today, I would like to add one more sentence: Is it possible to climb to the edge of a cliff and die? In the cold wind and rain, I was caught in a clump of bushes. I was sweating and trembling with cold, but I was also laughing at myself.

In fact, measuring the cliff with my eyes, I thought that it would not be too difficult to climb that short distance with my own skills. However, the experience of actually climbing it is completely different, especially in this dark night.

It’s been about an hour since I started, and I’ve only climbed about 20 meters. According to the straight-line distance, there is still at least 35 meters to the top of the short hill, not to mention that I can’t go straight, I have to pick a good place to climb and go around in a winding way.

In fact, these are not problems. Even if it takes longer, I can always get there before dawn.

The problem is that I overestimated myself… On this cliff, every step is so difficult, not to mention the slippery rocks, the thorny bushes, the various insects hiding in them, and even the spiders I am most afraid of. If it weren’t for the powerful insect and snake repellent, I would have been poisoned many times and fallen off the cliff early, because I saw no less than five poisonous snakes suddenly darting out of my way to avoid me.

I even had to climb over the bodies of poisonous spiders that were too scared to move.

I can forget all about these things… I can even overcome my fear of spiders. What will be stronger than the desire for life? But I can’t stop the depletion of my physical strength. On this cliff in the cold wind and rain, I can feel my physical strength flowing away like a rushing stream with each step.

This is where I overestimated myself. I forgot that I had only been injured for less than a month, and that it was a life-threatening injury. I thought I was completely recovered, but in fact it was just an illusion… What’s more, even for me in my prime, it would be difficult to climb up this cliff.

No wonder it is said that even martial artists can’t climb it. They are in worse condition, and often think that practicing martial arts causes them to have internal injuries, so they don’t necessarily have better physical strength than ordinary people. It turns out that climbing cliffs requires not skill, but physical strength!

Just now, I was too tired to hold on to a low tree and slid down the cliff. Fortunately, there was a certain slope here, and many bushes along the way saved me…

I felt a tingling sensation all over my body. Although there were no poisonous insects or snakes attacking me, the thorns of these shrubs were not pleasant to be pricked by.

Just give up? I clenched my fists and opened my mouth to catch the rain falling from the sky. After thinking about the consequences of giving up, I dared not give up. This is the tragedy of having no way out.

I took a deep breath, braced myself and got back on my feet. I grabbed a nearby bush and started the difficult climb again.

Anyone who has done sports knows that there is a limit to human physical strength. Sometimes, after this limit is reached, all that supports you is your will, and the strength that has been squeezed out, to put it bluntly, is vitality.

Often pushing yourself to the limit will deplete your life force, so people who really understand extreme sports will not do it lightly. But do I have a choice?

I took a short rest against a bush, and took out a small piece of ginseng root from my bag and put it in my mouth. This stuff is supposed to replenish energy and is effective.

I numbly climbed upwards, already supporting the limits of my physical strength, but in order to forget the fatigue of this matter, I had to divert my thoughts and think of something else.

For example, I regretted not leaving earlier. But this was also predestined. After all, I trusted that one-month period too much, wanting to buy myself some time to recover. I even subconsciously believed that maybe they were telling me a month because that month represented a kind of agreement, and that after a month, someone would show up and bring me a turning point.

The person I was thinking of was Jenny, the leader of the gang. In fact, I was naive. If Jenny really cared about this matter, she would not have given Jiang Yi the opportunity to shoot me five times.

When my intuition gave me a premonition, I had already done my best to handle the matter. I believe that if I had to do it again, I could only have done it to this extent. After all, the biggest reason I was afraid to do it was that I would continue to give them the false impression that Chen Chengyi was dead. If I could leave in broad daylight when I sensed danger, what was the point of my hiding like this?

I was concentrating on climbing the cliff, but my thoughts were so chaotic that it was as if I had split into two people. I tried hard to forget my situation, and I dared not look back, otherwise the height would bring me a sharp pressure. All that was left in my eyes was the short slope. I had never felt so strongly that a place was the end of my victory.

I don’t know how long it took, but I know that the drizzle had completely soaked me, and that my body was getting colder and colder. Even the bitter ginseng juice I swallowed into my mouth and stomach couldn’t bring me much warmth.

Just when I was about to reach my limit, I finally overcame the last obstacle, grabbed a rock that connected the low hill to the cliff, gritted my teeth, and almost exhausted my last bit of strength, finally climbing over and reaching the low hill.

The moment I reached safety, I felt like crying. I stumbled a few steps, then fell face down, looking up at the dark sky. I didn’t want to move a single finger.

I finally pushed myself to the limit and did something that was almost impossible. This is a kind of success, right?

I wanted to cry out to the sky, but I didn’t. In the end, I just silently swallowed the ginseng roots in my mouth, which I had almost sucked into a pulp, and then forced myself to stand up and find a place to hide from the rain and build a fire. I couldn’t catch a cold, otherwise I would be seriously injured, and half of the benefits of this period of time would be lost.

Those who overcome difficulties are often lucky. I found a thatched hut in the dark. It was probably a shed built by people who went up the mountain to collect mountain goods. There are often such buildings in the countryside, which is not surprising. It was just that I met it at this moment, and it moved me beyond words.

I rushed into the thatched hut. Even luckier, there was some firewood, a broken pot, and it didn’t leak. There was also a bed covered with straw that looked warm. For me, this was even more touching than a villa or a luxurious bed.

The door and windows of the straw hut were facing away from the village, so I could build a fire without fear of being seen, have hot water, and eat hot food. This was the hope of life, the light that radiated from the unintentional kindness of people.

I endured the fatigue, and with a sense of emotion, I lit a fire, boiled water, baked buns, and also dried my clothes by the fire… Finally, I set an alarm on my phone and threw myself into the straw bed to sleep.

In the extreme exhaustion and the warm sense of security, I slept a good sleep, no dreams!

The sense of crisis in my mind had disappeared. I knew that those people would not chase me up the mountain. After all, it was so difficult to find one person in the vast mountain range. They would not have thought that I would use climbing cliffs to get out of trouble. They were not even sure that I was still alive.

I slept for a long time, and I was awakened by the bright warm sunlight. I looked at my watch and realized that I had slept until noon!

I took a deep breath. I didn’t have any signs of illness, but I felt full of energy. Looking at the rare warm sunshine in late autumn, my mood was also full of hope and brightness, just like the weather.

After eating some simple dry food and drinking some water in the straw hut, I left half of the money on my body in the straw hut. Of course, money does not represent anything, and it does not necessarily go to the person who built the straw hut. It is just that money can bring some happiness to everyone in this poor village. Whoever gets it is a happy thing, and kindness is a kind of power that needs to be transmitted and a flowing fate. I hope to express a kind intention and let this kindness spread and flow.

Let people know that kindness is rewarded, so that they are more willing to do good, until it becomes a habit in their hearts, a spontaneous force and behavior.

With this in mind, I walked out of the hut, then took out the map and looked at it carefully in the sunlight for a while. After confirming the route to the main road, I headed down the mountain.