"Don't run!"

"No one moves!"

As Jiang Ran shouted loudly, everyone who had already raised their legs to escape stopped moving.

"Running around without a plan is the biggest taboo in wilderness survival!"

Jiang Ran said quickly and seriously, "It's nighttime now, and visibility is already poor. If there's a hole in the ice, can you find it? What if you get lost and can't find it? One night is enough to freeze someone to death!"

Jiang Ran's words were serious and reasonable, and everyone quickly took them to heart.

But the situation was critical, and the tension hadn't dissipated. Fu Bo still asked worriedly, "But the fire is about to come. Are we going to do nothing?"

"Of course not," Jiang Ran glanced to the side, then picked up a piece of dry wood and lit it in the fire. "Most ice creatures are afraid of fire, and there are so many of us. If we each hold a torch and gather together, we can withstand most dangers."

As soon as the words fell, everyone couldn't wait to light torches, then gathered together, and in an instant formed a bright line of defense with blazing flames.

Each of them had a solemn expression on their face as they stared at the green shadow that was approaching from the sky. They stood with their feet apart, ready to fight.

Jiang Ran took the brunt of the attack and consciously took half a step forward, so that even if danger came, she would be the first to face it.

The hand that was not holding the torch was clenched into a fist. Although her face remained calm, cold sweat had already begun to seep out of her palm.

The green shadow was originally heading straight for us, but for some reason, it suddenly stopped and swayed for a while at a distance.

However, when everyone relaxed a little, it suddenly rushed towards here again.

Thirty meters...

Twenty meters...

Ten meters...

Danger is at hand!

Everyone's heart was in their throat, not even daring to breathe.

The green shadow was getting closer and closer, and finally came up to everyone.

It wasn't until they faced each other at close range that Jiang Ran saw clearly that it was...

A reindeer?

It looks like a fawn that has just reached adulthood. It is about two meters long, which is considered a medium size among reindeer herds.

The reason it looked like a green shadow before was because its horns were coated with a special substance that emitted a emerald green fluorescence in the dark night. Reindeer themselves do not emit light, so from a distance, only the horns suspended in the air were fluorescent, as if something was floating in the air.

Since it's just reindeer, it's okay.

It's a blessing to be nervous for a while.

However, just as Jiang Ran breathed a sigh of relief, Fu Bo suddenly took two steps forward.

He bravely stood in front of everyone and waved the torch at the deer clumsily: "Monster! Don't go any further! Otherwise I won't let you go!"

The little deer didn't move, but just opened its big watery blue eyes: "Yo~"

Fu Bo's hand holding the torch was shaking a little, and it almost fell to the ground with a clang. He had no choice but to hold on with his other hand and shouted, "I, I'm warning you! Stay away! I, I'm not afraid!"

However, as soon as he finished speaking, the little reindeer took a few steps forward with its slender legs, swayed left and right, and then walked towards Fu Bo.

This monster doesn't understand human language!

Seeing it getting closer and closer, Fu Bo's hair stood on end.

He suddenly closed his eyes and swung the torch hard to try to get rid of the monster, but he didn't expect that his arm would be grabbed by someone as soon as he moved.

When I turned around, it was Jiang Ran.

Fu Bo was anxious and angry: "You! What are you doing!"

Jiang Ran said with a smile: "It's not a monster, it's just a little reindeer."

"Reindeer?"

Fu Bo raised his eyebrows in confusion and was about to ask what was going on when the little reindeer gently licked his ankle.

Fu Bo: “!!!”

Fu Bo: "Does it want to eat me?"

Before Jiang Ran could explain, Fu Bo collapsed and said, "It's already, uh, tasting me!"

Jiang Ran: “…”

It took Jiang Ran a full half hour to finally calm Fu Bo down.

However, Fu Bo's mood did not improve much, and his face still showed tension and fear, because for some reason, the little reindeer had a special liking for him and kept circling around him.

After being licked on the cheek again, Fu Bo was about to collapse again: "What the hell does it want to do?"

"Maybe he was moved by your heroic sacrifice just now and likes you very much?" Jiang Ran guessed.

"This, this kind of love..." Fu Bo was about to cry, "Whoever wants it can have it..."

Jiang Ran had no choice but to continue to comfort him: "Reindeer really don't eat people. In the early days of the Earth era, they were often eaten by people."

"A reindeer's diet consists entirely of vegetarian food, like litmus, horsetail, mushrooms, and the like... They don't even eat meat! How could they possibly be interested in you?"

Unfortunately, Fu Bo could not hear these words. He just closed his eyes nervously, pretending that the reindeer did not exist if he could not see it.

But no matter what, the tense and dangerous atmosphere has finally improved a lot.

After learning that the reindeer were harmless, Zeng Pei became curious: "Why do their horns glow at night?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Jiang Ran thought for a moment, "but I seem to have heard my teacher mention before that in a country near the Arctic Circle, thousands of reindeer die in car accidents every year. To avoid this, the locals began experimenting with reflective paint, making it fluorescent at night to warn drivers to be careful. Perhaps this was the result of that experiment, and it has been passed down for thousands of years until now."

"I see."

"Um."

"but……"

"What's wrong?"

Zeng Pei thought for a moment and said, "This is the first time I've heard that you have a teacher."

Jiang Ran chuckled when he heard this: "He's just an old man who keeps complaining all day long."

Zeng Pei's mind was much more delicate than the others. She immediately understood that Jiang Ran didn't want to talk in depth about this topic, and considerately didn't ask any more questions.

After sitting around the fire for a while, Fu Bo couldn't bear it anymore and just lay down on the ground, asking everyone to get up and collect his body tomorrow morning.

Everyone found it funny, but they still carefully pulled the reindeer apart for his sake. After helping Fu Bo back to the igloo, Jiang Ran even blocked up most of the doorway, leaving only a small gap wide enough for the reindeer to enter and exit.

Ren Xiayang also helped her move bricks and build walls.

Only after he finished his work did he fall into deep thought: "The doorway is blocked... How can I get in?"

Jiang Ran patted his shoulder and said, "It's really timely to discover the problem now."

Ren Xiayang: “…”

It was really not easy to pull the entire ice wall apart again. Everyone helped to move the ice bricks away by half the width, allowing Ren Xiayang to squeeze in through the gap and then stack the ice bricks back.

After entering the house, Ren Xiayang squatted by the door and looked at everyone outside through the gap.

He asked plaintively, "Will I not be able to get out again tomorrow?"

Jiang Ran approached the crack in the ice, squatted down and said, "When you cure Fu Bo's fear of reindeer, we will let you two out."

Ren Xiayang suddenly became even more resentful.

He said bitterly, "I'm not a doctor. How can I cure Fu Bo's bad habits?"

Jiang Ran spread his hands and said, "I'm not a babysitter. Can I still carry bricks for you every day?"

Ren Xiayang: “…”

It actually sounds reasonable.

After all the busy work, it was already late.

The moon gradually shifted to the southwest, and the stars in the sky twinkled, as if urging everyone to go to bed quickly.

Under Jiang Ran's instructions, everyone put out the fire and collected the charcoal for use tomorrow.

After everything was packed up, everyone said good night to each other and returned to their respective snow houses.

The wilderness is different from the city. There are no bright lights, wine, women, singing and dancing at night, and the overall schedule is also earlier.

Although it is not yet the second half of the night, it is time to go to bed at this time.

However, not long after he closed his eyes, Jiang Ran was woken up by a shout when he was half asleep and half awake.

Although everyone had entered the igloo and the bright fire had gone out, the little reindeer did not leave. It was still wandering outside several houses, calling out "Yo Yo".

Zeng Pei was also woken up. She rubbed her eyes and asked, "Don't they sleep at night?"

Jiang Ran yawned slowly. "The reindeer living in the polar regions really don't have a fixed biological clock. Their sleep schedule is very random, mainly determined by the time it takes to digest food, rather than by the alternation of day and night like normal animals. That's why reindeer are often active at night."

"This is a bit annoying," Zeng Pei said. "I have to get up early tomorrow to make fishing nets and fish baskets."

"There's no way," Jiang Ran turned around. "Even if I go out and chase it away now, it might still come back when I'm almost asleep."

"That's true."

Zeng Pei was almost fully conscious. She put her hands under her head and listened to the reindeer's calls for a while. After a while, she said, "It sounds pretty nice, though."

"Of course, these are reindeer." Jiang Ran chuckled and said, "During the Earth Era, there was a poem that specifically described them."

Zeng Pei: "What poem?"

Jiang Ran used his hand to draw a repeatedly curved arc in the darkness.

She chanted slowly and long: "Yoyo deer calls - eating wild apples -"

Zeng Pei repeated it several times with her.

After she memorized it, she smiled and said, "Although the pronunciation is a bit strange, I somehow still think it sounds quite nice. It has a very special flavor."

Jiang Ran also smiled when he heard this: "This is a poem I like very much."

The two of them were in high spirits and wanted to continue chatting on this topic, but after just a few words, there was a rustling sound outside the ice house.

Jiang Ran was very alert. She immediately told Zeng Pei not to make any sound, then walked a few steps in the direction of the sound and put her ear against the wall of the ice house.

When I listened carefully, I found that there were actually human voices outside.

Jiang Ran put his ear even closer, trying to make out the content of the words.

This time she could roughly distinguish the voice, and it turned out that the person speaking was Xu Yang.

That's strange.

Is the sponsor not sleeping late at night and going outside to get some fresh air?

Immediately afterwards, Xu Yang's deliberately lowered voice came through the ice.

He said, "Reindeer, huh? I'm warning you, if you disturb my sleep again, I'll cook you and eat you tomorrow."

Jiang Ran: “…”

"What's wrong?" Zeng Pei saw that she hadn't moved for a long time, and came over with some concern, "What's going on outside?"

Jiang Ran shuddered instantly, stood up immediately, put his arm around Zeng Pei's shoulders and was about to lead him back: "Nothing, nothing! Let's continue talking about ancient poetry!"

Zeng Pei: “?”

The author has something to say:

When I was looking up information, I saw the luminous reindeer and thought it was very interesting, so I wrote about it. However, reflective paint is actually only used in Finland at present, and there are also things like paint that does not fade for thousands of years... Please don't delve into it Orz

【Small Theater】

Jiang Ran: Today is also a day to cover up for the sponsor.

Xu Yang: I’ll pay you your salary when I get back.