Li Younan didn’t stop at the parking lot at the foot of the mountain; he continued walking for a while until he reached the parking lot that was already packed with vehicles.
Although it was March, and theoretically there shouldn’t be so many tourists, as Zeduo Mountain was a landmark that couldn’t be missed, the few tourists seemed to have all gathered here.
From here, you could see the mountain top more clearly, because the parking lot was already at an altitude of 4,100-4,200 meters, so the vertical drop to the peak was only a few hundred meters.
Walking from the parking lot to the mountaintop, the path followed the ridge completely.
Li Younan squinted towards the peak and saw a winding walkway or stone steps leading straight up, with many tourists climbing slowly, fewer as they went higher.
Colorful prayer flags hung along both sides of the path, extending all the way to the mountaintop, with some white towers and mani stones visible along the way.
The first half of the path was relatively gentle, with a clear track, allowing ordinary people to walk easily.
But as one ascended, the road conditions gradually became complex, with some parts possibly having rocky sections, narrower paths in places beside cliffs, requiring extra caution while walking.
Near the summit, ice and snow covered the path, making the slope steeper.
At this moment, Li Younan suddenly noticed a horse being led by a herder leisurely descending from the mountain.
Seeing this, Li Younan’s eyes flashed with a playful expression, he rubbed his chin, and then came to a decision.
He didn’t continue upwards but turned back toward where the RV was parked.
At this time, Liu Li was launching the drone, planning to contact Li Younan using the car radio he’d taught her to use, just as she saw him leisurely coming back.
Li Younan got into the car without a word, and Liu Li asked curiously, "What’s up? You’re not going to the top of Zeduo Mountain?"
Li Younan smiled: "I plan to reach the top, but I’m going to change my approach."
"Huh?"
Li Younan gave Liu Li a mysterious smile without explaining outright, then started the car and drove towards the parking lot below the viewing platform.
Although Liu Li didn’t know what Li Younan intended to do, she didn’t mind. She looked at the mountain ahead and suddenly felt a bit emotional: "If... I mean if, Li Younan, you see that mountain, I think it’s magnificent. If a couple were to walk hand in hand in such a place, it would definitely be romantic, right?"
Li Younan was silent for a moment, and when the car finally reached the viewing platform, he suddenly shook his head towards Liu Li, pointing forward: "Look there, do you still think it’s romantic?"
Liu Li was a bit stunned, then opened her mouth in surprise — there, the mountain was littered with trash.
She was dumbfounded, not expecting there to be so much garbage on Zeduo Mountain.
Li Younan asked, "Do you still think walking there would be romantic?"
Liu Li was silent for a moment, not responding.
In recent years, due to Zeduo Mountain’s fame, too many tourists have casually thrown their trash on the mountain, making the entire slope overwhelmed with litter. Many tourists say the most abundant thing on Zeduo Mountain is garbage.
Li Younan smiled helplessly, "See, reality isn’t romantic at all."
Liu Li didn’t make a sound.
Getting out of the car, Li Younan pointed towards the radio in his hand through the glass, as if to remind her not to forget about radio communication.
In the driver’s seat, Liu Li watched Li Younan walk towards the back of the car, looked once more at the hillside strewn with garbage, and suddenly conjured up a scene in her mind.
Li Younan walking in front, herself following behind... the hillside beside them a dump.
The wind blew, tousling Li Younan’s hair.
She felt a strange surge of excitement.
Liu Li lowered her head deeply, muttering to herself, "Reality is super romantic, okay!"
There was a reason why Li Younan drove the car here.
Just after he saw a horse being led down the mountain, he thought of another way to climb it.
Heh heh.
It’s worth mentioning that the top of Zeduo Mountain isn’t as complicated as Gongga Mountain.
The path from here climbs along the ridge, vividly reflecting Lu Xun’s famous quote — "There was no road in the world; when many people walk on it, it becomes a road."
Countless footsteps have tramped this mountain ridge, forging a path. While it is rugged, it is indeed a path.
Li Younan walked to the back of the car, opened the button cover, and pressed the switch. With a "creak," the platform mounted on the back of the car, which held the motorcycle, slowly lowered.
Li Younan unclipped the latch, pushed down the Suzuki off-road bike, and then from his jacket pocket, took out sunglasses and put them on.
At this moment, quite a few tourists around turned their attention to Li Younan.
He twisted the throttle, and the exhaust pipe emitted a deep rumble.
Despite being at over 4,000 meters above sea level, the power wasn’t as disappointing as imagined, still full of vigor.
At this point, many tourists around were drawn in, looking over curiously.
Quite a few people were stunned for a moment, suddenly realizing what Li Younan was about to do. They glanced at the people climbing the mountain, then back at Li Younan, poised for action. Smart ones already had their phones out, ready to record this moment.
In fact, Li Younan didn’t even want to wear a helmet, but seeing the traffic police directing vehicles at the edge of the parking lot, he silently took out the helmet and put it on his head. Then, he moved.
In a sense, Li Younan’s level of riding this off-road motorcycle is also second-tier, as it’s well known that second-tier is almost close to the world’s top level.
When Li Younan sat on the motorcycle, he could feel more clearly his own prowess.
First of all, his foresight ability far exceeds that of an average person.
When he looked at the road surface, almost instantly like a scan, his brain reviewed the route from the farthest in sight to the nearest, and then, using only his subconscious, completed the judgment, including traces on the ground, adhesion, steep obstacles, and the planning of the route, gears, and center of gravity transfer plan, all almost completed at the same time.
The throttle roared, and the motorcycle shot out of the paved road, directly speeding up towards Zeduo Mountain’s ridge.
The surrounding spectators exclaimed one after another, and Liu Li, sitting in the cockpit, became somewhat nervous, while the drone flew high, locking onto Li Younan.
She squeezed the microphone of the onboard radio but didn’t dare to speak, afraid of disturbing Li Younan.
At this point, many tourists who had already descended the mountain saw Li Younan racing upwards and looked down at their own sore legs.
What? You can go up like that, so what does it mean for them to climb with legs?
Li Younan drove almost without any errors along the route he planned in his mind.
The slope ahead was relatively gentle with not too many obstacles, so Li Younan rode particularly fast.
The wind blew across his body, his control of the throttle was astoundingly precise, the clutch control was flawless, and the brake force perfectly matched the proportion of front and rear brakes, keeping the vehicle in a very stable state.
Hearing the roar of the throttle, tourists climbing up or walking down moved out of Li Younan’s way in amazement, while those who saw him from afar quickly pulled out their phones.
As the distance grew, the road ahead began to show some more difficult terrain.
While going over rock piles and gravel roads, Li Younan’s center of gravity was steadily placed in the middle of the vehicle, almost without touching the brakes.
Even spectators with no knowledge of mountain motorcycles, seeing Li Younan’s posture, conjured up a term in their minds—man and machine as one.
Indeed, it’s not exaggerated at all, Li Younan’s posture truly was man and machine as one!
Very soon the last section of the journey arrived, starting with snow and slush-covered muddy sections.
Yet Li Younan felt even more joyful, even shouting exuberantly.
The wheels rolled up the snow at the mountain peak and threw it, scattering into snow powder, glinting in the sunlight.
Finally, amidst cheers from several tourists at the summit, Li Younan steadily rushed to the peak.
Stopped instantly!
In the cockpit, Liu Li saw several times when Li Younan controlled the vehicle dangerously, with a cliff right beside him, her heart tight with anxiety.
Truth be told, when Li Younan went skiing last time she also watched the video, and at that time his actions were also dangerous, but it just didn’t feel as intense.
Perhaps because before it was always watching videos, but this time she was so close to Li Younan... she was a real fellow traveler, not just viewing the world through Li Younan’s eyes before.
It suddenly dawned on her that she was indeed on the journey with Li Younan!
She was scared... if Li Younan had an accident, what would she do?
She then realized... She was completely dependent on Li Younan, feeling like she couldn’t leave him.
Only when Li Younan reached the peak did her suspended heart relax.
And at this moment, the screen in the drone’s camera could be described as top-tier.
Liu Li keenly noticed the rarity of this shot and quickly heightened her focus, controlling the drone to further shoot.
The drone first swept across Li Younan’s motorcycle from the ground—the cracks in the tires were still embedded with dark yellow shale, the splashed mud and snow formed a thin frost on the side of the vehicle, he had just taken off his helmet, revealing that perfect handsome face.
The camera slowly lifted, incorporating the figures of surrounding tourists into the scene, some holding phones moving forward, their screens reflecting the silhouette of the motorcycle, a few people who had just come down the mountain stood akimbo, cuffs stained with grass scraps, eyes gathered towards Li Younan.
The trail behind the ridge meandered, rock piles and remnant snow interspersed, and the crowd who had moved aside hasn’t completely dispersed yet.
As the camera pulled further up, suddenly paused—the snowy summit of Gongga Mountain leapt into the frame.
Zeduo Mountain’s colors, around Gongga’s base, formed a backdrop, even the clouds in the sky gathered toward the snow peak, as if forming a background for this King of Sichuan Mountains.
Zeduo Mountain lay ahead, all its undulations, all its paths, seemed to prostrate towards Gongga, and that snowy summit hovered between heaven and earth, stable enough to bear the weight of the whole mountain range.
Even Liu Li herself felt that this scene was truly magnificent.
However, Liu Li still wasn’t satisfied.
The camera lingered for another second.
Li Younan’s freshly straightened silhouette stood atop Zeduo Mountain’s platform, head raised, so small like a blade of grass on the ridge, yet perfectly positioned at the junction of "Zeduo Prostrate" and "Gongga Heavens Hang".
Li Younan became the cross point in the hierarchy of mountain to mountain, the vastness of sky and earth.
Liu Li felt like she was a genius.
This scene... I could cry.
Li Younan, you must reward yourself!

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