On the dim ice sheet, the crazy wind suddenly appeared and rolled up the snow on the surface, easily covering up the red blood stains left behind when the penguins were shot.
Also under the blow of this strong wind, the ice that Wei Yan and the penguin fell together was filled up again almost in the blink of an eye. Even the 20 Greenland sled dogs dragging the sled car subconsciously
They opened their paws, and under the leadership of the leading dog, they took the fat penguin carcass on the sled and, driven by the gradually violent wind and snow, ran hard towards the direction of the cave they came from.
.
However, these dogs who seemed to be asking for help didn't know that less than half an hour after they left, a wooden handle of a mountaineering pick with a steel tip poked out of the snow.
Pulling back the handle of the pickaxe and listening to the howling wind outside, Weiran, who stuck himself between the two ice walls with crampons and his back, did not dare to delay. After turning the mountaineering pickaxe, he continued to dig hard at the seemingly endless accumulation of water above his head.
The snow was allowed to hit his face, goggles, and body, and then slid along the edge of his body into the invisible abyss of ice beneath him.
"Wow!"
As a piece of snow the size of a washbasin hit Wei Ran's left elbow, he finally saw the snowy night sky outside.
He took off his gloves and whistled hard. After waiting for a while, Wei Ran saw that no dog came at all. Then he shook his head helplessly, endured the pain in his ankles and elbows, and continued to climb in the standard chimney style.
Fa left the ice crevice that almost killed him.
After slightly identifying the direction, Wei Ran retracted his nostrils to his collar and took a breath of air heated by body temperature. However, he did not dare to stand up at all. Instead, he lay on the snow and continued to pound in again and again with the ice ax in one hand.
The snow surface, close to the edge of the ice crack, crawled towards the direction where he fell, and then towards the ice cave where the tent was set up.
This short distance of a few hundred meters is not easy. He moved his gradually cold body on the snow little by little, almost like an earthworm digging into the ground, and also gradually drew closer to the ice cave.
distance.
Finally, when his hands, feet and cheeks were almost knocked unconscious by the wind, he finally climbed to the edge of the ice cave!
Struggling to get into the ice cave, Wei Ran threw away the mountaineering pick in his hand, stumbled towards the tent, and struggled to take off the one-piece thermal insulation suit that had been blown through by the wind.
Bent down to get into the tent, Wei Ran took off his hiking boots that were still wearing crampons, and then took off his shirt and underwear that were equally cold, and sat down on the sled next to the cast iron stove. He stretched out his hand shakily,
Drawing the much-needed warmth for his body. As for where the sleigh went, he had no time to pay attention now.
After a long time, as his body warmed up a little, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and checked his red and swollen ankle again.
After some kneading, he became more certain that it was not a fracture or dislocation, but a pure soft tissue contusion. This was good news and bad news.
The good news is that he won't need to recover for a long time like a broken bone, but the bad news is that even so, his movements will be affected for at least a week in the future.
But now, those dogs didn't know where they were pulling the sleigh. He had a hard time riding the sled back to the warehouse cave by himself, let alone bringing back the more than 20 penguins in the ice cave.
.
Fortunately, at least there are so many penguins...
Wei Ran murmured to himself, and after repeatedly making sure that his ears, nose, fingers and toes were not frozen off, he moved the cast iron stove in the tent to the ice cave outside, then took out his backpack,
He placed the iron pot from Savage Mountain on the stove and put some clean snow into it.
After putting on the smelly one-piece thermal insulation suit again, Wei Ran dragged the body of a penguin to the stove at the entrance of the tent. While looking at the wind and snow outside the ice cave, he started to disembowel the body.
Soon, the steaming Chinese double-eared iron pot was filled with frozen penguin fat.
The pot of grease was simmering on the stove, but he did not stop. Instead, he pulled over the second penguin and continued the work of dividing it.
As time goes by, piles of "goose feet", "goose skins", "goose legs" and "goose breasts" and "goose breasts" are gradually placed in the ice cave illuminated by kerosene lamps.
"Rack", of course, there are also various penguin internal organs buried in snow and intestinal tracts that cannot be cleaned for the time being.
When he finished killing the last penguin, several hours had passed and he had already boiled a lot of precious oil in an iron pot.
Once again, he took out the crispy brown oil residue and placed it on the chopping board. Wei Ran poured the bright yellow and hot oil from the iron pot into the 100-liter iron bucket that was used to hold coal.
In order to ensure that these fats could be safely consumed when necessary, he had even carefully brushed the bucket with snow just now.
As the hot oil was poured into it, the solidified oil in the iron bucket also melted, revealing a few bay leaves, ginger slices and a handful of peppercorns soaked in it.
He once again put a few handfuls of snow and the last bucket of penguin fat into the iron pot for boiling oil. After throwing in some ginger slices that had been cut in advance, Wei Ran even took out the wine jug and poured it into it stingily.
A sip of gin.
Sitting on the box next to the stove again, he took out the bamboo tube containing salt from his backpack, broke out some salt grains and sprinkled it on the still hot oil residue on the chopping board, and then poured himself a large bowl full of durian.
Gin wine.
He picked up a piece of oily residue and threw it into his mouth, then picked up the bamboo bowl and took a sip of wine. Wei Ran, who regained his composure, shook his head with some regret. After all, the combination of earth and foreign things didn't go well together. If he could combine
Just replace the gin with white wine.
While he was drinking wine and eating side dishes and leisurely admiring the snow and listening to the wind, Hannuo and others in the warehouse cave had already placed the sled dogs that they had dragged back with a penguin.
My heart was in my throat.
"Victor must be in trouble."
Dr. Jorg put on the one-piece thermal insulation suit and said, "Hanno, we have to save him, we have to go."
"We really have to save Victor," Dr. Cross also said, "We can't lose another person."
"Of course we have to save him."
Hanno stopped the two of them and said, "But not now, look at the weather outside, there is no difference between us going out at this time and dying. Yog, Cross, we have to wait until the snowstorm stops.
You have to believe in Victor, he, like me and the major, has obtained the mountaineering expert badge, he will definitely be able to persist until we rush over."
"Can..."
"He discovered the penguin and asked the sled dogs to return a penguin. I am confident that he is still alive."
Hanno kicked the frozen penguin beside his feet, "What we have to do now is to make all preparations to find him before the snowstorm stops."
"Weather Balloon!"
Dr. Cross subconsciously shouted, "Just like the major taught me, how about we hang oil lamps with weather balloons!"
“It’s a good idea”
Hanno had already picked up the ax as he spoke and began to decompose the fat penguin carcass at the entrance of the cave. "Thanks to Victor, our sled dogs can fill their stomachs."
Wei Ran himself naturally didn't know what kind of preparations Hannuo and others were making to rescue Wei Ran.
After he finished the last pot of fat while eating and drinking, he cut up some bits and pieces such as penguin heart and liver, goose gizzards, goose racks, and even necks, and threw them into the oil pan and fried them over low heat until cooked.
An enamel pot.
Finally, after pouring the remaining grease into the almost full iron bucket, Wei Yan dragged the cast iron stove fixed to the airdrop box back into the tent and reinstalled the chimney.
While the coal in the stove was still burning, he took out the oil drum filled with coffee from the metal book and placed it on it until it was about to boil.
Finally, he put away the hot oil drum and a basket full of kitchen utensils, sealed the tent door, sat around the stove and continued to eat the freshly fried snacks, while also thinking about how to get back alive.
There is no doubt that it is unrealistic to stay here and expect Hanno and others to save him, and he does not expect those dogs to run back on their own. In this case, slowly going back on skis becomes the only option.
.
Fortunately, he had no shortage of skis, either the pair he brought or the pair provided by the metal book were enough for him.
And with the existence of a tent, he didn't have to worry about freezing to death when he couldn't walk in the middle of the journey.
I just don’t know how long this journey will take, let alone when this snowstorm will stop...
While chewing the fried meat, Wei Ran secretly calculated how many days the coal in the airdrop box would burn, and how much food supplies he could carry on his way.
Drawing a warning line for himself, he drank the last sip of wine, filled the stove with coal, and lay down on the sleigh again.
However, what he didn't expect, and what Hannuo and others didn't expect, was that this snowstorm would be far longer and more violent than he imagined.
Time flies to the fourth day, and the wind and snow outside the ice cave are still strong, and Weiran has to start saving precious coal.
In the tent filled with the slightly choking smell of fireworks, Wei Ran had already put on the Mariza robe from the Arctic over the one-piece thermal insulation suit, and also put on the Lapland pair from Murmansk.
boots.
Even so, he lay down on the bearskin sleigh and covered himself with the reindeer skin blanket.
At this time, although the cast iron stove in the tent was filled with black coal, it was not ignited.
There are various pots and pans on the stove, on the connected airdrop boxes, and even around the stove and sleigh. These large and small containers all contain a piece of white grease that was boiled before and has now frozen and solidified.
In the middle of these greases, a piece of cloth used as a wick is fixed with a penguin bone.
These simple candles are the only heating device in the tent at this moment. This is definitely not as high as the temperature that the fire can provide, and the black smoke emitted when burning also slightly smokes the top of the tent.
blackened.
Although they have such major shortcomings, these small candles not only provide more adequate lighting, but also help save precious coal.
On the sleigh covered with bearskin, Wei Ran, who was dressed like a rice dumpling, turned over with great effort, lit a cigarette with a tortoiseshell holder and took a puff, and patiently continued to listen to the howling wind outside.
The past four days have been really boring, so boring that he has started playing with ice sculptures - leaving all kinds of swear words and words in the ice cave in various languages that he knows that can take away negative emotions.
Vicious curses.
But despite being bored, his ankles and elbows were obviously swollen under his massage three times a day.
He was even confident that if he was given another three or four days, his ankle and elbow might be able to recover without affecting his activities at all.
After I finished smoking a cigarette in my wild thoughts, the sound of the wind outside seemed to have weakened a bit.
It seems to have weakened...
Wei Ran thought for a while, then simply turned over and sat up, bent down and got out of the tent and walked to the entrance of the ice cave.
At this time, the wind outside did show signs of weakening. At least the randomly flying snowflakes no longer blocked his sight. The most important thing was that he finally saw the gorgeous but monotonous aurora again.
"Ah——! Ah——!"
Wei Ran yelled at the top of his lungs to vent his inner loneliness, until he was choked by the cold wind sucked into his lungs and coughed repeatedly. Then he took a deep breath, turned around and started to dismantle the tent, and lit the cast iron stove again.
, burned most of the pot of hot oil, and fried another pot of penguin meat prepared in advance.
When the huge pot of fried food with astonishing heat came out of the pot, he immediately put away all the tools that could retrieve the metal book, and then poured the hot food into the bread bag that had been boiled and dried in advance.
Throwing a piece of fried meat with a slightly fishy smell into his mouth, Wei Ran tied the penguin oil he had worked so hard to prepare on his skis, and then stuffed the hot bread bag into his one-piece thermal suit.
Finally, he stepped on another pair of skis provided by the metal book. Just as he picked up the relit oil lamp and was about to drag the bucket of grease back and leave here, he vaguely heard the sound of one after another coming from outside the ice cave.
Dog barking!
After a quick reaction, Wei Ran immediately dropped the rope and ran out of the ice cave on his skis. While shouting in the direction of the barking dogs, he adjusted the oil lamp to the maximum brightness and raised it high with ski poles.
Over the head!
Soon, the barking of the dogs became clearer and clearer, and before he saw the sleigh, he first saw three weather balloons hanging with kerosene lamps floating dangling from a distance!
"Hi-! Victor! We're here to save you!"
While he was staring blankly at the weather balloons, Hanno's shouts reached his ears at the same time as the sled dogs appeared.
