Chapter 939 Alaska

Three hours later.

With the help of a submarine, Qi Lin and others successfully crossed the Bering Strait and landed in Alaska.

This land once belonged to Russia, but in 1867, not long after the end of the American Civil War, Alaska was sold to the United States by Russia for US$7.2 million. This US$7.2 million can be said to be a successful advancement. At that time, Russia was industrializing, and the United States also obtained this territory, which occupied one-fifth of the country's land area.

Alaska is the largest state in the United States. More than one-third of the land is located within the Arctic Circle. The main landform is dominated by frozen tundra like Siberia. Qi Lin and his team's landing point is located on the south coast of Norton Bay. Close to the mouth of the Yukon River, this direction is relatively safe since most of the organization's search efforts are concentrated over the strait and the Chukotka Peninsula.

Everyone climbed onto the beach, dragging their bodies that were frozen stiff in the sea water, and gathered behind a boulder leeward. They took out dry food and water from their backpacks, and began to chew heavily.

"To be honest..." Harveys swallowed a mouthful of food and said to Qi Lin, "I thought that even if we could come out this time, there would only be a few people left... I mean, from the very beginning, we set off from the Noah's Ark stronghold. That’s what I thought at the time… I didn’t expect that I could survive so much.”

Except for Cheng Yanqiu, who never showed up, and Bruce, who was killed by Qi Lin before the operation started, they only lost seven people in this operation - Lin Que, Jiang Shanyan, Aken and four of Harveys' men, and arrived in Alaska alive. There are six people in total - Qi Lin, Ling Kui, George, Cyborg 0592, Harveys and Qin who was rescued by them.

Judging from the difficulty of this rescue operation, this result is undoubtedly very successful...

only……

"We haven't really entered the safe area yet. The operation is not over yet. Don't say this too early." Qi Lin stared at the compressed biscuits in his hand and said, "Judging from the importance of Qin, Xia He's mastermind will not If they give up the search so easily, if they can't find us in Chukotka and the Bering Strait, they will definitely expand the search scope further, and soon, their traces will appear here."

"Then where are we going now? I know absolutely nothing about the follow-up actions, but you should know more than us... Could it be that the 'BOSS' claimed to be the one to take over was just such a small unmanned ship? Submarine?" Harveys asked, staring at Qi Lin.

"To be honest, I don't know the specific response... but I know the location of the safe base in Alaska. I think we may have to go to that place ourselves." Qi Lin said, spreading the waterproof map on the rock. It turned out that most of the electronic equipment on their bodies had been lost or destroyed in the whirlpool, including the electronic maps.

"so far?!"

Harveys only glanced at it, and his expression turned ugly.

The safe base given by this mastermind is located in Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska, and Qi Lin and the others want to go here, that is, there are only two routes.

One is to go south along the coastline and pass through the Alaska Peninsula, and the other is to climb the towering Alaska Mountains.

The first route is extremely dangerous. The mastermind and organization are likely to send drones to search along the coastline. The risk of discovery in coastal areas is much higher than inland areas... and the second route, although relatively exposed The risk is low, but it is very difficult to go.

The Alaska Range is one of the largest mountain ranges in North America. The main peak of over 6,000 meters, Denali, is the highest peak in North America.

In the old days, due to the influence of the Pacific Warm Current, the snow line in the Denali Mountains area could be more than 1,800 meters high. However, after the nuclear war passed, the global climate changed drastically, and the Pacific Warm Current no longer passed through this area, and the radiation The clouds have absorbed a large amount of heat that should have been projected from the sun to the ground, causing the average temperature in Alaska to be much lower than the level of the old era. Places that should have been in the temperate zone now appear completely polar. appearance.

The temperature at the landing point of Qi Lin and the others was more than ten degrees below zero. Looking around, they could see a blanket of white snow, and a majestic glacier that could not be seen to the edge lay directly in front of them - that was The Alaskan Mountains they had to cross in this trip.

"How many supplies do we have left?" Qi Lin asked. Due to the energy-gathering vortex, he was not too afraid of the low-temperature environment, and there was no such thing as a frost dragon in this area. Qi Lin did not suppress the energy-gathering vortex at all. It is necessary to be able to whirlpool, so even if he is wearing short-sleeved shorts, he can jump around in the ice and snow... But it is different for others. Escaping from the underwater prison has consumed a lot of their physical energy, and the cold sea water It also takes away a lot of heat. Although their combat suits can be used as diving suits and have good thermal insulation properties, in this case, they are indeed a little thin.

0592 has a body temperature regulation system, so the severe cold is not too bad for him, but Ayakui, Harveys and George's bodies were already trembling slightly at this time.

George turns into a werewolf, or Ayakui uses her mind to form a vacuum zone around herself. This is indeed an effective way to keep out the cold, but the consumption of this way of keeping out the cold is too exaggerated, and it is completely worth the loss...

"Only three pieces of cold-proof clothing..." In order to carry Qin on his back, Harveys had thrown away his backpack when he was in the underwater prison, while the backpacks of Ayakui and George were washed away in the whirlpool. Now The only two people still carrying backpacks were Qi Lin and 0592. 0592's backpack was larger and had twice the amount of supplies stuffed in it. Even so, they could only scrape together three pieces of cold-proof clothing.

One of them must be given to Qin who is in a coma. His body functions are now in a state of near stagnation. In addition, he has left the life support cabin. If he does not take measures to keep warm, his body will be damaged. It will soon become necrotic due to low temperature. Even if Qi Lin and the others arrive at a safe base, they may not be able to wake it up.

As for the remaining two pieces, they were allocated to Harveys and George.

"Is your sister okay?" Harveys held the cold-proof clothes in his hand and glanced at Lingkui and asked... Although he didn't know the true relationship between Lingkui and Qi Lin, it was obvious that the two people had known each other before. And looking at the intimacy and tacit understanding between them, it would not be appropriate to call them ordinary teammates and friends, and it would not be appropriate to call them a couple...

Besides, Ling Kui looks about the age of a junior high school student, and Qi Lin doesn't seem to have that kind of special hobby.

In view of this situation, Harveys subconsciously regarded Lingkui as Qi Lin's sister, and Qi Lin and Lingkui also acquiesced in his view.

"It doesn't matter, I'll be her body heater." Qi Lin said, while Ling Kui was already wrapped around Qi Lin's body like an octopus, her body close to Qi Lin's chest and abdomen, relying on Qi Lin to gather energy. The heat converted in the vortex maintains body temperature.

Since Ayakui can use her mind to float herself, Qi Lin won't feel any extra burden. At most, holding someone on her chest will slightly affect her movements.

"Okay..." Harveys looked at them with a slightly strange look and put on his thick cold-proof clothes.

They have been resting here for half an hour. If they don't leave, the mastermind and organization will probably expand the search scope here.

"Let's go, let's go." Looking at Lingkui who had her little head in her arms and closing her eyes to rest, Qi Lin gave the order to set off. He circled Lingkui's waist with one hand and held an ice ax forward with the other. Go.

"I don't want to stay in this shabby place any longer. To be honest, there is no shelter at all in this place, and I feel really uneasy - I always feel like pursuers will come over from the sea at any time..." George followed closely. Behind Qi Lin, he kept looking back at the sea and said.

0592 has never spoken much, and his language ability is still inferior to that of normal humans. In addition, in his thinking mode, he will not speak if he can, and redundant and meaningless language is It's not necessary, especially in this situation.

Qin's was transferred from Harveys' back to 0592's back... to be precise, it should be in 0592's backpack. The big man's backpack is much larger than other people's backpacks, and it can not only hold double the supplies and supplies, it is more than enough to hold one person inside.

…

"This is Denali National Park, but we still have to walk several kilometers to reach the foot of the mountain." After passing through a rocky beach and an ice field, Qi Lin and the others finally arrived at a forest.

It's just that... this is a dead forest. Even the cold-resistant coniferous forest cannot tolerate the extremely low temperature here, and the water in the frozen soil has turned into solid ice and cannot be absorbed by the roots of the trees. Absorb, this forest died a few years ago, leaving only countless crooked and withered branches standing in the snow.

Denali National Park is the second largest park in the United States after the famous Yellowstone Park. It once had vast grasslands and lush mountain forests, but it has been destroyed by nearly endless snowstorms and extremely cold temperatures of dozens of degrees below zero. After being swept away, these landscapes that attracted countless tourists no longer existed, leaving only ice and snow, ice and snow.

In order to prevent snow blindness, the team members all put on a pair of brown goggles, and on their feet were special footwear similar to sleds for snow, and they trudged forward on a vast white snowfield.

This polar scenery cannot be said to be spectacular, but now, Qi Lin and the others are not in the mood to appreciate it at all.

The weather now can barely be considered sunny... But you must know that blizzards are a common occurrence here. They must rush to the foot of the mountain before the blizzard comes... Qin's condition is not optimistic. The longer it is delayed, the more his consciousness will be able to The less likely it is to recover.

Qi Lin didn't want the person he had worked so hard to bring out of that underwater prison... to end up as a vegetative person who could never wake up - if the ending was like this, then all the previous efforts would be meaningless.

In addition to blizzards, they also need to be careful of predators hidden in the ice and snow. The low temperature killed most of the wild animals that once lived in Denali National Park, but those that survived became More powerful...

During the war, Alaska once became the largest forward base of the US military in the Arctic Circle. The military significance here is self-evident. As a key target, hostile forces also poured a large number of nuclear bombs and dirty bombs on this land. Above... Therefore, Qi Lin will not be surprised by what kind of mutated creatures can evolve here... Of course, don't encounter anything on the level of a frost dragon...

"It seems to be getting dark..." George walked and looked up at the sky, only to see that the originally leaden sky had become very close to black at this moment, even though it was still just before three in the afternoon. , but night has begun to fall in the wasteland.

In addition, it is close to the Arctic Circle. After the autumnal equinox, the days will become shorter day by day, while the nights will be just the opposite.

"I suggest you take a rest." 0592, who had been silent all this time, said in a muffled voice. The night temperature in the wasteland is extremely low, and in this ice sheet area it can easily reach below minus 50 degrees. In addition, Some mutated creatures that like to stay out at night are obviously more dangerous at night than during the day.

"I agree." Qi Lin nodded. Although Qin didn't have much time left, after weighing the risks of continuing to move forward, Qi Lin decided to rest for the night and wait until dawn the next day before continuing. On the way.

Although Harveys was a little reluctant, he also knew how risky it was to travel at night. He didn't say anything more, but took off the shovel from behind and started digging in the snow.

A rectangular snow pit two meters deep, five meters long, and two meters wide was quickly dug out by several people. Qi Lin covered the snow pit with a piece of canvas. The bottom of the canvas was supported by branches, and the top was After spreading a thick layer of snow and stepping it firmly with your feet, a temporary shelter has begun to take shape.

All six people got into this snow pit, where the body's heat loss rate would be greatly reduced, enough to support them through this fatal night.

The only remaining small army pot was placed on the induction cooker. Qi Lin took out a few large pieces of chocolate as hard as rocks from his pocket and threw them into the pot. As the temperature increased, the chocolate began to slowly melt. , exuding an alluring fragrance.

"Ha... I can actually drink a cup of hot cocoa at this time. It's not a loss." Although his body is very tired, George seems to be in a good mood now. Even Harveys's tense face has relaxed. A lot.