Chapter 83: Frozen Zone Insect Swarm (19)
Snowflakes mixed with drizzle fell and turned into ice when they hit the ground.
Time flies and it’s already a month later.
During this month, the temperature has continued to drop. First it rained, then it snowed, and now it is raining and snowing again.
The base distributed emergency cold-weather supplies three times in a row, but some residents died in the extremely low temperatures, mostly elderly people and children.
After treating the wounded at the base hospital, Xie Mian returned home early.
He placed the goose egg in the warmest part of his chest.
As soon as he got home, without caring about the ice on his hair and body, Xie Mian took out the goose Shifang and put it in the nest.
The nest was different from the simple one made at the beginning. It was covered with fluffy feathers and some colorful insect stones.
Goose Shifang swayed back and forth in his nest, and after sensing the location of the insect stone, he rolled over.
The moment the insect stone was hit, it lost all its color and turned gray.
Goose Shifang burped.
The color of the eggshell deepened.
When Xie Mian came out of the hot bath, E Shifang was already lying quietly in the nest, asleep.
He wiped his hair with one hand and picked up a small quilt with the other hand to cover Dandan.
Since discovering that the energy of insect stones can help the goose grow, Xie Mian prepares insect stones for the goose to absorb every day.
Every time Goose Shifang absorbs the insect stone, he will fall asleep for a while.
Sometimes it takes one or two hours, sometimes three or four days. The duration of the dormancy is closely related to the level of the insect stone. The higher the level and the greater the number, the longer the dormancy.
Lin Heng and Fu Ze have been very busy recently and rarely go home.
Xie Mian went to the kitchen to make a simple bowl of noodles, brought the noodles back to the bedroom, and sat cross-legged on the carpet.
Outside the window, the snow is getting heavier.
It was covered with ice particles and hit the window with a crackling sound, making the window seem to be about to burst.
With a loud bang, a bolt of thunder fell.
Observation station.
Lin Heng's breath formed a layer of white frost on the tempered glass.
He subconsciously wiped it with his sleeve, but in his blurred vision he saw another bolt of lightning striking the ice field in the frozen area.
The blue-purple electric light instantly illuminated hundreds of black insect monsters embedded in the ice.
"The seventh abnormal lightning."
When Lin Heng spoke into the communicator, his face was extremely pale and his teeth were chattering uncontrollably.
He called up the weather map and red warning boxes kept popping up.
The surface temperature has dropped to minus 42 degrees Celsius, breaking the lowest record since the cold wave arrived.
The door to the observatory was suddenly thrown open, and Xiaoguang, the assistant wrapped in winter clothing, stumbled in, his mask covered in frost.
"Advisor Lin, new cracks have appeared in the frozen zone, and the drone captured the eyes of three insect monsters moving!"
Lin Heng's pen made ink dots on the record sheet.
He grabbed the record sheet and ran to the corridor, his protective boots making a sharp sound on the metal stairs.
"Fu Ze, notify the Ministry of Energy to start the geothermal heat pump. The second extreme cold wave is coming! The second extreme cold wave is coming!"
"All soldiers and insect followers in the frozen zone must retreat to base immediately, immediately!"
On the wall, the alarm suddenly blared.
The thermometer was swinging wildly, dropping at a rate of 0.3 degrees per minute.
In the meeting room of Area A.
Lin Heng's urgent voice came through the communicator into the ears of everyone present.
"Withdraw, are you kidding me?"
Research Director Song Lin slammed the table and stood up. "You must be joking! If we withdraw the patrol, what will happen to the base's defense?"
"The temperature is plummeting, plummeting. Don't you see? If we don't withdraw now, those soldiers will freeze to death and become food for the insect monsters!"
Fu Linchuan was equally furious: "Song Lin, don't treat the lives of soldiers as a joke!"
"In the end times, sacrifice is inevitable. They are doing it for the country and the people!" Song Lin did not give in.
"Then let the Insect-Followed Squad replace the soldiers. They have stronger physical fitness and can more easily survive extreme temperatures!"
"You fart!"
Song Lin was furious: "Fu Linchuan, what bullshit are you talking about? The insect-loving ones are the future, how can we let them go? What if the insect tide comes? Can those soldiers handle it?"
"All lives are equal, regardless of status!"
Fu Linchuan's face flushed red, and he pointed at Song Lin's nose angrily.
Time passes by every second.
Fu Ze couldn't sit still any longer, so he kicked the chair away and walked out of the meeting room.
"Fu Ze, what are you doing? The meeting isn't over yet."
"Go to the frozen area!"
"What are you doing in the frozen area? Come back!" Fu Linchuan said angrily.
Fu Ze strode out of the meeting room without explanation.
He was worried because the observation station was in a frozen area.
The wind and snow are getting stronger.
In my ears, there was only the sound of howling wind and snow, and no other sound could be heard.
Despite wearing a special cold-proof mask, Chen Yan still felt like swallowing broken glass with every breath he took. His eyelashes had long since frozen into two rows of ice curtains, and every time he blinked, he could hear a subtle shattering sound.
"Captain... Captain..." Xu Qi's voice came from the communicator. The signal noise made his voice sound like it was coming from underwater: "My... heating vest... is not working..."
When Chen Yan turned around, the ice on the soles of his combat boots made an ominous creaking sound.
Twenty meters away, Xu Qi's grayish-white winter clothing was covered in thick frost. He was slapping the stopped heating unit at his waist in vain.
Chen Yan knew about that equipment - theoretically it could last for six hours at minus fifty degrees Celsius, but obviously the theory didn't hold up in practice.
"Everyone assemble!"
Chen Yan gave the order.
The order to retreat has not come down yet, but they can't continue to disperse like this, otherwise everyone will freeze to death.
In the distance, swaying figures were approaching him, each one walking with the mechanical feel of someone frozen.
When the last team member Wang Lei stumbled into the assembly circle, Chen Yan saw that the window of his cold-proof mask was covered with ice.
Wang Lei's left hand remained in the posture of holding the gun, but his five fingers had long been frozen into one with the trigger, and his skin had turned a horrible waxy white.
"Where are your gloves?"
"There was... there was a bug monster before, and it fell when I was dealing with it!" Wang Lei explained with trembling body.
"Take it!"
Chen Yan took off his cold-proof gloves and stuffed them into Wang Lei's arms.
"Captain...Captain, I don't want it!"
"This is an order!"
Wang Lei tried hard to hold back the tears that were about to flow out. He couldn't cry, because the tears would freeze his eyes and he would not be able to open them.
He wanted to put on the gloves given by the captain, but found that his fingers were frozen together and could not be separated.
"Captain, can't we retreat yet?"
Wang Lei's words expressed the thoughts of all the soldiers present.
"Hold on a little longer, the order hasn't come down yet." Chen Yan's voice was hoarse and heavy inside the cold-proof mask.
They can't retreat yet.
The orders from the base were clear – “The patrol must hold the line until the ice is confirmed to be stable.”
But how can the ice be stable?
Since the cold wave hit, the insect monsters under the ice have begun to swell, their bodies twisting and growing larger in the extreme cold.
"Captain! The ice is cracking!"
Xu Qi's exclamation came from the side.
Chen Yan turned his head suddenly and looked in the direction where Xu Qi's gun was pointing.
I saw a dark crack on the ice surface not far away, spreading at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Under the crack, a black insect monster, more than three meters long and as thick as a cable, twisted and shook its body and slowly stretched out.
"What's this?"
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