The Popular/Charismatic Beta Always Thinks They Are Universally Disliked - Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Taming

The altitude reached 5,100 meters. The vast, boundless mountain body was gradually covered by accumulated snow. Looking up, down, forward, or backward, all that could be seen was a vast expanse of wind and snow. The trekkers walking in the storm were minuscule, like black beans that could leak from one’s palm at any moment.

Wen Zhiyi, tightly gripping the guide rope, was trembling from his heels to his fingertips. Every part of his body screamed that he had reached his limit. Every step felt like walking on soft, yielding cotton. He began to suspect that his next step would lead to total collapse.

At this point of completely exhausting all strength in his body, the only thing sustaining his movement was a will that stubbornly refused to bow down.

Just one more step. If he took one more step, he would let himself go and collapse completely to rest.

When faced with a game that is difficult but where victory is vaguely in sight, would you choose to rest overnight, regroup your energy, and challenge it later, or would you grit your teeth and press through to complete the level in one go?

Wen Zhiyi was breathing in short, desperate gasps. He reached up and forcefully patted his chest, attempting to take in more oxygen this way. He craned his neck to look at his companions who were continuing to move forward, mentally giving himself false reassurances for the umpteenth time.

Just one more step, and he could rest.

However, his near-limit body did not believe the lie from his brain. It began to defy Wen Zhiyi’s will, collapsing slowly, irresistibly, and irreversibly, until it reached the final critical point. Wen Zhiyi’s knees buckled, and he fell face-first into the soft snow.

The muscle tissues in his limbs, which had gone on strike, refused to follow his command. Wen Zhiyi struggled to mobilize his neck muscles, finally rescuing himself from the snowdrift.

Lifting his head, he saw the guide, who was tied to the other end of the pull rope, chatting with another guide. The man even pulled out a cigarette box to share with the other, both puffing smoke amidst the snowy white expanse. The bobbing red light of the cigarette tip became the clearest thing in Wen Zhiyi’s vision.

…

Wen Zhiyi closed his eyes helplessly.

He told himself that the guide had climbed this mountain countless times, and Alphas naturally possessed superior physical strength, so he shouldn’t mind.

The guide, who was smoking, turned his head and finally saw Wen Zhiyi in the snowdrift. He laughed, quickly wrapped the pull rope around his arm, and expertly yanked Wen Zhiyi up from the ground, performing the action with the practiced ease of a jailer escorting a prisoner for centuries.

Wen Zhiyi felt that if he had a cangue (wooden collar) around his neck now, he would be indistinguishable from a banished criminal.

Lin Chang, who was a few steps away assisting another Omega who had completely given up climbing, finally noticed the situation here. He also smiled as he came over to help Little Wen, taking the pull rope from the guide’s hand, intending to tie it around himself.

Wen Zhiyi, who was helped up from the snow nest, gritted his teeth and refused. He stared at Lin Chang stubbornly and silently, unwilling to be pulled all the way to the summit by his companion. In his mind, nearly everyone around was being led by their guide, so accepting the guide’s help was reasonable, but hardly anyone was being pulled along by a companion!

“Let’s pull you together, okay?” Lin Chang slightly bent down to keep his line of sight level with Wen Zhiyi. To ensure his words could accurately reach Wen Zhiyi amidst the swirling wind and snow, he leaned closer, speaking almost right next to the other’s ear, “I don’t trust the guide. I want to pull you with my own hands.”

Little Wen shook his head.

Snow grains, stirred up by the wind, rose from the ground in gusts, like silken manes in a gale. Every person struggling forward was like riding on the back of a wild horse, attempting to tame it. Everyone has such a proposition to tame in their life—it might not be a towering mountain, but perhaps an unfinished career, a broken relationship, or even a failed marriage.

Wen Zhiyi wanted to tame this challenge himself.

Lin Chang was silent for a moment, offered a steady smile, and then let go cleanly.

He knew Wen Zhiyi still had strength, so he would let the other walk it himself.

As for Wei Xingjiang… Wei Xingjiang had lost his scent gland patch halfway up. Young Master Wei, who was always meticulously served, hadn’t thought to replace it with a climbing-specific patch, causing it to slip off his nape due to sweat.

Therefore, he was strictly ordered by Wen Zhiyi to stay away from the surrounding Omegas and was forbidden from intense exercise, lest his pheromones dissipate faster.

Usually, when an Alpha exercises intensely, the accelerated heart rate and blood circulation stimulate the production of more pheromones. Of course, the standard for “intense exercise” varies from person to person. For example, climbing right now was just average exercise for Wei Xingjiang, but if he were to carry an adult male Beta on his shoulder, it would likely move into the realm of intense exercise.

Wei Xingjiang, having lost his scent patch, could only obediently comply, completely abandoning the idea of directly carrying Wen Zhiyi all the way to the summit.

Wen Zhiyi climbed a few more steps. His movement was truly a crawl. He no longer had the strength to walk normally, only able to randomly poke the snow with his trekking pole, which he gripped so hard his fingers ached, and struggle forward on all fours. Given that most of the people around him were already exhausted, he didn’t look particularly outstanding.

He left a trail of messy marks.

Fortunately, most others also left such marks, so Little Wen wasn’t embarrassed. He even considered taking a photo to commemorate the difficulty of his journey, but this thought instantly vanished when he turned his head and saw the large dog being led by the guide nearby.

This large dog, looking imposing in its pet-specific goggles, was also using its four limbs to “swim” through the snow, and—the marks it left were exactly the same as Wen Zhiyi’s.

That’s bad.

Wen Zhiyi casually reached out and forcefully smoothed the snow marks behind him.

Wei Xingjiang, who noticed his small action, burst into hearty laughter behind him. He and Lin Chang were the rare few, besides the guides, who were still walking upright with dignity. They also followed Wen Zhiyi, helping him smooth out the snow marks in a knowing way.

Although, before smoothing them out, Young Master Wei mischievously took a few secret photos.

With only the final two hundred meters of vertical elevation left, they reached the steep slope known as The Slope of Despair. This slope had an astonishing angle of sixty degrees; one wrong step could send a person tumbling down. It was said that the West Slope on the other side was even steeper, approaching the level of free climbing.

Perhaps, when facing an extremely difficult predicament, humans, after long evolution, revert to the most primitive crawling motions.

The final two hundred meters.

Wen Zhiyi struggled to pull his legs out of the snow. The thick leather gloves he wore blocked most of the external cold, but he could feel the chill where the sweat had dried. This sticky, cold sensation constantly gave him the illusion that the gloves would slip off his hands at any second.

When he commanded his limbs but received no response, Wen Zhiyi understood that this was probably his limit. Unless someone used a Gatling gun on him from behind, he could not possibly get back up.

The power of will is infinite, but the will that humans can independently mobilize is finite.

Wen Zhiyi accepted the fact that he was just an ordinary person. When he felt he might have to stop here, he didn’t feel much regret. His heart, pumping blood with a slight throb, was surprisingly calm. All external sounds faded into silence. He closed his eyes and quietly regulated his breathing.

Surrounded by the wind and snow, his inner world was completely peaceful.

Some mountains, if you can’t cross them, you can’t cross them. He didn’t have to keep hitting a brick wall.

In this moment of gritting his teeth until the taste of rust filled his mouth, Wen Zhiyi’s mind was blank. He felt he had no energy left to think about anyone or anything else.

He felt he shouldn’t think about anyone or anything else again.

But, but this feeling of being pushed to the limit was so familiar. This situation, where his heart was gripped and forcefully commanded to continue forward, was not the first time he had experienced it.

The brain’s associative activity is rich, especially when the body is idle, it becomes even more actively engaged, completely disregarding the owner’s wishes. And when in a similar situation, it will help the owner recall how the last one was resolved, to provide experience for the current predicament.

Wen Zhiyi, whose body was slowly starting to heat up, belatedly realized he probably had a fever. When was the last time he had a fever at an altitude of over five thousand meters?

How did he resolve it?

He stopped thinking about it.

Just as Wen Zhiyi slowly paused in place, a companion who had been struggling forward in the snow crawled past him. This was a Beta who had lost her will halfway, collapsing in tears and wanting to descend, but she ultimately waited for her tears to dry in the wind and continued on her way.

While she silently waited for her tears to dry, Wen Zhiyi, who had gone ahead, returned, clumsily took an energy bar from his bag, tore open the packaging, and handed it to her, telling her that eating something helped a lot when she was sad. He then quietly shared his secret: “Do you like Want Want Snow Cookies? See how the stones on the ground look like a Want Want Snow Cookie?”

The Beta, who had been crying while eating the energy bar, was carried by the guide for a distance. Now, having recovered her strength, she was back on the front lines. She looked back at Wen Zhiyi, whose expression was hidden by his goggles, slowly crawled over, and gently pulled his guide rope.

The other companions also braved the snow grains and gathered around. They were all long-time employees who had started from scratch with Wen Zhijie and had known Wen Zhiyi for several years. At this moment, they all reached out their hands to Wen Zhiyi in unison.

Little Wen, whose thoughts were muddled, did not see these hands reaching out to him, but it didn’t matter. These hands did not retract. They, along with Wen Zhiyi’s guide, took turns pulling the guide rope, dragging the already semiconscious Wen Zhiyi another hundred meters in elevation.

Only the final hundred meters remained.

Those who still had the capacity to help each other were now panting like oxen, pulling tightly on their own guides with wry smiles, and directing their gaze toward the two people walking at the very front in the wind and snow.

Lin Chang and Wei Xingjiang.

The two people leading the team, breaking the wind and snow for those behind them, stopped simultaneously at this moment.

Moving further forward was meaningless. Their true goal was never just to reach the summit.

Lin Chang calmly glanced at Wei Xingjiang’s highly volatile expression. He knew the other was concerned about his intensely erupting pheromones. These Alphas, having lost their scent patches, were like hidden, dangerous bombs, and no one knew when they might explode.

Thinking this, the older Beta clearly curved his lips into a smile at Wei Xingjiang, then turned and bolted toward the downhill direction!

He was tall and long-legged, and took big strides. In a few blinks of an eye, he reached Wen Zhiyi. Under Wei Xingjiang’s cannibalistic gaze, he suddenly lifted Wen Zhiyi onto his shoulder, then turned again and advanced toward the summit without hesitation!

Wen Zhiyi was hoisted onto the shoulder. The layers of thick clothing prevented his stomach from being jabbed. Wen Zhiyi, realizing his body was moving again, struggled to open his eyes. He saw that the height of his sightline was somewhat unreasonable.

Oh, he was being carried.

Wait, who was carrying him?

The climax has been reached! Wen Zhiyi is struggling with the final push, the group has bonded, and Lin Chang just made a decisive move, leaving an angry Wei Xingjiang behind.