Chapter 262: The Ice Age

Mu Sicheng looked down, searched through the thick pile of temperature records Bai Liu had handed him for thirty-three years, and found the coldest spot on the tenth of August the year before.

The records clearly indicate the latitude and longitude of this location, which is exactly where Bai Liu and his team are now.

Tang Erda moved the radar detector onto the ice, exhaled a hot breath, straightened up and turned to Bai Liu: "The usual, probe first then drill?"

Bai Liu nods.

Tang Erda moved the weighing hydraulic hammer onto the ice and, after carefully checking that there were no ice crevices in the vicinity, climbed into the helicopter and began operating the instrument.

Liu Jiayi went back to the helicopter with him.

The wind was so strong in this part of the world that it almost had the power to flatten her out, forcing her to return to the helicopter.

Liu Jiayi has his hands on Tang Erda's driver's seat and his feet are padded as he strives to look at the radar screen on the dashboard.

The instrument scanned down, layer by layer, and finally, at over a thousand meters, it found a regular metal object, a discovery that made her frown: "That deep? How long will it take to dig?"

"A conservative estimate is that we'll be working for more than six hours." Tang Erda rubbed her frozen hands from carrying the instruments and frowned, "It's a bit of a problem, it's so cold in here that even if a few of us work in shifts, there's no way for the resters to get warm, because the fuel is running out too."

"It would be dangerous to force the excavation."

Liu Jiayi looked at the thermometer hanging by Tang Erda's hand and looked up to ask him, "But it's not that cold here, it's only about -30°C. Haven't you worked safely in the -50°C environment at Taishan Station before, so why is it more dangerous to work here?"

"Because the winds are so strong here." Tang Erda explains stonily, "In Antarctica, the wind is something colder than the snow."

"Cold temperatures will only slowly take away a person's heat, but high speed winds will take away a person's body temperature much more quickly, working in that kind of wind speed all the time, and with imperfect equipment and warmth like we have, we could easily be taken away from a lot of heat by the gusts and just freeze to death by the wind."

Tang Erda looks over at Bai Liu and the others outside the helicopter, who are stabilising the equipment.

Within minutes Mu Sicheng and Muke were turning purple from the cold and kept moving lightly on the snow to keep warm, and Tang Erda showed some rare concern: "I'll go down and replace them."

"But you won't last long in these gales, you'll freeze to death all the same." Liu Jiayi thought clearly and hit the nail on the head, "Even if each of us took turns freezing and forcing our hearts to dig, it's just a matter of time before we freeze to death - because we're out of supplies to warm back up, and we're already running low on fuel, right?"

Liu Jiayi paused again and again, but could not resist speaking out.

"We don't need to play Spades in this game for now, it's only natural that we can't win against him now, we can convince Bai Liu to log out first."

"Both this task of excavating a heart a kilometre below, and, still, winning Spades, is too much bravado for us!!!"

Liu Jiayi was clinging to the side of the helicopter, her eyes red with some very faint tears, her voice almost sounding weak in the snow and wind, like a real helpless little girl's.

" Spades was really scary, I saw Hearts go up against him and she asked me if I was sure I could save her from Spades? I didn't answer her then."

"But I can tell you the answer now, and the answer is absolutely not, I am completely incapable of saving any of my teammates from Spades." Liu Jiayi huffed a hidden sob, the thin, thin, white fingers clutching the side of the helicopter, "...... I don't want to see Spades kill Bai Liu, like he did before when he threw [Bai Liu] into the pool of strong acid."

"He's bound to lose, and I can't save him."

Liu Jiayi was crying: "But I'm not sure I can persuade Bai Liu to leave the game, he trusts you more, can you help me persuade him?"

Tang Erda looked back at the little girl with tears in the corners of her eyes, praying earnestly for him, and her look was so fragile that he realised in a trance - this little witch, who he remembered as being bloody and cruel and incredibly clever, was also afraid.

--The scene she saw at Edmond station earlier still scared her.

Despite the fact that the frightened little girl had not shown any sign of it since she boarded the plane, and was so calm that she now waited for Bai Liu to leave before trying to conspire against him.

Tang Erda pauses slightly as he steps outside, then continues, sinking deeper into the snow as he turns back to the helicopter, tilting his head towards Liu Jiayi at the door, the wind blowing the animal fleece around the edge of his hat.

Liu Jiayi is right, but Bai Liu is the tactician.

--This is an unquestionable identity.

"Are you questioning the tactician's decision?" Tang Erda asked in a hushed voice.

Liu Jiayi bites her lower lip and doesn't say anything.

"Never question the tactician's decisions." Tang Erda looked straight up at Liu Jiayi, "The moment he made the decision, he was ready to give his life for victory - Bai Liu knows the consequences of all this better than you do."

"But for the tactician, winning the game is all that matters, and all you, as his player, have to do is execute his decisions and then win the game."

Liu Jiayi's voice was hoarse: "...... Even if Bai Liu dies for this victory, it doesn't matter, does it?"

Tang Erda says calmly, "Yes, it doesn't matter."

"Because that's what he wants."

Tang Erda finished and turned to leave, making heavy footprints in the snow.

Liu Jiayi stood by the door and looked down at the footprints for a moment, took a deep breath, rubbed the tears from her eyes twice, turned back to the door and started rummaging through the boxes for maps and information.

She gritted her teeth and thought fiercely - let's die, let's die, let's get through this and get the heart out first.

We can't freeze to death here!

By the time Bai Liu and his team were rotated back in by Tang Erda with the drill, Liu Jiayi had expertly set up camp in the snow and had brought out heating equipment to keep the three men warm.

Mu Sicheng was shivering with a cup of hot water, and his words came out with wavy lines of shivering cold: "Shit~ ah~ it's~ too~ cold~ too!"

Liu Jiayi handed Bai Liu a small plush blanket and Bai Liu took it and wiped the ends of his hair, "Thank you."

"We're running out of fuel." Liu Jiayi, once the group had slowed down, calmly began to recount the objective dilemma, "Because there was still enough fuel left for the helicopter to fly and we didn't have enough to last six hours."

Bai Liu, after just a moment's thought, proposed a solution, "Are there any other observation posts nearby? We can go over and search the map to see if there is fuel and supplies to replenish."

"Yes, that's right, I thought so too." Liu Jiayi took out a map and laid it between her and Bai Liu, "but I checked it carefully and found only one place where there might be a stockpile of supplies."

Liu Jiayi points to a Little Mu house sign on the map: "This is the Scott hut, a relic that was left behind by early explorers when they came over in 1912."

Muke poked his head around as he breathed into his palms, "But this heritage building, which is also wooden and flammable, would leave a large reserve of fuel in it?"

"Yes." Liu Jiayi nodded affirmatively, "I've looked through Edmond's books and there's a tourist brochure in there that has quite a bit about this Scott hut, because this Little Mu house is still being maintained and refurbished and people live near it, so there is a fuel reserve."

Bai Liu nodded, "It's not far from this location, we can walk straight to Scott's hut first."

He simply ordered, "Muke, Mu Sicheng and Jiayi, come with me, take a small amount of fuel and supplies and leave most of the rest to Captain Tang, who is hardy, has helicopter piloting skills and is more familiar with the Antarctic, so let him focus on drilling and digging here. "

"Give him a satellite call when we get over there and if there's fuel have him come over and refuel, if not, keep him in place."

Bai Liu looked around the room, "Does anyone have any comments?"

Muke and Mu Sicheng: "No."

Liu Jiayi pursed his lips and did not answer.

Bai Liu looks at her quietly.

Liu Jiayi raised her red eyes to meet his for a moment: "Do you have to win Spades?"

Bai Liu smiles: "I have to."

Although he was expecting this answer, Liu Jiayi couldn't help but scold him: "It doesn't matter if you're dead?"

Bai Liu smiled as he stood up, he patted Liu Jiayi's head, reached out his thumb to wipe away the tears she was holding back and gave her a gentle hug, "- I promise I'll beat him before I die."

The group left Tang Erda and headed for Scott's hut with their sleds and snowball fights.

Scott's Cottage is indeed not far away and the group walked for a short time before they could see this nostalgic building on the coast.

There is a faint light in the Little Mu room, a warm heat that gives the group of people who have travelled through the snow and wind a refreshing warmth, and Mu Sicheng is so comfortable that he can't help but soften his shrugging shoulder blades.

Bai Liu put the snowball fight aside, took off his sled shoes, took out his whip and went into Scott's hut.

Sitting on a creaking wooden stool is an old man, his eyes half-closed as he toasts by the fireplace, his arms folded in front of his belly as he dozes, his upturned beard twitching and a small string of snorts emerging from the corner of his mouth in order to sound asleep.

The sound of Bai Liu's footsteps stepping into the house and the wind chill breaking in at the door woke him up and he opened his sleepy eyes before seeing Bai Liu standing less than five metres in front of him.

He seemed to be pleasant, not distressed by the rebellion of this uninvited guest, but raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Look what I have found."

Edmond's smiling gaze fell on the whip at Bai Liu's hand, "- another new guest who likes to use the whip."