Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After an hour and a half of rest, they set out again to work.
Some remained behind to tear down tents and clean up the place, while others carried
tools into the snow.
Hudi gave Li Du a pot of hot liquor so that he could drink it as he walked on the ice. Li
Du replenished the energy of the little bug and felt better in the afternoon.
They searched the ice field carefully. It was so big that they looked like a few drops of
water sprinkling into a big lake.
The afternoon was as busy as the morning, but still they got nothing.
It was windy in the evening, and the sun was still high in the sky.
Steve waved and said, “Li, get on the sled, we’re leaving now!”
One had to be careful to survive in the Antarctic, and at the first signs of change in the
weather, one had to make a quick return trip to the camp.
It was a little frustrating to hike all day, spending so much energy and effort without
getting anything out of it.
Steve saw Li Du’s low spirits and smiled. “Let’s grab a drink when we go back. Cheer
up, it is very common to find nothing.”
Li Du spread out his hands and said, “There are many of us, so I think somehow we
would find a piece of meteorite between us. Even a small piece would be fine.”
“How could it be so easy?” Steve shook his head. “You’re spoiled by good luck, man.
You’d be lucky to find one meteorite piece a year here. The truth is that my family have
set their camp here twenty years ago and have only found five meteorite pieces since
then.”
“So few?” said Li Du in surprise.
Steve nodded helplessly. “Yes. The damn things are too rare. They’re so scattered and
they lack markers, so that sometimes you don’t know where you’re looking and if you’ve
searched the area before.”
This made Li Du give up on the idea of staying here to find meteorites and make a
fortune. He was not afraid of how deep the meteorites might be hidden, but he feared
that the meteorites were scattered too far apart.
Not long after they got back to the camp, a storm began.
It was the first time Li Du had seen a storm like this. It was a tornado, and not only one
current, but many.
This was a once in a lifetime experience for him. In the past, no matter whether in China
or the United States, he had seen windy days, rainy days or snowy days.
He was not new to big storms, like the one he experienced on his first trip to Australia
when the tide even swept a shark ashore.
However, now it was deceptively sunny and clear out, the view was good, and then the
storm came out of nowhere.
Li Du could see for miles through the window, his view unobstructed, and at that
distance, he saw several twisters edging their way closer.
Because there was nothing above the ice, there was very little snow. Although the
Antarctic was very cold with a lot of ice, the weather there was very dry, and the
average annual rainfall of about 50 ml was equivalent to the Sahara desert.
That was why the day before, when Sophie’s sled flew off, Li Du and the others were so
worried. The sled was sliding on the ice, with no resistance, and it would be very painful
to tumble down from it.
Li Du and the others were not far from the shoreline, where it was a little warmer and
more humid, and there was some snow on the ice.
When the tornado came, the snow in the air first danced crazily and was quickly swept
away to nowhere.
In this way, with no snow, Li Du had nothing to watch but ten thousand years’ worth of
motionless ice and those arrogant tornadoes.
Without a reference object, he could not see the scale of the storm, but he could see the
tornadoes moving over the glacier.
Without looking directly at where the tornado was raging, it would look very quiet
outside and there was no sign of a strong wind.
However, their thermal cabin was shaking, and the windows were thumping with the
wind, like someone setting off firecrackers. It was an extreme experience.
People could not see the wind, but they knew a storm was raging outside!
The wind came and went quickly, and by the time they had finished their supper, it was
quiet again.
After a while, Li Du ventured out. There was only soft wind, the weather had become
mild once more.
Steve kept an eye on the weather station, and as the weather forecast for the next few
days was clear without major storms, they continued to team up to look for meteorites.
So much energy was spent, but nothing was gained. Life was difficult. Even with
superpowers, sometimes making money was not so easy.
At last, Li Du could stand it no longer.
He now understood why Hudi and the others despised him at first, telling him that
merely finding a piece of meteorite did not make one a meteorite hunter. The work was
not so simple, the tedium of it wearying one down.
There was nothing on the glacier, a few skua and penguins, seals and sea lions on the
coast, and further inland there was nothing but ice.
Working in such an environment was boring and sinks one’s spirit to the extreme. Li Du
soon became impatient and decided to leave.
Steve was more patient. He dropped Li Du off at the plane and said he would stay until
spring, then return to the United States before heading for Siberia.
The plane made a long voyage until it finally landed at Hobart.
In the airport, Li Du pulled down the window first and looked out greedily.
The green trees, the red flowers, the blue sea, the colorful clothes, and the warm sea
breeze were all things he had missed more than words could describe.
He had only been to the Antarctic for a week, but he felt like he had left the civilized
world for a long time.
Even the three little ones felt this way. Ah Ow tried to put her head out, opened her
mouth and stuck out her tongue in the air, enjoying herself.
They took a car and bought some household utensils. The Li-Martin yacht came to pick
them up, with Big Ivan at the wheel. Big Ivan looked at ease in his holiday suit, cigar in
hand.
“How are things?”
“Awesome,” Big Ivan said proudly. “We went diving, fishing, visited hot springs,
harvested black abalone, hunted every day… too cool! What about you, boss?”
Li Du said, “We enjoyed ourselves too! Every day we had ice and snow, oh, and ice,
ice, and more ice. Nice, isn’t it?”
Sophie shrugged her shoulders indifferently. “Well, I think it’s nice to stay inside and
read, and after all, it was sunny there.”
She looked up at the bright Australian sun and added, “Of course, the sun is better
here.”
Sailing back on board of the yacht, Li Du sat on the deck with his feet on the railing and
looked around casually with a glass of iced juice in his hand.
The ship had been sailing for a long time when Seagull Island came into view. Suddenly
the sea seemed to boil and the water began to churn.
Brother Wolf turned the rudder expertly and said, “There may be whales coming.”
Soon after his words, fish appeared on the surface of the water. At an instant, the
school of fish spread out their fins and jumped up from the water, flying with the sea
breeze…
