About ten days after entering the polar circle, Chen Bin could finally see some birds traveling with the ship on the deck of the "Snow Dragon". These birds like to fly near ships, and their plumage is beautiful gray, white, and black, with a gray back, white spots on their faces, and a black chest and neck. After consulting Xia Yunli, Chen Bin finally knew the names of these birds.

These birds are white-cheeked geese, which usually incubate eggs and nurse young birds in the summer, and the reason why they like to fly around the boat, Xia Yunli explains that they are driving away humans who may pose a threat.

New Ålsund is about to arrive, which is the site of the Yellow River Station, the Arctic research station of China. It was another morning, Chen Bin opened the curtains early in the morning and found that the ship had docked, and the shore was the wharf. He excitedly woke up Da Fei, "We're here, Da Fei, this should be the northernmost permanent human habitation in the world - New Olsun!" ”

Da Fei got up and rubbed his eyes while climbing to the windowsill to look out, outside the window was a snow-covered tundra, and further away, there were mountains piled up with thick snow. “

"It's majestic!" Da Fei couldn't help but sigh, his gaze fell on the glacier on the other side that was deep into the ocean, a view that had only been seen on TV before.

"Attention everyone, attention everyone, we have arrived in Ny-Ålsund on the island of Spitsbergen, and now you need to get off the boat and go to 'Arctic Village'."

"I can finally go to the land for a walk," Chen Bin let out a long breath, he and Da Fei hurriedly tidied up, and then called Zhang Dada to go to the restaurant of the "Snow Dragon" for breakfast.

Everyone ate quickly, knowing that they were approaching the destination of their trip, the Doomsday Seed Bank in Longyearbyen, which had previously been confined to the ship, could now be on land to breathe, and everyone was excited.

The docks in New Ålsund are moored with many motorboats and mast boats, some of which have been frozen in the ice. Generally speaking, the scientific expedition team will go to the Arctic region from June to September every year, that is, the summer in the northern hemisphere, because when there is a polar day in the Arctic region, the temperature is higher, and the ice layer is thinner, which is conducive to in-depth investigation by icebreakers.

This time, I came in a hurry, when the polar night occurs in the Arctic Circle, and the surrounding scenery can be seen very clearly against the background of the snow.

"It feels like it's all night, and when you get ashore, it feels like the sun is setting in the evening." The group got off the boat and began to march towards the Yellow River station in the "Arctic Village". The so-called "Arctic Village" is actually nothing more than dozens of simple houses scattered across the tundra, which together make up the village. It is also the largest human settlement on the island, and it has been fortunate to survive World War II artillery fire intact.

In 1964, the Norwegian government set up a satellite reception research center here, becoming the first country to establish an Arctic station, and since then several countries have flocked to it, including China. New Ålsund has become the base camp of the Arctic scientific expedition, and everyone has renamed this base camp the "Arctic Village".

Along the way, you can see many buildings of different styles, which Xia Yunli said are scientific research stations from other countries. The Yellow River Station was still in the inner position, and everyone continued to walk inward, until the red two-story building appeared in sight, and there was a pair of stone lions at the door of the small building that were very eye-catching.

Xia Yunli walked over and opened the door, he had the key to the door here. As a polar research expert who has been with the ship, Xia Yunli has been here several times, and he was preparing to go to the North Pole again last summer, but the sudden disaster in August interrupted the plan of the trip, and he also went to Chongming Island to relax.

The key to the Yellow River Station was in the safe of the "Snow Dragon", and Xia Yunli took it with him when he got off the ship. When he went to open the door, Xu Yihang and the others stepped forward to protect them from the danger that might arise behind the door.

"Don't be nervous," Xia Yunli waved his hand, "It's safe inside." Our scientific research work is phased, there is no permanent staff at the Arctic station, and our trip was interrupted last summer, and there will be no more people coming to the Yellow River station. ”

Xu Yihang nodded, but he still hadn't let his guard down, and after the door opened, Xia Yunli asked everyone to slow down and go in again, so that the inside could be ventilated first.

There is really no figure in the small building of the Yellow River Station, the furnishings inside are very neat, and the staff who come here for scientific research will clean it again when they leave, so that it can be used directly and normally next time.

Everyone rested inside, and the captain Wang Puhong and the polar research experts summoned everyone to the large conference room in the station to announce the arrangements for the next trip.

"The city of Longyearbyen, where the Doomsday Seed Bank is located, is located in the southeast of Spitsbergen, and we used to travel more than 300 kilometers, if it was summer, we could go by sea, but now we can only go by land." Xia Yunli drew the general route of the itinerary on the blackboard in the conference room, and circled New Ålsund and Longyearbyen respectively.

"Professor, why do we have to go overland now?" Xu Yihang saw that the location of Longyearbyen City was by the sea, but it was in the bay where the island was recessed.

"The temperature is very low now, and based on past experience, the sea along the coast near Barentsburg will be frozen, and it is dangerous for the Yellow River to enter the bay in between, and if the ice is too thick, we will be trapped inside. And now it's not like before, we used to be able to call for help, but now if we get trapped, we have to wait on the ice until after July to have a chance to get out. ”

"I see," Xu Yihang nodded, finally understanding why Xia Yunli would be reluctant to seek the near and far.

"There are also a lot of risks involved in this overland journey, so we need to be as prepared as possible before we go. The purpose of our visit to the Yellow River Station this time is to supply medicines, food and daily necessities, and the other is that we need the transportation of the 'Arctic Village' - the polar rover. ”

"Polar car?" Most people who don't know much about polar expeditions are curious.

"Yes," Xia Yunli said, "the terrain in the polar region is very complicated, ordinary vehicles cannot adapt to the environment here, in the past, the locals used to use dog sleds as a means of transportation, and later we all used polar vehicles." ”

"Today, all the members of the 'Snow Dragon' are here for a day, and the medicines and daily necessities in the Yellow River Station are what we need, and everyone has to sort them out and pack them. If you want food, you need to go to the Wangwan Company Catering Center about 400 meters to the north to collect, the Norwegian government does not allow any scientific research station to cook by itself, and the food is responsible for their state-owned Wangwan Company, so the ingredients are basically hoarded there. ”

"The next most important thing is transportation, and this time, depending on our staffing, I plan to use Arctic Trucks and Zhanyang Power All-Terrain Polar Vehicles. The former is produced in Iceland and has been modified by several countries, while the latter is a polar vehicle produced by our country. ”

"Zhanyang power all-terrain polar vehicles are in the garage behind our Yellow River Station, there are two of them, they can be all-terrain, all-weather amphibious, and suitable for snow, desert, smooth roads and other complex terrain, when leaving Spitsbergen Island later, we have to take these two cars, Trucks Arctic trucks we can go to Britton Gran, Iceland, Norway, Jeepros and other countries to find the garage, they should have there."

"Sure enough, the professional is the best," Zhang Dada whispered to Chen Bin, "The government can really help Professor Xia here, if it weren't for him, we'd be blind along the way." ”

"Indeed," Chen Bin nodded.

"By the way, let me emphasize that everyone must pay attention to safety when going out to search for supplies and vehicles, no one at the Yellow River Station does not mean that there is no one in other scientific research stations, you know what I mean, right?" Xia Yunli added.

"Understood," everyone responded, knowing in their hearts that Xia Yunli was telling everyone to be careful about the zombies that might exist outside.

"The shipping staff of the 'Snow Dragon' will not go to Longyearbyen City with the team this time, you and I will stay at the Yellow River Station and the 'Snow Dragon', and the remaining personnel and travelers will keep communication unimpeded, and the 'Snow Eagle' helicopter will be on standby at any time to prepare for rescue work." Wang Puhong waited for Xia Yunli to finish speaking and began to make arrangements for the crew, and many people below made regretful voices after hearing it.

"We are not here to travel, everyone is in their own place and each is guarding their own land," Wang Puhong emphasized again before there was no sound below.

Next, everyone began to carry the materials in the warehouse of the Yellow River Station, which were mainly medicines and cold clothing, and under Xia Yunli's guidance, it was not troublesome to sort out these things.

Afterwards, under the protection of the accompanying soldiers on Changxing Island, everyone dispersed to various places in the "Arctic Village" and began to collect food and the Arctic Trucks mentioned by Xia Yunli.

The Wangwan Company Catering Center is located about 400 meters north of the Yellow River Station, close to the coast, and the building looks like a large warehouse. The company, which was in charge of the Arctic Village, was originally a mining conglomerate, and in 1917 it established a coal mine in Neu-Ålsund, which at one point had more than 200 residents, and also established a school. However, at that time, due to the poor conditions in the mining area, the continuous serious accidents, and the serious losses of the global coal mining industry in 1957, Wangwan's huge investment was not reported accordingly.

With the continuous occurrence of one serious accident after another, the Prime Minister of Norway stepped down as a result, and people began to notice the unpolluted environment here, so they turned to the establishment of a scientific research station, and the director of the research station was changed from a miner to a scientific expedition member. In the decades that followed, the Norwegian government invested heavily in improving the research and logistics facilities in New Ålsund, and the Wangwan Catering Center was one of them.