It seemed that the further we went, the stronger the wind became, and some ice had already begun to form on the ground. The gale-force winds, exceeding level 10, were already blowing the water out of the river. This water, under the extremely low temperature, turned directly into icy rain, and no one knew where it was blown away.
Along the way, apart from a stinking ditch with extremely deep water that was completely frozen, all other water sources had disappeared. Lu Yuan knew that they were not only facing the problem of the catalyst suddenly failing, but also the problem of water shortage in the future.
"Damn it, the water has been completely dried up. It won't be easy for us to get water again in the future."
Hearing Lu Yuan's voice, everyone fell silent. They hadn't expected that the glacier, which carried a huge amount of water, would become another major difficulty for them.
So, they not only had to worry about their food supply, but water also became a major problem.
If we want to solve the water problem, it is extremely difficult to obtain water from the sea, and it is even more dangerous to fetch water from glaciers. Everyone has experienced the hardships of glaciers, so they know how dangerous it is to get close to them.
Moreover, it would be extremely difficult to collect ice from the glacier and bring it back.
"Damn it, we've run into a water outage again."
Xiwen spat out a mouthful of saliva, but then he remembered that there wasn't much water left in his water bottle. He had to cherish every drop of saliva, so he swallowed the rest of his saliva hard.
"Let's keep going. There's a river ahead. If we cross it, we should reach the rift valley soon."
Lu Yuan glanced at the surrounding terrain and said something to the people behind him.
After continuing for about half an hour, the group arrived at a wide river.
This river is actually seawater flowing back from the sea, and the terrain causes the seawater to remain here.
After a period of settling, the seawater here is still undrinkable, as the salt content is too high, making you thirstier the more you drink it. Moreover, there are many unknown viruses posing a threat, so people would rather be thirsty than drink the water here. Now, the area is completely frozen.
Looking at the ice surface that was several hundred meters wide in front of him, Lu Yuan knew that he had to cross it. However, he was worried about the thickness of the ice. After all, it had been saltwater before, and the freezing point of seawater is much lower than that of freshwater. Although the temperature had dropped to minus twenty or thirty degrees Celsius, they still did not know the thickness of the ice on the river.
If they don't cross the river, they will have to take a longer route, which will add dozens of kilometers to their journey.
Lu Yuan squatted on a completely frozen river surface and stepped on it a few times to test it, finding that the river water was completely frozen.
"Do you have a shovel? Let me try it out."
Xiwen quickly handed over the shovel from behind. Lu Yuan picked up the shovel and scraped the ice a few times, only to find that the hardness of the ice was beyond his imagination. It was like a huge piece of glass. He used all his strength to make some cuts, and after a few sparks flew from the shovel, several chips were chipped off the shovel tip.
"This river seems to be quite hard. Let's try to cross it first, step by step, and see how far we can go. Everyone, please be careful and don't make any sudden movements."
The group tightened their chains again and followed Lu Yuan step by step. Xiao Shan looked at Lu Yuan with worry, gripping the rope tightly. If Lu Yuan accidentally fell into the river, she would use all her strength to pull him out.
After walking for a while, Lu Yuan realized that the area behind them was basically frozen solid. Although he didn't know how deep the ice was, there was no problem for the group of them to walk on it.
The cold wind howled, and the group seemed to be the only survivors in the entire world. They walked step by step across the wide river and finally crossed the icy river.
The group walked and stopped, falling countless times along the way, until they finally arrived at the back of a rugged mountain. The wind was much calmer there, and there were many abandoned bags and packages along the way.
"Why is there so much clutter here? Did they leave these things behind when they escaped?" Xiwen asked, picking up a broken water jug from the ground while wearing thick gloves.
The others also began searching the vicinity, but no one found any important clues. They only found daily necessities, but everything that could keep them warm had been completely looted.
Looking at the towering mountain peak in front of them, they knew they had to cross it to reach the other side, where the mine was located.
The mountain path was extremely difficult to traverse, and the group could only stagger upwards little by little. The mountain wind would occasionally blow in from some unexpected corner, sometimes even knocking one or two people over. Fortunately, the iron chains binding everyone were secure, so if one or two people fell behind, it wouldn't have a significant impact.
Moreover, they were all wearing thick clothes, so even if they fell or bumped into something, there wouldn't be any major problems.
Finally, they crossed the mountain peak. The moment the mountaintop appeared, Lu Yuan felt a sharp gust of wind blow directly over him, mixed with a lot of snow. Through the gap, he caught a glimpse of a giant glacier that was a thousand meters high.
The iceberg emitted a bluish glow, bringing a glimmer of light to the entire night, but it was also so cold and freezing.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com