When a large red and white ship appeared at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the attention of many people on the three islands of Chongming was attracted by it. Like the last time the "Shenyang" arrived at the Dongtan pier, the appearance of this ship seems to indicate that another big operation by the government is about to begin.

"What kind of ship is this?" Chen Bin and Da Fei stood on the dock, looking at the giant ship that was gradually approaching in the distance, and could not hide the excitement in their hearts.

"Snow Dragon", Zhang Dada's eyes also fell on that ship.

"This is our country's polar research ship, and I was guessing what ship we would take to the training that day, but I didn't expect to really say it to Zhao Kang." Zhang Dada smiled and gave the two companions who were about to travel with the information about the ship.

The full name of "Snow Dragon" is the polar research ship Snow Dragon, which is the third generation of polar icebreakers and scientific research ships in China. At present, China does not have its own research icebreaker, the Xuelong is a Vithas Bering-class icebreaker built by the Kherson shipyard in Ukraine in 1993.

It is currently the largest polar research ship in China, and it is also the only ship in China that can break through the ice in the polar regions, and can continuously break through the 1.2-meter-thick ice at a speed of 1.5 knots.

Zhang Dada originally thought that he only needed to send a larger ship to travel, or send a warship as he did when he went to the United States. But after the training and the popularization of Zhao Kang's knowledge, he had a new understanding of this trip to the Arctic Ocean and Egypt.

In particular, on the routes of the Arctic Ocean, most ships are afraid of hitting the ice, and the biggest feature of the Arctic Ocean hydrology is that there is a perennial ice sheet, and there are icebergs and ice floes drifting from east to west on the sea surface, only the Barents Sea area is affected by the North Cape Warm Current and does not freeze all year round.

Most of the islands of the Arctic Ocean are covered with glaciers and ice sheets, while the coastal areas of the Arctic Ocean are mostly permafrost, with permafrost thickening up to hundreds of meters. The Doomsday Seed Bank, the destination of Zhang's trip, is located at the bottom of this permafrost zone, and when it was first built, scientists took a fancy to this terrain environment, so they chose to build it here.

The "Snow Dragon" has been renovated several times by the State Oceanic Administration, and in March 2007, it underwent its last upgrade to date at the Puxi Wharf in Songhu City. After the transformation, the communication and navigation equipment of the "Snow Dragon" has been updated, abandoning the original compass to guide the course and adopting a laser path to guide the navigation. In addition, the transformed "Snow Dragon" is also equipped with the world's most advanced engine room automation control system, which can realize unmanned watch, and the ship's main engine, auxiliary engine, boiler and related auxiliary equipment can all be controlled in the wheelhouse.

"The government has invested a lot of money on this trip," Zhang Dada said with emotion, "not to mention the transfer of the 'Snow Dragon' from the shipyard, but also to put together a team for this trip." If it had failed in Norway and Egypt, I would have been a sinner. ”

"Have faith? Brother Zhang? Da Fei asked.

"The government attaches great importance to my research because since the alien scripts were made public, some powerful countries have been studying them, and everyone wants to be the first to know the mysteries hidden in these words. Based on my own understanding and research, I can only translate the time and place it represents for the time being, but for now, it is sufficient. You ask me if I have faith, and of course I do, because I know that I am ahead of others in my research on these words, and the government understands that, so they all start racing against time, just like me. As soon as the state apparatus began to turn, as you can see, such a big guy was all cleaned up. ”

The "Snow Dragon" is indeed large, it has a total length of 167 meters, a width of 22.6 meters, a draft of 9 meters, and a full load displacement of more than 20,000 tons. Moreover, the whole ship has seven floors, which can carry 130 people and has a carrying capacity of more than 10,000 tons.

The ship has a helicopter hangar and a helipad, and is also equipped with helicopters and vehicles such as Yellow River boats. The ship has made several expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica, most recently from Songhu in July 2012 to the Arctic to study "the mechanism of accelerated ice change" and "the response of marine ecosystems to rapid changes in sea ice". After the return trip, he stayed in the port of Songhu City.

It is not easy for the government to put together a team of people this time, as Zhang Dada said, the top level attaches great importance to it, because the outbreak of the disaster has put all the remaining countries on the same starting line, and everyone may have different "physiques", but the starting point has finally returned to the same.

The country that first discovered the secrets of the alien civilization and conquered the virus will undoubtedly become the leader in the future, so although the information that Zhang Dada cracked was very small, it was heavy enough.

"You've both explained to your wives, right?" Looking at the scientific research icebreaker that was about to dock, Zhang Dada suddenly asked.

Chen Bin nodded, and Da Fei had a bitter face, "Cailing was very worried when she heard that I was going to such a far place, and I was teary-eyed no matter how I coaxed her." ”

"How did you persuade you in the end?" Zhang Dada said with some curiosity.

"Chen Ting helped me persuade me."

"Or she has a way," Zhang Dada nodded.

"Professor Zhang," a lieutenant-like man came over with a group of soldiers, and he saluted Zhang Dada, "I'm Second Lieutenant Xu Yihang, and this time I'm ordered to escort you to Spitsbürgen Island and Egypt." ”

"Hello Second Lieutenant Xu," Zhang Dada hurriedly shook hands with him and said, "Thank you." ”

Chen Bin also shook hands with Xu Yihang, and he looked at the people brought by the second lieutenant, the number of them was about thirty, and according to the establishment, it should be three squads.

In addition to the soldiers and Zhang Dada, there was also a shipping team of more than 50 people and three experienced scientific research experts. So many people were mobilized in two days, and although they didn't know Zhang Dada, everyone knew that they were participating in a meaningful operation.

Xu Yihang's team was originally used as a spearhead to attack Changxing Island, but the government decisively transferred them after studying Zhang Dada's application. No one knows what the coordinates and time of the deciphered message represent, but that is the direction, so the government is willing to support Zhang Dada at all costs.

When he was on the sea before, Zhang Dada felt that the "Snow Dragon" was like a mountain, and after the ship docked, Zhang Dada came to the gangway next to the ship, and he was finally able to see the true face of this giant ship up close.

The fifteen-thousand-ton beast is a striking one, its hull painted in a dazzling red, and the buildings on its hull are as white as ice and snow. The front half of the hull stands tall and has a variety of cabins. Zhang Dada, Chen Bin and others entered the building and found that in addition to the living cabins for one or two people, there were also swimming pools, libraries, gyms, indoor basketball courts, karaoke, laundry rooms, operating rooms and other medical facilities and living and entertainment facilities at night.

"It's too hanging!" Chen Bin and Da Fei were eye-opening, the two had only heard that there would be these facilities on luxury cruise ships before, but they didn't expect that there would be them on scientific research ships.

"Everyone, please place your belongings in the living compartment with your name on it, and everyone will meet in the conference room in ten minutes."

Hearing the sound of the horn on the wall of the corridor, Zhang Dada and the others hurriedly found their living cabin and sorted things out. He didn't have much to bring, because they had been informed during the pre-departure training that many things were already ready on board. Chen Bin and Da Fei are different, although they also participated in the training before departure, Ah Cai and Chen Cailing were not at ease, and stuffed a lot of warm clothes into their luggage, for fear that the two would suffer in the polar regions.

What awaits everyone in the conference room is a lecture prepared for departure, and the content of the lecture is the rules of the "Snow Dragon".

Presiding over the lecture was Xia Yunli, one of the three polar research experts who accompanied the ship, and he had already waited in the conference room in advance. When he was almost there, he began the content of this lecture.

"You are basically boarding the 'Snow Dragon' for the first time, you may only know that it is a polar research ship, many people may not know what the difference between the research ship and other ships is, then what I want to tell you today is that the difference between them lies in the role and function of the ship, as well as the equipment it carries, etc."

"Let's talk about the rules on board. I think it's my home, and I've been with it for more than a decade, and we've been to Antarctica and the North Pole together. Because we are doing scientific research, and the research sites are unexplored places, we will strictly follow some rules accordingly. For example, the environmental code of conduct, after boarding, our garbage must be classified and managed, and the garbage cannot be dumped into the sea. There are also safety rules that do not allow slippers outside the living cabin, and if I can, I would like to try not to wear them anywhere on the ship as well, as it is easy to get hurt. ”

"There are two most important points next: one is that smoking is strictly prohibited on board, and our 'Snow Dragon' carries helicopters and also carries aviation gasoline, which will be very dangerous on the sea if a fire is caused by smoking. The second is that everyone should save water, and I don't need to say more. ”

In the conference room, everyone began to talk quietly, in addition to Zhang Dada and Chen Bin, there were also soldiers from Changxing Island and members of the shipping team. None of these people were old sailors on the "Snow Dragon", so they all felt a little fresh after facing Xia Yunli's "rules".

The only person on the entire ship who is familiar with the "Snow Dragon" is Xia Yunli, because he was a scientific expedition officer on this ship before, and the other two scientific expedition experts are not good at polar scientific expeditions, but they are the most professional personnel that the government can send at present.