Zhang Han’s flight would land in Moscow on their way.
It took Zhang Han and Chen Changqing six hours to fly to Moscow. They took a rest for one and a half there, and neither of them paid attention to the Russian capital customs.
They took off from Hong Kong at 7 p.m., arrived in Moscow at 1 a.m., and then rested in the cabin for an hour and a half. At 2:30 a.m. they took off again and landed two hours later at their destination, Aossel, in the Hasa region.
It was the nearest city to the northern ice field, and the plane would wait for them there.
At 4:40 a.m. Zhang Han and Chen Changqing left Aossel Airport. It was snowing heavily outside and the temperature was very low. There were not many pedestrians, and everyone was wearing very thick clothes.
It was a cold morning with a temperature of nearly 30 ℃ below zero.
Except for the few that left by cars, most of the passengers in other planes stayed at the airport and waited for the warm sunshine. No one dared to imitate Zhang Han and Chen Changqing, who walked out of the airport without hesitation.
What was more, their clothes were very thin.
Zhang Han was dressed in dark blue jeans and a long, black, short-sleeved windbreaker, which perfectly reflected his temperament. Chen Changqing was dressed in casual clothes.
Their clothes, which could only be seen in warm seasons, surprised the pedestrians around.
“Don’t they feel cold?”
Everyone passing by turned their head to look at the two strange men. Seeing Zhang Han and Chen Changqing walking outside the airport instead of going to the parking lot, they realized that there was someone waiting outside.
They guessed right.
At the gate of the airport, an unlicensed Hummer was parked on the side of the road.
When Zhang Han and Chen Changqing approached the car, a man with a flattop-haircut in his thirties opened the door and walked quickly towards them. He was Chinese.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Zhang and Mr. Chen. I’m a member of the Azure Dragon detachment. You can call me Ah Liu.” The middle-aged man was a little hesitant.
He was nervous, of course. The well-known Emperor Qing and Merciless Zhang were standing in front of him but for his strong heart, he might have been shaking.
“Nice to meet you,” Chen Changqing replied.
Chen Changqing used to keep silent when he followed Zhang Han to hang out many years ago. When he noticed that Zhang Han was a bit reticent along the way, as if having an interest in nothing, he took the initiative to communicate with others.
In fact, he was wrong. Zhang Han remained calm and had cool nerves as always.
Zhang Han would adjust his mood every time before he went to a relic. He gradually got used to this state with little time to speak and more time to think.
Zhang Han was more or less affected by his departure from Mengmeng this time. He found himself missing Mengmeng so much not long after he left home. Was his little princess crying now?
“The role as a father will change a man.”
Zhang Han slightly shook his head and followed Chen Changqing to the back seat. Then he began to observe the man named Ah Liu.
As a member in Azure Dragon detachment, Ah Liu was a low-level martial artist at the Earth-Stage.
“Now the core area of the northern ice field is guarded by some force. They don’t block the local martial artists, but the foreign martial artists who are not powerful enough. Our boss has arranged someone in the small town of Elaine to guide you, and you will cross the blockade smoothly,” Ah Liu said with a smile.
“Is your boss the captain of Azure Dragon?” Zhang Han asked casually.
“No, no, no.” Ah Liu started his car and drove quickly to the road on the north side. At the same time, he replied, “My boss is a stone mine owner in Aossel, who is from Shang Jing. Of course, he is also a member of our detachment. I’m his bodyguard here in charge of the intelligence around Aossel. It was the men of the Vermilion Bird detachment who noticed what happened in the northern ice field.”
“I see,” Cheng Changqing smiled, “You really have many part-time employees.”
“Of course, it’s normal. We mainly carry out more important tasks, and we must hide our true identity and not disclose it until it’s a must. There are also many foreign spies in Hua nation. Mr. Zhang and Mr. Chen, all kinds of information about you and your fighting have been studied by their officials countless times.”
Ah Liu slowly shook his head and said proudly, “Hua nation used to be bullied by the other countries. I feel so proud now that she is getting stronger and stronger. The hard work we’ve done is worth it.”
Zhang Han and Chen Changqing looked at each other. They knew that these situations were inevitable, and people like Ah Liu were real meritorious heroes.
Ah Liu was very talkative. He seemed to be worried that Zhang Han and Chen Changqing would be bored, so he chatted with them a lot on the way, especially the local folk customs and matters needing attention.
Ah Liu also told them how he got this name. He was the sixth spy in Aossel from the Azure Dragon detachment, while all five of his predecessors had died.
They drove for two hours, and the sun lit up the region at seven o’clock.
They saw a small town surrounded by snow in front of them, and the buildings there were very distinctive.
It looked like an ancient town, and its architectural style was antique.
There were no people on the street, only a few cars passing by occasionally. Both sides of the road were covered with snow, but the road itself was still very clean.
Driving into the town, they saw many houses on both sides, some of which had cooking smoke above the roof. Along the way, Ah Liu introduced their lifestyle here and told them that the locals liked to stay at home because it was too cold outside and it usually took them 20 minutes to dress before going out.
They parked in front of a pub door on the north side of town, where there were seven large converted off-road vehicles.
“Let’s start at eight o’clock. I’ll call them first,” Ah Liu said, and then looked at the two men in spring clothes. “Would you like to wear an overcoat?”
“No, thank you.” Chen Changqing shook his hand.
They didn’t feel cold at all, and Chen Changqing detected with his soul sense that several cheeky men in the pub wearing thin clothes also had flourishing Qi and energy. The unknown energy on the skin of those men blocked Chen Changqing’s soul sense and he was unable to know their true strength. It could be inferred that even the weakest one among those men was at Grand Master Middle-stage or above.
Ah Liu finished the phone call, and a strong man soon came out of the pub in an overcoat and took a glance at Ah Liu’s car. Ah Liu got out of the car to chat with him and handed over a bank card. The strong man nodded and waved at Chen Changqing and Zhang Han, who had just left the car. Then he turned around to take the lead into the pub.
“Mr. Zhang and Mr. Chen, I’ll go back first. He will bring you in.” Ah Liu made a brief introduction and then left.
Zhang Han and Chen Changqing walked into the pub. The center of the pub was the bar with a small round table around it. At this time, 25 or 26 men were sitting there, mostly local and strong.
They looked at the two foreigners, Zhang Han and Chen Changqing, with indifferent, even provocative expressions.
They dared not to really provoke Zhang Han and Chen Changqing because they knew from the two men’s dressing that the foreigners were in the same circle with them.
Bang, bang!
After Zhang Han and Chen Changqing seated themselves, that strong man in the overcoat brought them two bottles of vodka without glasses and didn’t say anything.
Zhang Han and Chen Changqing casually opened the bottled cap, toasted each other, and then took a large gulp of wine.
Seeing this, the other strong men eased the hostility on their faces.
They liked men who drink alcohol.
After a while, the men at the tables staring at Zhang Han withdrew their gaze and began chatting with each other in low voices.
They all spoke Russian, and both Zhang Han and Chen Changqing happened to understand it.
They were having a discussion.
“In the depths of the ice field, there were so many powerful masters that even the legendary ice werewolves would be there. We can widen our horizon this time.”
“Yes, I heard that many people in the cities around the ice field decided to go to take a look. This kind of martial arts ceremony is not common.”
“Werewolves in the Ice Wolf Clan are united fierce monsters. The treasures are likely to be theirs if they decide to join in the exploration.”
“I’m afraid that many of them are there to see the Ice Wolf Clan. I had the honor of meeting Vern once. He was like the wolf god and no one dared to offend him.”
If Zhang Han and Chen Changqing hadn’t scanned the group of strong men with soul sense, they would have regarded them as a group of powerful masters. Yet, now they were just onlookers in Zhang Han and Chen Changqing’s eyes.
After chatting for a while, all the strong men again turned their gaze at Zhang Han and Chen Changqing.
“Are these two yellow guys here to take part in the challenge? They may not even be able to pass the text of Ao Fan.”
“Yes, Master Ao Fan hated Chinese the most.”
“I heard that Master Ao Fan is gay, and these two young guys will pay a price.”
“Ha ha ha.”
“If we want to reach the depth of the ice field, we have to pass through the military blockade, but they will not stop us. The second circle is guarded by Grand Master Ao Fan. Didn’t the people who brought them here tell them that Ao Fan hated Chinese people the most? The three unfortunate men who met him last time died after being trampled for two days and two nights. I think the two guys were sent here by their enemies. Otherwise, they would not choose this route after knowing that Ao Fan is guarding the southwest road to the ice field. They must be killed.”
They chatted while looking at Zhang Han and Chen Changqing with great interest.
Ah Liu didn’t tell Zhang Han about Ao Fan because he was the only one there who knew how powerful the two young Chinese men were.
Ao Fan was just a Grand Master who wasn’t worth their attention.
