On the vast white ice sea, you can see the towering icebergs and endless ice fields ahead, and the whole world is covered in the reflection of ice and snow, vast and magnificent, like another planet.

On board the YAMAL, a small and exquisite library, Schneider chose this place as his command room after boarding the ship.

The library was transformed into a simplified version of the central control room, which became the nerve center of the entire ship above the captain's room, and was always connected to Norma through the satellite network.

When Chu Zihang walked in, Caesar and the senior commissioners were already present, as well as the first mate, chief engineer and several crew members in key positions.

At this time, most of the people, except for the guards who were on duty, were gathered in the boat.

"How can this hellish weather change?" Fingal also ran into the library panting, completely unrecognizable by the agility he had just shown.

Seeing his frightened eyes and trembling thick legs, Caesar, who was leaning back in his chair, subconsciously regarded him as a frightened woman and child, and then stretched out his hand to help him with aristocratic compassion.

After Fingal showed a shy expression, snuggled his body of two hundred catties on himself, and noticed Chu Zihang's extremely strange eyes, Caesar suddenly reacted and pushed this guy away with a black face.

"Fingal, be quiet." A hoarse voice came, followed by a violent cough.

Schneider huddled on the couch by the fireplace, with a thick winter suit covered with various clothes layered on top of each other.

The charcoal in the fireplace burned and curled, turning into black, fiery red, and pale butterflies, carried by the hot air, and reflecting his pale face a somewhat morbidly rosy.

The people around him couldn't help but cast slightly worried glances.

On the one hand, I was worried that he would freeze to death here, and on the other hand, I was worried that he would not be able to carry the weight of his clothes.

Schneider's body was on the verge of collapse, and he was not fit for this difficult task.

His airways were as fragile as a mummy's skin.

Therefore, you must wear an oxygen mask at all times and change the plastic respiratory tract every two or three years, otherwise you will die of respiratory failure.

But he didn't have the slightest scruples at this time, and looked at the corpse of the giant snake in the center of the hall and fell into deep thought.

"The product of the water snake mutation, but much larger." Schneider said expressionlessly, "These things should not appear in the Arctic Circle, let alone take the initiative to attack us." ”

Snakes do grow very large because reptiles do not divide their cells like mammals, and their cell division never stops.

It is also for this reason that they have to molt, because the body that continues to grow will always break the original skin, so in principle they can grow infinitely.

But only if there is a long enough lifespan.

Schneider had never heard of or seen a snake tens of meters long.

The Titan Python can grow to almost 20 meters and is known as the largest snake in history, but it became extinct 50 million years ago.

There are many reports of giant snakes of tens or even hundreds of meters observed in human history, but they cannot be proven, and most of them are fantasy monsters that have drunk too much.

"It does seem that there is an area contaminated by dragon's blood."

Caesar crossed his arms and said casually: "Because of the erosion of the dragon genes, these water snakes have repeatedly molted, and each time they molt, they will grow a little bigger, and finally they will grow into this giant appearance." ”

"But by devouring dragon blood to evolve, it will make the lifespan even shorter, the fear of death, the desire for evolution, they should spare no effort to fight and devour each other, why would they take the initiative to attack us?"

Last time, it was because there were only a few of them, so it was normal to be attacked unexpectedly.

But this time it's a whole icebreaker.

Seeking advantage and avoiding harm is a characteristic common to all living things.

Then there is only one possibility.

"These dragon-blood subspecies were originally fighting each other, but one of them has evolved to a level where they can command them, or a sleeping being has noticed us, and it has driven the subspecies to control this group to hunt down our faux intruders."

Hearing this, everyone looked at Chu Zihang, who had put forward two guesses by the window, with a thoughtful and solemn expression.

"Somebody"?

He used a very precise word.

Somebody hidden in the shadows is commanding the subspecies to push back their invaders.

Looking at the huge snake corpse, Schneider's eyes flickered slightly, and he turned his head to look out through the porthole.

Looking out of the porthole, it was a hell of ice and snow.

Once again, the storm struck.

But Norma's projection does not show the storm, but rather the sailing on a clear day.

Norma is affectionately known by many people as an old mother-type artificial intelligence.

When each commissioner goes to the front line, they arrange their itinerary with meticulous care, and even when the climate of the destination changes, the commissioners will receive a message before they get off the plane, reminding them to add or remove clothes.

For this reason, Schneider even suggested to the school board that the service level of the college secretary should be reduced, so as not to develop the inertia of dependence on the college secretary by the elites who were born and died to save the world, and became a group of mothers.

But such a big storm, Norma actually did not remind at all, which can be said to be very rare.

Of course, not because Norma was out of order, but for unexpected reasons.

- for the storm does not come from heaven, but from their feet.

The cold snap that kept pouring out of the ice crevasse actually changed the weather in this area.

In other words, this ice storm is not a "natural phenomenon", and it is very likely that it was caused by some super spirit.

This situation once again verified the second conjecture that Chu Zihang said, that there was something that ordered the storm and subspecies to attack them.

Originally, this mission was not easy in the plan, but I didn't expect the situation to become so complicated.

"Can the YAMAL withstand a storm of this magnitude?" Caesar asked with a frown, and the commissioners looked at the crew on the side.

It's only one step away from seeing what's under the ice, and even if the ice storm is terrifying, the Kassel Academy trains outlaws, and of course doesn't want to give up on this operation because of a storm.

"Of course no problem, this ship was built for this purpose." The ship's first mate shrugged, "I also want to ask, can your people still hold on?" ”

Schneider didn't speak, looking outside and lifting his chin.

At this time, outside the YAMAL, the well-equipped commissioners were cleaning up the remaining strange snakes, and dozens of AK47 salvos were fired, hitting those strange snakes with blood and flesh, forcing them all together.

Finally, the figure standing on the deck, the flame in his hand pierced through the darkness and fell into it.

The snakes burst into flames in an instant, screaming in pain and struggling, desperately slamming their heads against the commissioners' blockades, their heavy tails pounding frantically on the ground, unable to break through their encirclement.

Ever since Homo sapiens came out of Africa, similar scenes have been repeated around the world, with nature's overlords, no matter how strong, ending up with human javelins and bows and arrows for food.

In a sense, humans are the most brutal animals in the world, blood eaters at the top of the food chain.

And the natural creatures that humans fear, such as the great white shark, are just trying to fight back against the blood eaters.

In front of that monster-like super hybrid, those dragon blood subspecies are just "snacks".

What Schneider is really worried about is the existence of geographical advantages.

There was once an explorer in Franklin, England, who was a pioneer in the exploration of the Arctic.

In 1818, he took two of Britain's most advanced ships, the Horror and the Stylist, with the hope of finding a route across the Arctic Ocean to Asia.

The ship brought food for two years, more than 100 experienced crews.

As a result, their ship was frozen, and no one survived.

When they were found a few years later, their bodies were still frozen in the ice and lifelike, and the cause of their death has not yet been determined.

In the end, the remaining dozens of people tried to cross the ice on foot, using their companions as food along the way, but in the end they were unsuccessful.

Schneider felt that it was very similar to their current situation.

"Nature" wants to erase a boatload of people, even easier than pure-blooded dragons.

You don't have to think about it to know that if there really is a pure-blooded dragon, then it must occupy a favorable position in this environment.

And the dragons that can wield "nature", it is even easier to erase them.

"Professor, go forward, or go backward?" Fingal asked, scratching his head.

"Hell knows what's at the front." Schneider took a deep breath, "You still have to look at the real-time picture transmitted back after the dive to judge." ”

If the abode of the dragon king is really below, there will inevitably be fierce guards in the dwelling.

Alchemy traps, Deadpools, corpse guards, and even worse, dragons, will never be lacking in the lair of what appears to be a pure-blood dragon.

The corpse guard is a legendary thing.

Dragons' corpses do not decay for many years after death, and dragons use alchemy to concoct the remains of their own kind, using them to act as guardians of the city.

It was a forbidden technique that was used until ancient Egypt to reconcoct the corpses of pharaohs and nobles in an attempt to immortalize them.

But they were only able to preserve the corpse, but they were not able to preserve the activity of the nerves and muscles, so they could not make a real walking corpse.

If there is a dragon palace below, there must be a corpse buried in the palace.

"What do you mean...... Professor," Caesar raised an eyebrow, "we'll withdraw first, and go back to think about the long term?" ”

"No, it's going as normal, but with a slight adjustment." Schneider shook his head and said, "Of course, there may be a dragon king's palace under the glacier, but the moment we actually push open the palace gate is when we start a war with that guy. ”

"However, since it is trying to get rid of us, it means that we are now threatening him, and perhaps the presence in the palace has not really been revived."

"If you can find its 'cocoon', then this battle will not require too much sacrifice."

"So, before we are fully prepared, we just need to go to the door of the palace and make sure that it has awakened."

Schneider said something without any emotional fluctuations, and the scene became a little silent and depressed.

His conjecture is indeed very probable, and although it is still very dangerous, it is undoubtedly the best way to deal with it at this time.

"But the sea has dropped below freezing, and ordinary hybrids are a dead end if they enter it." A senior commissioner asked in a low voice, "Who can do the dive mission?" ”

Everyone's eyes looked at Chu Zihang, and then at the figure outside.

Even if you don't enter the Dragon King's palace yet, not anyone is qualified to set foot in it.

The appearance of those dragon's blood subspecies shows that there are still countless dangers and horrors below.

There are huge problems with temperature, water pressure and oxygen in that environment.

Even if Jiang Shouyun is an out-and-out super hybrid in the eyes of everyone, his combat ability will be restrained to the minimum in that extreme environment, and the strength he can really exert will inevitably be one in ten, right?

"You can't let him risk it alone." Caesar pondered for a moment, then put down the warm teacup in his hand and said, "I'll go too, at least I'm much more water-based, and my bloodline is strong enough to last a long time underwater." ”

But before Schneider could say anything, a familiar voice came from afar.

"Young master, please think twice."

"......" Caesar turned around, saw the person clearly, and frowned slightly, "Why are you here?" ”

The little black gown, the ironed seams of the trousers, and the fine silk scarf even on the icebreaker, dressed like a dutiful English butler.

can look at the silky blonde hair, long enough to cover the eyes, but it looks like a noble son who is being served by an English butler.

Caesar's secretary, Percy Gattuso, who served Caesar's uncle Frost, knew more about the Gattuso family than Caesar's heir.

But Caesar disliked the secretary very much, because Patsy was like the eagle dog of the family.

"The family is worried about the safety of the young master, so they ordered me to come with me and see if I can help."

Even in the face of his young master's disgust, Patsy still said respectfully, "In addition, I have also brought some things that the young master needs every day, and you can enjoy this trip to the North Pole to the fullest on the ship." ”

"Enjoying" this trip to the North Pole on a boat?

Hearing this, everyone's expressions when they looked at Caesar became a little strange.

"What do you need on a daily basis?" Fingal blinked, not understanding the sentence.

"50 bottles of aged port, 500 cigars, 100 bottles of red wine, 100 bottles of champagne, 200 bottles of white wine."

Patsy paused and added, "Considering that there will be more seafood at sea, this time the white wine is more prepared. ”

"I also prepared 500 pounds of various red meats, and 600 pounds of various white meats, including dried abalone from Japan and blue lobster from France, all of which you like, young master."

"In addition, I transferred two chefs from Rome, one of whom was the executive chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in Florence for 15 years......

Fingal was more and more surprised, then grinned and patted Caesar on the shoulder, and leaned in with great affection.

"Boss, you're a very good secretary! It's a talent! You have to train him, and he will be able to achieve great things in the future, and he will be your right-hand man! As he spoke, he gave Caesar a thumbs up, looking like he wanted to hug his thighs.

But Chu Zihang couldn't help but glance at him, wondering if this guy did it on purpose.

Caesar's disgusted expression also became extremely gloomy.

After these several birth-and-death missions, he almost forgot his lifestyle as a noble son, and he suddenly remembered it when he was reminded by Patsy.

He was indeed such a person before, sailing all over the world to bring his own wine and meat, even his own wine glasses, and when supplies were insufficient, he would send planes to fly to the destination first, and then transport the goods to the port.

Accompanied by a wine party, champagne party, and barbecue party on board.

Patsy's words were like a slap in the face, pointing at his nose and scolding: You are a waste who only spends money for pleasure, can't you live well? What's the life?

However, now he is no longer the drunken and dreamy young master Gattuso at the beginning.

In this small team, he thought Fingal was the one at the bottom, but after a few missions, he himself was the most wasteful of them all.

The pride in his bones made him unable to forget this fact, so even if he didn't say it, he kept trying his best to keep up with these guys.

At this time, in his ears, Fingal's words were more like mockery, the envious gaze of everyone made him feel angry, and the family's self-assertive behavior like a child made him feel extremely disgusted.

"If I say, I'm going." Caesar looked coldly at the smiling Parcy, "Are you going to stop me?" ”

(End of chapter)