To call it a river channel is actually not quite accurate.
The width of that ice belt must be at least a thousand meters. Although it is still far away from the strait, it is wishful thinking to want to swim across it by human power alone.
The light at night was too dim to move around, so Jiang Ran and Xu Yang got up early the next day and looked around for usable tree trunks, intending to build a simple raft.
This time, the spaceship landed near the auroral belt, closer to the Arctic Circle. Jiang Ran had determined the location based on the night stars, and it was roughly near Greenland. The climate here was cold, and trees were rare, especially finding trunks of sufficient size, which was a real challenge. By the time the materials were nearly ready, nearly two hours had passed, and the two of them had warmed up thoroughly from the activity.
Jiang Ran picked up the rope and started to work. While tying it to the tree trunk, he explained various key points and tips to Xu Yang.
Xu Yang felt overwhelmed after hearing this. He looked to the left at the rope in his hand, then to the right at the tree trunk that was taller than him, and sighed slowly.
"I shouldn't have brought so much stuff with me," Xu Yang said with a wry smile. "Why would we bring such a heavy blanket across the ocean?"
"There are still two days until the end of this test. According to the timetable, we should leave Earth at noon the day after tomorrow." Jiang Ran counted on his fingers. "That means we still have to spend two more nights in the Arctic Circle. It might be difficult without a blanket."
"Okay." Xu Yang said, "People always have to pay the price for their momentary greed."
After he finished speaking, he began to follow Jiang Ran's instructions and imitated him to build the raft from the other end.
Jiang Ran glanced at him secretly without leaving any trace.
A moment of greed?
Is this a disguised admission that you brought so many things just to have more fun catching fish?
Of course, these things are not important at the moment. The most important thing at this moment is to quickly prepare everything and successfully cross this long stretch of broken ice.
Crossing the vast ocean is not easy.
Now that you have decided to do this, you must not be lazy when preparing.
After the raft was tied up, Jiang Ran erected a white sail half a person's height at the bow of the raft.
When they stepped back, they saw that the wood on the raft was neatly arranged, about two men long, enough to hold their belongings. The sail, though a little dirty, was neatly cut, and the lower end was tightly tied to the wooden pole, making it look very secure.
Once the transportation is ready, we can move on to the next step.
That is also the most critical step of this trip - disguise!
This stretch of broken ice is so long, it's hard to say how many extremely dangerous animals are underneath.
In order to avoid being attacked by large fish as much as possible, they have to disguise themselves as more lethal animals. And in such shallow waters, what could be more dangerous than sharks?
Xu Yang looked at the pile of white fluffy clothes in his hand and felt worried, but Jiang Ran next to him was enthusiastically covering the raft with white clothes.
When Jiang Ran had smeared his clothes with black fuel, put on his hat, and even found a triangular piece of wood, painted it black and put it on his head as a shark fin, Xu Yang still held the clothes without moving.
Jiang Ran finally discovered this after he finished his work.
Confused, she turned around and asked, "Mr. Xu, aren't you going to start preparing yet? It's almost winter now, the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer. If we delay any longer, we might not be able to reach the shore until dark."
Xu Yang looked at her enthusiastic expression and couldn't find any words to express his embarrassment, so he made up an excuse: "I'm not very good at drawing."
Unexpectedly, Jiang Ran became interested instantly: "Then I'll help you draw it!"
Xu Yang: “…”
Xu Yang looked at the soul painting that Jiang Ran was wearing. The black lines on it were a mess.
He was silent for a long time, and finally gave a friendly and reserved smile.
"Thank you, I can do it myself."
He agreed to it, but his actions were as slow as a turtle.
By the time Xu Yang finished his slow pace, more than half an hour had passed.
Jiang Ran was not idle during this period. She happily tore off a piece of white cloth and carefully wrapped the follow-up ball, leaving only a black lens exposed. She also drew a black circle next to it with great artistic pursuit.
After finishing the painting, Jiang Ran asked excitedly, "What do you think of these eyes? If I add a body to it, will it look like a penguin?"
Xu Yang stared at the ball in silence for a long time, and said sincerely: "No need, it's fine the way it is now. Connecting the body is just a superfluous thing."
After all, a body that has been crumbling from the beginning cannot be saved by just a body.
No matter how you look at it, this is still a strange head with different sized eyes. If Xu Yang doesn't call it a one-eyed dragon, he's being generous.
Jiang Ran's soulful painting side was beyond Xu Yang's expectations, but Jiang Ran had long been aware of Xu Yang's superior painting skills.
Several times before, Jiang Ran thought Xu Yang was seriously recording work matters, but when he looked over, he found that he was drawing sketches or even sketching. At that time, Jiang Ran realized that the sponsor was also an artist who was delayed by the domineering boss's career!
Sure enough, when Xu Yang finally put on the disguised clothes and hesitantly came over to ask what he thought of them, Jiang Ran's eyes immediately lit up.
She subconsciously reached out and touched the dark dorsal fin on Xu Yang's head, and asked excitedly, "What is this made of? Why is it so soft?"
Xu Yang was not used to being so close to others, and his hands and feet were a little at a loss. He said with a stiff neck, "It's just a small thing, it's not important. Now that we are ready, let's go quickly."
Looking up at the sky, it was indeed time.
Jiang Ran did not delay any longer and together with Xu Yang, he moved the luggage onto the raft and then pushed it down from the ice.
Fortunately, the ice surface was relatively smooth and the resistance was not too great. Their actions were also very smooth. After a short while, they successfully boarded the raft and entered the broken ice zone.
A whole day of hard preparation, all for this moment.
Since entering the sea, the two of them have stopped smiling and playing, and have been paddling forward seriously with the oars.
Unfortunately, subjective efforts cannot replace objective maladaptation. The two of them were on either side of the raft, with almost no tacit understanding between them. After paddling for a long time, either one of them was faster than the other, and they never got the direction right, almost always going in circles.
As the sky gradually darkened, Jiang Ran tried hard to break the predicament.
She took the initiative to ask, "Mr. Xu, how about this? We can take turns paddling, but only one person can go at a time, and he can take both sides."
"In theory, yes," Xu Yang said. "But in reality, in order to fit our luggage, our raft is almost two meters wide. If it's just one person, it would be difficult to reach the water with both hands, let alone paddling."
"What should I do?"
"I have a way to try."
"What's the solution? Tell me!"
Xu Yang didn't say anything first, but rummaged through his luggage for a while and took out the laptop he carried with him.
Jiang Ran looked at him in confusion, not knowing whether the light computer could help them row or guide them. What was the use of using the light computer at this time?
Immediately afterwards, Jiang Ran saw Xu Yang open the music player. The interface was empty, with only a lonely song hanging on it.
Why are you suddenly playing music when you're rowing along the way?
However, at this time, Jiang Ran's curiosity about Xu Yang's playlist briefly outweighed the urgency of hurrying on the road. He sat there obediently without saying a word, waiting for him to play some songs.
The next second, a very magical melody floated out from the light brain.
“Work! Work! Work!”
“This is the meaning of life!”
“This is the power of upward movement!”
"Catch some fish today, and the floor will be covered with documents tomorrow!"
"Today I'm taking a break, tomorrow will be full of meetings!"
“…”
The sounds continued to come out of his brain, but Jiang Ran no longer had the heart to listen.
She looked at Xu Yang with a complicated expression, and a feeling of pity and heartache arose in her heart.
Is this the stupid way that my financial sponsor uses to urge me to work hard?
This... this is really pitiful and respectable!
Xu Yang seemed oblivious to the situation, and continued to speak along with the enchanting melody, "We can use the rhythm of the song to control the frequency of our paddling, paddling forward together every other beat. Talking about it won't make any sense, so let's try it together. We should be able to find the rhythm soon."
"Well, okay..." Jiang Ran agreed, "But this song..."
"Although this song is... a little strange, it has a strong sense of rhythm and melody, making it perfect for finding rapport," Xu Yang interrupted her seriously, analyzing it in a serious tone. "Besides, this is Earth after all, a deserted place, and of course there's no Star Network contact station. We don't have the means or time to find another song."
Jiang Ran understood almost instantly.
There is no Star Network connection here, so the sponsor can only share such a private playlist, just for their great cause of traveling.
This is truly admirable!
With such admiration, Jiang Ran devoted himself to the paddling career.
In the magical and extremely rhythmic singing, they finally found a tacit understanding and were able to move forward at the same frequency.
And at the moment when they found a tacit understanding, Xu Yang quickly turned off the music in the brain. Judging from the speed of that instant action, he must have been secretly enduring it for a long time.
Unfortunately, as soon as the music was turned off, the two of them completely lost their tacit understanding just like at the beginning, and one on the left and the other on the right were completely unable to keep up.
Xu Yang: “…”
Xu Yang hesitated and was silent for a long time. Finally, he suppressed his embarrassment and turned on the song that made him want to jump into the sea on the spot.
Jiang Ran admired his dedication and hard work very much. He didn't laugh at all from beginning to end. He just paddled with a serious face, as if he was preparing to negotiate a big business worth hundreds of millions of federal dollars.
Afterwards, everything went very smoothly along the way.
It was not known whether it was because their shark costumes were successful enough, or because the music constantly coming out of their brains was too destructive and magical, but along the way, no large and dangerous fish ever attacked them.
Regardless, it's a blessing.
Before going ashore, a few penguins swam over from the sea full of floating broken ice.
As soon as Jiang Ran saw these little animals, his desire to take pictures came back immediately. He simply built a raft with his hands, sank into the sea, and took pictures of them while carrying a tracking ball.
The heel ball was wrapped in white cloth and painted with black dye. When only the ball was exposed on the water surface, it looked 30% similar to a penguin.
The penguins swimming by saw the ball and surrounded it in confusion.
Is this really one of their kind? Why isn't it talking?
This was very convenient for Jiang Ran. She looked at the penguin heads that were not tilted at all in the camera and was so happy that she didn't even blink.
Hey hey hey, come here, don’t be afraid, come a little closer!
The next second, joy turns to sorrow.
Seeing that this seemingly fellow penguin was refusing to talk to the ball, a hot-tempered little penguin got angry and flapped its wings to hit it hard.
If Jiang Ran hadn't been professional enough and hadn't held the ball steady, the ball would have been almost hit away!
Jiang Ran: “!!!”
There are countless precious photos and video footage in that ball! If it's destroyed here, the loss will be huge!
Jiang Ran was frightened by this and dared not continue filming.
She fluttered around, hurriedly placed the ball on the wooden board, and then flipped over.
Jiang Ran had just sat down and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Xu Yang with half of his face tilted to the side, his hand covering his mouth, and even his eyes half-closed.
Although Xu Yang tried hard to hide it, Jiang Ran still sensitively saw a slight curve between his fingers.
Jiang Ran: “…”
Jiang Ran said, "Mr. Xu, your playlist is pretty good. I haven't heard of it before. Can you send me a copy when you return to Capital Star?"
Xu Yang: “…”
After a long while, Xu Yang said indifferently: "Oh."
Jiang Ran smiled slightly.
Come on! Hurt each other!
The author has something to say:
Sorry, I forgot the geographical location when I wrote this. There are no penguins in the Arctic. Orz
【Small Theater】
Xu Yang: I would like to give the award for the most dedicated boss of the year, thank you.
Jiang Ran: No problem, this award belongs to you! Who else but you?
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