CIATB Chapter 127 Blizzard!
Chapter 127 Blizzard!
This is not some kind of insect.
As the "Cheng Ying" slowly descended and hovered ten meters in front of the bronze pillar, Nie Qingcheng finally saw the true form of the thing under the dim blue light of the car's headlights.
It was a snake.
Or rather, it is a giant python made entirely of bronze, over a hundred meters long.
It coiled around a bronze pillar that was as thick as three people could hug. Each scale on its body was only the size of a palm, yet it was polished so perfectly that it gleamed with a chilling, dull luster in the cold air.
The giant snake's head is triangular, with two eyes inlaid with rubies tightly closed and its tongue slightly protruding, as if it were asleep.
"This is... a mechanical beast from the Mohist school?"
Nie Qingcheng felt her throat go dry and subconsciously gripped Zhang Yan's clothes tightly. "Is it alive?"
"It's dead now, but it might not be in a moment."
Zhang Yan stared at the giant snake, his mind racing with messages from the system.
[Target confirmed: Mo Family's Four Spirits - Tengshe (dormant state)]
[Core Energy Source: Geothermal Energy / Micro Fission Reactor (Depleted)]
[Danger Level: S]
"The flying serpent riding the mist will eventually turn to dust."
Zhang Yan tapped a few times on the control panel, recording the coordinates. "Looks like there really is a big guy down there. This thing is just a gatekeeper."
"The gatekeeper?"
Nie Qingcheng's eyes widened. "Using this hundred-meter-long iron lump to guard the gate?"
"Isn't this Mohist patriarch far too arrogant?"
"We can't understand the cutting-edge technology of that era."
Just as Zhang Yan was about to get closer to examine the inscriptions on the snake, a piercing whistling sound came from above.
The night sky, which had been relatively clear, seemed to have been suddenly covered with a black cloth.
The full moon that was just hanging in the sky vanished in an instant, and then a gale, carrying snowflakes as sharp as blades, lashed down on us.
The weather in Changbai Mountain is notoriously unpredictable, changing in an instant.
"Oh no, a whiteout has started!"
Zhang Yan's expression changed.
This type of blizzard, unique to extremely cold regions, can reduce visibility to zero instantly, and cause temperatures to plummet by more than ten degrees Celsius within minutes.
Although "Cheng Ying" has an anti-gravity system, flying in such extreme turbulence is no different from embroidering in a washing machine; it might just crash into the rock wall.
"pay close attention!"
Zhang Yan suddenly pressed down on the front of the car, but Cheng Ying did not pull up forcibly. Instead, it stayed close to the ground and darted into the dense forest next to it like a fish.
"Are we not able to get back to the hotel?"
Nie Qingcheng closed her eyes tightly, her long hair flying in the wind, and shouted loudly, but her voice was torn to shreds by the gale as soon as it came out.
"We can't go back! The wind is too strong; forcing takeoff will cause the plane to crash!"
Zhang Yan's voice remained calm and steady, "We need to find a place to hide!"
He quickly activated the [Polar Survival Skill (Master Level)] in his mind.
What was originally a white blur became clear in his eyes in an instant.
Wind direction, terrain, snow thickness, and even a faint heat source a few hundred meters away are all clearly visible.
"Hold on tight, I'm taking you to a great place!"
Zhang Yan revved the engine, and Cheng Ying left a black afterimage on the snow, dodging the fallen dead trees and rushing towards the leeward slope in the southeast.
A few minutes later.
A small wooden house, half-buried in the snow, came into view.
This wooden house looks quite old; the log walls have turned black, and the thatched roof is weighed down by snow. It must have been a temporary shelter left by hunters when they went into the mountains.
"arrive!"
Zhang Yan parked the car to the side of the wooden house to block the wind, then picked up Nie Qingcheng and rushed to the door.
The door was frozen shut.
Zhang Yan kicked the door open with a loud bang.
A musty smell mixed with the smell of old pine wood wafted over me.
It was dark and cold inside, not much warmer than outside, but at least the deadly wind and snow were gone.
Zhang Yan placed Nie Qingcheng on the only relatively sturdy wooden bed, closed the door behind him, and found a few rotten wooden planks in the corner to prop it up.
"cold……"
Nie Qingcheng curled up into a ball, her teeth chattering.
Although she was wearing a windbreaker, in this extremely cold weather of minus thirty degrees Celsius, that little bit of insulation was simply not enough.
"Don't be afraid, I'm here."
Zhang Yan pulled an emergency kit from Cheng Ying's storage box, his movements as swift as a seasoned hunter.
Instead of starting a fire, he first used some old clothes to seal the cracks in the drafty window, then dug out a pile of dry moss and scraps of wood from the corner and stuffed them into the fireplace, which was already covered in dust.
"Clatter".
The windproof lighter emitted a blue flame.
Moss is an excellent ignition source; it ignites immediately upon contact with fire.
Zhang Yan skillfully erected a hollow pile of firewood, and as the flames licked the wood, the faint orange light finally dispelled the darkness inside the room.
The temperature is starting to rise little by little.
Zhang Yan grabbed another handful of snow and stuffed it into his titanium alloy water bottle, which he then placed next to the fire.
After doing all this, he walked to the bedside and pulled the trembling Nie Qingcheng, along with the blanket, into his arms.
"How is it? Are you satisfied with this five-star snow view room?" Zhang Yan smiled and pinched her nose, which was red from the cold.
It took Nie Qingcheng a while to recover from the bone-chilling cold.
Looking at the dilapidated walls around her and the crackling fireplace, she suddenly felt that the scene was somewhat unreal.
She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth as the eldest daughter of the Nie family. She lived in the Cloud Top Manor, slept on a custom-made mattress, and even when she went to Africa for research, she stayed in a luxury tent with air conditioning.
She never imagined she would live in such a dilapidated wooden hut, which was drafty on all sides and contained only a hard wooden bed.
But oddly enough.
She felt neither afraid nor disgusted.
Instead, there was an unprecedented sense of... peace and security.
"Satisfied my foot!"
Nie Qingcheng put her cold hands inside Zhang Yan's sweater to warm them, and said stubbornly, "There isn't even a restroom, bad review."
"It's good enough to have a place to stay."
Zhang Yan let her little hands roam over his abs. "It's only because we ran into me. If it were anyone else, we'd be frozen solid next to that snake tonight."
The water has boiled.
Zhang Yan took a small packet of black tea out of his bag and threw it into the teapot.
Soon, a rich aroma of tea filled the small wooden house.