Chapter 1335 - 1334: Blizzard
"The diversity of these creatures is pretty amazing."
Watching the research vessel sail far away, Lu Zheng lifted the Invisibility Technique and said, "I remember hearing a joke about why polar bears don’t eat penguins."
Shen Ying laughed at this, "Because penguins live in the Antarctic!"
Si Lingxi asked indifferently, "Has no one thought of sending polar bears to live in the Antarctic, or sending a group of penguins to live in the Arctic?"
Lu Zheng, "..."
"If polar bears came to the Antarctic, they’d probably be overjoyed," Shen Ying chuckled, "But if penguins went to the Arctic, they probably wouldn’t survive."
Even without considering the environmental and temperature differences between the poles, polar bears in the Antarctic would have no predators, with seals as their food; penguins in the Arctic would face a harsh time, with the addition of polar bears and walruses.
"Perhaps because the poles have no sovereignty, nobody dares to take responsibility for disrupting the ecological balance," Lu Zheng could only say.
Lu Zheng remembered that in his childhood, there was a lot of publicity about the Antarctic, as if everyone was scrambling for a piece of it, with the Great Wall Station being quite famous.
But as he grew older, news and publicity about the Antarctic seemed to decrease, making scientific expeditions or even tourism to Antarctica a very common thing.
Shen Ying shrugged and asked, "Isn’t it because there’s no sovereignty, so it doesn’t matter if you mess things up?"
What Shen Ying said made so much sense that Lu Zheng couldn’t refute it, "Perhaps that research holds no significant meaning."
If they truly obstructed human progress, polar bears or penguins, they’d all be wiped out without much consequence.
Without any profit motive, likely no one would engage in such thankless tasks.
...
After taking pictures and playing with the penguins, the next logical activity was, of course, visiting the seals.
Adult seals weren’t much fun, but the baby seals, now they were...
"So cute, hahaha!"
The baby seal was white and fluffy, especially with a seemingly smiling face.
Its entirely pure white fur with no discolorations, topped with a pair of big, shiny black eyes.
Absolutely adorable!
It’s a cutie that rivals the charm of panda bears.
The only downside is that it grows up.
So Shen Ying straightforwardly rejected the advances of the big seals, only catching the baby seal for pictures and play, feeding it fish.
However, with the big seals nearby serving as a reminder, she had no inclination of adopting a seal.
"Zzz! Zzz! Zzz!"
The baby seal’s cries also had a cute, milk-like tone, uttering a sound with each fish it ate, thoroughly enjoying itself.
Si Lingxi glanced at a few seals and shook her head.
"Too much blubber, and the meat doesn’t even taste good."
"Oh! Oh! Oh!"
A few seals splashed into the water to hunt, oblivious to the fact that they nearly became food themselves.
"On the Antarctic Continent, only the coastal edges host animals like penguins and seals that can live on land."
Lu Zheng said, "Inland, it’s all ice and wastelands."
But since they were already here, they might as well take a look around.
So the three did not fly too high, staying between tens to a hundred meters above, with Shen Ying pulling out her phone to record along the way.
Snowfields, glaciers, towering snow-capped mountains, sharp ice cliffs, and occasionally a blizzard sweeping through, leaving trails of snow and wind.
Under the blue sky, there was an eye-dazzling white.
Fortunately, Lu Zheng wouldn’t suffer snow blindness.
"It’s quite beautiful!" Shen Ying exclaimed.
Although she had been to the Northern Snowfield, she hadn’t been to The Far North and was not used to the absence of human habitats, making this truly her first venture into such a barren place.
"Hey, there’s a research station over there, judging by the flags, it belongs to Hua Country." Shen Ying pointed to a nearby area.
Lu Zheng followed her gaze and saw on the vast snowy plateau a cluster of buildings.
The buildings were mainly red and yellow, with a steel-frame structure and metal exterior, occupying several hundred square meters and divided into several areas.
Around the buildings, there were many scattered researchers, dressed in thick clothing, operating various equipment outdoors.
The most eye-catching feature was the flagpole in the center of the station, indicating the country to which the research station belonged.
Lu Zheng nodded, "This location should be Zhongshan Station, and more than a thousand kilometers further south into the interior is Kunlun Station."
Shen Ying shook her head, "For mortals, this place is no good at all."
Lu Zheng laughed, "There’s no other way. This is an international public area. If you don’t claim it, others will. If there’s any discovery or scientific achievement in the future, you might not even get a taste of the soup."
Whether it’s scientific research at the poles, deep-sea exploration, space stations, lunar landings, or even Mars exploration...
Any country that can keep up is trying its best to stay in the race.
They may not see outcomes now, but the technology gap mustn’t widen; they can at least accumulate data and technology so that if needed, they can quickly catch up.
...
The group was in Antarctica for sightseeing, circling around Zhongshan Station to see the sights before flying past it to continue exploring.
"There’s a convoy."
Flying about more than two hundred kilometers, Lu Zheng spotted a convoy traversing the vast snowfield.
Three snow vehicles, each towing three to six sleds, stretched out in a long snake formation over a hundred meters, leaving chaotic tracks in the snow behind them.
"They’re probably delivering supplies to Kunlun Station," Lu Zheng speculated.
The three of them, of course, did not intend to disturb the researchers’ activities and swiftly bypassed the convoy to continue deeper into the Antarctic Continent.
Then...
They quickly grew bored.
No flowers, plants, or trees, no animals or insects, no streams, no strange rocks.
Just snow-capped mountains, snowfields, glaciers, ice caves, the dazzling sun and clouds, and the omnipresent howling wind.
"Why don’t we head back to the coast and play with the penguins and seals some more?" Lu Zheng suggested.
Seeing Antarctica on TV and in pictures was breathtaking, and the beauty remained undeniable even in person, but the lack of variation eventually made it monotonous.
Shen Ying nodded, about to agree, when she noticed a change in the distance.
Lu Zheng and Si Lingxi naturally noticed it too.
Ahead of them, the distant sky shifted colors, blue sky and white clouds were gone, replaced by a turbulent white.
"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—"
The wind roared in, suddenly intensifying, more fierce than the recent biting cold wind.
"A blizzard."
Lu Zheng looked around at the endless white snowstorm.
"A massive blizzard." Shen Ying tested the wind strength with her hand, "Much stronger than the ones we encountered before."
Lu Zheng’s eyes suddenly narrowed, "This isn’t good!"