In the ice cave where Dr. Yog died, the oil drum that was once filled with penguin grease had been turned upside down. The three cans placed on it were each half full of grease, and one of them was burning with black smoke.

rope wick.

Around the oil drums, Wei Ran and Hanno were sitting side by side on the sleigh, each wearing two layers of thick sleeping bags.

This is already the third day since they arrived here. During these three days, Hanno would start the generator and send a message almost every hour or two. However, from beginning to end, he did not get any radio response.

.

"Hanno, sneeze!"

Wei Ran sneezed, tightened the sleeping bag around him and said again, "Hanno, all the fuel has been burned out. If this continues, we will have to dismantle a sleigh for warmth. We should go back.

"

"hold on"

Hanno, who was still sending the telegram, trembled and said, "One hour, hold on for another hour. If there is no response, we will go back."

"enough"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he reached out and turned off the radio, "Hannuo, we should go back. While the wind is not strong now, we should go back. If we don't set off immediately, the two of us will die here."

, if we also die here, how long do you think Dr. Cross can survive?"

Hearing this, Hannuo shivered involuntarily, and finally moved his red hands away from the cold keys, sighed and said feebly, "Okay... okay, let's go back, we'll go back right now.

"

"Pack your things! Quick!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he got out of his bloated sleeping bag. Originally, they had a chance to leave during yesterday's snowstorm, but Hannuo insisted on staying and trying to send another message while the weather was good.

Because of this, they also missed the opportunity to leave.

But now, everything they can burn has been burned. If they wait any longer, Weiyan will have to take out the life-saving fuel from the metal book. But how long can the fuel last, especially if it can last until the next storm?

When the snow stops, no one knows.

At his urging, Hanno loaded the radio equipment and generator onto the sled that came in, while Weihan tied the remaining supplies together with Dr. Yog's frozen body to another sleigh.

Finally loading some extra penguin meat, Wei Ran waited until Hanno shouted for his sleigh to start running, then shook the reins and followed.

However, even the weather seemed to be against them. They were only halfway through when the wind and snow began to increase again.

"Hanno! We must lighten the load!" Wei Ran shouted, "We must drop something to make the sled dogs run faster!"

"Penguin meat?!" Hanno shouted in response, and at the same time threw a small bucket of penguin meat out of the sled.

"Far from enough!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he also kicked down the penguin meat from the extra oil barrel carried on the sleigh, "We have to throw away some things! Generator! Hanno! Throw away your generator!"

"No!" Hanno refused without thinking, "We..."

"We can come back and get the generator next time! It won't freeze!"

After saying that, Wei Ran pushed out the two heavy bundles of canvas tents on his sleigh, "Throw them away quickly! Otherwise we will all die here!"

Gritting his teeth, Hanno pulled the reins to make the dogs stop, untied the ropes and pushed the heavy generator into the snow outside the sled.

Then, he tied the waterproof canvas to the frame of the engine and let it rustle in the strong wind.

The two sleighs started running again, obviously much faster, but the increasingly fierce cold wind and the random flying snowflakes carried by the wind had completely obscured the view.

At this time, both Wei Ran and Han Nuo, the only thing they could do was to lie on the sleigh, hold on to the two layers of penguin down sleeping bags, and put the iron bucket on the head wrapped in the sleeping bag. As for these two

Whether the car can return safely depends on the dogs still running.

Gradually, the storm became stronger and stronger, and more and more rocks and ice were carried in the wind. The fleeing sled dogs were also beaten and howled. But even so, they did not stop.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, the sled dogs stopped, and the sound of the wind and snow became much quieter.

Wei Ran, whose whole body ached from being smashed along the way, carefully opened a gap in his frost-covered sleeping bag. When he saw the entrance of the cave less than five meters away, he was completely relieved this time and struggled to get out of the room.

Dr. Ge sat up on top of Dr. Ge's already frozen body.

He subconsciously looked around. Fortunately, the sleigh Hanno was riding in was also there, and he had already sat up.

Without daring to waste any time, Wei Ran took off his sleeping bag and ran to the entrance of the cave and started breaking down the door. Hannuo immediately drove the dogs into a tent surrounded by oil drums on one side of the cave entrance.

"Cross! Dr. Cross!"

Wei Ran patted the door that was blocked from the inside again, but he felt something was wrong in his heart.

"What's wrong?" Hanno asked loudly.

"Dr. Cross didn't open the door!"

Wei Ran said as he pushed aside the accumulated snow at the door, "The door is frozen, come here and help!"

Hearing this, Hannuo quickly ran over with a snow shovel, and together with Wei Ran dug out the entrance of the cave that was almost completely buried.

"Get away" Wei Ran greeted, and then put his foot on the wooden door.

"Bang!"

Amidst the dull banging sound, the folding wooden door did not move at all, but Wei Ran sat on the ground.

"come together!"

Hannuo threw away the snow shovel and kicked the wooden door hard with Wei Ran.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Click!"

With a cracking sound, the wooden door that was pinned from the inside was finally kicked open by the two of them.

“We’ll go in later”

Wei Ran grabbed Han Nuo who was about to rush in, then pointed to the chimney on one side of the cave entrance that had been sealed by ice and snow and said, "There is probably no oxygen inside, so we'll wait and go in."

"So Dr. Cross is also dead?" Hanno asked, sitting at the entrance of the cave almost collapsed.

"I have no idea"

Wei Ran looked at the dark cave inside. There was no light at all, and there was not much temperature at all. The answer was obvious, but it was something he could not have imagined no matter what.

Wei Ran took out his cigarette case tremblingly, took out a cigarette from it, lit it, took a puff, and then flicked the cigarette butt into the cave.

After waiting for a while, seeing that the sparks from the cigarette butt were not extinguished, he took out the kerosene gas lamp he brought back from his pocket, lit it, and was the first to walk into the cave.

At first glance, everything in the cave was no different from when they left. The only extra thing was a 100-pound flour bucket filled with bread. Obviously, during the few days they left, Dr. Cross

Still busy baking bread.

Finally, he found Dr. Cross wrapped in a sleeping bag on the bed next to the stove.

He just lay there quietly, his skin was as bright red as a cherry, and his eyes were slightly protruding. If you got closer, you could even smell a bit of feces stench coming from his body.

He didn't know whether he should be grateful for the things he learned at Hongqi Forest Farm, but that knowledge clearly told him that this doctor who usually had no independent opinions died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

"he died"

Wei Ran said before Hanno touched Dr. Cross's body, "Died of carbon monoxide poisoning."

"He...how could he make such a mistake!" Hanno clenched his fists and hammered the bed board hard.

"He is the only one"

Wei Ran put the kerosene lamp on the stove and said as he walked outside, "He always has to sleep. Maybe it was at that time that the snow buried the vents and chimneys."

Hearing this, Hanno didn't say anything else, but he just tried Dr. Cross' breath without giving up, then stood up and walked silently outside the cave.

"What are you going to do?" Wei Ran turned around and asked.

"Go find two oil barrels for Yog and Cross," Hanno stopped and explained, "and bury them."

"Let me help you," Wei Ran said and walked out of the cave.

Hannuo didn't say anything else, and let Wei Ran help him clean out the two 200-liter oil drums filled with frozen meat. After carefully wiping them clean, he put the bodies of Dr. Yog and Dr. Cross in separate containers.

inside and sealed.

"We are the only ones left now"

Hanno walked into the cave holding the radio transmitter and asked, "Victor, there are only a few days left before the polar night. This is the last chance. Do you want to leave here?"

"Unless you leave"

Wei Ran, who was holding the receiver, said that he had only collected two suicide notes so far, and had only taken five or six photos. This return mission was equivalent to half completed, so how could he leave?

What's more, he is not from this time and space in the first place, so what's the point even if he goes to the coastline?

"Then stay"

As Hanno spoke, he put the radio in his hand on the table, "Victor, come and light the stove."

"good"

Wei Ran simply put down the equipment in his hand, and first used a snow shovel to clear away the frozen snow on the vents and chimney, and then lit the stove that he had made by himself, and which directly killed Dr. Cross.

Just one more suicide note...

Wei Ran subconsciously glanced at Hannuo, who had just moved the radio equipment in, but his heart was filled with contradictions and a sense of powerlessness.
To be continued...