Chapter 389: Chapter 388: Speculations About Antarctica (Two-in-One) Chapter 389: Chapter 388: Speculations About Antarctica (Two-in-One) “We must leave imdiately; this place isn’t very safe,”
Shao Zifeng’s words brought a montary pause to the camp’s atmosphere, with looks of shock directed at his dusty figure.
The flas within the bonfire danced.
Under the blowing of the cold wind, many sparks flew out, making a crackling sound.
“Ying!”
A stream of light with a trailing fla zipped by, and Qiuqiu, flapping its firey dragon wings, pounced into Shao Zifeng’s arms and began pounding his chest with its little fists.
Shao Zifeng’s face turned pale, and his serious expression instantly fell apart as he grimaced and coaxed Qiuqiu.
Goodness, the little guy was hitting hard.
If it weren’t for his gear being thick enough, he would have been bruised.
The little deer glanced at him and squinted with schadenfreude.
“Awoo~”
The tiny Ice Plateau Saber-toothed Tiger, upon seeing the bones, beca interested and clambered over, pouncing onto the bones and began to tear and bite expertly.
“Zifeng, what is this?”
Chen Yixin picked up the adorably fierce Saber-toothed Tiger and asked, eyeing the pile of bones in the snow with confusion.
The others’ gazes shifted as well, clearly curious about the origins of these bones.
“I found them on the mountain; there are many more,” Shao Zifeng stopped Qiuqiu’s loving little punches and turned around to point at the snow-covered mountain not far from the camp. “I dug around with a climbing axe and found thick stacks of bones. Besides that, there was a lot of feces buried under the snow nearby.”
“Based on my guess, it might be a nest where mutant creatures have been living for a long ti.”
Shao Zifeng’s words made everyone’s faces change slightly, but soone raised an opposing view.
“Impossible, how could there be creatures in Antarctica that build nests over the long term? Even if there are occasional mutant creatures that can survive here temporarily, how is the long-term supply of food resolved?”
A slightly overweight young researcher with black-frad glasses pushed them up as he countered.
His na was Wang Hongcai, and he had been unsociable since they were on board the Xuelong, sowhat arrogant and liked to sit in the leisure area reading by himself. Shao Zifeng knew of him just by na.
Seeing Chen Yixin’s displeased facial expression, Yang Qi quickly elbowed him and said, “Hongcai, the professor just ntioned yesterday that anything is possible in today’s world, so let Zifeng finish what he’s saying…”
“But that doesn’t an it can go against the laws of nature. Any creature wanting to survive long-term needs a complete biological chain,” Wang Hongcai stubbornly argued, “Besides, even if the creature from yesterday does exist and it stole our food, that indicates that there’s no biological chain here.”
“What does he know, a non-research major, a combat training departnt student, he hasn’t… ”
“Enough!”
Chen Yixin’s face grew even more displeased. She knew of Wang Hongcai’s arrogance but thought that yesterday’s lesson would lead to so change. She did not expect him to remain so stubborn.
There’s sothing wrong with this guy.
Shao Zifeng was getting irritated.
Comnt all you want, but why diss ?
But, not wanting to make things difficult for Chen Yixin, Shao Zifeng forcibly suppressed his temper.
“What I’ve said is just my own judgent. I’m not a professional and I can’t tell what these bones belong to or when they were eaten, which is why I brought back a few bones of different depths for you all to examine.”
The atmosphere on the scene beca sowhat awkward for a while, as they all felt Wang Hongcai had been a bit too harsh just now. No matter what, Shao Zifeng’s intention was good.
“ow!”
Qiuqiu also realized that the fatty was questioning its eggs, the little fellow glaring fiercely at Wang Hongcai with sparks flying from the corner of its mouth.
If it hadn’t been for the comfort of being cradled by the eggs, it would have definitely smashed that guy’s dog head.
Chen Yixin suppressed the displeasure in her heart, and with a cold face, said to the person beside Wang Hongcai, “Wei Yibo, examine these bones.”
“Okay, Professor.”
The young man nad Wei Yibo had an average build and a face that didn’t match his age.
Because he usually had a good relationship with Wang Hongcai, he gave Wang a look, signaling him to moderate his behavior.
Wang Hongcai also ca to his senses at this point, aware that his previous words had displeased the professor, but as a researcher, his pride wouldn’t let him lower his head to a university student.
Seeing this, Wei Yibo sighed and crouched down to busily attend to his own work.
He first picked up a bone as thick as a wrist and examined it closely.
The dark bone bore teeth marks, and there were plenty of muscle and tendon tissues remaining on and at both ends of the skeleton. He sniffed the bone under his nose and pressed the remaining muscle with his fingers.
He then picked up another bone and repeated the process, checking all the bones Shao Zifeng had brought over.
“How long ago was the last ti this area was exposed to sunlight?”
Yang Qi quickly took out a specially equipped phone to check, “About seven days ago.”
Wei Yibo nodded, “In such conditions, to determine the freeze death of a body, one must consider the environnt and weather. If the body’s preservation environnt has always been in low temperatures, then it’s very hard to identify the ti of death.”
“But fortunately, it’s sumr in Antarctica, and under the continuous sunlight of the polar day, the snow on the mountain slowly lts, and dead bodies exposed to sunlight begin to breed bacteria.”
“Although within a short period of ti it’s insufficient to cause the flesh to rot, and it’s hard to differentiate on the surface, one can still detect the difference through sll and by pressing on it.”
“Just like these two.” As he spoke, he held up two bones together, pressing his fingers on them; one piece of broken flesh slowly rebounded after being pressed, while the other felt like pressing on rotten flesh with internal damage.
“From this, we can determine that the one on the left has undergone repeated thawing and freezing, its internal structure has changed, and it’s obviously an old set of bones.”
“The one on the right still has the elasticity of muscle, and judging by the sll, this bone obviously hasn’t been exposed to sunlight.”
“So,” he said, standing up and addressing Chen Yixin, “Professor, based on these skeletons, this bone won’t be more than seven days old, and the ti might even be shorter.”
“Hmm,” Chen Yixin glanced at Wang Hongcai and said to Wei Yibo, “What else?”
“This…” Wei Yibo knew what Professor Chen wanted him to say, and looking at his good friend, he said helplessly, “According to these bones from different periods, the span of ti could exceed a year. Moreover, except for a few bones, they all belong to the sa species, which ans that the nest of mutant creatures Zifeng ntioned most likely has a stable source of food.”
As he spoke, Wang Hongcai’s face looked sowhat embarrassed. He wanted to refute, but knowing Wei Yibo’s expertise, to continue arguing would only make him a laughingstock.
“Mr. Wei, can you see anything else?” Zhao Li quickly asked after hearing this.
Their point of concern was different from the others; aside from the age of these bones, they were also concerned about the strength of the creatures they ca from.
From the bones, it was clear these were from large creatures, and based on the ‘bigger ans stronger’ rule, one should not underestimate these creatures’ power.
And for sothing that could hunt these large creatures for food, the strength was imaginable.
Seemingly noticing everyone’s unease, Wei Yibo spoke again, “Everyone, there’s no need to be nervous. According to the teeth marks on the bones, this creature’s individual strength shouldn’t be very strong. It’s very likely to be a species that excels in group hunting.”
Without ntioning it would have been better—his words now rendered the faces of the Fire Phoenix Pheasant troops even more somber.
Brother, do you even understand?
Creatures with group hunting habits are way more troubleso, alright.
If there were only one or two of them, they could sacrifice themselves if necessary to preserve the larger group.
But when it cos to herd-like…
Are we all just going to sit here and wait to et our end together?
Without caring for anything else, Zhao Li hastily said, “Professor Chen, we must leave this place as quickly as possible.”
“I know, just don’t panic,” Chen Yixing said with relative calm, “Although I don’t know which species it is, generally herd-ntality creatures won’t easily attack life forms that are not part of their diet. Even if they do attack, they will observe for many days, ensuring there is no threat before they act.”
“Furthermore, judging from the descriptions, the size of this group is not very large. Even if food is scarce, they probably wouldn’t dare to attack us.”
“Of course, unless we killed their offspring, they would beco relentlessly hostile.” Chen Yixing smiled at Shao Zifeng, “I presu Zifeng wouldn’t do such a thing, right?”
“How could I?” Shao Zifeng quickly waved his hands, “It was just an open space with only these bones, I saw no living creature.”
Upon hearing Chen Yixing’s words, the tension amongst the group subsided significantly.
“What I’m worried about now is the road ahead.”
“From the events of these past two days, it seems the dangers of Antarctica may not just be the harsh environnt, it’s very likely an alternative version of the African continent.”
Everyone fell silent.
Africa is known for its diverse and nurous species of wildlife, with over 90 species of large ungulate mammals, more than 2000 species of freshwater fish – more than any other continent. There are about 3000 species of fish, approximately 238 species of amphibians, 58 species of reptiles, 589 species of birds, and 1100 species of mammals, earning it the title of a wildlife paradise.
Of course, this was before the ‘Unknown Recovery Event.’ Africa was already relatively underdeveloped, with continuous conflicts across more than sixty nations and regions.
Apart from South Africa, hunger and poverty were the main thes there. After the ‘Unknown Recovery Event’ exploded, African nations were powerless to stop it. Only Qiuqiu’s holand, South Africa, was still struggling to survive. The rest of the region had beco a no-go zone for humans, a true paradise for mutant creatures.
They had just set out from the new station on the third day, and while still on the outskirts, they had encountered two different mutant creatures. If it was as Chen Yixing had speculated, that this was an alternative Africa, who knew what other mutant creatures might exist.
There was not much ti for everyone to ponder further as Chen Yixing continued, “To deal with the potential presence of mutant creatures, we must be extrely cautious in both scouting and defense for the rest of our journey.”
“This task will be tough, and I’ll entrust it to you.”
Zhao Li and the others swiftly stood at attention and saluted, “Yes. Please rest assured, Professor.”
“Furthermore, besides the predetermined route, we need to adjust our course as much as possible. If there is danger on the planned route, we’ll imdiately switch to an alternate path.”
“Let’s leave this task to Cang Haiyuan, Yang Qi, and Wei Yibo.”
“Rest assured, Professor Chen,” Cang Haiyuan said, thumping his chest, “I might not be as good in a fight as so people, but this is my specialty.”
Shao Zifeng curled his lip; this man really did play small tricks.
But he was different, a man of broad-minded generosity.
He glanced at Wang Hongcai, noticing his restless expression from feeling overlooked.
Shao Zifeng’s already generous heart broadened even further.
Comforting.
After making these arrangents, Chen Yixing did not seem at ease; on the contrary, her expression grew more serious.
“The Fire Phoenix Pheasant will handle scouting for mutant creatures in the air and on land, but if there are mutant creatures underground, we will be at a disadvantage.”
Antarctica is unlike other places; beneath so of the smooth snowfields, countless ravines are hidden.
If it were just a matter of passing through, it would be fine, because these crevices are generally covered with a layer of ltwater ice, and a few hundred kilograms of snowmobiles equipped with tracks can cross them directly. The true terror would be if there were mutant creatures hidden within these gorges.
That would be an absolute disaster for them.
“I’ll do it,”
Just when everyone was at a loss, Shao Zifeng suddenly spoke up, “My mutant creature has sensory abilities. I’ll lead at the front of the caravan. If there are mutant creatures underground, I can detect them imdiately.”
“Zifeng, but…” Chen Yixing, who had just been decisive, now showed a hint of hesitation on her face.
“Don’t worry, Sister Yixing.”
“Ying ying!”
Qiuqiu waved its little paws; though it didn’t understand their conversation, to it, Dandan was the best!
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just…”
“Professor, I can vouch for him,”
Cang Haiyuan suddenly interrupted Chen Yixing. He recalled the several tis he had been with Shao Zifeng, and how this fellow always seed to sense danger one step ahead.
Of course, she didn’t distrust Shao Zifeng, but she was hesitant to let him take risks out of personal concern. To know that leading the way not only ant possible attacks from mutant creatures, but also potential pitfalls under the snow.
Yet as the team leader, so things were hard to say outright.
With the situation at this point, she had no reason to stop him, and thinking of this, Chen Yixing glared at Cang Haiyuan.
Cang Haiyuan touched his nose, feeling sowhat aggrieved.
“Since that’s settled, Zhao Li, arrange for two people to scout the surroundings to prevent those mutant creatures from unexpectedly returning, while everyone else quickly packs up the tents and other items,” Chen Yixing said.
“Yes!”
“Crack!”
Two Fire Phoenix Pheasants cried out as they swiftly ascended, their red figures circling above the camp with tails afla.
After a flurry of activity, all the mbers of the expedition dressed appropriately and mounted their all-terrain snowmobiles.
Now, the storm outside was even fiercer.
“Let’s go!”
“Crack!”
Amid the roaring engines, led by the Fire Phoenix Pheasants, a convoy slowly vanished into the blizzard.
What was once a bustling campsite left behind only disordered tracks and a fire that had gone out.
The chilling wind carried snowflakes, voraciously ravaging the area, which soon would be covered again by fresh snow as if no one had ever been there.
Bang!
Suddenly, a small figure dropped from the mountain.
The rolling snow buried it beneath, forming a mound above it.
After a mont, a small head covered in snow erged from the snowfield.
It shook its head quickly, throwing off the snow on its head,
and with it, the fresh blood at the corner of its mouth.
The little head rotated, its amber vertical pupils fixated on the disappeared tents with an expression of urgency.
It crouched down to sniff the scent on the snowy ground, then with its strong hind legs, it set off after the trail into the blizzard.
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