“Our Left Army Governor’s Office also has a cruise ship operating company, and we happen to have a polar expedition cruise ship that can come and pick you up.”
Wu Bolin nodded slightly and said, “Then, let’s do as Tianlin said.”
…
After three days of sailing at sea, the research vessel Iliad, carrying Charlie, safely passed the Roaring Forties, circled the Antarctic Peninsula, and slowly approached the Antarctic continent.
At that time, the sea surface near the Antarctic continent was covered with a thick layer of ice, and research vessels could only move forward by breaking through the ice at a very slow speed.
The research vessel is approaching 80°S latitude. Although it has not yet entered the polar night, the daily hours of sunlight have decreased to less than three hours, and it is the eve of the polar night.
The cabin display shows the real-time outdoor temperature, which is already a dismal -55 degrees Celsius before sunrise. After sunrise, the temperature rises by about 10 degrees Celsius.
However, compared to the extremely low temperature, the outside environment felt calm and peaceful, with almost no wind, waves, or snow. Only the sound of cracking ice and the low-pitched hum of engines could be heard.
After the sun rose again, the ice-covered continent of Antarctica could be seen outside the window. The captain announced over the loudspeaker that in a few hours, the research vessel would dock at the edge of the Antarctic continent, and everyone should prepare to disembark.
As the journey nears its end, Charlie wakes up Jeremiah Yun and Song Ruyu, who have isolated themselves.
The two returned to their room, quickly packed their things, and waited to dock.
At that moment, Maria Lin was surprised and delighted to find that in the frozen sea, there was a large group of penguins marching towards the land in a long line.
Pointing to the dark black dots on the ice, he exclaimed happily, “Young master, look! It’s an emperor penguin!”
Charlie looked around and was surprised to find that these penguins were actually migrating from the frozen sea to the interior of Antarctica.
He asked in confusion, “The interior of Antarctica is the coldest place right now, so why are these penguins still heading there?”
Maria Lin said with a smile, “Emperor penguins are very strange. Other penguins migrate north in winter, but they return in winter to breed far away in Antarctica.”
Charlie remembered something and said, “I think I’ve seen it on TV before. Emperor penguins would gather in the thousands or tens of thousands to brave the wind and snow. It was quite a spectacular sight.”
“Yes,” said Maria Lin’er. “Their habit is to reproduce during the coldest time of year, gathering in groups to incubate eggs and raise their young. They are probably the only animals we can see in the Antarctic interior during winter.”
Antarctica is the harshest place on Earth during winter, and very few animals can survive there, including emperor penguins.
Because the Antarctic sea surface is now freezing at a rate of several kilometers per day, a layer of ice several meters thick has formed on the sea surface near the Antarctic continent. At this point, research vessels no longer need docks. When the ice thickness exceeds the icebreaker’s capacity, the vessel will slowly come to a halt and stop moving forward.
At that moment, some people waiting a kilometer away saw the ship stop and signaled, so they immediately started driving some ice tractors slowly towards the research ship.
These ice tractors each pull a trailer, some of which have cargo space and others have passenger cabins.
Shortly after, Captain John Torresson arrived and said to Charlie, “Mr. Wade, you and the three women can prepare to disembark. The research station staff will pick you up first. You can carry your luggage and equipment in the truck. If anything is too large or heavy, you can give it to us. We will use a crane to load the equipment and tools onto the truck later.”
Charlie nodded and asked them, “Captain Torresson, when will you be back?”
John Torresson checked his watch and said, “It’s still over 100 kilometers from here to the research station. It will take at least four hours by snowmobile. We need to wait for the staff to transport everything and organize the work at the research station before we can return together. From now until we leave, it will probably take about four days.”
Charlie nodded slightly. In four days, there would probably be only a few people left on the Antarctic continent, which would make cultivation much easier.