Qiao Xuejun briefly told Zhao Xian what happened on the way.
Zhao Xian laughed out loud after hearing this: "You're not sure about going back? You're standing there motionless, are you really..."
He wanted to say something to her, but seeing her shivering from the cold, he felt so distressed that he couldn't bring himself to say anything. He could only pull her along and walk away quickly.
"Go to the patrol booth and take a break."
Zhao Xian pulled Qiao Xuejun to the nearest patrol booth.
The patrol booth was made of fish skin and surrounded by two layers of log walls.
The two patrol soldiers here just went out, so it's empty.
Zhao Xian quickly opened the door, revealing a thick fishskin curtain. He shoved Qiao Xuejun into the patrol booth and closed the door.
During this period, patrol booths had blue oil heaters.
Because everyone was out, the heater was adjusted to the minimum setting.
He led Qiao Xuejun to the side of the fireplace, asked her to sit down, picked up a bottle of blue oil from the side, and added another spoonful of blue oil into the fireplace.
The originally calm flames immediately shot up and the fire became more intense.
Entering the warm patrol booth, Qiao Xuejun felt warm all over.
Zhao Xian: "Fortunately, I'm not hypothermic."
Qiao Xuejun came back to life and explained with energy, "I know my limits. I notified the patrol on duty here in advance. They said they'd be there soon, so I waited here."
If it was any further away, she wouldn't wait.
She knew that it was just a little cold and nothing serious. It was normal to feel a little cold in this weather. It was because Zhao Xian cared about her that he was overly nervous.
Zhao Xian still disagreed: "It's too risky."
Qiao Xuejun took his hand and shook it: "I'll be more careful next time."
Zhao Xian watched her face warm up, with color on her face, and her complexion looked better: "Just treasure your greenhouse."
Qiao Xuejun: "By now, the tomatoes should be blooming."
"Besides," she whispered, "I got my geothermal heating! I have to go see the effects."
Zhao Xian listened and also paid attention: "Where is it?"
Qiao Xuejun: "I was just about to look for it. It's not far from the stable."
After staying in the patrol booth for about ten minutes, Qiao Xuejun's whole body warmed up again.
Zhao Xian let her stay in the warm room for a while longer, touched her hands and face, and confirmed that they were warm before putting gloves and mask on her again. Before leaving, he turned the heater back to the minimum setting.
Qiao Xuejun: "I used their blue oil."
Zhao Xian: "You're quite worried."
Qiao Xuejun: "A big spoonful!"
Zhao Xian: "It's considered patrol expenses, and the base will subsidize it."
After leaving, the two continued into the mountains together. Qiao Xuejun held Zhao Xian's hand and followed the system's instructions to find the geothermal steam field.
They quickly reached the stables.
Qiao Xuejun quickly noticed hot steam rising from the direction below.
She pointed: "Zhao Xian, look, isn't it there?"
Zhao Xian also saw it: "Go and take a look."
It's at the back of the mountain, next to the foot of the mountain.
It is a bit far from the cave location on Hongmei Mountain.
The two quickened their pace and approached the place where white steam was rising.
It is about the size of an acre of land and was originally covered with ice and snow.
The land was emitting wisps of steam, as if there were suddenly some invisible steaming pressure cookers. Steam was coming out of these holes in the ground, continuously, and white steam was rising.
The snow here is more crystal clear and looks like it is about to melt.
Qiao Xuejun looked at the scene in front of him and said, "It looks like a wet steam field."
Wet steam fields are a form of geothermal heat.
The other is a dry steam field.
The difference is that the energy source of dry steam fields is just steam, while the energy source of wet steam fields is hot water with high temperature and high pressure.
Qiao Xuejun smiled and said, "We can ask the engineering department to come and survey it. It can be used directly. The system has moved it very close. We won't have to spend too much effort to mine it."
Zhao Xian looked at the scene in front of him with a complicated expression.
"I'll have him come over to survey it in a moment."
Qiao Xuejun walked over to take a look and even reached out to touch the ground.
The snow was still cold, but the steam was warm.
The boiling water vapor underground quickly cooled down after emerging from the surface and condensed into mist droplets, which rose and dispersed.
Qiao Xuejun: "I'll go check out the greenhouse again. The system says it's had some structural modifications. My experimental fields and stables don't have to wait for mining; they can benefit from it now."
The two returned to the stable first.
Qiao Xuejun pushed the door open and walked in.
The outer walls of the stable were also covered with fish skin, and the temperature inside was much warmer than outside.
Geothermal heat is also working.
It should become more obvious after a while.
After watching the whole thing, Qiao Xuejun followed Zhao Xian back to the base. They happened to meet patrol members returning from the foot of the mountain. The two of them were carrying a corpse, which was the mutant that Qiao Xuejun had shot before.
Qiao Xuejun: "Carry it to the research lab?"
Zhao Xian: "Yeah. Let's go take a look together."
Zhao Xian took Qiao Xuejun to find Mr. An.
After the body was delivered, the two patrol soldiers left. An Lao's assistant carried the body inside and also welcomed Qiao Xuejun and Zhao Xian in.
"Lord, Minister Qiao, several professors are still doing research in the laboratory. Please wait a moment. It's lunchtime now, and it's time for them to come out."
The two of them sat and waited.
Sure enough, after a while, Elder An and the other two came out. Seeing Zhao Xian, they greeted him, "Lord, you're here. It's just in time. We're making some progress in our research."
Mr. An and the other two changed their equipment and sat in front of Zhao Xian.
Elder An handed a document to Zhao Xian: "Through our research and comparison, the substance in the sea monster is indeed the same substance that causes the mutants to mutate."
"Consistent with previous assumptions, this is indeed an ancient symbiotic bacterium. It lives in the ocean and reproduces in water."
"The important thing is that this symbiotic bacteria is not contagious. They must have been infected by coming into contact with the source of the bacteria."
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