Sleepless Mountain (12)

Wang Yi unexpectedly stepped onto the cap of an ice crevasse. Although it wasn't visible on the surface, underneath the thin ice layer was an endless, bottomless abyss. In his haste to cross, Wang Yi didn't notice the thickness of the ice beneath his feet, crushing the thin ice cap and falling in. When he fell, Chen Ming was immediately pulled down by the safety rope around his waist. Experienced as he was, he immediately flipped over and tried to embed his ice axe into the glacier, but he couldn't stop the downward momentum and was dragged towards the edge of the crevasse. As for me and Mita, we immediately sat down, using the crampons on our feet to desperately brace against the ground in front of us, and pulled hard on the safety rope with our hands. Until the rope dug firmly into our gloves, and both our palms went numb with pain. It took nearly half an hour before we finally pulled both of them out of the ice crevasse. Wang Yi's slip caused us to lose the progress we were supposed to make that morning. Chen Ming bruised his left elbow during the fall, but the injury wasn't too serious. On the other hand, Wang Yi hit his head during the fall, and there's suspicion of a mild concussion. He's still being observed after resting for a while. "You saw it too, right?" Mita was the first to speak during lunch. Then, a silence fell. "I don't know what I saw. The fog was too thick at the time, so I couldn't confirm. It could have been our reflection, or an illusion caused by light refraction." Chen Ming, the team leader, analyzed calmly. Although there was another possible explanation, none of the four of us believed that in the absence of food and equipment, a stranded team could still have all members survive after ten days. There was no possibility.