Chapter 120: Chapter 118: Moose
The snow in the direction Lu Zhifeng and Jiang Linhai were heading wasn’t particularly thick, but it was still calf-deep.
On the rugged, uneven surface, it was easy to step into a hidden pit.
Qin Shen and Jiang Si trudged on, one deep step after another. After about ten minutes, Jiang Si caught a whiff of a strong, sweet fragrance.
They followed the scent and were stunned to find a forest of brilliant, golden wintersweet appearing before them.
The fragrance from these wintersweet flowers was as concentrated as perfume. After a few sniffs, it felt like even your farts would come out smelling sweet.
In her past life, Jiang Si had also encountered this type of wintersweet that bloomed defiantly in extremely cold regions.
Don’t be fooled by their fragrance. Inhaling too much of it could lead to oxygen deprivation and cause you to pass out.
Once someone fainted amidst the flowers, the cold weather would rapidly cause their body temperature to drop, leading to cardiac arrest.
A chill ran through Jiang Si. She pulled an oxygen mask out of thin air, had Qin Shen put it on, and then charged straight in.
Qin Shen’s keen sense of smell was so overwhelmed by the floral scent that he couldn’t pinpoint their location at all.
Jiang Si anxiously wove through one wintersweet tree after another, wishing she could burn the entire grove to the ground. Just then, she finally spotted the figures of Lu Zhifeng and Jiang Linhai collapsed on the ground.
Jiang Si rushed over and helped Jiang Linhai up. He was completely unresponsive, his body as cold as a corpse, and his heart rate was terrifyingly slow.
They had to get out of there immediately and perform emergency rescue. Otherwise, Jiang Linhai and Lu Zhifeng really wouldn’t make it.
Jiang Si forced herself to calm down. She took two more oxygen masks from her space and put them on their faces. Then, she materialized a truck out of her space, and together with Qin Shen, they loaded Jiang Linhai and Lu Zhifeng inside.
Jiang Si quickly turned on the heat and sped off, while Qin Shen began performing emergency first aid.
Once the temperature rose, Jiang Linhai and Lu Zhifeng’s conditions improved significantly.
As Jiang Si was about to reach the shore, Qin Shen told her, "They’re about to wake up."
Jiang Si was overjoyed. "Are they out of the critical period?"
Qin Shen nodded. "Yes, they’re out of danger now."
Jiang Si suddenly thought of Qin Shen’s Healing Power. She instinctively glanced in the rearview mirror, and just as she’d expected, his complexion was terrible.
’There was no way they could have recovered so quickly from a state of near-cardiac arrest if Qin Shen hadn’t used his Healing Power.’
A warm feeling washed over Jiang Si’s heart. "Thank you," she said to him.
’If something had happened to Jiang Linhai, I don’t know what I would have done.’
’This wouldn’t have happened if only I had told everyone not to wander off.’
Qin Shen shook his head. "You don’t have to be so formal with me."
"Okay," Jiang Si nodded, but inwardly, she was already planning to go to his room later to check on him.
When an unfamiliar transport truck appeared in his line of sight, Jiang Chengwu instantly grew tense.
At a time like this, with Qin Shen and Jiang Si gone, it would be extremely dangerous for the three of them, plus a child like Niu Niu, to try and defend the Icebreaker.
Fortunately, they had plenty of weapons. Everyone reacted quickly, slinging rifles over their shoulders and taking cover, ready to eliminate the newcomers as soon as they got close.
Niu Niu clutched her gun, her palm sweaty, and asked nervously, "Aunt Shen, do you think my dad and the others are in danger?"
Shen Baoying wasn’t sure herself, but she could only offer verbal comfort. "Of course not. They’re very strong. Ordinary people are no match for them."
Suddenly, Jiang Chengwu said to them, "Don’t worry, it’s Sisi driving!"
So it was Sisi!
That gave them a scare.
Shen Baoying let out a sigh of relief and stood on the deck as the transport truck came to a stop.
As Qin Shen carried Jiang Linhai out of the truck on his back, the tension that had just dissipated in everyone’s hearts came rushing back. "What happened?"
Tears welled up in Niu Niu’s eyes.
Jiang Si waved her hand. "Don’t worry. Uncle Lu and my dad just got knocked out by a fragrance. They’ll wake up soon!"
Jiang Chengwu moved to go down and carry Jiang Linhai.
With swift movements, Qin Shen also brought Lu Zhifeng out, handing him over to Jiang Chengwu and Shen Baoying. He then turned back to Jiang Linhai and carried him the rest of the way.
Surrounded and carefully tended to by everyone, the two men finally, groggily, came to.
Shen Baoying, finally able to relax, asked, "Sisi, what was it that knocked your dad out?"
Jiang Si pulled a handful of wintersweet flowers from her pocket and placed them on the table.
Everyone looked at the delicate, vibrant wintersweet flowers, a bit confused. "Knocked out by the fragrance?"
Jiang Si nodded. "It’s a mutated plant that can induce a coma. If you inhale a large amount of its fragrance, it causes cerebral hypoxia. In this extreme weather, if someone isn’t found in time, it’s very easy to freeze to death."
Shen Baoying was scared to death. "But aren’t these just ordinary wintersweet flowers? To think they’ve evolved into a biological weapon... that’s terrifying!"
’If Jiang Si and Qin Shen hadn’t gone for a walk and found Jiang Linhai and Lu Zhifeng, they would have been done for!’
Jiang Si said, "The wintersweet’s fragrance is potent enough to be used as an anesthetic. Bringing a plant or two back to cultivate would actually be a good idea. Qin Shen and I already discussed it. Inhaling small amounts is harmless to the human body. Plus, the flowers can be used to make tea or be eaten, so they have a lot of value for cultivation."
Lu Zhifeng, his head still groggy, added, "You could also extract it and use it as a knockout drug!"
’When we walked in there, we were taken down before we even knew what was happening.’
Suddenly, he looked at Jiang Si and Qin Shen with confusion. "How come you two were fine?"
Jiang Si’s expression faltered for a moment. "Qin Shen has a keen sense of smell. He felt something wasn’t right, so we put on our oxygen masks."
Lu Zhifeng sighed. "We just weren’t cautious enough. For wintersweet flowers to grow so lushly and have such a soul-stirring fragrance... of course there had to be a catch."
Jiang Si nodded. "Just be more careful next time."
Jiang Linhai was still a bit pleased. "Well, at least it was a pleasant surprise. Now we have a substitute for anesthetic."
Shen Baoying smiled. "That’s right. It’s not just an anesthetic, it’s a new food ingredient too." Then she asked Jiang Linhai, "Were there any hot springs around there? For them to bloom so magnificently in temperatures of minus forty or fifty degrees, does that mean we can plant them anywhere? We could even plant a miasma-filled labyrinth, like in the TV shows."
Shen Baoying’s idea was actually quite good and would be perfect for defending against infiltrating enemies.
Jiang Linhai nodded. "There were no hot springs around, so we should be able to plant them anywhere." Suddenly, he remembered something else. "Back then, we also saw some kind of animal eating the wintersweet flowers, but our minds went fuzzy and we passed out before we could get a clear look."
Lu Zhifeng nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty big and white too. It vanished in the blink of an eye. It was incredibly fast, but it didn’t attack us, so it must be a fairly docile animal."
An image of a moose instantly surfaced in Jiang Si’s mind. Some genetically mutated moose were white.
Female moose don’t have antlers, but male moose have sharp, pointy antlers that can weigh dozens of pounds and are extremely dangerous.
While they don’t usually attack people, if you provoke one, it’s definitely not something to be trifled with.
