Chapter 48. Entering the A-level Secret Realm: Ice...
As dawn broke, the two teams met at the city gate of the capital. After a perfunctory exchange of pleasantries, they boarded their respective vehicles and set off for their destinations.
Longya and Haichao's flying cars traveled one after the other towards Jinmen City.
Tianjin is about 3,000 kilometers away from Beijing. If you drive at full speed and take the official road, you can arrive smoothly in about a day.
The journey was uneventful, and a day passed quickly. The two cars passed through the ancient, tall, and somewhat dilapidated city gate of Tianjin and drove into the city.
Compared to the modern skyscrapers and high-tech capital city, Tianjin is more like a historical city featured in travel magazines, with a leisurely feeling of flowing streams.
There aren't many tall buildings; most are small buildings with a sense of history. The pavement is mostly made of large, bluish-brown bricks. The shops and buildings on both sides of the road are all very simple and rustic Chinese-style houses, mixed with a large number of white walls, black tiles, wood carvings, brick carvings, stone carvings, and mortise and tenon structural elements.
From a distance, it looks like you've entered a leisurely ancient city.
Upon closer inspection, one will find that Tianjin is a city that combines modern technology with modern technology. While the exterior of most streets retains its historical appearance, technological tools have long been cleverly embedded inside.
Li Junxuan honked his horn repeatedly, urging the car in front to hurry up, his tone tinged with annoyance: "Can't Tianjin just fix up its two main roads properly? Every time I come here, it's jammed like a ghost town."
The car behind was also honking its horn frantically, signaling the car in front to move forward quickly and not stop there.
Liu Huihui sat in the passenger seat, a cigarette dangling from his lips, his arms crossed over his chest: "This is how the road is, just bear with it."
Lin Xiaoxiao and Hongwei leaned against the car window, their eyes sparkling as they gazed out at Tianjin.
Cheng Cheng turned his head and saw Lin Xiaoxiao and Hongwei's actions, and suggested with a smile, "After we come out of this secret realm, how about we stay in Tianjin for a while? It's been a long time since we've traveled together."
Lin Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up. She looked at Cheng Cheng, then at Xiao Weizhi, her eyes full of anticipation for visiting Tianjin.
Xiao Weizhi put down the documents in his hand, thought for a while, and considered that after leaving this secret realm, he should be able to free up a week. He nodded in agreement: "Okay."
The moment Xiao Weizhi agreed, cheers erupted from inside the car.
After all, with Xiao Weizhi around, the accommodations and meals during their subsequent trip to Tianjin will definitely be upgraded to top-of-the-line five-star hotels and expensive cuisine.
After being stuck in traffic for more than two hours, the car successfully entered Tianjin and stopped in front of the gate of the [Tower Complex] which was surrounded and protected.
The entrance to this secret realm is located in the center of the city's scenic area—the [Tower Complex]—and the process of discovering this entrance was extremely childish.
It was because a kitten belonging to the security personnel of the Tower Reserve mysteriously disappeared during a night patrol and wandered into the entrance to the suddenly appeared secret realm.
After searching extensively, the security guard who had lost his beloved pet discovered the entrance to this secret realm.
They immediately reported the incident in a panic, and the operations department in Tianjin quickly erected a combat protective fence. In addition to the operations department's teams, they also extended a pioneering invitation to S-class teams outside the city.
Unfortunately, the first attempt at pioneering ended in failure.
Seeing that the entrance to the secret realm was expanding again and about to destroy part of the towers, the Tianjin Municipal Historical Preservation Committee protested to the Operations Department, strongly demanding that they protect the historical buildings [the tower complex].
As a result, the operations department had to break the original plan and start a second exploration, raising the level of the teams entering the exploration to A-level.
It was this policy, coupled with the fact that Lin Xiaoxiao could understand Elvish, that led the Tide Squad, which possessed two A-level Secret Realm Exploration Tokens, to consider inviting Dragon Fang.
After parking their flying cars at the public parking lot of the Tower Reserve, the two teams immediately went to the small bungalow next to the entrance of the secret realm to register and report.
The small bungalow, about 50 square meters in size, contained only filing cabinets, a few desks and computers for office use, and the staff inside wore dark gray work uniforms.
Two teams of more than twenty people filled the 50-square-meter registration office to the brim.
One of the young female staff members, when she received the pioneering order from Zhou Jie, clearly remembered Hai Chao, the captain of the S-level team, and asked with a smile, "Captain Zhou, you guys are a bit late this time, you missed the first wave of entering the secret realm."
Zhou Jie nodded: "Yes, it's quite a journey from the capital."
The female staff member took out the information Hai Chao had registered earlier from under the table, checked that the number of people had not changed, filled out a few forms, made a few stamps, and then handed the information to Zhou Jie: "Team Leader Zhou, please sign this."
Then he turned to Xiao and asked, "Hello, Captain Xiao, have you finished filling out your forms?"
Just then, Xiao Weizhi finished writing with the pen, picked up the registration form, and handed it over: "It's filled out."
After carefully checking the documents, the staff member held a page in his hand and asked in a deep voice, "Team Leader Xiao, let me confirm with you one more time. The merchants in your team do not belong to the combat or support categories. If any problems arise, your team will be responsible for them. Can you accept that?"
The reason why the staff in Jinmen City confirmed this repeatedly was because, in the event of the death of a combat or support pioneer profession, the Operations Department would pay out a death benefit fund, depending on the circumstances.
However, Lin Xiaoxiao is a professional in the lifestyle sector, and this right cannot be guaranteed for her.
Lin Xiaoxiao stood behind Xiao Weizhi. She had become accustomed to the questions asked before each registration. At first, she would feel it was unfair, but now she had learned to calmly ignore it.
She is now looking around the registration room, trying to see how it differs from the other registration rooms she has visited before.
Xiao Weizhi nodded: "I understand, I accept it."
Seeing him nod, the staff member had Xiao Weizhi sign a confirmation form, then stamped it several times before handing him the receipt: "The formalities are complete, Captain Xiao. We wish you good luck in your martial arts endeavors and a bountiful harvest! The changing room is next door; you can go there to change your clothes."
Following the direction the staff pointed, we found the row of portable changing rooms.
After taking turns changing their clothes, the group followed the staff who had been waiting on the side and approached the entrance to the secret realm dungeon, which exuded a chilling aura.
When they were about fifteen or sixteen meters away from the entrance to the secret realm, Lin Xiaoxiao, who was wearing many layers of clothes and looked quite plump, was already trembling slightly.
Xiao Weizhi, dressed in a flowing robe with a purple-gold and white fur collar, held Lin Xiaoxiao's hand and noticed that she was shivering. He asked in a low voice, "Are you cold?"
Lin Xiaoxiao gently shook her head: "It's a little cold, but not too bad."
Xiao Weizhi nodded and whispered, "Say it if you get cold, don't try to tough it out."
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded obediently.
The towers near the entrance to the secret realm were covered in condensed frost and icicles. The two towers closest to the secret realm had been frozen into a huge ice block, with all the doors and windows sealed inside.
Zhou Jie, dressed in a brown, slightly thick, close-fitting outfit, with a gray-white armor on his chest that faintly radiated a cold light, stood at the entrance and solemnly instructed: "Put on your snow goggles before entering the secret realm."
After giving his instructions, Zhou Jie put on his snow goggles and strode into the vortex that was radiating a distinct chill.
After the entire Tide team entered, the Dragon Tooth team members put on snow goggles and followed closely behind.
After a period of dizziness to get used to, the two teams successfully entered the secret realm.
Upon entering the secret realm, heavy snowflakes drifted overhead, and the vast snowfields, towering snow-capped mountains, and distant, faintly visible forests created a scene of pure white.
The entire dragon tooth landed in a vast expanse of snow. The snow beneath their feet was so thick that it instantly reached above their calves the moment they hit the ground.
The -35 degree Celsius environment caused the Dragon Tooth gang, who had just landed, to shiver from the cold, and it took them a few minutes to adjust.
The locator beeped.
It's a signal from Hai Chao. Long Ya needs to follow the locator to rendezvous with Hai Chao.
Entering the secret realm is done in a team-based teleportation mode. If several different teams want to teleport together, they need to hold hands or have physical contact during the teleportation.
Just like in the B-level secret realm before, Xiao Weizhi was able to teleport together with his childhood friend because during the teleportation, the members of the several teams had physical contact, such as holding hands or putting their arms around each other's shoulders.
However, in this secret realm mission, Hai Chao and Long Ya are not familiar with each other, and both are wary of each other. The best way is to enter first and then reunite using the locator.
Xiao Weizhi glanced at the letter information transmitted by Hai Chao on the locator in his hand: "Let's go and meet up with Hai Chao's people."
Lin Xiaoxiao silently took out the five snowmobiles that were placed in her space and placed them on the snow. She gently pressed her gloved hand on the connection point of the prosthetic limb, her expression showing a hint of worry.
She had only just entered the secret realm when the flesh of her right leg began to tremble uncontrollably. She dared not think about what she might encounter if she stayed in this secret realm for a long time.
A moment later, five black snowmobiles sped northward, crossing a small river frozen into a smooth ice surface, and bypassing several groups of white-furred monsters.
After a journey of more than two hours, we successfully met up with the Hai Chao team.
As soon as the snowmobile stopped, Xu Yilang came up to them, his tone clearly envious: "Your equipment is pretty good."
The team members use skateboards equipped with a small thruster. The skateboard's energy can only support 20 minutes of accelerated gliding; the rest of the time, they have to rely on their own legs to glide.
Wang Hao grinned, revealing a row of big white teeth: "You can buy them too, they're not expensive, 100 purple gold coins per vehicle (one million gold coins)."
Xu Yilang laughed in anger when he heard Wang Hao's smug words.
They could scrape together enough money to equip each member of the team with a snowmobile, but the problem is they don't have enough space to bring in six snowmobiles and then take them back.
As for buying it as a disposable travel accessory, even someone as wealthy as Xiao Weizhi wouldn't do something like that.
Lin Xiaoxiao hugged Xiao Weizhi's waist, held Red Tail in her arms, and had the trembling Treasure-Seeking Mouse in her pocket. She sat on the snowmobile with no intention of getting off the ground.
Xu Yilang wasn't oblivious to the situation. Seeing that the entire Longya team was still on their snowmobiles and showed no intention of getting off to exchange pleasantries, he tactfully suggested, "It's too cold now, so let's set off."
With everything ready, Longya's snowmobile stood still, waiting for Haichao's people to lead the way.
Lin Xiaoxiao leaned her head on Xiao Weizhi's shoulder and suggested in a low voice, "There's still one more person in the back seat of Huihui's car. Let them sit there, and one person can give directions. We also have sleds. They can sit on them, and we can tow the sleds from our car. Otherwise, at their current speed, it will probably take quite a while to reach our destination."
Xiao Wei had certainly considered this plan before, but she didn't mention it because she didn't want a stranger to sit behind Huihui. Riding a bicycle requires both hands to hold the handlebars, which is equivalent to exposing one's back to a stranger without reservation.
Seeing that Xiao Weizhi did not answer, Lin Xiaoxiao immediately understood what he cared about, and then changed her approach: "A sled can seat 8 people. We have two sleds in our supplies. Let's get two snowmobiles out and let them drive one to pull themselves, and we'll pull one too. What do you think?"
The proposal was approved by Xiao Weizhi and agreed to by the people on Haichao's side.
Lin Xiaoxiao immediately threw out two sleds, tow ropes, locks, snowmobile connecting rods, and a whole bunch of other things from her spatial storage. After the sleds were assembled in a few tens of minutes, Lin Xiaoxiao quickly put them into place.
Everyone in the Dragon Tooth team wanted to ride the sled; nobody wanted to ride a bicycle, but pulling a sled required two people riding a bicycle.
Finally, through a game of rock-paper-scissors, the two chosen sled drivers were Li Junxuan and Jiang Tao.
Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi sat in the last row. She held the trembling red tail in her arms, her body instinctively curled up into a ball, her face covered by the hot breath from her mask, some of which seeped through the mask and fogged up her goggles.
Xiao Weizhi sat down next to Lin Xiaoxiao and patted the snow off her shoulder. He then took out a small heated blanket from his space and covered her legs with it, including Hongwei, making sure she was wrapped up tightly. He then reached out and pulled her into his arms: "Cover yourself up!"
Seeing this, Lin Xiaoxiao reached out to share some of the warm blanket on her lap with him: "You can cover yourself with some too."
Xiao Weizhi reached out to stop her, and even tucked the edge of the blanket in: "No need, I'm not cold."
With a whoosh, Jiang Tao twisted the throttle, and the sled shot off, interrupting Lin Xiaoxiao's next words.
Liu Huihui was jolted, quickly grabbed the horizontal bar in front of him, and angrily cursed, "Jiang Tao, do you have to twist the accelerator so hard?"
Wang Hao casually picked up a snowball that had been thrown at his face and threw it towards Jiang Tao: "Hey, Jiang Tao, you just wait."
Jiang Tao laughed wildly: "I told you not to ride your bikes, now I have the throttle, you're all done for, hahahahahaha!"
Xiao Weizhi caught Lin Xiaoxiao, who was almost thrown off balance, and coldly scolded, "Jiang Tao!"
Jiang Tao, who was about to twist the throttle to its limit, immediately relaxed his hand, allowing the snowmobile to maintain a very suitable forward speed.
Li Junxuan, on the right-hand flying car, laughed heartily, thinking, "It's better for me to die than for my friend."
Lin Xiaoxiao rested her head on Xiao Weizhi's shoulder and chuckled softly, "You scared Jiang Tao again."
Xiao Weizhi tucked the blanket around her, rested his face against her head, and whispered, "Do you think Wang Hao and Jiang Tao will listen if you talk to them nicely?"
Lin Xiaoxiao recalled Wang Hao and Jiang Tao's personalities and chuckled: "They won't listen!"
If these two weren't so mischievous, Xiao Weizhi wouldn't have to act like a patriarch every day, managing these two unruly monkeys who go around watching shows everywhere.
Just as Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi were talking, at the very end of another sled about two meters away from them.
A calculating glint flashed in Xu Yilang's eyes as he lowered his voice and suggested to Zhou Jie beside him, "That little girl has an A-level spatial talent and can understand Elvish. Should we try to win her over?"
Zhou Jie shook his head slightly: "Let's see. That girl has an unusual relationship with Xiao Weizhi. We might not be able to win her over."
Xu Yilang nodded, suppressing all the little thoughts that had surfaced.
From sunrise to sunset, the snowmobiles traveled hundreds of kilometers. As night fell, the two teams worked together to find a suitable place to set up camp.
When Lin Xiaoxiao pulled out a folding floating camp terrace, a folding tent, and a folding kitchen from her space, the envy in the eyes of the neighboring Hai Chao team could no longer be concealed.
After a hearty meal, Lin Xiaoxiao turned the portable thermostat up to its maximum, making the entire tent warm and cozy, which finally stopped her right leg from trembling.
She placed her hand on her right leg, silently encouraging herself, thinking that if she could just hold on a little longer, she could get through this secret realm.
Xiao Weizhi lifted the tent flap and came in. Seeing that she was still sitting on the bed, he looked at the communicator on his wrist, frowned and reminded her, "At this time, you should go to sleep."
Lin Xiaoxiao obediently pulled up the blanket and lay down on the bed, closing her eyes to prepare for sleep. She replied in a low voice, "I'm going to sleep. Could you please turn off the light for me?"
After confirming that she had closed her eyes, Xiao Weizhi lit the sleep-inducing aromatherapy candle on the bedside table, picked up the thin blanket from the chair next to her, turned off the light, and went out to keep watch.
The night watch schedule for today is as follows: Xiao Weizhi and Liu Huihui will be on duty for the first half of the night; Chen Feng, Chen Yijin, and Wang Hao will be on duty for the second half of the night.
As for Jiang Tao and Li Junxuan, they had already been driving snowmobiles all day, so they weren't assigned to keep watch overnight.
As the night watch shift changed, the sky gradually began to lighten.
After breakfast, Hai Chao and Long Ya continued their journey, traveling for five days straight, covering nearly 2,900 kilometers, bypassing several groups of monsters, more than a dozen large and small ice mountains, and several cliffs... before finally arriving near the cave where their destination was located.
As we ventured deeper into the hidden realm, the temperature gradually approached -70 degrees Celsius, and amidst the large snowflakes, a few hailstones the size of a thumb would occasionally fall.
Therefore, both teams had to wear special helmets over their cotton hats to avoid getting bumps on their heads from the hail.
When the flying car stopped in front of an unusually tall iceberg, there was a circular opening 3 meters high and 2.5 meters wide.
Lin Xiaoxiao could already faintly hear the laughter and playful noises coming from inside, but to others, the sounds sounded like the screams of an unknown monster.
"Oh dear, you've gone too far! How could you tease me like that?"
"Sisi, run! Noah's coming for you!"
...
Upon hearing this voice, Xu Yilang desperately suppressed the slight trembling of his body caused by excitement, a fervent emotion flashing in his eyes.
Zhou Jie pointed to the cave and said to Lin Xiaoxiao, "Miss Lin, the destination is inside the cave."
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded, turned around and put away the snowmobile and sled. She pulled Xiao Weizhi along with the Hai Chao team, and slowly walked into the translucent ice wall.
The further you go in, the clearer the sounds of laughter and playfulness become.
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