It was noon on the 3rd of December, but the polar night sky was eerily dark. It was filled with inopportune stars.
Wrangel Island was located at 71 ° 14 'north latitude and 179 ° 25' west longitude. The island was once home to a military airport, a military radar facility, and even a mine, but they were all abandoned not long after they were built. The village of Uhakovskoye was on the southern coast, and the naval base was right next to this former small settlement.
The base was made up of a set of 34 modular buildings. Currently, there were hundreds of personnel from both countries working on it.
Yesterday, Gu Jun's group of five had arrived at the Messerschmitt military base. When the weather allowed, they took a helicopter over. They successfully flew over the 200 kilometers and landed at the base's landing pad. Now that the surface of the sea was covered in ice, ships were no longer suitable for navigation. They needed an icebreaker to clear the way.
The wind howled as the five stepped down from the helicopter. They were all wearing thick and heavy adventure gear and carrying a bag of luggage.
The remaining warmth in the helicopter had been destroyed by the howling wind. When Gu Jun stepped on the island's snow, he was instantly hit by a bone-chilling cold. His face, which was covered by the hood and mask, was buffeted by the wind. He could barely open his eyes.
'So cold. ' He did not grow up in the north. This was the first time in his life that he had felt so cold. Was it the taste of minus 20 degrees Celsius?
But this place was not only cold, the humidity was very high. It was often shrouded in fog, which gave the place its nickname, 'Foggy Island'.
The cold fog seemed to have seeped through his thick thermal suit and seeped into his skin. At the same time, it crawled into his lungs through his respiratory tract. His breathing became more labored. His chest tightened, and there was a prickling pain in his nose and respiratory tract.
"Ah …" Uncle Dan beside him shivered from the cold. He had just arrived at this place, but it felt worse than the few days he had spent in the tunnel.
"I really need to drink some vodka," Lou Xiaoning grumbled. This was not a place for humans to live. It was dark and cold, and the further north they went, the worse it would get.
"This place is so white." Wu Shiyu looked at the white snow under the night sky. It felt like he was looking at a patch of color during ESP training.
Staying in this environment for too long would trigger the Ganzfeld Effect — hallucinations and psychological changes.
"Whoever feels uncomfortable, please don't push yourself." Xue Ba said to everyone. He flexed all the muscles in his body, but his square, bearded face was already red from the cold.
Moving around the Arctic Circle in winter was a test of one's mind and body. If there was enough time, they would need to receive some training first. And people like Gu Jun, who was terminally ill, should not set foot on this land. But now, everything could not be done according to the normal way.
In front of the helicopter, there was a group of about ten people waiting to greet them.
Among them were the members of Phecda's expedition team, the Arctic Wolves. Yu Xiaoyong was the captain, and Zhang Xiaoqi was the vice-captain. The Arctic Wolves was a temporary Special Mobile Force formed to deal with this mission. There were all kinds of personnel in the team, and professional Arctic explorers were indispensable.
Next to Captain Yu and the others were the people from the Russian Security Bureau. They were the hosts here, and the Phecda members were the guests.
The leader of the Russian team was called Ivanov Mstislav. He was a middle-aged Russian. The beard on his face and the muscles on his body were even more exaggerated than Xue Ba. He looked like a brown bear.
"Captain Yu." Xue Ba led the way and called out in broken Russian, "Кафитанмостислева."
Even though Xue Ba was not proficient, he knew many languages.
"Captain Xue!" Mstislav, who was called, replied in broken Chinese. This brown bear did not lose to Xue Ba in terms of language.
Everyone got to know each other. When Gu Jun was introduced, everyone looked at him curiously, especially Yu Xiaoyong and the rest.
The reason was that Gu Jun was too young, and the order from Phecda was for them to cooperate with him. This meant that Gu Jun was the center of attention. However, Yu Xiaoyong's group had read up on Gu Jun before, and they knew that he had some kind of ESP, a special mental power.
"Let me bring you to the hostel first." Mstislav was very friendly. "Let's go in and have a drink."
Even though Gu Jun was eager to explore the area, he knew that he had to go through the necessary procedures, and settling down at the hostel was one of them.
Furthermore, they could not rush things. They had been briefed on the situation here before they set off. The island was too big, and the weather was too bad. The Arctic Wolf Unit did not even know which area to search, so their work had come to a halt.
The hostel was the largest barracks on the island. It was separated for men and women, and it had electricity and heating, but they had to use it sparingly.
The supplies stored at the base were enough for them and the thirty Alaskan Malamutes to survive for a month, and there was support from the coast as well.
After settling down, Gu Jun immediately requested to start the exploration. Captain Yu's group brought the five of them out and boarded a snowmobile to head west.
Soon, the abandoned village of Uhakovskoye appeared in the snow. Captain Yu explained, "The place has been like this for many years. The Russians don't clean it up, and they don't allow others to."
Gu Jun knew that from the information he had read.
Under the illumination of the headlights, she could see some old electric poles dangling on the snow-covered ground. Messy electric wires were connected to some dilapidated low-rise wooden houses. The snow had not completely covered up all kinds of rubbish, especially those abandoned oil drums that had long been rusted and their color had faded.
Their surroundings were still a sea of white, and they were connected to the mountains in the distance.
"There's a polar bear over there." Once the snowmobile team stopped, Wu Shiyu pointed in a direction. Gu Jun turned to look.
As he expected, he saw a strong polar bear walking beside a dilapidated house less than twenty meters away. It glanced at them before turning to leave.
Why … Gu Jun frowned. He had a strange feeling that the polar bear had been waiting for him there for a long time.
The wind howled, and other than them, there was only silence. He could hear the sound of his blood flowing. Was his mind affected?
"Captain Yu, I wish to go take a look at that house," he said.
The polar bear had already run away, so there was no need to chase it away. The group walked over. It was a very normal wooden house, less than thirty square meters. The roof was about to collapse from the weight of the snow, but it had been there for decades.
The door to the wooden hut was half-closed. Gu Jun pushed it open and turned on the flashlight to peer into the hut.
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