Arctic survival, starting in hell at minus fifty degrees Celsius

Sun Chengwu's thoughts were in complete disarray.

He barely slept; as soon as he closed his eyes to fall asleep, he would dream of Su Wanqing's cries for help.

He regretted it somewhat; if he hadn't let Su Wanqing go back, but instead had stayed with him in the Hazara village, would all of this have been avoided?

Everyone talks about the butterfly effect; does this count as the butterfly effect?

Another day passed. Sun Chengwu opened his eyes, glanced at his watch, and saw it was five in the morning.

Five o'clock is the coldest time of day. He was breathing out white vapors, which condensed into ice crystals before they even hit the ground and clung to his beard.

Sun Chengwu wiped his face haphazardly and looked in the direction of the tire tracks.

The Hazara people kept watch at night, and the fire never went out. Sun Chengwu added some firewood and brought out the food.

He grilled three pieces of meat, ate one himself, and gave the rest to Big White and Little White.

The Hadza people bring their own food.

Around 6 a.m., two other Hadza people also got up, rubbed their faces with snow, and then started eating.

Four Hadza people were talking in hushed tones. Sun Chengwu couldn't understand what they were saying, but after spending so much time together, he could understand a few words, just like how watching too many adult films can teach you a few words of Japanese.

These Hadza people were probably saying things like there wasn't much hope.

After seven o'clock, the weather warmed up a bit, and after eating something, my body felt much warmer.

Sun Chengwu stamped his foot, looked at the Hadza people, and walked ahead.

The Hadza people carried animal skin bags on their backs and followed behind.

After walking for more than half a day, Big White suddenly let out a howl and ran quickly ahead.

Xiao Bai also bit Sun Chengwu's ankle and ran quickly forward.

Sun Chengwu quickly followed.

Ahead was an uphill slope, where a damaged ice sled was stuck on the trunk of a tree, surrounded by footprints and bloodstains.

The marks here split into two directions.

One direction comes from the mountain, and another direction follows the mountainside, heading north.

Judging from the direction of the footprints, they came down from the mountain and headed north.

Sun Chengwu first climbed to the top of the mountain to check the situation. Judging from the traces in the snow, the ice sled must have been attacked when it reached the top of the mountain. Then the pack of dogs went out of control, causing the ice sled to overturn down the mountain.

There was a lot of dog hair on the ground, and there was also a lot of dog hair in the bloodstains, so a dog must have been injured when the car overturned.

At the mountaintop, Sun Chengwu also found bloodstains.

What danger did they encounter?

Sun Chengwu searched carefully in the vicinity.

He didn't miss anything—the ground, the tree trunks.

After searching for half an hour, Sun Chengwu found scratches on the trunk of one of the trees, with the bark broken and the trunk exposed.

In addition, there is a tree trunk with a dent that is as deep as a finger joint.

It looks like it was hit by a sharp weapon.

Sun Chengwu stared at the two marks and took out the arrows to compare them.

The scratches on the tree trunk looked like they were caused by the design of a bow and arrow.

Sun Chengwu turned around and looked in the direction from which the arrow had come; it should be on the other side of the mountain ridge.

On the snow, there was a trail of footprints that appeared to have come from the direction of the mountain ridge.

A rough estimate suggests there are at least seven or eight people.

Sun Chengwu's heart skipped a beat.

Could it be that they were attacked?

Sun Chengwu followed the direction of the footprints and, sure enough, found something about thirty meters away.

The footprints on the mountainside overlapped with those on the ridge.

The footprints followed the ridge downwards, into the valley below.

This mountain pass resembles a large rift valley, with steep, winding mountain roads, glaciers hanging on the cliffs, and almost complete darkness below.

Sun Chengwu, with his sharp eyes, noticed clusters of firelight shining in the distance of the rift valley.

This means there are people below!

Many people believe that the deeper you go, the colder it is, but that's not true.

The temperature inside these large rift valleys is actually much higher than outside.

The mountains on both sides block the cold wind from above, allowing more cold air to sink, making the temperature at the bottom ten degrees lower than in the middle.

As long as they don't choose to live at the very bottom, they can withstand temperatures as low as minus thirty degrees Celsius.

The difficulty was the lack of firewood and food.

But it's not insurmountable; you can just walk a little further each day.

Sun Chengwu looked at the Great Rift Valley and, without any hesitation, walked down the path.

The four Hadza people hesitated for a moment, but seeing Sun Chengwu go down, and remembering the chief's instructions, they decided to follow him.

The five people walked very slowly, with a bottomless valley beside them, where they could easily fall if they were not careful.

Sun Cheng walked downhill for almost two hours until he saw a path that had been dug out.

Above this path are thick, upside-down icicles, cut in half, with a narrow path on the inside that can only allow two people to walk side by side.

The ice and snow on the road have been cleared, but it is still very slippery, with anti-slip marks carved out by hand.

In addition, there are many rocks on the rock face that can be gripped, which are believed to have been frozen on with water.

This road looks dangerous, but it's actually much easier to walk than the previous sections.

Sun Chengwu just couldn't understand why anyone would live in such a godforsaken place.

Sun Chengwu walked for two kilometers along this mountain road, which took him more than an hour, before finally seeing the source of the fire ahead.

It was a huge glacier reflecting the firelight.

At the end of the path, there is a hole that appears to have been carved out of the overhanging glacier.

Sun Chengwu arrived at the edge of the cave entrance, where a path meandered downwards, paved with stones and surrounded by transparent ice, making it much warmer than outside.

The firelight originated from the innermost part of the cave, and only after being reflected through layers of ice could Sun Chengwu see it from the outside.

Upon entering the cave, Sun Chengwu didn't rush in. Instead, he checked his weapons, patted Da Bai's head, and asked, "Are they in there?"

Big White sniffed the ground, let out a howl, and walked forward.

Sun Chengwu followed behind.

The path inside the cave went downhill for about a hundred meters before a figure appeared in front of Sun Chengwu.

He was startled and immediately drew his dagger, watching the figure warily.

The figure was distorted, appearing somewhat warped in the light behind the thick layer of ice.

Laughter and cursing from a group of men could be heard coming from inside the cave.

Sun Chengwu could tell that they were speaking Russian.

Sun Chengwu carefully walked forward, his footsteps magnified infinitely in the cave, and finally arrived at the lower level of the cave.

Here, he saw a shiny bald head.

Besides these, there were many familiar faces.

The bald man happened to see Sun Chengwu, and was momentarily stunned, then his face lit up with joy. "Sun Chengwu, it's you!"