Last Totem Novel - Chapter 91

Chapter 91 Ice Plain
The boat slowly moved forward. Tie Zha stood at the bow. Old Amp and the two sailors were paddling as they carefully avoided the ice floes along the coast.

There is no sand on the beach, only ice and snow. The closer they got to the shore, the more ice floes there were, and the slower the boat rode, the slower it was to reach the shore. The two young sailors got into the water and pushed the boat forward.

In less than 30 seconds, the two sailors’ faces turned purple from the cold. Seeing this, Tie Zha also jumped into the water and helped them push together.

Soaking in the cold ice water, his entire body felt as if he had been cut by a knife. The insect shell of the iron slag naturally grew out. However, the insect shell had not fully recovered. In some places, it had not fully recovered and only had a thin layer. With the addition of the iron slag, the three of them quickly brought the boat to the shore and pulled it onto the shore with a cable.

The two sailors trembled from the cold. Although Tie Zha didn’t tremble much, he wasn’t much better. Old Amp was the most experienced. He first took out a wine jug and drank a mouthful of strong liquor for everyone. Then, he took out a kerosene stove from the supplies and lit a campfire.

The three people who went into the water were roasting their clothes around the campfire back to back, while Old Amp was tidying up the supplies at the side.

He raised his eyes and saw that this place was barren. There were no traces of any living creatures, only a vast expanse of white ice and snow.

“Brother Tie, this is the snowy night ice field. If we go further north, the days will be shorter and the nights will be longer. However, only winter will be like this.” Old Amp introduced. Feng Yun had sent him here to see how old and experienced he was, so he had asked him to be his guide.

“You … you’ve been here before … here?” The iron slag was frozen to the point that it couldn’t even speak properly.

“I’ve been here several times when I was young. Let me see …” Old Amp thought for a while and said, “This is the sixth time.”

“Have you … been further away?” Tie Zha asked.

“I’ve been to the Ficris Mountains, but I’ve only been at the foot of the mountain for two days. I didn’t go up the mountain and went back.” Old Amp replied.

Tie Zha nodded and did not reply. Old Amp continued to organize the supplies. The kerosene stove was quietly burning, radiating heat outwards. After about half an hour, the clothes of the three of them dried up and their bodies warmed up. They began to move towards the icy plains.

The snowmobile was not big. Apart from the four big wheels, it looked like a large locomotive no matter what. After piling up, drag another sleigh. Old Amp arranged for a sleigh to carry the red comet, saving fuel and electricity. After hunting the snow bears, they used sleds to carry the bears, while Tie Zha continued on his motorcycle.

On a snowy night, the terrain of the ice plains was very flat. There were no ups and downs. There was only an endless sea of snow. Other than snow, it was still snow.

The snowmobile struggled in the icy plains, often falling into the snow, and could only half-drive and half-push forward. Most of the time, they drove a snowmobile by themselves, while the other three stepped on the snowy ground with one foot deep and one foot shallow, moving forward with great difficulty.

On the first day of entering the icy plains, the iron slag felt the hardships of the road ahead.

There were no inhabitants, no plants, no animals, nothing in the vast expanse of white. Compared to the Wilderness, the environment here was even worse. At the very least, there was no need to worry about being starved to death in the Wilderness. Occasionally, they could hunt gerbils to satisfy their hunger, and even if it wasn’t good enough, they could dig up some weeds to eat. However, in order to survive here, there must be not only food, but also a source of heat. The fire had to be roasted at night, or even the iron man would not be able to stand it.

The four of them walked all day in the icy plains until night fell before setting up camp to rest.

Tie Zha originally wanted to camp under a snowy hill because it could block the wind. However, the experienced old Amp immediately denied it. The reason was that the snow hills were prone to avalanches, so he could only find large rocks or cedar forests.

However, there wouldn’t be such a place in the snowy night ice plains. Only in the middle of the snowy night ice plains would there be cedars. Only on a snowy night in the northern part of the glacier would there be large rocks rolling down from the mountains of Phyllis.

Finally, they set up camp in a flat open field.

The north wind was very strong, mixed with granular ice sludge, it was cold and wet, a little careless, and would be scratched. It took half an hour for the tent to be erected. In total, it pulled more than twenty ropes and nailed more than thirty fixtures. Even so, it was blown away by the cold north wind.

In front of the camp, there was a kerosene stove lit, and the four of them gathered together to keep warm. As he drank the liquor, he chatted. On the first day they entered the icy plains, everyone seemed to have no appetite to eat. They only felt bone-chilling cold, so cold that they forgot to be hungry.

After a while, the four of them gradually warmed up after being roasted by the kerosene stove. At this moment, they felt an indescribable hunger, and only felt their stomachs twitch. The icy plains were too cold and consumed too much heat, so it was easy for people to feel hungry. However, the premise was warmth. Otherwise, under the corrosion of the extreme cold, the other sensations would fade away.

Tie Zha took out the canned meat from the Central Continent Garrison and wanted to give it to everyone to eat. Old Amp quickly stopped him and said, “Keep these. You have to walk a long way. You have to stay in the most critical moment to eat them.”

“Yes, Brother Tie, keep it.” “We’re not hungry, just eat something else.” The two simple and honest sailors also advised. Although they hadn’t known each other for a long time, they had experienced the battle of the research institute together. They had fought life and death together, so the distance between them was much shorter.

Then, Old Amp took out a marching pan from the supplies, filled it with snow, and put it on a kerosene stove to boil. After a while, the snow slowly turned into water. Old Amp took a few white radishes and cut them into the water one by one. After cooking for a while, the marching pot was steaming hot. Old Amp took another large piece of frozen steak and poured it all in.

Following that, the four of them stared at the pot, smelling the fragrance of the meat and desperately suppressing their appetite. The environment here was harsh and there were no seasonings, but the steak smelled like delicious food, and the water was almost flowing out of the people’s mouth.

It took more than two hours for the four of them to eat a delicious meal until late at night. Taking advantage of the heat of dinner, the four of them entered the tent, opened their sleeping bags, and began the first night of the snowy night in the ice plains.

In the middle of the night, it suddenly snowed heavily. Tie Zha was woken up by the howling north wind. He drilled into the tent and saw that the entire world was covered with snow. He could not see his fingers. The kerosene stove in front of the camp was swaying in the snow, as if it was about to go out.

In order to prevent the camp from being buried by the snow, Tie Zha did not dare to sleep anymore and woke up Old Amp to discuss countermeasures. Old Amp drilled out of the tent to observe for a while and said, “It’s fine. Continue sleeping. The snow on the snowy night glacier looks very heavy, but it’s actually very fluffy and low in moisture. It looks very heavy, but it’s actually not much.”

With the instructions of the old guide, Tie Zha went back to sleep peacefully.

The next morning, the four of them woke up one after another, packed their bags, and continued on their way. The sunlight shone on the snow, but it did not feel a trace of warmth. The sunlight of the ice field on a snowy night seemed to have no temperature.

There was only snow and cold in the entire world. Just like that, they kept heading north. Every day, the scenery was exactly the same. It made people feel suffocating and indescribable fear. It was as if they had been spinning around in place, falling into an endless maze.

At noon on the ninth day, they finally arrived at the middle of the snowy night ice plains. Along the way, there were sparse cedars growing. Although the leaves of the cedars were all grey, their existence brought a trace of life to this pale world.

One of them drove a snowmobile listlessly, while the other three drove through the snow with their heads lowered.

At this moment, Old Amp suddenly raised his head and shouted excitedly, “Look, Ice Crystal Berries!”

Looking in the direction Old Amp was pointing, they saw a small bush under a cedar tree. There were small, bright red fruits on the shrubs.

Old Amp took one and placed it in his mouth to taste it carefully. Then, he showed a very satisfied expression and shouted, “Mm … good! Good!”

Tie Zha picked one. This kind of ice crystal berry was smaller than a cherry. Its surface was translucent and translucent, as if it was translucent. He put it into his mouth, gritted his teeth, and spat out a thick slurry. It was sweet and cold, as if there was liquid ice residue inside. It tasted sweet and refreshing, giving people endless aftertaste.

They quickly divided up the rest of the berries. Although it was only a little bit, the taste was unforgettable for the rest of one’s life. Thus, from this day onwards, they were much more positive, their gazes always sweeping under the cedar, hoping to find such a good thing again.

However, in the next two days, they didn’t find any ice crystal berries.

As they moved forward, the cedars grew denser and denser, and patches of cedar forest began to appear.

Old Amp said the snow bear was active in this area. However, they did not have a fixed territory, nor did they have a fixed nest. They usually ate and slept wherever they went. The snow bear was a lone creature, sometimes alone, sometimes a male and a female.

As time passed, they walked through cedar forest after cedar forest, but they never found any traces of snow bears. One couldn’t help but wonder if this kind of creature existed or not.

Logically speaking, there was a lack of food here, and snow bears were large creatures that were several meters tall. Just what kind of food could sustain them? Amp said that the snowy night ice field was divided into polar day and polar night. Polar day was always daytime, and polar night was always night.

During the extreme daytime, snow bears migrate to the seashore to catch the creatures in the sea for food. When they were full, they would come back at night and eat a little until the next day. Therefore, at this time of year, snow bears are very dangerous. Any creature they see will attack and then eat it.

On the fifteenth day, they still hadn’t found any traces of the snow bear, but they saw a snowy elk along the way. Tie Zha said that he wanted to catch the elk and stew it, but this elk was extremely keen. Just as Tie Zha thought of this, it ran away in a flash. That speed was unimaginably fast, flashing around in the cedar forest and disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Old Amp said that if they couldn’t find the Snow Bear any further, they would have to go back. Feng Yun said that he could only wait for forty days. If this time passed, the Big Dipper would return.

They didn’t know if it was the blessing of the heavens or the cruelty of the heavens. The day after Old Amp finished speaking, they encountered two snow bears!