The express train "Chikumago" does not need to transfer to the Chuo Line at Nagoya because it goes directly to Matsumoto.Change to the Oto Line at Matsumoto.Toyoko - Ariake - Hosono - Omachi... In the dark before dawn, reviewing the unforgettable station names of mountaineers, the train is approaching the station where it got off - Shinano Yotsuya.
Near Shencheng, the mountains of Baimayue are completely exposed, and the morning glow that just casts towards the car window gives people a strong feeling, as if it is about to hit people's brows.
The snow-capped peak is dressed in light red, gradually dispelling the darkness before dawn that lingers on the mountainside.
The so-called White Horse Mountains, the White Horse, the Chai, and the Dipper, are beginning to shine brilliantly against the rising sun for the opening of a new day.Faced with this situation, Hanaoka Jin couldn't help sighing.
"I'm back again!" He felt kind from the bottom of his heart.
Shinano Yotsuya, six o'clock XX. —The train arrived on time.What the mountain department gave was not the "fourth-class sleeper (sleeping under the seats)" that he often slept in during mountain climbing, but the first-class sleeper, so he slept soundly and felt refreshed.He picked up his rucksack and got out of the car with his ice stick in his hand.It's been a long time since I carried it, and the weight still weighs heavily on my shoulders, which is nostalgic.
When I stood on the platform, I felt the biting cold wind.
It was cold winter, and there were very few passengers.Even so, I still saw a few people who looked like mountain climbers, dressed in a serious manner, walking towards the ticket gate sparsely.
Climbing this season, and it is a 3,000-meter mountain, the equipment is indeed impeccable.They must be some well-trained mountaineers.And are very young.
Suddenly, Hanaoka Shin felt a wave of uneasiness hit his heart.After he graduated, he never climbed a mountain.The life-and-death struggle for survival in the capitalist society is far from the official mountaineering in the heat and cold.Eight years of blankness!Suddenly joined the current mountaineering ranks, can you keep up?
Well, have fun doing it.If you are tired, it is not bad to stay in the camp to watch the house and enjoy the mountain scenery to your heart's content.Thinking of this, the uneasiness disappeared, and the joy of climbing filled my heart again.
He took a taxi from the station to the south fork of the mountaineering camp.Not long after the car passed Hosono, I saw the jagged outline of the cliff in the valley on the left slope.
In the second fork, sent the car away.Jin Hanaoka found that in the light scenery in the morning, there was no one else but himself.He was surprised.It is a common practice that the former graduates come to sleep together, and the juniors should at least welcome them here.
It was they who gave him the "Thousand Songs" express train ticket.Then they should know that I arrived at Binge around this time.The old man specially came to board a place.Originally, it was not surprising that they went to Yotsuya to meet them.
"Now these guys are playing around."
Susumu Hanaoka couldn't help being furious when he thought of the discipline he had been subjected to like a scorching sun when he was in office.
"But where the hell did those guys set up camp?"
He muttered to himself and moved his feet.In any case, you have to find a temporary resting place first.
At this time, another car "squeaked" came from the snow.The visitor is also a climber.
Where are you going to board?The equipment is heavy. From the perspective of getting off the car here, it is also to climb the first and second dangerous peaks of the cliff.However, if you climb alone, you have to be 120% sure.
The climber didn't notice that Hanaoka Jin was looking at him, so he naturally showed a face in the morning light.
"Iwamura!"
Shouts of astonishment came in and out of Susumu Hanaoka's mouth.
The man also stood dumbfounded on the snow after recognizing Susumu Hanaoka.The shock comes from discovering each other unexpectedly.The two couldn't believe it, they stood there staring at each other's faces.After a while, when they decided that the other party was indeed their former mountaineering partner, they asked at the same time like a parrot:
"Why did you come here anyway?"
"Why are you?"
"Really? You also received it?"
Hanaoka asked.Iwamura also came here because he received an invitation letter from his alma mater's mountain department.In this case, why is there no shadow of the younger generation?It's almost eight o'clock.No matter how sleepy they are, it's time to get out of the tent.
"strangeness!"
"Isn't it a mistake?"
"No, it's indeed South Fork. Two 'friends' have come here. Isn't that proof!" Susumu Hanaoka said.
Indeed, as he said, it was absolutely true that the two of them had arrived together.
"Anyway, there's nothing we can do just to stand here and talk. The power plant in South Fork is a little bit higher, and I remember there is a small house. Go there and have a look? Maybe we can meet them on the way."
"Ok."
Iwamura's proposal was approved by the two, and they walked shoulder to shoulder and strode forward.Not far to go, put on your ski boots.
The two walked silently.Long time no see. Goodbye, old friends.However, the mood of the two was as disappointing as the deserted scenery of this day.The two had to admit secretly: During these eight years, the two hearts were so far apart that they couldn't get close.
On the way, I went to the power plant to inquire and found out that Imperial University did not enter the mountain this year.They have received many cares here.Although the management has changed, it is not a lie.It is a fact that Imperial University did not come.
So, how to explain that invitation?It's really baffling.In any case, the two asked to live in the hut.
"There's already an earlier guest here. However, you two can live here if you want." The bearded housekeeper looked very kind, and he said that there seemed to be a lone climber already occupied.The two walked out of the power plant after thanking them.
From here put on your spikes and climb up.Panting and climbing up the last slope of Xia Road, it is the soft snowy hillock, on which the small house is located.
There are only three or more points in the small room.There was a faint blue smoke coming out of the chimney, it must be the guests who came first were setting the fire.
On the other side of the ridge of the hut, the first, second and third peaks of the Baima Mountain cliff are poking their heads; in the clear blue sky, snow and smoke are flying.The wind is blocked on the other side of the woods and cannot blow up this high hill.Presumably there is a strong wind blowing at that high place.
The two stood in front of the hut for a while, fascinated by the mountain scenery that they had reunited after a long absence.
"The temperature has dropped, let's go inside."
"Hello."
"Excuse me." The climber who came earlier squatted in front of the fire in the house without saying a word.
The two looked at each other, a little impatient.Among climbers, one sometimes meets such a nuisance.
If he is really such an annoying person, he must sincerely want to live in such a narrow hut.The two walked politely to the fire.
Those who came first looked up.In the dim hut, the fire illuminated his side face red.
"Shibuya!" Iwamura and Hanaoka Shin yelled at the same time.
"Oh, oh."
Shibuya made a strange sound unique to fools; he pointed to the stove, motioning them to sit here.
"Exactly, how did you get here?" Hanaoka Shin stood up and asked.Shibuya took out an opened letter.
The envelope contained the same invitations as they had received.It seems that Shibuya, like them, also received invitations.
"Who is responsible for this?" Iwamura frowned.
"Hey, forget it. Anyway, they are idlers, so let's play with no worries." Hanaoka Jinman said humorously.
Yes.What tricks are not tricks.Such an invitation is rare.Food is also well prepared.It would be a thousand times better to go back to the "empty city" without the crampedness of the hut.And, the three former partners are back together again!So far, they competed and fought desperately for the powerful organizations they belonged to, but in the end they were abandoned by that organization, no, they were kicked out by that organization.So far, there is really no obstacle preventing them from getting back together.
That's the way it is said, but who is it?This question can never be removed.
"This font looks like it was written by Manager Xingchuan." Suddenly, Shibuya said.He behaved quite normally at times, as he did at the MLT-3 sales meeting.
"Why is Hoshikawa still..." Susumu Hanaoka took over Iwamura's words.
"Yes, if it's Xingchuan, then you can imagine it."
"Explain clearly."
"Xingchuan is the old Taishan of Shibuya, that is, father-in-law. He betrothed his only daughter to Shibuya. Shibuya must be very cute. Probably because he couldn't bear to see Shibuya's posture now. So he came up with a It might be better to ask him to climb the mountain with his former climbing partner. However, we will definitely not do it if we are directly asked to accompany a lunatic to climb the mountain. So we made another plan, which is the reason for the invitation. Anyway We were dismissed from office and had nothing to do. He thought our invitation from our alma mater would be accepted immediately."
"That makes sense, and that makes sense. So we were cleverly thrown out to look after the madman?"
"That's right." Susumu Hanaoka had no doubts about his reasoning based on his own inspiration.
"Well, I have something to discuss." Hanaoka Shin looked at Iwamura.
"Shang Shang? What's the matter?"
"Come here on purpose, isn't it boring to take care of Shibuya?"
The fire was reflected in Hanaoka Susumu's eyes.The body and soul standing here is no longer Susumu Hanaoka, the home appliance director of Kyowa Electric, but Susumu Hanaoka, a mountaineer.
"yes……?"
"There are three of them together. Why, why don't you try climbing from the north slope?"
"Ah, from the north slope!"
Iwamura opened his eyes wide.Climbing the north slope of the cliff and peak was their unfulfilled ideal in their youth.It's a pity that I graduated without completing the plan for the first ascent.In the past few years, although many mountaineering groups have climbed the mountain, the ideal of climbing it by themselves is still burning in their chests like embers.
"But, can Shibuya do it?" After a pause, Iwamura said.
"Bastards can climb mountains too, and we'll be leading the way."
"Yes!"
"Go ahead, the three of you will climb the north slope again."
"Good."
Iwamura's eyes were also on fire.The two held hands tightly.It was a handshake without any self-interest in business after a long time.For some reason, Shibuya also put his own hands on top of those two hands.There seemed to be fire in his eyes too.
At two o'clock the next day, the three of them woke up almost at the same time.Knotted ropes of 30 meters and 40 meters each, climbing nails, climbing steel rings, hammers, stirrups... Check the equipment for climbing the rock wall again and stuff them into the rucksack.
Each person drank a bowl of meat porridge cooked in a mountaineering pressure cooker, and then defecated, ready to go.
At 2:45, the three of them started to move.
"Beautiful stars!" Iwamura chanted, looking up at the sky above the mountains again.I saw the twinkling stars, coldly reflected in the eyes of the three people, and the cold air was overwhelming.
The freezing cold told people that at least the morning was a good day.
At the beginning, in the mountain stream with ski shoes, there were a lot of gravel, snow blocks and hard snow, and it was too difficult to walk on ski shoes.
At five o'clock, we arrived at the root of Yifeng.Take off your ski boots and put them down on the spot.The three smoked a cigarette, and then climbed up the steep rocky slope of about 40 degrees.According to the order of Hanaoka Shin first, Iwamura second, and Shibuya third, we marched all the way.
In only 40 minutes, you can easily climb the steep slope of Sushi and reach the bottom of the cliff.First break here.The eastern sky was pale.
From the top of the first peak on the cliff of Baimayue Bugui Mountain to the high mountain wall with a height of 400 meters in the mountain stream, this is the north slope they want to climb.During the snow cover period, the north slope becomes a majestic wall of ice, forming a vertical cliff that is almost impossible to climb.
The only climbing route that can be considered is: through the mountain stream under the cliff, climb up along the shallow ditch under the last cliff that leads directly to the first peak ridge.First climb 150 meters along the ice wall, and then enter the Himalayan ridge through the rock formation.This section of the road is wide, and there seem to be many passages.However, it is also the nest of avalanches.The slope of the flat mountain is 60 to 70 degrees.Especially right below the ridge, almost vertical.The key is to break through here.
The three of them rested for a while, drank a few sips of black tea in a thermos bottle, ate a few sips of chocolate, and got up again to move forward.Attach crampons to the soles here.
"Let's go." Hanaoka Jin said.The order remains the same.Go around the cliff and step into the steep snow sea.Use the first climbing spike on a snowy sea.The second sprint was over and the sun cast its rays.
Shibuya, who was worrying, couldn't think of keeping up.His hand gestures to open the ladder are coordinated and precise.Could it be that his mind is deranged, and the mountaineer's skills are still so normal?
Immediately afterwards, steps were cut on the mushroom-shaped snow bumps and ice.It's going well.
"Just change shifts here!"
Climbing to the dangerous peak that slopes outwards, Iwamura moved to the front.so high!The snow creek below was shining with white light in the distance.
Climbing further up, there is a section of snow-free land that is completely exposed to rocks.There are piles of pumice stones and frequent flying stones.However, Iwamura's steps were steady, and he climbed up without kicking off a single stone.The three of them boarded a mountain of thirty square meters.Here, all three will meet.
It's been six hours since I started climbing, and I'm here for lunch.
After dinner, climb in the same order.On the first sprint, I encountered a small stone wall.The first sprint was unexpectedly bad, costing a few climbing pins.Then the second sprint.Iwamura is very unstable.
"Damn it, I can't nail it in." I was blocked by a small cliff.Iwamura lamented.On the seemingly flat rocks, there are palm-shaped and ribbon-shaped ice in several places, making it difficult to climb.
"I'm coming!" Suddenly, Shibuya said.Susumu Hanaoka and Iwamura looked at each other.They knew in their hearts: Shibuya's climbing skills were higher than theirs, but they were not mentally normal.
"It doesn't matter, let me do it!" Shibuya seemed to see through their hesitation, and repeated it again.It was a calm voice.No matter how you look at it, I don't think there is anything abnormal in spirit.If he refuses rashly and provokes resistance, it will be difficult to handle.
To ensure the safety of the leader, the 40-meter knotted rope is folded into double strands.
However, Shibuya's climbing skills are superb!
Ice sticks dig into palm ice, spikes step into bare rock.Then he hitched up his stirrups and leaped across with a very neat leap.The knotted rope extends smoothly.Sometimes the small ice cubes chopped by Shibuya hit them both in the face.
"Okay!" Shibuya signaled.Unknowingly, the two of them entrusted the weight of the whole body to the rope.
Shibuya's extremely masterful performance is too suspicious.The climbing order at this time is Hanaoka Jin in the middle and Iwamura in the back.
Unfortunately, it was foggy.The snow also fell down one after another.The weather finally turned bad.The Himalayas above us are still dangerous.
Shibuya hardly nails carabiners.He maintained his balance properly and climbed with his own technique.
After Shibuya took the lead, it took three sprints, through exposed rocky areas, and finally reached the Himalayan ridge.
The small snowflakes raised by the avalanche hit the face.The snow fell harder and harder.It was windy again.Looks like a blizzard is coming.
The hour hand of the watch is pointing to three o'clock.Twelve hours have passed since the beginning of the climb.Must hurry up to climb.
Still, Shibuya's operations are methodical.When the ice stick arrives, immediately cut out the ladder; nail the ice nail, and then pull out a step.Then dig the ice ladder; continue to open up the location for nailing ice nails... The forty-meter-long knotted rope stretched to the end, and Shibuya sent a signal: "Okay, come up!"
Shibuya braved the uninterrupted small avalanche and picked up the speed calmly.
Suddenly, white smoke rose from above.
"Come down!"
The two of them were taken aback by Shibuya's anger, and looked up. The surface avalanche made a characteristic slight sound, and the snow fell.They were like worms, relying on knotted ropes and ice sticks, tightly attached to the rock wall, and had to wait for the avalanche to pass.
"It's over!"
When they heard Shibuya's shout, they looked up and saw Shibuya laughing against the white ice wall.
The avalanche prevented Iwamura and Hanaoka from continuing to climb, but they had no choice but to be hung on the knotted ropes firmly controlled by Shibuya.
"Shibuya!" Suddenly, Shibuya's smile became terrifying.Susumu Hanaoka, who was hanging in the middle, shouted.
"You, have you recovered from your illness?" Iwamura at the end also asked.Shibuya's smile is no longer that of an idiot.
"Hahaha!" Shibuya laughed heartily.Suddenly he stopped laughing and said: "Healed, healed a long time ago!"
The wind and snow rushed up from the mountain stream under the cliff with extraordinary speed.
In the freezing cold, Shibuya's voice was accurately sent to their eardrums. "The host who invited you is me! Why? Do you understand? I don't say it, but you know it. You killed my innocent family and harmed my benefactor. I want revenge! What day is today? It was eight years ago The day of the second peak. I gritted my teeth and waited for this day to come. Let you taste the deep hatred in the world on this cliff where you once vowed to maintain the youthful friendship with you!
"Iwamura! You murdered me in order to climb up, and burned my wife and son to death in Tiankumu Mountain. I saw your black heart clearly in that fierce fire. I saw my wife burned alive But I can’t do anything about it. How strong a man’s hatred should be, do you understand? I swore a long time ago that I would take revenge. So I pretended to be useless and waited for the opportunity. If I didn’t do that, you wouldn’t let it go until I took my life I was also the one who sent you the report when you went to Hawaii for your wedding trip! I found out what Sheng Chuan did, and I was also the one who made Sheng Chuan step down.
"Susumu Hanaoka! You played all kinds of despicable means to get my technology and failed the public experiment of my MLT-3 TV set. Tachibana's child died, you know? You killed it. You even put ' After Xingdianyan's annexation, seeing that I was no longer useful, I immediately dismissed my benefactor, manager Xingchuan, and all the cadres of the old "Xingdianyan" like throwing away trash.
"In order to save yourself, you smashed their, our only little happiness to pieces.
"I sent the EP-3 improved MLT-3 TV to Furukawa Electric. This is the beginning of my revenge on you. For this reason, your godfather, Shunichiro Hanaoka, lost the name of Tokusaburo Furukawa. Backing, disastrously stepped down.
"My resentment goes way beyond that.
"We have absolutely no additional requirements.
"Dedicating advanced products to the world, as long as I and my family can live in peace, I will be satisfied.
"The two of you have the cruelty of a cold-blooded animal and trampled on our beautiful ideals like a bug. You must pay your blood debt immediately!
"Let you destroy! I'll cut the knotted rope. From here I can climb to the top alone, but you two can't climb it without resorting to my strength. The four hundred meters high ice wall is your death The most ideal place. The fang-like rock corners on the cliff will crush you to pieces and turn you into muddy flesh and throw you into the cliff's mountain stream! Let your blood dye the pure white snow creek red, and the scenery will definitely be more beautiful!"
Shibuya pressed the climbing machete to the knotted rope.
"Shibuya, wait!" Shouted Iwamura at the end.
"So far, what else can I say!"
"You can't cut the rope! You can't do that! That's murder. You're not your own Shibuya, you're Japan's Shibuya. I don't deserve to be your climbing partner. You don't have to do this for me." People are charged with murder. Shibuya, don't do that. I'm shameless. Please forgive me, forgive me!"
The gleaming white blade held by Shibuya's right hand fell onto the knotted rope.At this moment, Iwamura's eye circles turned red, and sparkling drops of water flashed out.The knotted rope was cut between Hanaoka and Iwamura.Iwamura's body bumped into the rock corner, soared high, and was engulfed in thick fog.It seemed to be dragged away by the power of the bottomless abyss.
"Iwamura!" Susumu Hanaoka felt that the weight of the human body was no longer on the knotted rope under his body.
Susumu Hanaoka turned his gaze upwards from the sea of fog engulfing Iwamura.
"Shibuya!" Susumu Hanaoka shouted.Snow slapped him in the face.Instead of Shibuya's answer, Blizzard roared.Small snow patches and snow smoke make Shibuya appear and disappear a few meters above.It seemed that his body was pushed up by the strong wind blowing up from the mountain stream below the cliff.
"Shouldn't kill me, I'm different from Iwamura! I'm a disgraceful mountaineer. It's useless to say anything now. However, the only thing I can do now is to ask you to forgive me. Maybe you want Break me to pieces. But you can't be a murderer. You have a lot to do. Don't do that in Shibuya. Even if we climb to the top of the mountain! To the top of the first peak of the cliff that the three of us vowed to climb !"
The knotted rope was severed from Susumu Hanaoka's head.The knotted rope that Shibuya was holding in his hand suddenly became lighter.Susumu Hanaoka's body was chopped into pieces by the edges and corners of the rock at an increasing speed.
The moment before Hanaoka Jin's body was engulfed by snow and smoke, he hit the edge of the rock, splashing blood and falling down again.This scene is firmly imprinted on Shibuya's retina.The dense fog that rushed up from the abyss of the mountain stream of no return immediately swallowed up the blood splashed on the snow wall.
"It's over." Shibuya said.
That's the end of it all.There's no need to get to the top anymore.However, there is no need to go down the mountain.One cannot go down alone.
Just wait here for the night to fall.Then let the snow and the cold end my life!An avalanche can sweep me away, too.
What Hanaoka Susumu and Iwamura said before falling into the abyss is really inexplicable.My body is personal.Both Harumi and Yuichi are dead. The MLT-3 and EP-3 TVs are no longer mine.The lovely "Xingdianyan" and dear people are also in disarray.In short, all reason to live has been lost.Natsuo Shibuya has become a real useless person from today.Instead of living as a useless person, it is better to let this cliff on the northern slope of the Mountain of No Return end my life.
Shibuya squatted down on the spot.The snow, rustling, hit him hard.The sensation in the hands and feet disappeared rapidly.He seems to have become a part of the ice wall, and after a while, he will be frozen stiff.
He became part of the rock.He talked to himself.
"Iwamura and Susumu Hanaoka are killing themselves. Stupid guys! Why didn't you climb with me? Now that you're here, stupid guys!"
He was talking to himself, not realizing that what he was saying was contradicting himself.His body could no longer feel the cold.No, he also lost consciousness.
"But, since we're here, there won't be anyone who doesn't reach the top!"
In Shibuya's hazy consciousness, Susumu Hanaoka's words surfaced.
"At least you made it to the top alone!"
The oath of distant youth is useless in the real world.However, here are the mountains.They are all gone.
Yuichi, Harumi, Manager Hoshikawa, "Hoshidenken", Susumu Hanaoka, and Iwamura... Now, only I am alive.That's just like a bug, waiting to die in the space of snow smoke and strong wind.Before you die, you should fulfill your promise to the dreams of the distant past.
In Shibuya's ears, I heard the ideal song of the past.Shibuya started activities.It is not his physical activity, it is right to say that his spirit is active.
The wind and snow howled; crampons crackled.The night fell quietly.
He couldn't remember how he had climbed somewhere in a snowstorm.
After a while, the steep slope suddenly became smaller, and Shibuya rushed into the stronger wind again, and he finally ran to the top.Shibuya, however, had no idea where he had arrived.
All he knew was an indescribably infinite void.His body turned into a transparent body, and the wind, snow and severe cold passed over him.The hatred for Iwamura and Susumu Hanaoka, and the love for Yuichi and Harumi were all washed away by the wind, snow and severe cold into an infinite emptiness.
In the emptiness, Shibuya suddenly thought:
"Maybe Iwamura and Hanaoka knew my intentions when they received the invitation? Maybe they lost confidence in life and were willing to die, so they accepted the invitation? Those two boys died too honestly. Destroyed The prisoners of our lives are not them, but monsters much bigger than them. Iwamura and Hanaoka are nothing but poor victims of that monster."
Whatever it is.Anything goes!Anyway, those things are the poisonous juice flowing out of the troll's body.
Anything goes.Is there nothing that can fill me up?
As if he was exploring something, Shibuya staggered forward a few steps, then stumbled and tripped over the Yansong, never got up again, stuck his head in the Yansong and did not move.
Despite the blustery wind, snow piled up on him.His body gradually changed from a human shape to a large round shape, and then turned into a part of the mountain, buried by snow.
The night was dark, and the blizzard still refused to abate.
Since then, about three months later, on a sunny day in May, the mountaineering team determined to climb along the general route from Baima Mountain to Kashima Gun, smelled a rancid smell on the first peak of the cliff.
Driven by curiosity, the mountaineering team went to the mountains to search for them despite the smell of protein decay.Shibuya's body was finally found in Yansong, facing the north slope.
The snow on the dead pines melts early.Shibuya's carcass rotted in the sun.The hair fell off, revealing the skull, and the skin under the torn clothes was green; the chest cavity where the muscles and bones were exposed was filled with yellow water, and countless maggots were wriggling.
As soon as the person approached, the fly "buzzed" and flew away.
"Don't look at it, it's disgusting!"
The climber who saw Shibuya first stopped his female partner in the climbing team with his hands, and almost vomited.
On the third morning, in the general manager's office of the Nihonbashi Lingi Bank in Tokyo and the general manager's office of the Nakanoshima Furukawa Bank in Osaka, two men were reading the newspaper brought by the secretary and muttering the same sentence in unison:
"There are so many things to do in the world, but you have to die climbing a mountain without earning a penny! I don't know who he is. There are such fools!"
In addition to the high-rise buildings where the two live, the big city has begun a new day of bustle and bustle.
(full text)
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