novellhall Chapter 204 Matt Damon [5000]
Chapter 204 Matt Damon [5000]
Chapter 204 Matt Damon [5000]
"Chen! Annie! Are you there?"
There was a rapid knocking at the door.
"Chen! Annie! Are you there?"
It's Olaf's voice.
Chen Xun got up and opened the door.
Olaf stood outside, covered in snow, his face pale.
"Something's happened, Kim hasn't come back."
"Who is Kim?"
"The technician in charge of generator maintenance went to check the backup generator and should have been back about twenty minutes ago, but there's still no sign of him."
"Where did he get his checkup?"
"The stand-alone power generation room in the northwest corner of the base is about 300 meters from here."
Olaf pointed in the direction: "We're organizing people to search now, but the blizzard is too strong, we need more people."
"
Chen Xun: "I'm going!"
"I'm going too!"
Anne stood up.
"Annie, don't go."
Olaf shook his head: "The visibility outside is zero right now, and the wind speed is thirty meters per second. Every additional person increases the risk."
"I've trained, I can do it."
"Training and real combat are two different things!"
Olaf said sternly, "Chen, you come with me. Annie stays behind and keeps communications open. If we're not back in an hour, notify the main base."
Anne wanted to say something more, but Chen Xun interrupted her: "Listen to Olaf, you stay."
He put on his winter coat and checked the flashlight and walkie-talkie.
"Channel 3, contact us once every hour on the hour. If you can't get in touch, do as Olaf says."
Anne bit her lip and finally nodded: "Okay, be careful."
1
Chen Xun and Olaf rushed into the snowstorm.
This time the road was even more difficult because it led to the edge of the base, where there was absolutely no cover.
The wind was blowing almost sideways, so people had to walk sideways like crabs.
"Hold on tight to the rope!"
Olaf tied a safety rope around their waists so that if one of them slipped, the other could catch them.
After walking about a hundred meters, Chen Xun felt his face was frozen.
A layer of ice had formed on the face mask, and I had to keep wiping it off with my hands to see clearly.
How much further?
He yelled at Olaf.
Sound is difficult to carry in wind and snow.
"Two hundred meters! But it's difficult to walk; there's a downhill section ahead!"
Sure enough, after walking for a few minutes, the ground began to tilt.
With the icy slope and snow, every step felt like skating.
Chen Xun tried to keep his center of gravity low and move forward with small steps.
Olaf led the way, glancing back at him every now and then.
"Watch out! There's a ditch on the left!"
Chen Xun moved to the right, but his foot slipped, and he slid down three or four meters before stopping.
"Are you alright?"
"fine!"
He got up and kept walking.
After walking for another ten minutes, we finally saw the outline of the power plant.
It was a small tin shack, half of which was buried in snow.
The door was closed, but there was a faint light coming from the window.
"Kim! Are you in there?"
Olaf knocked on the door forcefully.
no respond.
Chen Xun leaned closer to the window and saw a figure inside, but the figure was lying motionless on the table.
"He might have fainted!"
"The door is locked from the inside; we have to break a window!"
Olaf pulled a window breaker from his toolbox, but the wind was too strong, and he couldn't stand steadily.
Chen Xun took the hammer, used his body to shield himself from the wind, and smashed it down on a corner of the window.
The glass is broken.
He reached in, opened the window from the inside, and climbed in.
It's a little warmer inside the power generation room than outside, but it's still around zero degrees Celsius.
Kim was slumped over the control panel, his face purple and his breathing weak.
"He has hypothermia!"
Chen Xun checked his pulse; it was very weak.
Olaf climbed in through the window, saw Kim's condition, and cursed, "Damn it, he should have called for help sooner."
"What do we do now? Carry him back?"
"No, he can't move like this, it will worsen his hypothermia. We need to warm him up first."
Olaf looked around and found a small heater in the corner, but it wasn't powered on.
He checked the generator, and the indicator light was green.
"The generator is working fine, but the line may have been broken by the snow. Chen, go find the break point, and I'll connect the heater."
Chen Xun nodded and used a flashlight to check the wiring on the wall.
Sure enough, one of the interfaces was penetrated by snow, which froze and caused a short circuit.
"Here! We need insulating tape!"
"I have some in my bag!"
Olaf threw a roll of tape at him.
Chen Xun quickly removed the ice and re-bandaged the interface.
"Give it a try!"
Olaf pressed the switch, and the heater light came on.
A warm breeze slowly blew out; though faint, it was better than nothing.
The two men carried Kim to the heater, took off his wet coat, and wrapped him in a dry blanket.
"He needs medical assistance; we need to contact the base."
Chen Xun looked at Kim and realized that if things continued like this, he would be close to death!
"The walkie-talkie has no signal, and the tin shack blocks the signal."
Olaf tried: "Someone has to go back and report."
"I'll go."
"Do you know the way?"
"On the way here, I noted down the landmarks: the crooked tree and the red warning pole."
Olaf stared at him for two seconds, then nodded: "Okay, hurry back and bring the medical team and stretchers."
Chen Xun re-fastened his safety rope and climbed out of the window.
The way back was uphill, making it even more difficult.
He was crawling almost on his hands and feet, with the wind pushing him from behind, nearly blowing him over several times.
The light from the flashlight was like a firefly in the wind and snow, only illuminating a small area underfoot.
He tried hard to recall the way he came, looking for that crooked tree.
found it.
Then there's the red warning bar.
If you go another 100 meters, you should be able to see the tent lights.
He quickened his pace, but suddenly his foot slipped.
There's a hollow space underneath the snow!
Chen Xun plummeted downwards, but fortunately, the rope around his waist got caught on something, suspending him in mid-air.
He looked down and saw an ice crevice below, its depths unfathomable.
"Fuck!"
He grabbed the rope and tried to climb up.
But the gloves were too slippery, and after climbing a couple of times, I slipped back down.
The wind howled through the crack, and snow continued to fall.
Chen Xun took a deep breath to calm himself down.
He focused his mind and activated his physical attributes.
Limb control is instantly activated, and muscle coordination is boosted to its limit.
He used both his hands and feet, like a rock climber, to move upwards little by little.
Ten centimeters, twenty centimeters, fifty centimeters —
Finally, he crawled back to the ground.
As he lay panting on the snow, he saw a large golden attribute orb fall from his body:
[Survival in Extreme Environments +16]
Fine, almost dying in exchange for a golden attribute ball, this isn't a worthwhile trade.
It has to be at least silver, which will give you 200 experience points!
Chen Xun got up and continued walking forward.
This time he was more careful, using his trekking poles to probe the way before taking each step.
After walking for another twenty minutes, we finally saw the tent lights.
Annie was standing at the door when she saw him and immediately rushed over.
"Are you alright? Where's Olaf? Where's Kim?"
"Kim is hypothermic, and Olaf is with him in the power plant. We need a medical team and a stretcher. We need to leave immediately."
Anne nodded, then turned and ran towards the main building of the base.
Five minutes later, the medical team was ready to depart.
Chen Xun led the way; with more people this time, the safety factor was much higher.
After nearly two hours of back-and-forth effort, they finally managed to rescue Kim and bring him back to the base.
After examining him, the doctor said that if he had arrived half an hour later, he might not have been able to be saved.
Chen Xun sat on a bench outside the medical room, too tired to move.
Anne handed him a cup of hot chocolate: "Have some, hero."
"No, I'm not a hero!"
Anne smiled and sat down next to him: "When you went out just now, I was thinking, what if you don't come back?"
"Then let Nolan change the male lead."
"Not funny."
"So what do you want to hear? I promise I'll come back?"
Anne didn't reply, she just looked at the cup in her hand.
After a while, she said, "Actually, I admire you a little."
"Because I almost fell to my death?"
"Because you could have chosen not to go, but you still went!"
Chen Xun took a sip of hot chocolate.
It's hot and sweet.
My body warmed up instantly.
"I won't be able to sleep if I don't go."
"Has a bad conscience?"
"I don't feel secure about the paycheck."
Anne smiled again, but this time it was a very soft laugh.
Training continued as usual the day after the blizzard.
Olaf stood at the edge of the training field, watching Chen Xun and Annie walk on the ice in their 30-kilogram training suits, holding timers in their hands.
"Good speed, fifteen seconds faster than yesterday."
Chen Xun stopped, panting, "Wearing this thing for a long time feels like carrying a refrigerator."
"Refrigerators aren't that flexible."
Anne took off her mask, her face covered in sweat: "Now I understand why astronauts need two years of training; it takes half a year just to get used to this suit."
"Six months? We only have two weeks."
Olaf checked their gait: "Chen, your left foot is still landing a bit too heavily. Although you control it well, the camera can see that you need to be lighter, like stepping on an egg."
"Stepping on eggs?"
Imagine there are eggs under your feet, the kind you can't break.
Chen Xun tried adjusting it, and it really helped a lot.
Gait control +3
A small green ball fell from Olaf and was absorbed by Chen Xun.
Instantly, he felt a slight adjustment in his calf muscles, making his landing more natural.
It feels like the body has suddenly memorized the correct posture.
"That's it, that's it!"
Olaf nodded: "Keep it up!"
After the morning training session, Chen Xun absorbed several more attribute balls:
[Low Temperature Tolerance +5]
[Walking with weight +4]
Balance +5
The progress bar for "Highly Rated" has jumped to 35%.
At lunchtime, Annie sat down opposite Chen Xun with her tray.
"You don't look tired at all."
"I'm tired, but I'm good at pretending."
Chen Xun took a bite of his sandwich: "It's a basic quality of an actor to not show weakness in front of the camera."
"This isn't in front of the camera, this is the cafeteria."
"Habit becomes second nature."
Annie smiled and lowered her head to eat.
Anne Hathaway's favorability +1, current favorability: 82
It went up a little more.
Chen Xun noticed that Annie's favorability rating was rising steadily, increasing slightly with almost every interaction.
The afternoon session was a crevasse rescue drill.
The training ground simulated several ice crevasses of varying widths, where actors learned how to use ice axes, ropes, and how to rescue teammates who fell in.
The coach was an Icelandic woman named Eleanor, in her fifties, with wrinkles on her face from years of wind exposure.
"There are many crevasses on Icelandic glaciers, some of which are covered by snow and cannot be seen. During filming, you may be working on real glaciers, so you must master basic self-rescue skills."
She demonstrated the correct way to hold an ice axe: "Grip it vertically, strike hard, and when you hear a thud, it means you're firmly planted. Don't hesitate, or you'll fall."
Chen Xun tried, but missed the first time and the ice axe slid away.
"Use your wrist, not your arm."
Eleanor corrected his movements: "Imagine you're hammering a nail, quick and precise."
Chen Xun tried again.
Boom!
The ice axe was firmly embedded in the ice.
It worked!
[Ice Surface Tool Usage +4]
A purple attribute ball fell to the ground.
After absorbing the technique, Chen Xun felt that his wrist strength had been automatically optimized.
When it was Anne's turn, she was a little nervous.
"I'm afraid of heights!"
Overcome psychological barriers!
Anne took a deep breath and slammed down her ice axe.
Steady!
"Very good, now let's learn the braking posture."
Eleanor lay on the ground to demonstrate: "If you slip, immediately turn around and lie face down with your ice axe across your chest and kick your toes into the ice. This move can stop you, provided you react quickly enough."
Chen Xun tried several times, and each time he stopped very steadily.
[Crisis Response +5]
After this absorption, Chen Xun felt that his brain's stress response speed had increased.
If he were to slip now, he was confident he could make the correct move within 0.3 seconds.
"You learn so quickly!"
"Have you ever practiced ice climbing before?"
Eleanor looked at Chen Xun with some surprise.
"No, but I have good athletic ability."
"That's practically professional level!"
Eleanor recorded the data: "Your braking reaction time is faster than some of our local guides."
Upon hearing this, several Icelandic guides nearby looked over.
One of them, a burly man with a red beard named Magnus, walked over: "Really? Faster than me?"
"The data shows that this is the case."
Eleanor handed him the tablet.
Magnus glanced at it twice, then looked at Chen Xun: "Want to give it a try?"
"Try what?"
"A real-world simulation: I push you, you brake, let's see who's faster."
"This isn't a good idea—"
"What are you afraid of? The snow is soft, you won't get hurt if you fall."
Magnus has already stood on the slope.
Several staff members gathered around to watch the spectacle.
Olaf laughed and shouted, "Chen, go for it! Don't embarrass us actors!"
Chen Xun glanced at Annie, who made a "good luck" gesture.
Fine!
He walked up the slope and stood side by side with Magnus.
Below is a gentle slope covered with a thick layer of snow.
"I'll count to three."
Eleanor, acting as referee: "One, two, three!"
Magnus shoved Chen Xun hard.
Chen Xun instantly turned and lay prone, his ice axe across his chest, his toes kicking into the snow.
The whole sequence was completed in one go, and he stopped after sliding for one meter.
Almost simultaneously, Magnus also fell to the ground to brake, but slid half a meter further than Chen Xun.
The onlookers applauded.
Magnus got up, brushed off the snow, and said, "Amazing! I've been ice climbing for ten years, and this is the first time I've seen a beginner with this reaction speed."
Magnus looked at him intently: "You have excellent physical attributes; such talent is rare."
The progress bar for "Highly Reputed" jumped by 2% to 37%!
It's gone up again!
Gaining professional approval makes the progress bar rise even faster!
Training continues.
Next up is rope descent practice.
The actors had to learn to use figure-eight loops and grappling knots to descend from the edge of the ice crevasse to the middle and then climb back up.
Eleanor demonstrated first: "Control your speed when you go down, don't jump down like you're bungee jumping, and use your feet to push off the ice wall when you come up to save your arm strength."
Chen Xun was the first to try.
He fastened his seatbelt, attached the figure-eight swivel, and slowly lowered himself down.
The ice crevasse is simulated and is only five meters deep.
But when he went down, he could still feel that sense of oppression.
The ice walls on both sides were close together, the light dimmed, and only an oval-shaped light overhead.
Once at the bottom, he climbed back up using the techniques Eleanor had taught him.
I used my feet to push off and my hands to pull myself up. When I reached the top, my arms were a little sore, but it was still bearable.
Climbing skills +4
Upper body strength +3
Two attribute orbs fell.
After Chen Xun absorbed it, he felt a significant reduction in the soreness in his arm.
"My turn!"
Annie has her gear ready and is starting to descend.
She moves rather slowly.
Once she reached the bottom, she called out upwards, "How am I supposed to get back up?"
"Stepping on the ice wall is like climbing a ladder!"
Eleanor was giving instructions from above.
Annie tried, but her feet kept slipping.
She climbed two meters, then slid back one meter.
"Chen, could you come down and demonstrate?"
Eleanor asked.
Chen Xun re-tethered the rope and lowered down.
He stopped next to Annie and demonstrated how to kick: "Use the ball of your foot, not your whole foot, kick in, feel the resistance and then exert force."
Anne did as instructed, and this time it was much better.
"Don't grip too tightly. Use your legs to generate power; your arms are just for support."
The two climbed up side by side.
Chen Xun controlled his speed, staying close to Annie and offering reminders as needed.
When she reached the top, Annie was so exhausted that she sat down on the ground, panting.
"This is quite difficult; if you can't learn it, you really won't be able to get up there!"
"We'll throw a rope to pull you up."
"That's even more embarrassing!"
Annie smiled, sweat streaming down her face.
Anne Hathaway's favorability +2, current favorability: 84
It rose another two points!
Chen Xun discovered that his favorability towards Annie increased even more when he actually helped her master a certain skill.
Before the training session ended, Eleanor gave a summary.
"Everyone did a great job today, especially Chen. Your ice skating skills have reached the basic instructor level."
"Can I work part-time as a tour guide?"
Chen Xun was joking.
"After you finish filming, you can come and give our company a try."
Magnus looked at him seriously: "We need a bilingual guide."
"There are more and more Chinese tourists."
On the way back to the tent, Annie asked Chen Xun, "Are you really considering becoming a tour guide?"
"Just saying, I'm too busy filming."
"Too."
The two walked in silence for a while.
The evenings in Iceland are beautiful; the sky is pinkish-purple, and the distant glaciers reflect the light of the setting sun.
Training continued day by day.
Chen Xun put on a full set of 40-kilogram equipment and stood on the edge of the glacier.
All I could see was a vast expanse of white.
The wind whistled across the ice.
"Test: 5km glacier hike!"
Olaf, holding a GPS and a timer, said, "The route is marked. You need to complete it in an hour and a half, crossing two crevasses and one ice slope along the way."
Annie adjusted her backpack strap: "An hour and a half? Carrying this thing?"
"The training version of the spacesuit weighs this much; the filming version is even heavier."
Olaf patted her backpack: "And the actual filming might involve walking for hours on end, this is just a warm-up."
Chen Xun checked the crampons: "Can we begin?"
"Wait, there's someone else."
Olaf glanced at his watch: "He should be here soon."
"Who?"
"Keep it a secret."
A few minutes later, a modified SUV drove up.
Three people got out of the car.
The last person to come down was a man wearing a hat and sunglasses.
The man took off his hat, and Chen Xun was taken aback.
Matt Damon?
"Hi."
Matt gave a brief greeting, looking a little embarrassed: "Sorry I'm late, my flight was delayed."
"Matt? You—"
Anne recognized her too.
"I also had a role, playing Dr. Mann."
Matt lowered his voice: "But Warner requested confidentiality, so my training was separate. I only came to train with you guys today."
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