On January 11, Gou Fugui and his companions, riding in modified snow sleds, had been traveling south for six consecutive days.
As they traveled day and night relentlessly southward, they finally arrived in Zhanjiang City on January 11th, the day before the arrival deadline for the second wave of the freezing cold wave announced by the Meteorological Bureau.
By this time, they had already driven back into the three medium-sized trucks they had found on their way there, and the unusable modified snowmobiles were all stored in the cargo beds of the medium-sized trucks.
On the third day of their journey to Hainan, the temperature in their area had already warmed up to -25°C. Although the snow on the ground had not yet melted, it had become loose, and the snowflakes falling from the sky appeared smaller.
On their fifth day on their way to Hainan, the temperature had risen to -5°C. With no snow left on the ground, the snowmobiles were completely useless. They found a large factory that sold trucks, picked up three trucks, and continued on their journey.
Today, they stand on the shores of Zhanjiang, facing Hainan Island across the sea.
The temperature was a comfortable 0°C, which I had never felt before since the blizzard. The tiny water droplets in the clouds did not condense into ice and snow due to the cold air; instead, they gathered into rain and poured down from the sky.
The people in Gou Fugui's convoy had taken off several layers of down jackets, cotton-padded coats, and thermal underwear that they had been wearing three or four layers of. Their outermost windproof and snowproof cloaks had been replaced with high-quality raincoats.
The heavy rain pounded against the roof and windows of the car, and Wen Feilian and Wen Xingxing could see many people and vehicles rushing to the southern harbor through the windows.
Because there are too many people and vehicles heading that way, they have been stuck here for two hours.
“I have already called my father and grandmother. They are currently on a ship at the southernmost port of Sanya.”
"Although it only takes a little over an hour to get from Zhanjiang to Hainan by ferry, almost everyone is heading there now, and we might miss the last ferry tonight."
“My father had arranged for someone to meet me here, but because there are just too many people coming here to catch the boat, he has lost contact with the team that was supposed to meet me. Now we probably have two options…”
Wen Boyuan hesitated for a moment before Lu Hao’s loud voice came through the walkie-talkie.
"Which two options are you going to choose from? Brother Wen, your only flaw is that you're not decisive enough. A man must be decisive to show his manliness, you know?"
Wen Boyuan twitched his lips speechlessly upon hearing this, but he did indeed speak faster.
"The first option is to stay at the Zhanjiang Harbor Hotel that I arranged. I will go to the hotel manager to ask if there are any speedboats or cruise ships that we can use."
"But with so many people heading to Hainan Island now, we must be in a later batch. I think the boats in the hotel have probably already been dispatched."
"What about the second option?"
Wen Boyuan paused for a moment, "It was a private fishing boat that my grandmother arranged, located a little further from Zhanjiang Port. However, my father felt that the boat was too dangerous under the circumstances, and he suggested that we hide at the Zhanjiang Port Hotel."
“My father thinks that even if a second cold wave arrives, this area is considered tropical, so it shouldn’t be too cold. He just wants us to bring enough warm clothes and electric heaters to keep warm.”
After Wen Boyuan finished speaking, he waited for the response from Gou Fugui and the other three people in car number one.
Personally, he felt that his father made sense. This was already the tropics. Although it was still quite a distance from the equator at 0 degrees latitude, even if a cold front came, it shouldn't be too severe.
But then he thought of the blizzard in Zhongyuan City. Before experiencing it firsthand, who could have imagined that the Zhongyuan region would experience such heavy snowfall and temperatures that even dropped below -58°C?
Therefore, he was conflicted and dared not gamble. So, he decided to leave this life-or-death decision to the wealthy group of four ahead.
Wen Boyuan wiped his face to refresh himself and asked again:
“Fugui, Brother Xie, what do you guys think? Should we get off now? It’s already noon, and it looks like the road ahead will be congested for at least a few more hours. If we continue to the Port Hotel, we probably won’t be able to check in until six or seven in the evening. If we’re going to find that private fishing boat that my grandma mentioned, we’ll have to turn around and take another road.”
At this moment, Gou Fugui in car number one was also thinking about what to do.
However, while he was thinking, he kept urging Song Sanchuan and Si Wuyai to get to work quickly.
"Stop rushing me! I've already told you I'm checking, I'm checking!! You need so much comparative data, and you want me to be connected to the meteorological bureau's monitoring satellite in real time. Even the donkeys in the production team don't exploit people like this!!"
Song Sanchuan typed rapidly on the computer keyboard while rambling on, and Si Wuyai, sitting next to him, didn't look much better.
"I've already crafted over a hundred bottles of snow-melting and ice-melting potions along the way. On average, each person can have at least eight to nine bottles. Isn't that enough?"
Gou Fugui said with an air of self-righteousness: "How can that be? You can never have too much stuff! And who knows what the second wave of the cold wave will be like? What if we get frozen and die?"
"It's always better to prepare as much as possible."
While rapidly synthesizing snow-melting and ice-melting potions, Si Wuyai chuckled, "And what do you know about the second wave of the cold wave? Maybe it'll be giant ice spikes falling from the sky and crushing everyone to death."
After Si Wuyai finished speaking, he noticed that the atmosphere in the car suddenly became quiet.
He paused for a moment, and then noticed that the three people and dozens of animals in the car were all quietly looking at him with a gaze that seemed to condemn and disapprove.
He twitched his lips: "...What kind of expressions and looks are those? I've been out of the unlucky club for a long time now, okay?"
Gou Fugui sighed, "Being unlucky and having a jinx aren't directly related."
"Whether you're unlucky or lucky, you should learn to shut up when you shouldn't speak."
As Gou Fugui listened to the increasingly dense sound of raindrops outside the car window, he felt inexplicably anxious.
Then he gritted his teeth, turned on the walkie-talkie and asked Wen Boyuan, "Where is that place your grandma mentioned?" As he spoke, he poked Song Sanchuan to make him open the satellite map.
Upon hearing Gou Fugui's answer, Wen Boyuan knew that Gou Fugui had made a choice, and his eyes lit up: "Tinghai Village on the outskirts of Zhanjiang City!"
When Wen Boyuan mentioned Tinghai Village, Song Sanchuan had already started typing on the keyboard to search for its location. Three minutes later, he gave the answer: "It's about sixteen kilometers away from here. If there's no traffic, we should be able to get there around four or five in the afternoon."
Gou Fugui closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then nodded directly, "Let's go there, we'll turn around and drive that way."
After Gou Fugui finished speaking, he told his teammates in the two cars behind him about his decision. Wen Boyuan, Wang Xuan, Zhou Ren, Lu Hao and others had no objections.
Along the way, they had long since made "listening to the four rich guys" their primary survival principle, and the various events they experienced proved their choice to be correct. In any case, everything the rich guys said was right, and following the big boss meant they could also survive.
Just do it!
So the three medium-sized trucks carrying snowmobiles turned around and headed towards Tinghai Village in the western suburbs of Zhanjiang City.
Even though they didn't follow the direction towards the port, it still took the three cars nearly two hours to escape the congested convoy. Fortunately, the road to the suburbs was clear enough, and by this time there seemed to be no one running around on the road anymore.
Rumble— Rumble—
Thunderclaps echoed across the overcast sky, and the rain outside intensified.
Gou Fugui opened the car window and measured the temperature, finding that it had dropped somewhat due to the continuous rain.
It is currently -3℃.
It wasn't a particularly cold temperature, but Gou Fugui felt it didn't look like a good omen at all.
He turned on the walkie-talkie and asked Wen Boyuan:
"We'll be arriving at Tinghai Village soon. Can you contact the person your grandmother mentioned and his fishing boat?"
In fact, what Gou Fugui really wanted to ask was whether the person who owned the fishing boat would still keep his promise to Wen Boyuan's grandmother in such a stormy weather and in such a disaster situation where almost everyone was in danger.
Wen Boyuan pursed his lips and waited anxiously.
He couldn't contact that person on his cell phone, probably due to signal problems; he kept calling but no one answered. His text messages went unanswered as well.
At this moment, he even regretted bringing up the unreliable choice his grandmother had given him. He was afraid that no one would be waiting to pick them up, and he was afraid that he would lead his teammates and his wife and children to a dead end.
Just as he was dialing that person's number countless times, the phone suddenly stopped ringing. He heard the sound of pattering rain and huge waves coming from the other end of the line, along with an old, hoarse voice.
"Is he Qingya's grandson?"
Wen Boyuan's eyes widened suddenly, and his hand holding the phone trembled slightly: "Yes, yes, yes! That's me! My grandma's name is Wen Qingya!"
"Are you... are you Uncle Long?"
The old, hoarse voice on the other end replied with a cold laugh, "I am your Grandpa Long. We're not in the same generation, you're my eldest grandson."
"You're way too slow, you little brat! We've been waiting here for six whole days! Just come straight to the port, and we'll board the ship and leave!"
Upon hearing this, Wen Boyuan quickly nodded and relayed the message to the other passengers in the car.
Everyone quickly packed their belongings in the car, and even the cats and dogs were put on their pet backpacks, which contained their clothes and food.
Meanwhile, Gou Fugui and his companions, sitting in car number one, could vaguely see the harbor of Tinghai Village ahead. From a distance, the harbor looked like a hand reaching forward. Five minutes later, Gou Fugui spotted a large and sturdy wooden boat, completely different from what he had imagined, moored beside the small fishing village harbor.
Despite being almost entirely made of wood, this wooden boat doesn't feel flimsy at all. The planks, reflecting the cold light of copper oil and wood even in the rain, the prominent and thick keel, and even the neat holes in the hull that look like cannon muzzles, all demonstrate the uniqueness of this wooden boat.
When the three vehicles stopped at the port, the one-armed old man standing on the bow of the wooden boat looked over. His face was old but his body was strong, and his eyes were sharp and bright like those of a hawk.
"Holy shit..."
The tall, thin college student, Gao Qi, couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, nudging Wang Xuan with his elbow at the same time: "It feels like being a pirate captain!!"
Wang Xuan pushed up his glasses, nodded, and kept his gaze fixed on the large wooden ship.
"The entire exterior of this ship is made of wood, but it looks very sturdy. However, I'm wondering if this ship is powered by machinery or manpower? If it's a man-made sail, wouldn't there be enough people?"
Apart from the old man, Master Long, standing at the bow, there seemed to be no one else on the ship.
However, everyone realized they were wrong, because there were other people on board—
He was a boy who was easily over 1.9 meters tall, or rather, calling him a boy was a bit inappropriate; his physique and build made him look like a formidable adult. It was only because his face still showed some youthful innocence that people didn't misunderstand.
"What are you all standing there for? A major disaster is about to strike! Get on the ship now!"
"Longming, lower the planks..." As he spoke, Master Long's gaze suddenly swept over Xie Tianlang and Gou Fugui, then he muttered "wolf cub" to the former, and finally looked at Gou Fugui and snorted: "Little puppy and wolf mixed together."
The sharp-eared and sharp-eyed Gou Fugui: "...Hehe."
You're the little puppy, your whole family are puppies.
Although Gou Fugui's "hehe" was very soft, Master Long heard it perfectly as if it were spoken right next to his ear.
"Hey, you little punk, still not convinced? Are these three vehicles yours? The truck below is fine, but are you going to bring that weirdly modified thing on top onto the boat?"
This time, it wasn't about stepping on Fu Gui's sore spot. Song Sanchuan jumped up even more excitedly than Gou Fu Gui: "What do you mean by 'strangely modified stuff'? That's a high-performance snowmobile that I personally modified and perfected many times!! It can fly on snow and run on ice! It's no worse than your modified boat!"
Master Long raised his eyebrows: "Oh, another little puppy. Quite the big talker."
"So what if you just dismantle a vehicle and replace a few wheels with sleds and tracks? You think you can compare to my boat? You're nowhere near as good."
Song Sanchuan was about to blow it up when Gou Fugui stopped him.
He figured out that this old man was just a big talker, with an arrogant attitude that made him think he was the boss of the world. In short, he was a stubborn and violent old man, so it was better not to waste time arguing with him at this time.
Being able to bring all three modified snowmobiles onto the boat was already an unexpected stroke of good luck.
Because they could drive three snowmobiles onto the boat and take away supplies that they couldn't otherwise carry, everyone was in a good mood.
There was a small problem when loading the snowmobile onto the boat—after all, there was no snow here, and the ground was all mud and water, making it difficult to load the snowmobile onto the boat.
However, Xie Tianlang and Hu Jing Fugui solved this minor problem. Since they couldn't drive them up, they simply carried them. The two of them easily lifted the three modified snowmobiles onto the deck of the wooden boat. Only then did Master Long and Long Ming, who had been silent all along, give the two of them a second look.
"Heh, you don't look like someone who can lift a car with your small frame."
With his pipe dangling from his mouth, Boss Long squinted as he looked Gou Fugui up and down, scrutinizing his rather thin body that appeared to have no muscles at all.
But Orca Fugui didn't seem to care at all, raising his eyebrows and smiling at him: "There are many things you can't see. You're not the only extraordinary person in this world, are you?"
Master Long raised his eyebrows and then burst into a hearty laugh.
"You're a good kid, and I misjudged you. You're not just a puppy, you're a wolf cub."
The orca Fugui rolled its eyes, thinking to itself that it could be ninety-nine different kinds of animal offspring in the future.
At this moment, Long Ming walked to Long Ye's side, glanced at the dense dark clouds in the sky, and then spoke:
"Sir, shall we go?"
Even with his eyes closed, Master Long sensed the sea breeze and the torrential rain. His relaxed expression turned solemn: "Let's go! We can't delay any longer, full speed ahead."
So Longming nodded and turned to the cockpit of the wooden ship. Three minutes later, the special wooden ship roared and started moving forward.
Everyone assumed the wooden boat wouldn't be very fast, at least not faster than the steel speedboats they were used to.
However, in the next half hour, the wooden boat's speed had increased to a terrifying level.
It felt like being tossed about in huge waves, as if you were about to fly.
"Aaaaaah! Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! Give me a seatbelt! Let me strap myself in! Aaaaaah! I'm going to fly out! I'm going to fly out!"
"Serves you right, you brat! Didn't I tell us to fasten our seatbelts and not run around in the cabin?... Ugh, damn it, get the hell out of here and sit still?!"
"...Oh my god~"
"Ugh~ I can't take it anymore, I'm dizzy! I feel like throwing up... This is too fast and too shaky! Mom... I'd rather ride a snowmobile!!"
"Quick, call for Brother Xie! He knocked me out like he was stunning stars... Ugh, I... I really can't take it anymore! What kind of ship is this...?"
The fourteen people sitting in the cabin looked pale and sickly. In the end, seven of them were physically knocked unconscious by Xie Tianlang, which prevented them from vomiting on the ship.
Even Song Sanchuan, who was in good physical condition, and Si Wuyai, who had received professional training, looked a little pale at this moment.
At this extreme speed, which can be described as riding the wind and waves, only four people were able to remain clear-headed and even mentally alert.
Gou Fugui stood on the deck at the bow of the ship, his arms outstretched, feeling the heavy rain and waves crashing against him, and inexplicably felt a sense of extreme madness and unbridled freedom.
Xie Tianlang, standing beside him, rubbed his fingers together slightly, wanting to hug Xinshangyuan's waist.
Unfortunately, someone was watching from behind.
In the wheelhouse, Master Long looked at the two men on the bow of the deck and exhaled a smoke ring.
"Hey, two wolf cubs. If you had met them sooner, you might have had two more brothers."
Long Ming's lips twitched: "Master, neither of them are orphans."
Master Long scoffed: "Once they know all the skills I, Master Long, possess, who wouldn't be begging and pleading to acknowledge me as their master?"
Long Ming shut his mouth, not mentioning the fact that his grandfather had been unable to find his apprentice until he finally found him in a trash can.
An hour later, the specially made wooden boat sailed through the wind and waves, and soon the island on the other side became visible.
However, Gou Fugui soon discovered that the ship had no intention of docking at Hainan Island, but instead continued to sail straight south at such a high speed.
Longye walked onto the deck and glanced at him and Xie Tianlang: "Hainan Island isn't safe either. If you want to go, go straight to the equator."
Gou Fugui nodded in agreement: "You are wise, sir."
Just as Master Long was about to laugh smugly, a blackish-purple lightning bolt suddenly streaked across the sky, followed by a deafening clap of thunder that shook the heavens and the earth.
Under the thunderous roar, it seemed as if everything in the world had fallen silent.
At that moment, Gou Fugui, who was standing at the bow of the boat, suddenly turned his head to look back, and his face, which had just been smiling, instantly turned pale.
When Master Long saw that he pressed his left wrist three times in a row, the long-haired boy's face became paler and weaker with each press.
He only snapped back to reality when the wolf cub beside him reached out and supported him.
"Master Long... can this ship go any faster?"
Master Long's expression instantly turned serious.
He glanced inexplicably at the sea and sky behind him, and asked, "How fast do you want me to go?"
"As fast as possible."
"The second major cold wave is coming."
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