Mu Shicheng lowered his head and rummaged through the thick stack of thirty-three years’ worth of temperature records Bai Liu had handed him, searching for the coldest location on August 10th of the year before last.
The latitude and longitude of that location were clearly marked in the records.
And they were exactly where Bai Liu and the others were standing now.
Tang Erda moved the radar detector onto the ice, exhaled a cloud of hot breath, straightened his back, and turned to look at Bai Liu. “Same old rules? Detect first, then drill?”
Bai Liu nodded.
Tang Erda moved the heavy hydraulic hammer onto the ice. After carefully checking that there were no ice crevasses nearby, he climbed back into the helicopter and began operating the instruments.
Liu Jiayi returned to the helicopter with him.
The wind here was too strong. The gale had enough force to almost blow her away, forcing her to retreat into the helicopter.
Liu Jiayi gripped the back of Tang Erda’s pilot seat with both hands, stood on tiptoe, and stretched her neck to look at the radar screen on the instrument panel.
The instrument scanned downward layer by layer, finally detecting a regularly shaped metal object at a depth of more than a thousand meters. The discovery made her frown. “That deep? How long will it take to dig?”
“Conservative estimate, more than six hours of operation.” Tang Erda rubbed his hands, which had turned red from the cold while he was moving the equipment, and frowned. “It’s troublesome. The temperature here is too low. Even if we take turns working, the people resting won’t have any way to warm themselves back up because we’re almost out of fuel.”
“If we force the excavation, it’ll be very dangerous.”
Liu Jiayi looked at the thermometer hanging beside Tang Erda’s hand, then looked up and asked, “The temperature right now isn’t that low. It’s only minus thirty-something degrees. Didn’t you operate safely in minus fifty-degree conditions at Taishan Station before? Why is working here more dangerous?”
“Because the wind speed here is too high,” Tang Erda explained gravely. “In Antarctica, wind is colder than snow.”
“Low temperatures only draw away human body heat slowly. But high-speed wind strips away surface temperature far faster. If we work while constantly exposed to this wind speed, with our inadequate equipment and insulation, it’ll be very easy for the gale to carry off a massive amount of body heat and freeze us to death outright.”
Tang Erda looked at Bai Liu and the others outside the helicopter, who were stabilizing the equipment.
In only a few minutes, Mu Shicheng and Mu Ke’s faces had turned purple from the cold, and they were constantly making small movements on the snow to keep themselves warm. A rare hint of worry appeared on Tang Erda’s face. “I’ll go down and swap with them.”
“But even you won’t last long in this gale. You’ll freeze just like them.” Liu Jiayi’s thoughts were clear, and she pointed straight to the crux of the problem. “Even if each of us takes turns enduring the cold and forces the excavation of the heart, freezing to death is only a matter of time—because we don’t have the supplies to warm ourselves back up. We’ve been short on fuel for a long time already, haven’t we?”
Liu Jiayi paused several times, but in the end, she could not hold back.
“There’s no need for us to fight Spades to the death in this game right now. It’s normal that we can’t beat him yet. We can coax Bai Liu into logging out first.”
“Whether it’s digging out a heart from more than a thousand meters underground, or... or beating Spades, it’s too much for us!!”
Liu Jiayi gripped the helicopter frame tightly, faint tears hidden in her reddened eyes. In the wind and snow, her voice sounded almost powerless, like that of a truly helpless little girl.
“Spades is really terrifying. I saw the Queen of Hearts fight him. She asked me if I was certain I could save her from Spades’ hands. I didn’t answer her then.”
“But now I can tell you the answer. Absolutely not. I don’t have the ability to save any of my teammates from Spades’ hands.” Liu Jiayi let out a suppressed sob, her thin fingers turning white as she clutched the frame. “...I don’t want to see Spades kill Bai Liu, the way he threw [Bai Liu] into the acid pool before.”
“He will definitely lose, and I won’t be able to save him.”
Liu Jiayi looked as though she was about to cry. “But I’m not sure I can convince Bai Liu to leave the game. He trusts you more. Can you help me coax him?”
Tang Erda looked back at the little girl pleading with him so sincerely, tears in her eyes. Her expression was so fragile that, in a daze, he realized something.
This Little Witch, who in his memory had always been bloody and cruel in her methods, and exceptionally intelligent, was also afraid.
—The scene she had seen earlier at Archibald Station had still frightened her.
Even though this frightened little girl had not shown it at all from the moment she boarded the plane until now. She had stayed calm until Bai Liu left, then tried to conspire with him.
Tang Erda’s foot, just stepping outward, paused slightly. Then he continued forward, sinking deeply into the snow. He turned back toward the helicopter and looked up at Liu Jiayi, the wind blowing the fur trim around his hood into a mess.
Liu Jiayi was right.
But Bai Liu was the Tactician.
——That identity was beyond dispute.
“Are you questioning the Tactician’s decision?” Tang Erda asked in a deep voice.
Liu Jiayi bit her lower lip and fell silent.
“Never question the Tactician’s decision.” Tang Erda lifted his head and stared straight at Liu Jiayi. “The moment he makes a decision, he has already prepared himself to give his life for victory—Bai Liu understands the consequences of all this better than you do.”
“But for a Tactician, victory in the game is the most important thing. And you, as his teammate, only have to execute his decisions and then win the match.”
Liu Jiayi’s voice was hoarse. “...Even if Bai Liu dies for that victory, it doesn’t matter?”
Tang Erda said very calmly, “Yes. It doesn’t matter.”
“Because that is what he wants.”
After saying this, Tang Erda turned and left, leaving deep footprints in the snow.
Liu Jiayi stood by the door and looked at those footprints for a while. Then she took a deep breath, rubbed her eyes messily to wipe away the tears, turned back, and began rummaging through boxes and cabinets for maps and information.
She gritted her teeth and thought fiercely—If I die, then I die, but first I have to survive this ordeal. First, we dig out the heart.
I absolutely cannot freeze to death here!
By the time Bai Liu and the others were rotated back by Tang Erda from the drilling machine, Liu Jiayi had already skillfully set up camp on the snow and brought out heating equipment to warm the three of them.
Mu Shicheng held a cup of hot water and shivered violently, his words coming out in cold, trembling waves. “Damn~ it~ is~ too~ cold!”
Liu Jiayi handed Bai Liu a small fleece blanket. Bai Liu took it and wiped away the ice hanging from the ends of his hair. “Thanks.”
“We’re almost out of fuel.” After the group had recovered a little, Liu Jiayi calmly began stating the objective difficulties. “Because we need to leave enough fuel for the helicopter to fly, what we have isn’t enough to last six hours.”
Bai Liu thought for only a moment before proposing a solution. “Are there any other observation stations nearby? We can search the map and see if there’s fuel and supplies we can replenish.”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I thought too.” Liu Jiayi spread a map out between herself and Bai Liu. “But after checking the map carefully, I only found one place that might have stored supplies.”
Liu Jiayi pointed to a small wooden hut icon on the map. “This Scott’s Hut. It’s a cultural relic left behind by the first generation of explorers in 1912.”
Mu Ke breathed into his palms as he leaned over. “But for a relic building like that—and it’s made of wood, so it’s flammable—would they really store a large amount of fuel inside?”
“They would.” Liu Jiayi nodded with certainty. “I flipped through the books at Archibald. There was a travel brochure inside with quite a detailed introduction to Scott’s Hut. Because this little wooden hut is still maintained and renovated, and because people live nearby, there are fuel reserves.”
Bai Liu nodded. “It isn’t far from here. We can go directly to Scott’s Hut on foot and take a look.”
He gave the order directly. “Mu Ke, Mu Shicheng, Jiayi, you come with me. Bring a small portion of the fuel and supplies, and leave the rest to Captain Tang. He has high cold resistance, can fly the helicopter, and is more familiar with Antarctica. Let him stay here and focus on drilling and excavation.”
“Once we arrive, we’ll call him on the satellite phone. If there’s fuel, we’ll have him come over to refuel. If there isn’t, we’ll have him continue standing by.”
Bai Liu looked around. “Any objections?”
Mu Ke and Mu Shicheng said, “No.”
Liu Jiayi pursed her lips and did not answer.
Bai Liu looked at her quietly.
Liu Jiayi lifted her reddened eyes and met his gaze for a while. “Do you absolutely have to beat Spades?”
Bai Liu smiled. “Absolutely.”
Although she had expected this answer, Liu Jiayi still could not help wanting to curse at him. “Even if you die, it doesn’t matter?”
Bai Liu smiled and stood. He patted Liu Jiayi on the head, used his thumb to wipe away the tears she was holding back, and gave her a light hug.
“—I promise I’ll beat him before I die.”
The group bid farewell to Tang Erda, took their sleds and ski poles, and set off toward Scott’s Hut.
Scott’s Hut was indeed not far. After walking for a short while, the group could already see the nostalgic building on the coast.
A faint light glowed inside the little wooden hut, giving off a warmth that made the people who had struggled through the wind and snow feel a cozy heat in their hearts. Mu Shicheng felt so comfortable that he could not help relaxing his tense shoulder blades.
Bai Liu set his ski poles aside, took off his snowshoes, drew his whip, and walked into Scott’s Hut.
An old man sat on a creaking wooden stool, eyes half-closed as he warmed himself by the fireplace. His arms were crossed over his stomach while he dozed. His upturned mustache twitched, and from the corner [N O V E L I G H T] of his mouth came a small string of snores that only someone deeply asleep could make.
The sound of Bai Liu’s footsteps entering the room and the cold wind rushing in through the door woke him.
He opened his sleepy eyes and saw Bai Liu standing less than five meters in front of him.
He seemed quite pleased, not at all troubled by this uninvited guest’s intrusion. Instead, he raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“Look what I’ve found.”
Edmund’s smiling gaze fell on the whip in Bai Liu’s hand.
“—Another new guest who likes using a whip.”
