Sapporo is only 140 kilometers away from Asahikawa city, but the wind and snow in Hokkaido at the end of December was really severe, so several people were delayed a lot of time on the road.
Enter Asahikawa City, located in central Hokkaido.
This no longer has the bustling scenery of a metropolis like Tokyo and Sapporo, but is as sparse and low as a rural street market.
It seems that the entire urban population here is only 330,000.
On a snowy day in late December, there were almost no people on the snow-covered road.
The shops I occasionally encounter are also closed.
Sakakihara Suzu originally said that she would be able to replenish her supplies and rest as soon as she entered the city, but she didn't expect that she would have to continue driving to the city center.
Everyone stopped temporarily to rest and clean the snow on their cars and luggage.
"Hi~ It's so cold... Why does this place look like a ghost town? Where are the people?"
"The further north you go, the less populated it becomes, not to mention that we have to go to Lake Kussharo next, where there are fewer people."
"Ah? There are even fewer people over there..."
Raku Sakakibara tied chains to the tires to prevent them from slipping. "After all, the population of Sapporo, the largest city in Hokkaido, is only 1.1 million. People in Hokkaido are basically concentrated there. The further west you go, the fewer people there are."
"What's Asahikawa's rank?"
"Asahikawa ranks second in Hokkaido."
"Ah?! It looks just like the small towns around Tokyo... Is Hokkaido so poor?"
Tianhai Qimingyue, who was parking the car and taking a rest at the other end, reached out and brushed off the wind and snow on his leather jacket, and explained:
"Hokkaido's population is dispersed and is dominated by agriculture, fishery and forestry. These traditional industries are facing considerable competition and market challenges in the context of globalization and technological development. Many regions have also failed to successfully achieve industrial diversification, resulting in overall
The economy is unstable. Coupled with five months of winter every year and extreme weather, Hokkaido's overall development is lagging behind."
"Oh." Sakakihara Suzu listened half-consciously.
Raku Sakakihara suddenly turned his head, looking through the helmet lenses and the snowflakes floating in the air, "Alzu, I'm going to test you on a question, which happens to be geography knowledge."
"What?"
“What is Sapporo’s main source of income today?”
"yes......"
"It's the tourism industry." Amami Nozuki poked her head out from behind Sakakibara Suzu. Her head was enlarged even though she was wearing a white helmet.
"Yuki got the answer right." Raku Sakakihara suddenly narrowed his eyes in the helmet, "A. Suzu——"
"I...I...didn't think of it for a moment! Haha~" Sakakihara Suzu smiled and said haha, her eyes slowly moved to other places.
Tenkai Nanamigetsu took over, "The entire Hokkaido, except for the Sapporo metropolitan area, is very poor. The land here is barren, and it can only be supported by selling resources and underdeveloped tourism. The population is also aging very seriously, so
The urban area here looks like an ordinary small town."
"Have all the young people gone to Tokyo?"
"That's right."
"Isn't that similar to our hometown?"
"My sister-chan is wrong. Matsuyama City has a good geographical location and an excellent climate. You only need to compare it with the urban area to understand that Matsuyama City's development is much better than Asahikawa."
Tokyo is full of high-rise buildings, and you can also see many high-rise buildings in Sapporo.
Asahikawa is basically a wide flat land...
In other words, it's desolate.
Driving into the city center, there is finally a supermarket still in operation.
A few people went in to replenish supplies, and taking advantage of the fact that it was just past noon, they continued towards Kussha Road.
The further I rode my motorcycle, the more I realized that Hokkaido's road administration really has no money...
National highways are getting narrower and narrower, and the roads are getting worse and worse.
There are basically cracks on the cement, and sometimes there are even potholes.
At first glance, it seems to be in a state of disrepair. Most probably no one has even complained, right?
...
Leaving the city and driving out of Kamikawa Town, you are basically in the wilderness.
For a long time, I couldn't see the shadow of other cars. There was a mountain on the right, and a mountain on the left. If I kept going, it would still be a mountain.
The scenery along the way is only white with snow. Occasionally, there are trains making a clanging sound, flying quickly in the distance against the wind and snow.
A few people did not dare to drive fast in the heavy snow, so they could only move forward slowly and slowly.
Until Ah Ling stopped in front.
Raku Sakakihara saw the brake lights on the rear of Alzu's car in front of him through the gray wind and snow.
He also stopped the car and turned off the engine. After checking that Qiyue and Liuli were behind him, he took off his mask and shouted to A Ling in front:
"What's wrong!"
...
A few seconds later, Ah Ling's voice came back through the cold snowy wind.
"Brother! There's a lot of snow ahead! There's no road!"
No way?
Raku Sakakibara exchanged a look with Nanami Nanami, and then started the motorcycle again.
Raku Sakakibara drove to Suzu Sakakibara's car, stretched out his hand to wipe the snow on his helmet, and looked forward through the helmet.
Sure enough, there was a lot of snow.
The road was blocked by heavy snow.
The trees beside the national highway are integrated with the road surface, and the thickness of the snow is estimated to be about one and a half meters.
There is no way to drive through this thickness.
Sakakihara Suzu looked around for a while, unable to make up her mind: "What should we do?"
"What should we do? Let's take a detour."
"Then we won't be able to reach Kitami City at night?"
Sakakihara Raku silently stared at the road blocked by snow, spitting out white mist, and said lightly: "Thank God for being able to reach Ryuhei."
Reluctantly, several people had no choice but to turn back and head south on National Highway 242.
The road conditions here are good, but not very optimistic either.
Sure enough, after driving for less than an hour... the road was blocked by snow again.
"Brother?"
"Let's change again. Here Liuli will lead the team, and I will follow the team leader. It's snowy, so don't get separated."
"oh."
However...
This time, less than fifteen minutes later, the road was blocked again.
"The snow is too heavy, it's not an option to continue like this." Tianhai Qimingyue saw the seriousness of the situation.
"What about the previous National Highway 211?"
"Sister, haven't you noticed that the road is getting narrower and narrower? We have walked through the snow several times. If we go back, I'm afraid the road over there will also be blocked."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Sakakibara's scalp felt numb for a while.
Going out on a snowy day is definitely not a good idea.
It was starting to get dark, and Sakakihara Suzu was a little nervous:
"...Brother, how about...finding a way back to Asahikawa City?"
Raku Sakakihara glanced at the time on his watch, then at the sky, and said, "It's too late. We can't even go back on National Highway 211. How can we still find the way back to Asahikawa? Moreover, the GPS signal here is not good."
"How about we find a place to set up camp?"
"I really want to, but it's hard to say whether our small camp can withstand such a heavy snow day."
"...What should I do? I have two bars of oil left."
"Let's go further and see if we can find an abandoned wooden house or school to set up camp."
...
Helpless, a few people could only dig out the snow in front of them a little and continue moving forward...
The scenery on the road is quite beautiful, with pure white snow.
Especially occasionally, you can see a large white mountain in the distance hidden in the wind and snow.
It's just that it's getting darker and darker, and the temperature is getting lower and lower.
Unconsciously, everyone drove into a village road that was not shown on the map.
I continued along the village road and didn't see any villages.
Just at the end of the village road, we drove into a mountain road.
This road was also not displayed on the navigation. Sakakibara only knew that the group of people were currently on a curve halfway up the mountain, with a cliff on the side of the road.
Amami Kuriuri, who was in charge of taking the lead, stopped the car in front. Sakakihara Raku followed. She then turned around nervously and said:
"Lejun, my mobile phone has no signal. Do you have one over there?"
Sakakihara Raku quickly took off the phone from the phone holder and took a look, "Nothing either."
"Where's July?"
"without."
A Ling and Zhi Xue's mobile phones also had no signal.
Now the situation is troublesome...
"Don't worry, just drive forward. There are no side roads anyway. No matter what, you can still drive to a small village."
Sakakibara Suzu felt increasingly uncertain, "...a small village in the mountains, isn't it haunted?"
Sakakibara Raku was not frightened by her, but Amami Nanami seemed to be a little concerned after hearing it from the side.
"Don't talk nonsense."
"oh..."
He didn't want to blame A Ling. No matter what, the current situation was indeed not optimistic.
...
It's starting to get dark.
The snow is getting heavier and heavier, and the road is getting narrower.
Driving in the dark and in the snow is dangerous, let alone a car or a motorcycle.
The road was covered with thick snow, and everyone was driving up the mountain. They only dared to push slowly at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour.
The cold wind was mixed with the slight roar of the engine... The iron chains wrapped around the tires occasionally pressed against the branches hidden in the snow, making a crisp and dull sound.
The time came at twelve o'clock in the morning.
Even at such a slow speed, Sakakihara Raku's tires still skidded twice on the uphill road... The fuel tank that everyone filled up at the same time was basically at the last level, and it kept flashing.
It can probably be driven for about 60 kilometers.
At present, there are only mountains all around, and the GPS has completely lost its signal.
Sakakihara Raku has no idea where his group is now...at night
The only places that car lights can illuminate, besides tree trunks, are the snow.
Under the current situation, Raku Sakakibara doesn't dare to let everyone continue to drive, especially Suzu... Her car weighs more than 500 kilograms with luggage. If there is another uphill slope later, it will slip on the uphill road.
, and there are cliffs behind the butt, which is really too dangerous.
Even though there is still no open space for camping around, we have to stop now.
Stopping the car on a gentle terrain, turning off the engine, Raku Sakakibara got out of the car... Only then did he realize that his feet were numb from the cold, and he almost lost consciousness when he stepped on the snow.
Fortunately, I upgraded my vehicle before I came here. The motorcycle has a handlebar heating function... Otherwise, my hands would have been cold and red.
The conditions of A Ling, Zhi Xue, Qi Qi, and Liu Li are not very optimistic.
It's not because of other reasons...it's because the temperature in Hokkaido in the early morning is too low.
If we don't set up camp, we won't be able to survive the night smoothly with just the cotton-padded jacket we're wearing.
"Hiss...cold! It's so cold!"
"It's a good thing that you still have the energy to shout."
"It's... such a cold weather... Brother, you still want to make sarcastic remarks... Are you... planning to set up camp..." Sakakibara Suzu held her chest with both hands and kept shrinking her legs, rubbing them up and down.
She even dared to take off her helmet.
"right."
"There is no place here. The bare area is covered with thick snow... Who knows if it is a bush or a cliff. It would be better if there are trees to block it."
"It's not necessarily good to have trees. Maybe too much snow accumulates on the trees and falls directly to crush our camp."
"Also...hiss...also..."
"I'm going to see if there's any more stable open space."
"Then be careful, don't miss the mark."
"Lejun, be careful."
"fine."
After nodding to everyone, Sakakihara Raku took off his helmet, let out a sigh, took the flashlight in his bag and went to the woods on the mountain to see if there was any open space where he could camp.
I walked around the woods and found a wooden stick to carefully explore the path under my feet.
This is the slope near the top of the mountain. Just as A Ling said, if you are not careful, you may step on the bushes covered with snow.
Rolling down a hillside is no joke.
Fortunately, God still has some conscience, and Sakakibara found a quite large open space.
It is equivalent to digging a trapezoid uphill.
This was probably a place where materials were dug out during road construction in the past.
Although there are a lot of weeds under the snow, it can be used with a little cleaning.
And it's not far from the highway.
Sakakibara immediately turned back and informed everyone of the news.
After driving the car a little way back.
Start working together to set up camp.
The five people got busy and set up camp very quickly, supporting the frame one by one and hammering in the ground nails.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! By the time the work was finished, it was already half past one in the morning.
At this time, the sky was pitch black.
The temperature is also really scary low.
Sakakihara Raku couldn't bear the temperature.
"Are you hungry?"
"...Sure, I must be hungry."
It is necessary to light a fire now.
The small gas bottle you bring is definitely not enough.
Sakakibara had no choice but to shovel away the snow and dig through the bushes to find some dry firewood at the bottom.
If it hadn't been for everyone's help, I don't know that it would have taken until the Year of the Monkey to find all the firewood.
Snow gradually covered the tent, compressing the space for everyone smaller and smaller.
Five people huddled together in front of the tent door, gathered around a small fire, and cooked two buckets of instant noodles with the few remaining bottles of mineral water.
Then you passed bites to each other, eating the few hot foods.
Following the firelight swaying in the snow at the camp, Sakakibara Suzu smiled and squeezed towards Sakakibara Raku.
"After such a miserable life, Ah Ling, can you still laugh?"
"What's the point? At least we have instant noodles to eat~~ It's good."
"Sister-chan is optimistic. Have you ever thought about what we would do if the snow doesn't stop for a week?"
Sakakibara Suzu's eyes widened immediately, "Then we can't drive out? There is no signal for mobile phones here..."
Sakakihara Suzu immediately felt that the temperature had suddenly become colder by more than one level, "Then... what should we do?"
"We can die together." Tianhai Zhixue's face was illuminated by the flickering firelight.
This frightened Sakakihara Suzu, "Yuki! How could you say such scary words!"
Tianhai Qimingyue nodded, "But it's true."
"Then there's really nothing we can do?!"
"No." Sakakibara added a small stick to the bonfire, sparks flying in the snowflakes, "Maybe my mother and uncle will notice on the third day that we haven't contacted them, and then send a search and rescue team."
"The third day?! But we... the food we brought is only enough for us to eat two meals! And the gas in our car... can only drive fifty or sixty kilometers! This wilderness
Yeah, I still don’t know when I can go out!”
Tianhai Zhixue blinked, "So we can be together forever."
Sakakihara Suzu was so anxious that she grabbed Amami Nozuki's shoulders and shook her hard, "Yuki, stop talking nonsense!!!"
Tianhai Qimingyue reassured her, "Sister-chan, don't think about these things, just take it one step at a time. Now save your energy and go to bed."
"...Sister Qiyue is quite considerate."
Tianhai Jiuliuli forced a smile and said: "After all, there is no good solution at the moment, right?"