Chapter 4: Help! I'm Over Here!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In the instant that he fell, Li Teng's other hand flailed wildly and managed to grab hold of one of the bed's legs. His legs kicked about frantically at the rock wall beneath him. It was only when he seemed to kick against something solid that he temporarily gained a footing and steadied himself.
After he caught his breath, with one hand grasping the bed leg and the other holding tightly onto the edge of the stone platform, Li Teng glanced carefully at the bottom of the stone pillar.
Wasn't this too high?
He would definitely be smashed into pieces if he fell!
After Li Teng calmed himself down, he applied force in his hands and got ready to climb back up to the wooden bed.
Right at this point, he suddenly discovered a few marks inscribed into the stone pillar underneath him.
When he looked at them carefully, he realized that the marks were height indicators.
The etched line next to him indicated… 1,000 meters.
It seemed like there were texts, such as "999 meters" and so on, below too.
His bare feet had kicked against these etched marks earlier. That was how he had somewhat managed to find something that he could brace his weight against.
It looked like he was right in his estimation of the pillar's height earlier. Presently, he was, indeed, 1,000 meters high up in the sky.
The inscriptions on the stone pillar implied that the pillar hadn't formed naturally. Rather, it was man-made.
Who had built a 1,000 meters-tall stone pillar like this? And even shifted his bed to the top of the pillar while he was asleep?
The four legs of the bed were even bolted down.
He felt as if he was a lab rat in someone's experiment.
Why had he been chosen?
A sense of helplessness welled up in Li Teng.
While he still had a bit of strength in him, Li Teng tried his best to return to the base of the wooden bed. He panted as he sprawled onto his back.
"If I ever find out…
"If I ever find out who did this…
"I'm going to tie him to a rocket and shoot him right into the sun!"
Li Teng's rage was uncontrollable.
Hunger caused Li Teng's mind to switch between periods of trance and periods of clarity.
After a day of exposure to the sun, he was incredibly thirsty.
Although he fiercely wished that he could gulp down rainwater again like what he had done the night before, he had no desire to go through another thunderstorm.
In the flashing lightning and roaring thunder, he had felt as if he would croak any moment—and the kind where he would end up as a pile of charred remains, no less.
This was so tragic!
By the time the sun was about to set, the blanket and the mattress were half-dry, while the pillow was only 30% dry.
Li Teng's clothes, however, were fully dry now.
A light breeze blew against Li Teng. Even though his pajamas were already dry, he felt rather cold, nevertheless.
It was hard to warm the damp mattress and blanket with his body when he hadn't had any food. However, he could at least block out the wind by draping the blanket over himself.
The sky darkened. It was cold and becoming increasingly so.
The damp and icy blanket made him feel as though he was in a cave of ice.
If this goes on, I'm going to get rheumatism!
What's the big deal about getting rheumatism when I'm dead, though?
It wasn't as dark tonight as what it was the night before, thanks to the moon.
The chilly moon hung in the night sky and shone upon Li Teng's similarly chilly face.
"Searching and looking everywhere,
I feel so cold, so sad, so dreary, so lonely.
'Tis the hardest to rest in this lingering cold.
Oh, how could I endure the winds so swift
With these cups of wine at dusk?
It breaks my heart to see the wild geese pass,
For they are my acquaintances of old.
"The ground is covered with yellow flowers,
Faded and fallen in showers.
Who will pick them up now?
Sitting alone at the window,
How could I but quicken
The pace of darkness which won't thicken?
On sycamore trees, a fine rain falls
As twilight calls.
Oh! What can I do with a grief
Beyond
"Why am I so unfortunate?!"
"One could at least stay by the window as they watched the sycamore trees in the poem. What about me?!
"I'm watching over a frickin' pillar!"
After he recited the poem, Li Teng felt incredibly sorry for himself.
So sad, so dreary, so lonely—these six words summarized it so well.
The poet who wrote this poem was truly goddamn talented!
After he heaved a few deep sighs, Li Teng fell asleep in a daze.
It was a peaceful night. There was no flashing lightning and roaring thunder. Neither were there squalls and heavy downpours.
When the sky brightened once more, Li Teng gradually woke up from his dreams.
Cold. It's cold.
He didn't sit up.
When he stared at the sky and confirmed that he was still stuck at the top of the stone pillar, hopelessness filled his heart once again.
He was in an especially weakened state now. A good night's sleep hadn't alleviated his fatigue in the least.
He practically couldn't feel anything in his limbs anymore.
It was as if this body didn't belong to him anymore, and that his soul was merely taking up temporary residence within.
He knew that this was a result of hunger and thirst.
His body was unable to replenish its depleted energy due to hunger and thirst, leading to the deterioration of his bodily functions. His internal organs would also slowly begin to fail as a result, and death would descend after that.
This was inevitable unless some kind of miracle were to occur in the meantime, such as someone discovering him and arranging for a helicopter to render first-aid, etc.
However, from the looks of things, the chances of receiving help weren't high.
Li Teng had made up his mind. Before his bodily functions fully failed and death descended upon him, if help still hadn't arrived by then, he would jump down the stone pillar.
If he had to die, then he would at least let people know that he was dead and where he had died.
Otherwise, his life would be meaningless.
A meaningless life is even more tragic than being a slacker.
Speaking of salted
Li Teng licked his dry and chapped lips.
It was bright and sunny today.
There wasn't any rainwater to relieve his thirst.
Neither was there food, of course.
The only thing he could do was to keep on hanging in there stubbornly.
Li Teng didn't even have the strength to sit up, so he had been lying down all this time—lying down and waiting for death.
At this point, sleeping might be his best option.
Perhaps it wouldn't be so painful and agonizing if he died in his sleep, even though that would mean that no one would know that he had died here, causing his life to become a meaningless one.
But things had already reached this point. What was the point of caring about whether it was meaningful or not?
Soon, Li Teng realized that he had a problem… He couldn't sleep.
He couldn't tell whether it was because he had slept too much. In any case, he simply couldn't. In fact, he didn't even have any desire to shut his eyes.
Surprisingly, lying down awake like that was uncomfortable.
He felt awful all over, indescribably so.
There was also an inexplicable sense of fury in him.
Although he was furious, Li Teng no longer wished to pursue thoughts such as "Why me?", "What have I done to deserve this?", and "Who's the one doing this to me?".
There was no point in doing so.
There was no real reason for his fury. It was highly likely that he was simply furious at the fact that he couldn't get to sleep.
If only he had his cell phone with him. That way, he could at least pass the time by reading a web-novel or two.
However, he had absolutely nothing with him right now. There was nothing he could do.
People would lose their minds if they were to become as bored as this.
Li Teng felt exactly as if he was right at the boundary of losing his mind and breaking down.
Suddenly, a series of loud booms echoed.
Li Teng knew that they were from passenger airliners passing by at high altitude.
Quite a few passenger airliners passed by above him every day.
He no longer held any hope in these passenger airliners catching sight of him by now. Thus, he didn't bother wasting his energy to jump, shout, and wave at them anymore.
However, this time, the booms weren't quite the same.
They were very loud as if they were nearby. And they were coming nearer and nearer!
Li Teng subconsciously cast a glance at the direction from which the sounds were coming from. When he saw what was happening, he couldn't help but widen his eyes dramatically.
This particular passenger airliner was flying at a very low altitude. The plane became increasingly clear in his vision.
It was so clear that Li Teng could practically see the cabin windows on the plane.
"Help! I'm over here!" Li Teng got up instinctively and started to wave wildly at the passenger airliner.
Desperate times called for desperate measures. What if he was rescued?
After Li Teng waved at it, the passenger airliner really did change the direction it was going in. Although he didn't believe that his calls for help had been effective, the passenger airliner was really charging toward the stone pillar after it turned!
"Save me! Can you see me?!" Li Teng exerted all the strength he had and waved about frantically, trying his best to increase his chances of being spotted by the passenger airliner's aircrew.
A dull "bam!" resounded.
Thick clouds of smoke suddenly came out of one of the passenger airliner's engines at the side.
The plane body also began to shake violently.
The nose of the plane tipped downward. Then, it started to nosedive.
Surely not?! Was a plane crash about to happen?!
The problem was that… The plane was nosediving right toward the stone pillar that he was on top of!
-- Gift
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