On How To Defeat Dr. Qing Leng Chapter 1

Altitude 4200m, the Mount Everest Aerostat Integrated Vertical Observation Project camp. The sky and the endless, continuous snow mountains merged, reflecting a translucent blue.

As Wen Yelan pushed open the door of the temporary prefabricated house, he instinctively pulled up the zipper of his slightly worn, dark blue mountaineering jacket. The air was thin, and white puffs of breath constantly escaped with his light panting. The massive, snow-covered mountain body not far away was clearly reflected in his pupils.

A flicker of extremely subtle excitement flashed in Wen Yelan’s eyes, quickly masked.

As an expert invited by the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences to participate in this scientific expedition, he would spend four to six weeks here establishing a meteorological station, drilling ice cores, collecting samples, and so on. If possible, Wen Yelan truly wanted to summit Mount Everest once; he had been preparing for this for a long time.

“Captain Wen! Morning.” His assistant, Ling Yue, emerged from a tent on the other side, rubbing his hands.

Ling Yue paused and continued, “The mooring vehicle entered Tibet today. We still need to get a permit, which might take two more days. All systems should definitely be inflated within four days at the latest.”

Wen Yelan frowned for a moment, then nodded slightly. This was not good news. It meant they would have to wait at least another week here, and the expedition team’s budget and time were limited.

He sighed and turned back to his temporary quarters, intending to thoroughly study the climbing route again, striving not to delay progress during the ascent.

The door was pushed open once more.

Wen Yelan looked up at the sound and put down his pen. “Captain Liu.”

The woman called Captain Liu nodded slightly in acknowledgment. “Dr. Wen, pack up quickly. We’ll use the helicopter to transport a batch of equipment to the 6500m Advanced Base Camp shortly. Go and check on it. It’s a good chance to acclimatize to the altitude in preparation for the follow-up work.”

“The team agreed to let me summit?” Wen Yelan instantly stood up, a bright light flashing in his usually calm eyes. This was tremendous news for him.

Captain Liu smiled helplessly. “We couldn’t talk you out of it. Honestly, you’re already frail. We just needed you to drill the ice core at 7028m, but you insist on going higher. You don’t seem like the type who absolutely needs to conquer Mount Everest.”

Wen Yelan smiled softly without refuting, turning to gather his belongings.

At the 5200m Mount Everest Base Camp, the team gathered here first.

Wen Yelan began to feel slightly breathless. The helicopter could only carry a limited number of people, so he had to carry two people’s worth of equipment by himself initially.

But when he saw the magnificent blue glacier in the distance, all the fatigue faded away.

Just then, a massive, unannounced roar suddenly sounded. Following the noise, a helicopter painted in camouflage, clearly worth a fortune, landed on an open space not far from Base Camp in a low-altitude maneuver that was almost a display of skill, exuding intense pressure. Several laughing young people disembarked. The aircraft quickly left, only for new ones to land soon after, each one more expensive than the last.

Wen Yelan narrowed his eyes, his expression unreadable.

A young member of the scientific expedition team instinctively rushed over to shield a newly unloaded generator, his face showing anger mixed with a fear of speaking out.

They wore the latest model of snow goggles, followed by dozens of Sherpa Guides. They chatted and laughed, their movements carrying a sense of ease and ostentation that was jarringly out of place in this extreme environment, as if they were arriving not at the perilous peak of the world, but at some seaside resort.

The center of this group was a man who strode down from the last helicopter.

He was exceptionally tall, straight as a snow cedar, his superior proportions—broad shoulders and long legs—evident even beneath the heavy mountaineering gear. Sunglasses were perched on his head, revealing deep, striking eyes and a straight nose. The corners of his mouth were turned up, seemingly holding a hint of mocking half-smile.

It was an aura from another world—money, adventure, and hedonism. But this had nothing to do with Wen Yelan. He only glanced twice before lowering his head to fiddle with his instruments.

“Tsk, can’t go anywhere without someone fiddling with instruments.” A young man in a bright yellow jacket raised his chin toward Wen Yelan’s group, his tone flippant. “What are they planning to measure this time? To prove the mountain is indeed very high?”

Another young man nearby laughed and chimed in, “Maybe they’re measuring the carbon dioxide exhaled by Young Master Pei, to see if it’s contributing to global warming, ha ha ha.”

The man referred to as “Young Master Pei”—the center of the group, Pei Yan—merely scoffed at the remark, but his gaze did not leave the area.

Across a short distance, he clearly saw the slender, upright young scientist. The man was slightly tilting his head, quietly instructing someone next to him. His profile was clean and sharp, and his eyes were as cold as an ice spike on Mount Everest, completely ignoring the commotion they were creating.

A bit interesting, Pei Yan curved his lips.

“Alright, cut the chatter,” he finally spoke, withdrawing his gaze, his voice lazy. “Hurry up and set up the camp. Don’t delay the real business.” His ‘real business’ was naturally not the scientific expedition kind, but the climbing and exploration about to begin.

“Young Master Pei, the weather data is back. The window for the next 78 hours looks good. Should we stick to the original plan and leave before dawn tomorrow, heading straight for Camp III?” A guide from Pei Yan’s team approached and asked.

Pei Yan was holding a pair of high-powered binoculars, aimlessly scanning the glacier above. He hummed in response, but his lens involuntarily slid toward the scientific team, settling on the dark blue figure. He saw the young man squatting on the ground, carefully heating water in a bowl in front of him.

“What about them?” Pei Yan suddenly asked out of the blue.

“Huh? Who?” Lin Mo, who had just walked over, was startled.

“The scientists.”

“Oh, them,” the guide shrugged. “I heard they’re launching that large balloon for atmospheric monitoring, and also… attempting to summit to drill ice cores? Their route is different from ours; they’re taking the most traditional path.” Pei Yan’s team had already climbed that route last year. This time, they were here to search for relics left by previous adventurers—that was the real thrill.

Pei Yan put down the binoculars, a smirk playing on his lips. His eyes held contempt, yet also something else. Lin Mo glanced at him.

Wen Yelan was oblivious to the events unfolding nearby. They were currently facing a very tricky problem: the wind was too strong. The helicopter sent out to scout had hovered near 6300m for a long time but couldn’t land. Relying on the helicopter to ease the burden of transport was clearly impossible.

Wen Yelan slowly drank the hot water in his bowl, a look of determination flashing in his eyes.

Before dawn the next day, Wen Yelan led a six-person team and two experienced Sherpa Guides, carrying heavy ice core drilling equipment and various portable monitoring instruments. They quietly left Base Camp and headed toward the predetermined glacier route.

Pei Yan and his group of wealthy young companions also packed their gear and set off. The two groups went their separate ways.

However, in the face of nature, human plans always prove fragile.

That afternoon, the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse without warning. Pei Yan’s group was mostly scouting and didn’t waste much time, returning to camp promptly by noon.

The wind speed abruptly increased, whipping up snow particles from the ground and hitting the tents. The temperature also began to drop sharply.

Due to their heavy load, Wen Yelan’s team failed to reach the Advanced Base Camp as planned and were forced to make an emergency stop beneath a relatively sheltered ice wall at an Altitude of nearly six thousand meters. They ultimately had to return to Base Camp to wait. Wen Yelan watched the mountain behind him through the snowstorm, his fingers unconsciously curling. It couldn’t be this unlucky, he reassured himself.

But misfortunes never come singly.

After nightfall, the blizzard showed no sign of weakening. When they tried to start a high-altitude gasoline generator to maintain basic warmth, they found it wouldn’t ignite no matter what.

In the biting cold, technician Li Lin futilely pulled the starter cord again and again. The generator only emitted a few dull whimpers before falling silent once more. Everyone’s heart sank. Without electricity, at this altitude and in this weather… the consequences were self-evident.

“Captain Wen, the temperature is too low. The carburetor or fuel line might be frozen. The preheating tools we brought aren’t powerful enough…” Li Lin’s voice trembled slightly, his face indistinguishable between snowmelt and sweat.

Wen Yelan stood silently in the wind and snow. The gale almost knocked him over. His face was expressionless, but his tightly pressed lips and the rapidly thinking eyes behind his snow goggles betrayed his inner anxiety. His hands beneath his gloves were already red and somewhat numb from the cold. Looking around, besides the faint halos cast by his team members’ headlamps and the endless wind and snow, the entire world seemed to be a chaotic blue sea, save for the warm light emanating from the camp opposite them.

A choice he desperately wished to avoid now became the only possible option. He could freeze, but he was responsible for his team members and the instruments.

Wen Yelan’s voice was somewhat scattered by the wind. He took a deep breath, suppressing the pain in his stomach, and walked directly toward the brightest, most boisterous camp.

As he got closer, he could hear the sounds of laughter and revelry inside. Wen Yelan paused, letting out a soft breath.

When he abruptly pulled back the door flap of Pei Yan’s main tent, bringing with him a blast of cold air, snowflakes, and unconcealed exhaustion, the noise inside instantly ceased.

All eyes immediately focused on the unexpected visitor.

Wen Yelan was soaked. A few strands of black hair, pressed down by his hat, were damply plastered to his smooth but frost-white forehead. Even in such a state of disarray, his remarkably cold and aloof demeanor, combined with cheeks slightly flushed from rapid breathing in the warm light of the tent, created a visually striking beauty.

“Whoa…” Someone instinctively let out a light, flippant whistle.

Wen Yelan’s eyes instantly turned cold, and he subconsciously took half a step back. His gaze bypassed everyone and landed directly on the man lounging lazily on an inflatable sofa, swirling a glass containing a yellow liquid.

Pei Yan was also looking at him, his eyes flashing with undisguised surprise and immense interest. He clearly hadn’t expected to see the cold scientist again under these circumstances, and in such a… disheveled yet captivating manner.

“Excuse me,” Wen Yelan spoke, his voice slightly hoarse from the cold and lack of oxygen, yet still polite. “I apologize for the intrusion. Our generator has malfunctioned, and we urgently need a high-power backup source and a set of professional repair tools. Could we please borrow yours temporarily? We can pay any reasonable fee.”

He spoke quickly, frowning, and then added, “Furthermore, drinking alcohol at high altitude is extremely dangerous. I suggest you proceed with caution.” He quickly glanced at the cup in the man’s hand, trying to maintain a semblance of dignity in his advice, even though his current state was far from “dignified.”

The scene was silent for a second, followed by a burst of laughter.

“Pfft, ha ha ha, Comrade Scientist, you can’t look down on us like that. Do you think we don’t understand such a simple principle? This is saffron tea, just served in a nice-looking cup.”

“Exactly! Can’t we even have a little bit of ambiance?”

Voices chattered inside the tent. Wen Yelan watched them coldly, feeling a wave of nausea. For a moment, he felt as if he had returned to the darkest period of his life. Just as he was about to lose control and rush out, a gentle voice came to his rescue.

“I said, that’s enough. He was just being kind.”