Crossing the Western Tianshan Mountains

When they came outside the tent, they found Aiboli, Yerlan and Portela busy in the wind and snow. They pushed the snow in the middle of an open space to the surrounding area to form a snow wall, and then pushed the snow around to make the snow wall higher. When the snow wall was about one and a half meters high, they piled the firewood they had picked up during the day in the middle of the snow circle, used cotton jackets to block the wind, and barely lit the firewood.

Then Ayiboli shouted, "Go wake them up quickly and bring them over to warm themselves by the fire."

Wu Yongjie said excitedly, "No need to come up, I'll go and call!"

Five minutes later, everyone slid into the snow circle. The snow wall blocked the wind. They sat cross-legged so that the wind could only blow over their heads.

As the fire grew brighter, they finally felt warmth in this icy wasteland and breathed a sigh of relief. One technician said tearfully, "I just thought I was going to die in this wasteland. I even wrote a suicide note. Fortunately, I have Ayiboliyerlan and Portela. Because of you, we are still alive."

This snow circle was like a snow house, keeping the cold out. Everyone leaned against each other, sleeping for a while and waking up for a while in the snow circle. Although the sleep was not good, it was better than not being able to sleep at all.

Wu Yongjie almost didn't sleep the whole night. He was afraid that if the fire went out, everyone would freeze to death. He was also afraid that the fire would be too strong and burn out the oxygen around. Although two people had been arranged to take turns guarding it, Wu Yongjie still didn't dare to be careless and felt more at ease watching it himself.

In the morning, he dozed off for a moment, then suddenly woke up with a start. He saw Portela and Ayiboli arguing. Portela said, "Is your life more valuable than Captain Wu's? Captain Wu is just protecting his own team members. He's not selfish. Doesn't he want to go with us?"

It turned out to be the same issue discussed yesterday. Wu Yongjie was a little surprised that such a lovely girl like Gulinar actually had a timid father.

But there is really no reason for people to fight to the death.

While I was hesitating, I heard Ayiboli say, "Anyway, I'm not going. Whoever wants to go can go. Go west. That's a forbidden area. The sheep and horses don't go there. Should we go?"

So that area is a forbidden area?

Borat said, "If you don't want to go, then don't go. Don't make a fuss."

Wu Yongjie coughed. Actually, everyone was awake at this moment because the two of them were arguing, so everyone closed their eyes and pretended to be asleep. When they heard Wu Yongjie cough, they opened their eyes. Fortunately, there was still fire in the pond. Wu Yongjie added a few more firewood and said, "It was so cold yesterday. Fortunately, you guys were here. You are experienced and saved us."

Ayiboli snorted but said nothing. Borat said, "Since we agreed to help, we should do it well. It's our duty."

Wu Yongjie said, "Nothing is a given. After we return, everyone present will receive a cash reward of 5,000 yuan each. It's not much, but it's a token of our appreciation."

Five thousand yuan is a lot for the herders. Portela's eyes lit up, and Ayiboli also laughed. "We're all friends, it's a bit too much to talk about money. But of course it's good to have money. How about six thousand six? That number sounds good."

Wu Yongjie said, "Six thousand six hundred, it's settled."

After breakfast, Wu Yongjie, Aiboli and Portela each took their ice axes, crampons and simple supplies and prepared to set off.

Li Jianguo's eyes were still red. "Captain Wu, why don't we go together? We can go there and come back later. It will waste time. And if there is really danger and something happens to you, how will we be embarrassed?"

Wu Yongjie patted him on the shoulder. "You just need to understand that the construction of the West Tianshan Tunnel must not be stopped. For everything we love about the West Tianshan, we can't stop it no matter what. You guys in the technical department must not let anything happen. Don't worry, leave this kind of exploration to me."

Just like that, Wu Yongjie, Ayiboli, and Portela set off. Before leaving, he reminded Li Jianguo, "You are the most worried among this group of people. You should survey here today and don't stray too far. Take good care of yourself and also look after the other team members."

Li Jianguo nodded vigorously, "Captain Wu, don't worry."

Wu Yongjie and Ayiboli headed westward. It looked close, but because walking in the snow was too strenuous, their progress was very slow. Furthermore, Ayiboli was terrified and slipped down a small slope. He screamed, "I'm going to fall into the glacier!"

His shout suddenly made Wu Yongjie realize why Aiboli was so frightened and what the underground glacier represented.

That is, under the mountain under their feet, there is a glacier hidden, and various ice towers and ice caves have formed underground. There may be cracks on the surface of the mountain leading to the glacier. Once you fall from the cracks, will you still survive?

He suddenly understood Aiboli, because he knew the danger here, so he was afraid, but he only had a superficial understanding of the underground glaciers. As the saying goes, ignorance is fearless, so he was not afraid.

Ayiboli's exclamation made Wu Yongjie more aware of the danger his group faced. He asked, "Is there any way to prevent us from falling into the ice crevasse?"

Portela said, "Right now, all the crevasses are covered by heavy snow, so we can't see them. At this time, if we see a deep snow pit that's much deeper than the surrounding area, or an area with uneven terrain and potholes, we shouldn't go over it."

Only then did Wu Yongjie realize that there was really no professional talent in his team who could explore the glacier. He sat down and looked into the distance, and for a moment he even wanted to go home.

He asked again, "How do you determine if this area is a glacier?"

He suddenly thought that if they just wanted to determine whether there was a refrigerator here, there was no need for Li Jianguo and his team to take the risk. They had determined that the cross-section of the glacier exceeded the controllable arc of the tunnel, which meant that the tunnel could not pass through. They had to give up on the west side and think of other ways.

Ayiboli suddenly said, "You want to know where the glacier is? Okay, I'll show you."

He fixed his eyes on a patch of snow, then thrust his pickaxe towards it, "Stay away."

Wu Yongjie suddenly realized something and said, "Stop!"

Ayiboli turned his head and looked at him, "Don't you want to see if there is a glacier here?"

"It's too dangerous to try this. Let's go somewhere you think is safe."

Portela said, "This way."

He gestured to Wu Yongjie to go to the exposed rocks at the back, and the three of them stood on the rocks together. Portela picked up a fist-sized stone and threw it at the place where Aiboli had just wanted to touch with the ice pick. The stone fell into the snow pit without a sound, like a drop of water falling into the sea.

But a moment later, the snow pit suddenly collapsed, revealing a hole that was not too big but very deep.

Wu Yongjie finally understood why Ayiboli said that even horses and sheep didn't come here.