Daily Evolution from Mastering Tai Chi-Chapter 263 - 227: Once Fear Takes the Upper Hand, You Become Its Slave_2
Led by Carlos, the Red Bull Team heads to Swallow Cave every morning for preparations, attempting to progress to the level of Wang Ye.
About two days later, the Red Bull Team completed the complicated preparations.
Both teams were now on the same starting line, ready to go.
Next, they were to wait for a day with good weather after the rain.
Since completing the preparation work, Ah Gui and others have been observing the weather conditions almost daily at the hotel, waiting for the ideal day to tackle the challenge.
Their luck was good,
on the third day, the weather cleared.
The environmental conditions such as air humidity, wind direction, wind force, and visibility were also ideal,
making it a particularly suitable day for the challenge.
The issue now was for Wang Ye to decide where to jump.
The location, and altitude,
all needed to be calculated precisely,
with errors less than half a second or a few meters.
This was a very severe test for both pilots and parachutists' mindsets.
According to the challenge scenes in "Extreme Thief," the main characters jumped from nearly 10,000 meters high from a banknote printing aircraft. As described in the movie lines, they chose the perfect transverse line through the jungle with surgical precision, becoming the first to complete the jump from the sky to Swallow Cave.
This also meant that in order to complete the Awakening Earth challenge, extreme precision was required, even comparable to the precision of a surgical knife following the path marked by a medical pen.
Fortunately, before the weather cleared, Ah Gui and others coordinated with local guides and made a rough plan based on wind direction, climate, terrain conditions, as well as Wang Ye's height and weight. To replicate Ozaki's Eight scene as accurately as possible, they needed to take a relatively stable fixed-wing aircraft up to 8,000 meters high. Jumping down 500 meters southeast of Swallow Cave, they would glide diagonally towards Swallow Cave on the southeast monsoon. After about one minute of free fall, they would accurately land into the roughly 60-meter-diameter Swallow Cave, and pull open the parachute half a second after entering.
Although this plan seemed very sound, implementing it might not necessarily be perfect.
After all, there is a gap between reality and ideal.
If sudden gusts emerge during free fall, or cumulonimbus clouds and mist appear affecting Wang Ye's vision, this plan would be in vain. Should he stray from the flight path, Wang Ye might very likely end up splattered on the ground beside Swallow Cave as a meat paste.
Because under extremely adverse conditions, even if one opens the parachute at 1,000 meters, the rapid free fall consequences might still be unavoidable. Humans are indeed small before the power of nature, mere gusts can make one lose stability. That's why parachuting is called the "Sport of the Brave."
Thinking about this, Wang Ye couldn't help but feel a headache again.
This seems to have a much higher death rate than parachuting from Mount Everest.
At least the precision needed for Mount Everest isn't too high, as long as one roughly lands on a safe glacier. The most dangerous elements are the unstable conditions brought by low air pressure, temperature, and high winds. Even if the flight path is diverted due to environmental factors, one can rely on adaptability for a comeback.
But for the challenge of Awakening Earth, Wang Ye needs to ensure there are no mistakes every step of the way, strictly following textbook procedures, any deviation from the flight path could easily lead to failure.
"Still, don't overthink, things will work out when the time comes." Wang Ye comforted himself, "Plus, I've initially learned how to control the flight. Even if I deviate from the official route, it might still be possible to correct it."
After saying this, Wang Ye took off his T-shirt and changed into the professional-level parachute suit provided by Anta. Both the front and the back of this suit were printed with Anta's brand LOGO, and it visually appeared to have very good material quality. It's said that Li Weimin found Anta's internal experts to customize it at a cost of hundreds of thousands; with strong tear-resistance, abrasion-resistance, wind-resistance performance, and the outer layer wrapped in sharkskin, it greatly reduced the influence of wind resistance to handle various harsh environments.
Inside, it was equipped with professional heart rate, blood pressure, and blood oxygen monitoring equipment, and the equipment's volume was compressed to the minimum, almost unnoticeable but did not affect his actions or weight.
Just from this parachute suit alone, it was evident that the investment Wang Ye obtained this time was significantly stronger than the previous challenge of Celestial Descent, thanks to the excellent economic benefits Anta gained from the Celestial Descent promo video that led Anta executives to value Wang Ye's challenge more, hence granting richer investment.
But for Wang Ye, the significance of equipment was not very substantial.
If there were accidents, no matter how good the equipment was, it couldn't work miracles. If there were no accidents, he could complete the challenge just as well even if he jumped bare-chested.
While Wang Ye was getting dressed, Ah Gui and others in the next room started sorting through the auxiliary equipment, packing and moving it out of the hotel.
They included professional altimeters, computers to monitor Wang Ye's physical conditions in real-time, and earphones for mutual communication, among others... Just these auxiliary equipment alone, the total price was estimated to exceed hundreds of thousands, showcasing the strong investment this time.
As Wang Ye and others sorted their equipment, outside the window, six members of the Red Bull Team also donned professional parachute suits with the Red Bull logo, leaving the hotel and boarding a fixed-wing aircraft parked at the airport.
They also seemed ready to challenge Awakening Earth on this day.
Thus, Wang Ye and his team decided to delay their departure by half an hour to avoid clashing with the Red Bull Team.
With such highly random parachuting sports, if the challenge times of two batches of teams are too close, they may very likely encounter "clashes." Not only planes are prone to "clashes," but challengers can also encounter "clashes," so there must be at least half an hour's interval between the two batches of teams.
··························
··························
About half an hour later.
Wang Ye put on the altimeter, wind-proof helmet, strapped on the parachute pack, and boarded the plane.
Ah Gui and others sat on the seat behind him and turned on the computer.
The computer displayed footage from the camera on Wang Ye's helmet, along with heart rate, blood pressure, and other parameters.
After several months of training, his resting heart rate was as low as 20 times/min.
Much lower than Bolt's 30 times/min.
But the other staff had already gotten used to seeing this parameter.
Under the control of two pilots, the fixed-wing aircraft swiftly ascended in altitude, flying diagonally in the direction of Swallow Cave.
After almost an hour of flight.
The plane finally reached the designated nearly 10,000-meter altitude.
Wang Ye walked to the cabin door.
Witnessing the expansive views beneath 10,000 meters.
The deep clouds stretched endlessly, the distant sky seen in the peripheral vision was immaculate,
The bright sunlight overhead shone on the shimmering sea, somewhat dazzling.
This altitude was very high.
Almost approaching the altitude of the summit of Mount Everest.
The gravitational acceleration at 10,000 meters was enough to make his falling speed near sonic speed. At such speed, his body's kinetic energy would be explosively high, impossible to counter with flight drag, even a Vajra Indestructible Body would be smashed into pieces. This meant that in his descent, any slight deviation could result in him free falling at high speed onto the rocks or ground around Swallow Cave, leading to instant death.
Thinking of this.
Wang Ye slowly raised his trembling arm.
Clenched his fist, resisting the tremors of his body.
He suddenly recalled a line from "Extreme Thief."
"Once fear takes over, you become its slave."
"Only... a fight to the finish."
···························································
