Chapter 4

She squatted down beside me and reached out to untie the emergency rope on my backpack. "Let me help you take off the backpack—lightening the load will make you warmer."

I tried to move away, but my frozen body couldn't budge. I could only watch helplessly as she got closer.

Her movements were rough and forceful. She deliberately tugged at the backpack straps, making my chest feel tight. The already torn mountaineering jacket was pulled even wider, and cold wind rushed in frantically.

A sense of suffocation hit me instantly. I suddenly coughed, and cold snowflakes splattered into my mouth. This wasn't helping—she was just kicking me while I was down.

With my last bit of strength, I turned my head away to avoid her hand, my nails scraping deep marks in the snow.

"Ah! Is she still accusing me of tearing her jacket?" Olivia screamed and stepped back, crying to Alex, "I just wanted to save her—why is she still being so aggressive?"

Alex rushed over, yanking me up from the snow with such force that he almost broke my arm.

"Olivia tried to help you out of kindness, but you're ungrateful and even tried to scare her. Emily, I've finally seen through you—you're a cold-blooded lunatic. We don't need you on this expedition anyway," said Alex.

I fell back onto the snow, my vision completely clouded by a layer of white fog. My consciousness faded fast. I heard Olivia fake crying, "Alex, will she be okay? It's all my fault for touching her thermal blanket..."

I closed my eyes, letting the cold engulf me. Suddenly, a loud roar tore through the blizzard. The strong wind from the helicopter propellers sent snow flying everywhere.

Everyone instinctively covered their eyes. Bright searchlights swept down from the sky, illuminating the frozen camp.

I struggled to turn my head and saw a white rescue helicopter hovering overhead. A rescue rope dropped quickly, and a figure in an orange rescue suit rappelled down.

It was John Miller, from the National Institute of Science's rescue team.

"Get out of the way!" He pushed Alex aside and knelt beside me. Then, John skillfully used professional equipment to check my temperature and untie my tangled backpack straps. His gloves were covered in ice, but his movements were surprisingly precise and gentle.

"She got severe hypothermia with altered consciousness. Establish IV access immediately and turn on the heat blower." John gave calm orders into his headset.

Alex was stunned, "What? Severe hypothermia? She just can't stand the cold—how is it this serious? Who are you?"

John didn't respond to him. As he wrapped me in an emergency thermal blanket, he said, "I'm the captain of the base rescue. Please stay out of the way. You'll answer for your responsibilities later—someone will settle this with you."

His voice was as cold as ice, but his hands holding me were unusually warm.

The rescue team quickly secured me to a stretcher. A heat blower blew warm air over me, and an IV needle was accurately inserted into my vein. Warmth wrapped around my body little by little, and my stiff limbs finally regained a trace of feeling.

As I was lifted into the helicopter, I passed by Alex. Behind him, I heard the president of the institute, Keith Thompson's voice coming from John's walkie-talkie, filled with uncompromising authority.

"Alex," Keith said through the blizzard and the helicopter's roar, "you are immediately removed from the expedition team. All expedition tasks are suspended."

"Also, Emily's medical expenses and the institute's equipment losses this time will all be borne by you. You are prohibited from participating in any scientific expeditions until the follow-up investigation results are released," Keith added.