When Wei Ran woke up from the hangover and the nightmare of being chased by the penguin army, the stove was still warm in the cave that provided the only light source, and was filled with the strong smell of alcohol and vomit, and one after another
of snoring.
Sitting up in a daze, Wei Ran took out the lighter from the metal book and lit the kerosene lamp placed on the airdrop box beside the bed.
When the oil lamp began to emit dim light, he also saw the code book placed beside the bed.
After being stunned, Wei Ran subconsciously glanced at the radio system at the entrance of the cave, and then looked at Hanno and Dr. Cross who were still sleeping soundly not far away.
But soon, he realized something was wrong. Doctor Yog seemed not to be in the cave!
"Doctor Yog? Yog?"
Wei Ran stood up with an oil lamp, and then discovered that the rifle he was leaning on the end of the bed was gone!
"Yog?"
Wei Ran raised his voice slightly, suppressing the anxiety in his heart and looking around.
But the cave was not that big in total, and the distance between all the beds was only about one meter. So he soon realized that something was wrong. Dr. Yog was missing, and so were his sleeping bags and some personal belongings!
"Wake up! Hanno! Cross! Wake up!"
Wei Ran yelled and tried to wake up Hanno and Dr. Cross who were still sleeping. At the same time, he bent down and put down the kerosene lamp, and then picked up the code book that should never be on his bedside.
"What's wrong?"
Before he could open the code book, Hanno turned over and sat up vigilantly.
"Dr. Yog seems to be missing."
Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already turned the code book to the page with the pencil, "He also left a letter."
"Yog is missing?"
Hannuo, who was still drunk, reacted immediately, walked over in vain and asked, "What did he say?"
"let me see"
As Wei Ran spoke, he increased the brightness of the oil lamp, and then brought the code book closer to him.
"My friends Dr. Cross, Hanno, and Victor."
Wei Ran read the beginning, "It's written to us."
"Read on quickly"
Hannuo urged while sitting on Wei Ran's bed.
"My friends Dr. Cross, Hanno, and Victor"
Wei Ran cleared his throat and saw that Dr. Cross was also awake next to him, so he continued reading, "I'm sorry to leave without saying goodbye, but I plan to leave here. I may go to the coastline, to a whaling station, etc.
Anywhere where there might still be people.
I've had enough of the long winters, dark nights, and never-ending storms and snowstorms, and I plan to leave Antarctica if I can survive.
Don't waste your energy and take risks to find me. I am different from you. I have no family to worry about, and there is no need to return to Germany.
But friends, please don't worry, I swear that I will keep all the secrets here, and will not attract anyone's attention to you, nor will I reveal anything here.
Finally, as compensation for taking away half of the sled dogs and the only rifle, I will find a way to establish radio contact with you after I leave here, if I can survive."
"This bastard!" Hannuo gritted his teeth and cursed when he saw Wei Ran closing the code book.
"Yog ran away?"
Dr. Cross didn't react belatedly until this moment, and said in an unbelievable tone, "He left us and ran away secretly?!"
"He's not running away"
Hanno clenched his fists and said angrily, "That bastard is committing suicide!"
"he..."
"He is indeed committing suicide," Wei Ran sighed, "Listen to the rumors outside, I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to survive."
"But...but..."
Dr. Cross opened his mouth slowly, and finally asked, "Hanno, Victor, are we...are we going to save him?"
Seeing Wei Ran looking at him, Hannuo picked up the cigarette case on the bedside box, took out a cigarette from it, lit it, and took a few puffs. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "Go, let's go rescue him, but we have to wait."
The snowstorm needs to stop."
"But then..."
"I know where he went"
Wei Ran and Han Nuo said in unison, then they looked at each other and said in unison again, "The ice cave where penguin meat is stored!"
"That's right!"
Hanno nodded and said firmly, "He will definitely go there, and he must go there. He must get enough food, and if I remember correctly, Victor, keep the barrel of oil you got as well."
Is it there?"
"And use some remaining coal and a barrel of kerosene."
Wei Ran also analyzed calmly, "It's okay to rush to the ice cave from us, but as long as Yog wants to survive, he will definitely pick a good day to rush to the coastline, and then he will definitely find a place to rest. I can't think of it.
There’s no better place than that ice cave.”
"That's also a good place to set up a radio."
Hanno then said, "We can take the radio there and try to see if we can restore communication."
"Wait a moment"
There was a hint of panic in Dr. Cross's voice, "I...Hanno, Victor, I have a question."
"What's the problem?" Hanno turned around and asked.
"If, I mean if."
Dr. Cross thought for a while and said, "If you find Yog, what will you do with him? He...he wants to escape after all, doesn't he? If I remember correctly, you have the right to deal with those who escape. You...
..”
"Of course bring him back"
Hannuo pointed to the code book still held by Wei Ran, "Then let him burn the letter himself. No matter what, we all need a doctor to ensure our health, right?"
Hearing this, Dr. Cross immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but then asked nervously, "But he took the rifle away, I'm worried..."
"I believe he won't shoot at us." Hanno said firmly, "Definitely not."
"I hope... I hope not..." Dr. Cross muttered and sighed, but his face still looked like he was hesitant to speak.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "If Dr. Cross has something to say, why not say it now" reminded the question who had been silent just now.
"No, it's nothing." Dr. Cross quickly shook his head, "I'm just worried about whether Yog is still alive."
Hearing this, Wei Ran did not continue to ask questions, and even avoided Han Nuo's gaze without any trace.
"So next..."
Dr. Cross scratched his thin hair, "So what should we do next? Prepare in advance like we did when we went to save Victor?"
"At least let's see what Yog took with him first."
Hannuo let out a long breath and finished the cigarette in his hand in a few puffs. "I hope he takes more things with him, so at least he has a chance to survive."
After he flicked the cigarette butt away, the three of them, who were still drunk, began to rummage through the boxes and cabinets.
After this inspection, they also discovered that Dr. Yoger not only took away the only rifle and dozens of rounds of ammunition, but also took away food, a barrel of fuel, and the only gas lamp.
In particular, he also took away three gasoline stoves and two sleeping bags made by Hanno, which was undoubtedly good news—good news that Dr. Jorg might still be alive.
Although they knew that the other party had sufficient supplies, when Wei Ran opened the wooden door of the cave, he found that the wind and snow outside had completely obscured his vision. It was impossible to find Yog at this time. The only thing they could do
Yes, I am just making preparations to the best of my ability.
Or perhaps, everyone just wanted to distract themselves from the confusion and anxiety. Dr. Cross resumed kneading dough and baking bread, while Hanno called on Wei Ran for help, waxing and maintaining the sleds and skis.
"Victor"
Hanno asked in a voice that almost only he could hear, "Shouldn't we go find Yog?"
"Why do you say that?" Wei Ran asked in the same voice.
"just in case..."
Hanno thought for a while, "What if he can really find someone near the coastline, survive, or even leave Antarctica? That might be a good ending for him."
"I..."
Wei Ran thought for a while and finally replied, "Sorry, I don't know how to answer this question."
"What if it were you?" Hanno seemed not to let Wei Ran go. "Victor, what if it were you? Are you sure you could escape to the coastline?"
"maybe"
Wei Ran said ambiguously, "I'm sure I can escape to the coastline, but I don't think I can survive until I'm rescued. After all, the distance between here and the coastline is only what we can guess. In fact, even if I get to the coastline, I won't be able to escape."
I don’t know where to go for help.”
"I hope he can survive."
Hanno sighed, "Whether it's rescued by us or rescued on the coastline."
"I hope so," Wei Ran murmured to himself.
For a moment, the warm cave became quiet again, and the three remaining people seemed to have lost their conversation, each silently busying themselves with the work at hand.
Soon after, the cave began to be filled with an increasingly rich aroma of baked bread.
Dr. Cross, who obviously had some thoughts in mind, did not stop after the first batch of bread came out of the pan, but immediately stuffed new dough into it.
While he was busy in silence, pieces of bread were thrown into a specially vacated airdrop box.
"When the wind and snow stop, shall we go looking for each other together?"
After stuffing the soft dough into the oven again, Dr. Cross asked Wei Ran and Hanno who had finished their work, "Just like when I went to find Victor."
"No, we don't have that many sled dogs this time."
Hannuo and Wei Ran looked at each other and then replied, "Dr. Cross, you stay this time, while Victor and I go to find him."
"Okay, okay." Dr. Cross nodded and fell into silence again.
In the next two days, the snowstorm showed no signs of abating, and Dr. Cross no longer wielded his geological hammer to knock on the rock walls like he did at the beginning, but instead spent all his attention on baking bread.
on a job.
Because of this, by the time the wind and snow in the cave finally subsided at around ten o'clock on the third night, a 100-liter iron flour bucket had been filled with the bread baked by Dr. Cross.
"Hanno, take this bread with you."
Dr. Cross handed over a hiking bag filled with bread before Weihan and Hanno set off.
"us..."
"if..."
Dr. Cross gritted his teeth and finally spoke out the thoughts that had been weighing on his mind these past few days, "Victor, Hanno, just like Yog said in the letter he left behind, he doesn't have any family to worry about.
So if you can find him, if he is still alive by then, please ask his opinion. If he still wants to leave, give him these breads.
You see, no matter what, the three of us have to stay here, even if it is just for our family, but Yog is different, and he has told me and Carsten more than once that he wants to leave here.
So...so...Hanno, Victor, if he still wants to try, why not...why not just give him a chance?"
After a moment of silence, Hanno reached out and took the mountaineering bag filled with bread, threw it over his shoulder, turned around and got out of the cave, but did not give Dr. Cross any guarantee.
Seeing Dr. Cross looking at him for help, Wei Ran sighed and whispered before turning around and leaving, "Dr. Cross, no matter what, no matter how long it takes, wait for us to come back."
"well!"
Dr. Cross nodded quickly and watched as Wei Ran stepped on his skis and disappeared under the surging aurora, being pulled by the sleigh controlled by Hanno.
Compared with Dr. Cross, who was worried but put something aside, Wei Ran and Hanno had to keep a tightrope at all times.
Although they would not lose their way thanks to the surrounding mountains as a reference, none of them knew when the next snowstorm would return, let alone whether Dr. Yog had already set off, and whether they could catch up with him.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! What's more, in addition to not many supplies, their sleigh also contains vital but extremely heavy generators and radios
.
Because of this, he could only step on his skis and let the sled pull him forward as much as possible to reduce the burden on the dogs, instead of sitting on it as usual.
This would undoubtedly consume more energy, but fortunately, when they saw the ice cave again more than three hours later, although the biting cold wind had already blown around, it still did not obscure their sight.
"Do you think he's here?" Hanno asked, shouting at the top of his lungs in the fierce wind.
“Just go and take a look and you’ll find out!”
While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already loosened the rope in his hand, used his ski pole with all his strength, and slid into the ice cave with the oil lamp.
Before he could see clearly what was going on here with the cold oil lamp, he heard the barking of dogs coming from inside.
This was undoubtedly good news, and his face, which was covered by a thick mask, couldn't help but reveal a hint of joy.
A tent was set up in the ice cave, and around the tent were the sled dogs that Yog had taken away. Not only were there piles of feces around them, but there was also uneaten penguin meat.
And in the tent with the opening facing the inside of the ice cave, there was still a faint flickering firelight.
"Yog, Dr. Yog?"
While Wei Ran called out to Yog who had not yet left, he dropped the ski poles in his hands and took off the skis on his feet.
But when he carried an oil lamp and got into the tent that was filled with a little smoke, he found that the sleigh parked in the low tent, and even the people lying on the sleigh, were all covered in knots.
Got frost!
"Is Yog here? Is he still alive?"
While Wei Ran was stunned, Hannuo, who had parked the sleigh, also ran in.
"he died"
As Wei Ran spoke, he also looked at the small iron bucket containing charcoal ash in the tent and the 100-liter oil drum that was once filled with penguin grease.
At this time, all the coal in the small bucket carried by the hand had been burned out, but there were still two ski poles stuck in the large oil drum, and each of the ski poles was wrapped with a rope that acted as a wick.
There were several other ropes inside that acted as wicks. The only difference was that there were no ski poles to fix them. The fire he just saw outside was caused by the ropes wrapped around the two ski poles burning.
He didn't know how long these finger-thick "wicks" had been burning, but he could see clearly that several of them seemed to have gone out long ago. Even if the two remaining ones were still burning, they seemed to be burning at any time.
There is a possibility of being drowned by melted grease.
But looking at Yog lying on the sled with two layers of sleeping bags covering his whole body, as well as the thin layer of frost on his face and even some black smoke remaining in his nostrils, Wei Ran knew clearly that they had already
I'm late.
At this moment, Hannuo also walked around to the tent door and bent down to get in. Then he saw what Wei Ran saw.
"He...how did he die?" Hanno murmured in disbelief.
"He probably froze to death. I guess he fell asleep because he was drunk and never woke up."
As Wei Ran spoke, he squatted beside the sleigh. In addition to a pile of frozen vomit, he could also find some dark red blood-like things in the vomit and a few undigested vomited particles.
The pills come out.
Looking at the frozen expression of pain on Dr. Yog's frozen face, Wei Ran had already made a guess.
Perhaps, after the drinking party was over, Dr. Yog escaped here due to his drunkenness.
But the heavy drinking that day also made him drunk, and it was even possible that he had gastrointestinal disease due to excessive drinking.
No matter what the reason was, after escaping here, he hurriedly set up a tent and lit the coal left by the sanitary ignition. He even made a heating stove with the grease left by the sanitary ignition. Then he got into his sleeping bag and started to refill it.
Sleep.
But in the end, he still couldn't wake up.
"So he...he died like this?" Hanno still couldn't accept Dr. Yog's hasty death for a while.
"It's better to freeze to death when you're drunk than to freeze to death when you're sober. It's much better." Wei Ran bent down and stood up as he spoke, "Should we take him back?"
"Bring back"
Hannuo said subconsciously, but immediately after, he glanced at the raging wind and snow outside the ice cave, "No, let's wait, wait until the weather gets better before going back. During this time, I want to try
Can radio contact be established?"
“Then give it a try”
While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already reached into the oil drum, stretched out the extinguished ropes, and then lit them one by one.
Soon, as there were more and more flames in the oil drum, more and more black smoke evaporated from the oil drum. Correspondingly, the small tent became a lot warmer. Seeing this, he still
Drag the oil drum outside the tent.
At the same time, Hanno also set up the antenna he brought and moved in items such as radios and cipher machines one by one.
When everything was ready, Wei Ran came to the entrance of the ice cave and started the generator by hand. Hannuo, who was hiding in the tent, also started the generator according to the steps. He first operated the cipher machine to complete the telegram encryption, and then started sending the message using the radio.
Hanno was busy sending the report, and Wei Ran was not idle either. He cooked a large bucket of penguin meat outside the ice cave and fed it to the sled dogs who had been guarding Dr. Yog.
However, until the dogs filled their bellies with the cooked penguin meat and drank enough warm broth, the receiver remained silent as it shouldn't.
"Still no news," Hanno said disappointedly.
"Is it possible that the receiver is broken?" Weiran raised an unlikely possibility.
"Impossible," Hanno replied firmly, "If it was broken, I would have discovered it long ago."
After a moment of silence, Hanno sighed, "Victor, we may have to wait until summer to reestablish contact."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "What are you worried about?"
While Wei Ran was talking, he had already lit a small barrel of coal and brought it in. He also pulled out a beef can from Yog's sleigh and placed it on the iron barrel with the charcoal fire burning.
"I'm worried about whether we can survive this winter."
Hannuo took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took out one and lit it, then handed the cigarette case to Wei Ran.
"We have enough supplies"
Wei Ran lit his cigarette and said objectively, "If I hide in that cave and don't go out..."
"Do you want to escape?" Hannuo looked at Wei Ran and asked seriously, "Like Yog, escape to the coastline."
Before Wei Ran could say anything, Hanno added, "You have obtained the mountain expert badge, and it will not be difficult to escape to the coastline. As long as Cross and I testify that you died in the snowstorm, your family will not have any surprises."
.”
"what do you want to say in the end?"
Wei Ran asked bluntly, "Hannuo, there are only two of us here. As long as those sled dogs don't snitch, no one will know what we said."
"I have nothing to say"
Although Hanno said this, he still added, "I just don't want to see a situation like Yog's happen again. Victor, if you want to escape, or even if Dr. Cross wants to escape, just tell me directly.
I will help you prepare supplies, enough supplies for any of you to escape to the coastline alive."
"What about you?" Wei Ran asked, "Aren't you going to run away?"
"I'm not going to run away"
Hanno smiled, "I still like this job, and my wife is about to give birth to our child. If I escape, not only will no one prove that you are dead and not running away, but there will be no way
To prove my innocence, I must stay."
"Or should I stay?" Wei Ran tried to give another option.
"Whatever you want, but I won't leave." Hanno said firmly, "I remember telling you that I even want to take my parents and wife over."
"I remember." Wei Ran nodded. Hannuo indeed said this to him during a certain chat.
"This is really a good job for me." Hanno emphasized again as if he was under self-hypnosis.
"But if Dr. Cross and I leave too, I'm afraid you won't be able to hold on for long."
Wei Ran said truthfully, "Even if Mr. Yog and Mr. Carsten are alive, this will be a very difficult winter."
"yes"
Hanno flicked the cigarette butt and ended this supposedly extremely dangerous topic. He reached for the rifle on the sleigh and said, "Victor, I have made my attitude clear. No matter who wants to leave, you or Cross." , just tell me directly, I won’t object, and I will really help you, I just... I just don’t want to collect the corpses of my friends anymore, just like Yog."
"What is this doing?" Wei Ran looked at the rifle handed over and asked in confusion.
"Hunting is your job"
Hannuo made an excuse calmly, but it was clear that he just didn't want Wei Ran to be afraid that he had a weapon in his hand.
"You're just adding weight to my load."
Wei Ran said, and put the rifle on Yog's sleigh.
"Maybe, who knows."
While Hanno was speaking, he was already sitting on the ground next to the radio, and once again sent an encrypted telegram that received no response.
