Chapter 585 - 275: Red Bull: I Provide the Money, You Risk Your Life? (Part 3)

"At that time, I was thinking about two things."

"One was that not long ago, an athlete named Lian Feng also wanted to climb Mount Everest and make a fast descent, but he failed at the climb."

"The other thing was earlier on, Polish skiers left tracks from the summit of Mount Everest all the way to the base camp."

"And these two things sparked massive discussions on the internet; I’m sure your team must have heard about it."

"But I soon put those two things aside because, when I was fetching ice with the staff, the sunlight carved my shadow onto the ancient ice wall."

"I thought that shadow was quite nice, and at that moment, I was only focused on my shadow."

"Back to the point, Red Bull’s philosophy is, ’Red bull gives you wings,’ and the wings of Red Bull should question why humanity always turns its kind into specimens but dares not gaze at their own shadow on the glacier."

"From Gongga Mountain to Mount Everest, I’ve rescued people, endured scoldings, been idolized, but I’ve also been misunderstood."

"But the mountains never care about these things; they only make way for those who, while bowing to tighten their crampons, can still say good morning to the crow perched on the rock face."

"So now, I only wish to become a breeze on Mount Everest."

"It brushes over the Sherpas, the Tibetan people’s prayer flags, breezes past the bandages of those who failed before, finally landing on the rock face of Gongga Mountain used by the Chinese mountaineering team for training. There, you can find my crampon marks, but they... will eventually be covered by new snow."

"This is my answer..."

"Extreme sports don’t need witnesses."

"Red Bull has sponsored countless moments in flight, but for me, Mount Everest is a landing. The endpoint of extreme sports shouldn’t be a tombstone or a headline, but rather to tell you that if you ascend alive, you can definitely descend alive, that’s all."

Jimmy on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment before he finally spoke: "That’s brilliant, it’s the most wonderful answer I’ve got after talking with many athletes."

But then, he maintained his composure, smiling as he asked, "But I still want to confirm, is this climb really not for the glory of your country?"

Li Younan smiled: "I love my country, love this land and the people on it, but I don’t like the sentimentality under a nationalist narrative."

"Climbing Mount Everest has nothing to do with patriotism, but I’m willing to give victory to friends who focus here."

"Is it for commercial value then?"

Li Younan laughed heartily: "Perhaps if I find the phone number of a female celebrity right now and call her directly, it would bring higher commercial value, don’t you think?"

Jimmy was taken aback for a moment, and then he laughed along.

After the laughter, his tone became serious, even solemn: "Your philosophy aligns perfectly with ours at Red Bull."

"So next, we need to discuss the second piece of content, which is the tangible collaboration details."

Li Younan stayed silent.

Jimmy continued, "We collaborate with many of the world’s top athletes and have a mature cooperation system. There are mainly three areas of discussion to confirm."

"First, in terms of brand display, during this challenge, you’ll need to display our brand logo on your helmet, backpack, and ski board."

"Next is in terms of content rights; we at Red Bull require exclusive content rights. Of course, you will retain the right to share on your personal social media, but on any platform other than your personal account, we will hold exclusive rights."

"And thirdly, if there are any joint commemorative products launched in the future, the profit-sharing ratio will be 50:50. These three points are the basic framework we have when cooperating with all athletes."

Li Younan thought about it, found no issues with these three points, and agreed.

But he added, "As you can see, because you hadn’t contacted me earlier, I’m already at an advanced camp."

"And the window for climbing Everest is only about 20 days left. Within this large window, as I continue upwards, I’ll encounter many smaller windows. Right now, I’m waiting for a window at Camp C1."

"So time is tight, and there might not be a chance to modify the plan."

Jimmy said, "Three days, we just need you to give us three more days, and we can adjust this climbing plan to a mutually satisfactory result."

After pausing, Jimmy said, "We offer athletes three levels of plans, and for your upcoming North Face summit speed descent, we’ve evaluated and there are three plans in total."

"The basic plan is to complete the summit and perform snowboarding in a designated area, not required to be the entire route, receiving limited media coverage with a sponsorship amount of 1 million US dollars."

"Currently, our usual sponsorship for Mount Everest expeditions is around 500,000 US dollars, but due to your personal fan influence, we can offer 1 million."

"The second-tier plan involves completing the summit while performing a not-first-time-but-highly-technical North Face snowboard route rapid descent, along with partial media exposure. We offer a sponsorship amount of 3 million US dollars."

"For this tier, you can refer to the first-time single board descent by Sfreddy, for whom we provided a sponsorship of 2 million US dollars."

Li Younan remained silent for a moment and asked, "What about the third plan?"

Jimmy smiled: "Just as you anticipated, the third plan is the most suitable for you. This plan is also the most top-tier, involving a first-time North Face summit snowboard descent with no oxygen, full live broadcast, and exclusive documentary presentation."