Chapter 174 Breaking the Ice
"It's cracked! Back off!"
The train was stuck here, and although there was no way to earn money from the tickets, it could be used as a temporary hotel. As for the crystal cores needed for a night's stay, Jiang Qian certainly didn't hesitate to give these wealthy foreigners anything.
On a cold winter night, several people who wanted to get on the train searched through all their crystal cores before each of them could exchange them for a ticket. But as soon as they stepped into the carriage, the warm breeze blowing towards them instantly made them feel that their crystal cores had been spent correctly.
A warmth seemed to descend from the sky, wrapping them up from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads, tightly wrapped around their bodies, making the heavy cotton clothes they were originally wrapped in seem a little redundant.
Jin and Tony looked at each other in amazement.
Although they claim to be members of an international rescue organization, their organization is actually formed by some conscientious entrepreneurs from several neighboring countries.
As members of the group, they usually spend most of their time out on various missions, but their families are on several large cruise ships provided by wealthy businessmen. Occasionally, when they are finished with their missions and live with their families, they also experience life on a large ship.
But the kindness of the wealthy businessmen was limited after all. As the rescue operation progressed, more and more people were added to the ship. The large number of people, coupled with the bad living habits of some people, made the living conditions on the large ship not very good.
Not to mention the current shortage of resources. Although the ship has heating equipment, it is unable to take care of the entire crew. Even if the large ship is constantly refueled from land every day, it can only provide collective heating for one hour every day during the coldest time of night.
Although the heating in the meeting room where the senior executives of the rescue organization were located was on for a long time, based on Bald Jin's experience when he went there before, the temperature was not as high as the temperature in the train compartment they were feeling now.
In just a short while, they were already sweating.
Jin unbuttoned his outer coat and looked at the train with his arms open.
Although only two carriages were brought on this mission, what these two carriages represented was enough to dazzle them.
There were vending machines where one could buy food, and a clean and sleek dining car that served meals. If they hadn't already used up all the crystal cores they had brought with them when they boarded the train, Jiang Qian had no doubt that these guys with shining eyes would have raided the carriage.
These curious foreigners walked around the dining car several times before going to another car in admiration.
Since they had purchased tickets, the system naturally assigned them corresponding rooms. Although the small single room was not large enough, it was more than comfortable for these people. After all, even on the rescue center's large ship, such a warm room was rare.
After Tony entered the room, he took off his coat, found a bed to sit on, touched the soft quilt and thought of his daughter.
"Jin, are you saying we really can't go with this car? If Jenna and the others were with me right now, I would take them in the car no matter what it costs me."
Bald Jin also liked the environment on the train. He was alone, and it would be more convenient for him to leave than Tony if he wanted to, but he shook his head.
"Hey, man, stop daydreaming! This car is nice, but it's not ours."
Even if they had the chance to board the train and travel thousands of miles to another country, judging by the huge amount of crystal cores they had spent on the tickets tonight, this train was not a place they could afford to stay in for long. If they didn't live on the train, that would be even more impossible.
After hearing what Jin said, those who shared Tony's idea calmed down their hearts which had been beating wildly.
Yes, even across the ocean, they had heard that on the other side of the sea, a certain oil tycoon had paid a huge sum to obtain temporary residency in the Flower Country. They, like them, couldn't offer enough bargaining chips.
The atmosphere was stagnant for a moment. Bald Jin looked at his teammates who were depressed because of his words, and began to think of ways to cheer them up.
"Although we can't leave, we've already bought the tickets for tonight. Wouldn't it be a bit of a waste if we don't stay overnight?"
"That's right!" The man who was still feeling down looked up instantly. "It's so rare to have such a warm place. It would be a waste if we don't rest well!"
Others were also very moved, but...
"Wouldn't it be a bad idea for us to just stay here? There are people waiting for us on the boat!"
"But we've already bought the tickets. It would be a waste if we don't stay tonight. If we go back to look for them, it would take more than an hour to go back and forth."
"How about we stay here first? They won't be in any danger on the ship. Tom and the others might be dozing off in the cockpit right now. I don't think these Flower Country people can go back anytime soon. After we go back tomorrow morning, we can let them stay in the car for the night."
"That's what we'll do!"
After making their decision, these carefree people found their own beds and fell asleep.
Outside the train, although Shark felt that with Jiang Qian and the system present, nothing would happen inside the train, he still sent a small team member to keep an eye on it. After learning that the group had fallen asleep in the room, he was a little speechless for a moment.
"This person is too careless!" Shark couldn't help shaking his head while thinking so, and his vigilance towards these people also decreased a little.
Just at this moment, the ice that had been cutting was finally opened.
Several team members swung their hammers, and a circular hole, over a meter in diameter, appeared on the previously flat surface of the lake. The broken ice collapsed along the cracks in the lake's surface, sinking into the dark water.
The team members responsible for breaking the ice waited until all the broken ice had fallen before shining the light down along the cave entrance. They breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the situation below.
"Fortunately, the ice here is not thick, only about one meter deep. But in the middle of the lake, the ice should be thicker, but probably not much."
After testing that the equipment they were carrying could indeed break through the ice, the sharks knew it was time for them to set off.
He glanced at the train behind him, gestured in a certain direction, left four team members to guard here, and led the other dozen team members to walk towards the depths of the lake.
Jiang Qian, who was always paying attention to the situation outside, of course noticed Shark's last glance and hand movements. Even though she knew that the other party couldn't see her expression from outside the car, she still nodded in the direction the team members left.
Before the train landed, Shark came to her to discuss the team members' meals during the mission.
Although Jiang Qian offered to pay for the team members' food and drink along the way, Shark also had a point.
"There's no use holding the crystal core in our hands. We'll have to destroy it in the end anyway. Sooner or later, we'll have to hand it over to the train. Just keep it!"
So, finally, under Shark's insistence, Jiang Qian stopped arguing and agreed to the other party's proposal to buy three meals at a discount, but she secretly decided in her heart to increase the meal standards of the team members.
After the two of them finished talking about this, they also took the opportunity to discuss their arrangements after getting off the train. Although Jiang Qian said that the train had a security defense system with real-time monitoring and no need for manpower defense, Shark still decided to leave some people behind.
"We agreed beforehand that you wouldn't be on this mission. We had to leave some people in the carriage to provide timely support if there were any problems," Shark said. "Also, this mission is expected to last a long time. In order to complete it faster, we'll need to rotate people in and out..."
After he said that, Jiang Qian had no reason to stop him from keeping the person.
"We don't need too many. One or two people will be enough to keep things looking good. The others who have to take shifts can go back to the dormitory and rest." She patted her chest and said, "Don't worry. I and the system are watching over you. It's safe on the bus."
Shark thought about it and felt that it would be better to have more people going out for the first time. After careful consideration, he decided to leave only four people.
After watching Shark and other teammates walk away, the four of them and Jiang Qian consciously divided into two groups, one group guarding outside and the other group resting inside, and they were replaced every two hours.
The sharks and their group who had left soon arrived at the place that Giss mentioned.
Although global temperatures are rising and the weather is gradually getting warmer, according to the experiment just now, the ice is still very thick, so there is no need to worry about the ice cracking when walking on it. Sharks and their friends rode scooters directly on the ice and reached their destination in just half an hour.
The bright light shone down from the ice surface, illuminating the ice beneath their feet through refraction. They could see creatures frozen in the ice, and could also vaguely see the dilapidated buildings at the bottom of the lake.
After the team members on the mission determined their location, the icebreaker started again.
The sharp cutting sound echoed throughout the island, and it seemed as if there were ghosts roaring and screaming sharply on this quiet and deserted island.
But the surrounding players stared at the ice without blinking, and no one showed fear or hesitation.
The ice in the center of the lake was thicker than that at the edge, so breaking it took longer. As the icebreaker rubbed against the ice, daylight gradually approached.
At the same time, a not-so-obvious "click" sound also rang in the ears of many people.
"It's cracked! Back off!"
The team member in charge of operating the machine shouted, reminding the other team members to step back a few steps. Then two other team members operated the machine and hit the cracked ice surface hard with a hammer.
As the hammers struck down, the entire lake surface began to shake. But no one moved, only trying their best to steady themselves, and staring intently at the ice surface being struck by the hammers.
Finally, after a hammer fell, a black hole with a diameter of about one meter appeared on the ice surface as before.
In the dim morning light, dirty lake water was flowing under the ice layer more than one meter thick.
Shark checked his equipment, glanced at the other three teammates who were arranged to go into the water with him, and jumped into the ice cave first.
…
【Author’s words】
I looked it up and it says that the ice on the lake is thicker in the center than at the edges. I'm a coward and have never ventured onto the ice, so I haven't verified this.
Thank you for your support. This chapter has been updated ahead of schedule! The next chapter will be updated before 6pm on Sunday.
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