Emily stared at him for a second.
Her mind raced in that split second.
She was light in weight and her speed in the powdery snow was not as good as Su Wei's.
If she stays, the rescue team's response time will be prolonged.
She didn't say another word, bent down and popped the bindings off completely, one on each side.
Then, she turned and ran towards the staff in the meeting area.
The white ski suit billowed in the wind as it swept past his back.
Her boots crunched rapidly on the hard snow as she took two steps at a time.
She walked past a man squatting against a wall smoking and disappeared at the edge of the crowd.
Su Wei squatted down.
The snowplow bag was swung from his left shoulder to his chest, the thirty-pound weight settling on his knees.
He unzipped the waterproof side pocket with his left hand, his fingertips touching the nylon shell of the first aid kit.
Inside were bandages, hemostatic powder, an emergency thermal blanket, and a tube of portable anesthetic spray.
They're all there.
He reached his right hand into a deeper compartment at the bottom of the sack and touched a section of cold metal tube.
It's a snow draft.
The shaft is made of folding aluminum alloy, with a hardened steel cone at the front end.
He pulled out the snow pick, swung the folded joint open with one hand, and the lock snapped shut with a click.
The shaft bounced from 30 centimeters to 60 centimeters.
Inside the zippered pocket next to it was a roll of eight-millimeter static rope coiled into a tight, round disc.
Su Wei pulled it out and hung it on the D-ring of his belt.
The aluminum alloy buckle at the end of the rope jingled softly in the wind.
at last.
He touched the GoPro base on his chest with his left hand.
I pressed the power button on the side with my thumb, and the device vibrated.
The red indicator light on the front panel lights up, recording begins.
It wasn't simply for the purpose of recording.
Rather, it's to ensure proof of this rescue.
It's best to film the entire process to ensure your safety.
This is the evidence.
He didn't want to be sued or subjected to baseless slander afterward.
Therefore, the basic record-keeping process is very important.
Su Wei straightened up.
The wind was much stronger than it had been two minutes ago.
The wind wasn't blowing continuously, but rather in gusts.
Snowflakes were swirled up and hit the windproof fabric of the jacket, making a continuous rustling sound.
Seventy or eighty meters.
Normally this distance wouldn't be much, but beneath our feet was a 40-centimeter-thick layer of uncompacted snow powder.
Each step down was difficult, and pulling it out was very strenuous.
This process keeps the thigh muscles doing anaerobic work.
Su Wei lowered his center of gravity, used the snowplow shaft to probe the way, and pushed step by step towards the pile of rocks.
Tracking Assistance is now enabled.
The pale gold interface flickered briefly at the edge of the field of vision before disappearing.
The world I see has undergone a subtle change.
The snowflakes flying everywhere were filtered out; this wasn't a physical disappearance.
Rather, it's that the brain's attention to them is systematically reduced.
The scattering white particles faded into background noise, making the foreground exceptionally clear.
The contours of the rocks, the textures of the snow, and every trace not of natural wind erosion were drawn to the forefront of attention.
Thirty meters.
The wind created a wind tunnel effect between the two basalt rocks side by side, causing a sudden increase in wind speed.
The hood of the windbreaker was pulled down from the back of his head.
Su Wei freed one hand to pull it up again, tightening the drawstring so that the brim of the hat pressed against his brow bone.
Twenty meters.
The Tracking Assistance is starting to work.
On the edge of the largest basalt rock to the right front, there is an irregular skid mark on the snow.
These marks weren't made by the wind; wind erosion marks are uniform arc shapes.
The mark was made by cutting in a straight line.
Its starting point is on the top surface of the rock, and its ending point is on the back surface of the rock where it disappears.
The powdery snow on both sides of the skid mark was squeezed out with ridges.
Friction marks from a human body falling.
Weight, impact force, direction.
The Tracking Assistance pushed this information into Su Wei's consciousness in an almost intuitive way.
It wasn't words or data, but a sense of clarity that you could understand just by looking at it.
Ten meters.
He circled around the side of the basalt rock, his boots landing on the boundary between gravel and hard snow.
The wind swirls here, and snowflakes mixed with fine sand sting my cheeks.
Something was scattered on the snow next to the skid mark.
A ski pole.
The pole is fluorescent green, the snow wheel at the front is still there, but the wrist strap is broken off.
The plastic handle at the end has split in two.
Children's size.
The shaft is less than 90 centimeters long, and the grip circumference is also noticeably small.
This is for children aged seven to ten.
Su Wei had seen the same model in an outdoor store in Kodiak Town; it was an entry-level piece of equipment for beginners.
He didn't stop.
Su Wei held the snowplow horizontally in his left hand, braced his right hand on the edge of the rock, and peered down.
The back of the rock features a natural ravine, flanked by nearly vertical basalt walls.
The bottom of the ditch is less than 1.5 meters wide.
Powder snow poured in from above and accumulated at the bottom of the ditch, with a depth estimated to be between sixty and eighty centimeters.
Three meters deep.
At the bottom of the gully, a bright, fluorescent green patch is stuck at the angle between two rocks.
Fluorescent green children's ski suits.
The first thing Su Wei saw was a helmet.
It's white, with a cartoon sticker featuring a blue sled dog.
The helmet was hanging askew on a small head, with the chin strap undone on one side.
Below is a curled-up body with legs bent at the chest.
The right foot is not facing the right way; the ankle is in an unnatural inward rotation angle.
He hugged his right knee with his left hand, falling sideways between the ditch wall and the snow.
His face was down, buried in the powdery snow.
Su Wei's stomach twitched.