His fingers, exposed to the ice and snow, lost their warmth. Xia Chuhe, clumsily flicking his finger, pointed at Lu Dangui's forehead: "What nonsense are you talking about?"
She untied Qi Zhen from the sled and added another rope to it: "Here, sit on it, I'll pull you back. Didn't you say Dr. Zhao was with us?"
Dr. Han protested, "Hey, what are you doing? What about the director?"
"Whoever's person it is, they should take care of it!"
Xia Chuhe forcefully dragged the sled over, helped Lu Dangui sit on it, and stuffed the two ropes into Lu Dangui's left and right hands respectively.
Lu Dangui obediently pulled on the rope, tucking his hands into the sleeves of his winter coat to keep warm.
Dr. Han had no rebuttal, but unwilling to give up, he asked Xia Chuhe for a rope and insisted on dragging Qi Zhen along.
Xia Chuhe looked at Dr. Han with a puzzled expression.
Lu Dangui, whose body had been enhanced, fell into the water, her legs turning blue from the cold. Dr. Han was just an ordinary person, so why was he unharmed?
Not only was he unharmed, but he was even able to drag Qi Zhen along while carrying dozens of kilograms of samples on his back.
The friction of the sleds on the snow was much less than that of the winter clothing, so Xia Chuhe dragged Lu Danggui much faster than Dr. Han dragged Qi Zhen, and the distance between the two groups gradually increased.
Dr. Han, panting heavily, exclaimed, "Wait for me!"
Xia Chuhe pretended not to hear.
Before entering the Valley of Villains, a place governed by rules, Hu Xue had mentioned some precautions.
The mortality rate here isn't too high, but... those who survived were all left in the Valley of Villains and controlled by the rules.
If the rules of the land are not broken, Xia Chuhe will stay here.
Rather than abandon Lu Dangui, Xia Chuhe would rather stay in the Valley of Villains and become the lord of another city...
Xia Chuhe pondered the worst-case scenario, silently calculating how many people he would need to send to take down Evil Valley.
Therefore, neither Qi Zhen nor Dr. Han could help.
Dr. Han, having received no help, watched helplessly as Xia Chuhe walked further and further away.
As her figure gradually shrank into a small black dot, Dr. Han gritted his teeth, hardened his heart, and untied the rope holding Qi Zhen.
"I'm sorry, Director..."
Making this decision, Dr. Han actually felt relieved; he even couldn't help but let a wicked thought cross his mind—
If Director Qi dies, but we get the samples and the research yields results, maybe he can become the director.
Without Qi Zhen's burden, Dr. Han walked faster and faster, gradually catching up with Xia Chuhe.
Lu Dangui coldly asked him, "Where is Qi Zhen?"
Dr. Han remained silent.
After a moment, as if he felt that silence was an admission that he was the murderer, he finally spoke up: "The director was killed by you. You were bodyguards hired by Boss Qian, and it was your responsibility to protect the director. You failed in your duty."
Xia Chuhe: "..."
Xia Chuhe was too lazy to pay attention to him. She didn't want to argue with someone with such confused logic. It was better to conserve her energy and be prepared for him to suddenly do something dangerous.
Although the motorcycle was lost, the sample collection point was not far from where the tracked vehicle was parked. The main issues were waiting for the polar night to arrive and the time spent collecting samples.
When the tracked vehicle returned to its original parking position, more than forty hours had passed since it set off.
"The car is gone?" Xia Chuhe asked blankly.
Lu Danggui kept rubbing her calves, taking the opportunity to move her leg muscles to prevent them from becoming completely necrotic.
Dr. Han, the only one who knew the location of the Death Lake, remained silent.
He held a grudge and was still resentful of Xia Chuhe's behavior of not waiting for him.
But he couldn't let himself die here because of a grudge, so he quietly left after finding his way.
Lu Dangui nudged Xia Chuhe, pointing to Dr. Han's departing figure.
Xia Chuhe hurriedly followed behind him.
The three men found the tracked vehicle and the body next to it.
The director is dead.
His eyes were wide open, his gaze almost bursting, and he was so thin that he was skin and bones, like a frozen pear that had been drained dry, still clutching the oil tank in his hand.
If it weren't for the camera hanging around his neck, the three of them would hardly have recognized him.
Upon suddenly seeing a corpse, Dr. Han, momentarily forgetting his quarrel with Xia Chuhe, exclaimed in a trembling voice, "How...how did he die? There's a monster! There's a monster!"
Xia Chuhe shook his head, recalling the shrunken bellies of seals and emperor penguins.
Both characters die of shriveling, but the director's shriveling has a wider range of manifestations.
Perhaps, in the Land of Rules, there exists a creature that feeds on flesh, widely distributed, found on Emperor Penguin Island and near the Dead Ice Lake.
Xia Chuhe opened the car door. The car was not warm at all, but at least it could keep out the wind and snow, which was much better than sitting outside.
She picked up Lu Dangui and put her in the car, whispering, "You rest first."
Xia Chuhe rummaged through the trunk and found a new set of winter clothes. He took them into the car and let Danggui change into them.
She tried to turn on the heating system, but found that the tracked vehicle was out of fuel.
Xia Chuhe knelt on the ground, reached out and wiped away the snow covering the car, revealing a layer of ice slick with oil: "The fuel tank is leaking."
The fuel tank in the director's hand is a perfectly intact part.
Xia Chuhe gripped the intact fuel tank, but despite using all his strength, he couldn't pull it from the director's grasp. The body, frozen stiff by the ice and snow, remained completely still.
Fortunately, there was still some oil left in the back of the truck, which Xia Chuhe used to boil water.
Half of the hot water was used for Lu Danggui to soak her feet, and the other half was used to soften the director's corpse.
After obtaining the fuel tank, Xia Chuhe faced the same problem as the director—no tools.
We need a sled to get back to the research institute, the fuel tank must be replaced, and the tools were taken away by Boss Qian and his group.
If we go to see Boss Qian, how should we arrange for Lu Danggui?
If I take her there, I'm afraid her calf might not have fully recovered and could get injured again, which would be difficult to handle.
If we don't take her, there's something strange near the tracked vehicle that can absorb the director's energy and drain Lu Danggui dry.
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