Jiang Hao gripped a crack in the rock and pushed off with his feet, steadily climbing upward. The path had been fairly easy at first, but the higher they went, the harder it became.
They had already climbed halfway when they reached a stretch of cliff that was nearly vertical, with very few places to climb. Jiang Hao looked up, stopped, took a grappling hook from his storage space, hooked it into a crack in the rock, and secured the rope.
If the camera pulled back, it would show two tiny figures hanging from the steep, sheer cliff face.
Humans were truly insignificant before nature.
Jiang Hao had once watched a documentary called Free Solo. It had no special effects or fight scenes, but it could still make viewers' hearts pound, their palms sweat, and their adrenaline surge.
However, Jiang Hao admired the documentary's cameraman even more. That was why the filmmaker had won the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
He looked down at Lara below him. "Lara, are you okay?"
Lara was panting heavily. She was truly exhausted; she had never felt so tired before. But she knew there was no turning back when climbing a mountain. Either she climbed up, or she fell down. Apparently, the mortality rate for free solo climbing was fifty percent!
"Whew... I can still hold on," Lara panted.
Seeing how she looked, Jiang Hao said, "I've secured the rope. Fix yourself in place with your ice axe. Let's rest for a while and replenish our strength."
"Okay."
Lara drove her ice axe into a crack and tugged it hard. Once she was sure it was secure, she looped her rope around it and finally relaxed.
"Lara, eat something."
Jiang Hao reached back into his huge backpack, pulled out two Snickers bars, placed them