398: Chapter 395 I really want to eat all-you-can-eat barbecue.

Arctic.

When the transport plane's wheels touched the ground, Lu Jianchuan felt the entire fuselage shudder violently, followed by the rustling sound of skidding on snow.

Through the porthole, the outside was an endless expanse of white—the sky was white, the ground was white, even the distant mountains were white.

Only a few scattered buildings revealed their gray-black outlines, like a few dots of ink spilled on white paper.

The hatch opened, and cold air instantly surged in, pricking his face like countless fine needles.

Lu Jianchuan took a deep breath; the biting cold poured directly into his lungs, far more intense than he had imagined.

He tightened his cold-weather suit and stepped down the boarding ramp.

Beneath his feet was snow, but it wasn't soft snow; it was a hard crust blown firm by the wind, crunching loudly underfoot.

Several people dressed in heavy down jackets rushed over to help him unload his equipment and the snowmobile.

"Mr. Lu, welcome," said the leader, a middle-aged man in his forties whose face held the roughness and resilience characteristic of those who work long-term in polar regions.

"I am the person in charge of the research station; my surname is Wang. Please come inside with us first to warm up."

Lu Jianchuan nodded and followed them into the gray-black building.

It was much warmer inside the research station than outside, with the radiators hissing out hot steam.

Lu Jianchuan took off his outermost cold-weather suit and hung it on a hook by the door, then followed Station Chief Wang into the conference room.

The conference room was not large, featuring a long table, a few chairs, and a huge map of the Arctic hanging on the wall, marked with several locations in red pen.

Station Chief Wang invited him to sit down and handed him a cup of hot water.

"Regarding Professor Zheng's matter," he began, his voice lowering, "we are all very regretful. He went missing half a month ago."

Lu Jianchuan took the water cup but didn't drink, just held it in his hand.

"Can you tell me the details of the situation back then?"

Station Chief Wang nodded and picked up a report from the table.

"Professor Zheng came here to research ancient biological samples within the ice layer. Specifically, it was a mosquito—or rather, the ancestor of mosquitoes—frozen in the ice. Those ice layers are tens of thousands of years old, perhaps even older, and the organisms inside are perfectly preserved."

He paused.

"Initially, we cooperated with him to extract several samples from the ice layer and bring them back to the station to prepare for DNA extraction. But..."

"But what?"

"An accident occurred during the operation," Station Chief Wang frowned. "We can't explain exactly what happened. Professor Zheng was personally performing the ice-melting procedure; it's very delicate work requiring extremely accurate temperature control. As a result, we don't know if it was equipment failure or some other reason, but all those samples were ruined."

Lu Jianchuan remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"Professor Zheng was quite discouraged, but he said there was still more in those ice layers and he needed to collect another batch. We advised him to rest for a couple of days, but he insisted it couldn't wait, worried that conditions at the ice layer might change. We couldn't dissuade him, so we let him go."

"And then he never returned?"

Station Chief Wang nodded.

"He took an assistant with him; the two went together. When evening came, only the assistant returned. He said they split up to find suitable sampling points near the ice layer, and later realized Professor Zheng was gone. He searched for a long time but couldn't find him. Worried it would be more dangerous after dark, he could only return to call for help."

Lu Jianchuan put down the water cup.

"Where is that assistant now?"

"He is at another station sector. We have questioned him several times, and his story remains the same. Later, we organized several search parties to go to that area. We searched a radius of dozens of kilometers, but found nothing—no signs of a struggle, no bloodstains, nothing unusual. It was as if..." Station Chief Wang paused, "...he vanished into thin air."

Lu Jianchuan was silent for a few seconds.

"Have you visited the location where Professor Zheng planned to take samples?"

"We have," Station Chief Wang replied. "That's near the ice layer; we took people there twice. Besides some footprints they left on the ice surface, there was nothing else. No signs of a struggle, no drag marks, nothing at all."

He thought for a moment and added:

"However, you understand this kind of place. The weather in the Arctic changes in an instant. Sometimes a blizzard blows through and wipes away any trace. It's also possible he had an accident on the way—a crevasse, a snow pit, or something else. The assistant said they split up at the time, so he wasn't very clear about the specific direction Professor Zheng headed."

Lu Jianchuan looked at the map on the wall; those red markers were particularly jarring against the white background.

Outside, the wind began to pick up, making the windows hum.

Lu Jianchuan was silent for a few seconds, his gaze falling on the vast, white expanse of snow and wind outside the window.

"Is it still possible to organize a search and rescue now?"

Station Chief Wang shook his head, his expression grave.

"Impossible. The wind outside is too strong, and the snow is too deep. In this weather, sending people out is suicide. We must wait until this wave passes and there is a brief calm period before we can even consider going out. Otherwise, it would be extremely irresponsible to human life."

Lu Jianchuan nodded.

"I understand."

He picked up the cup of hot water, took a sip, and put it down.

"Oh, right," he said, as if remembering something, looking at Station Chief Wang, "I also heard someone saw traces of Cynthia here?"

Station Chief Wang froze for a moment.

"Cynthia? You mean..."

"A young girl, silver hair, about this tall," Lu Jianchuan gestured, "very strong combat ability, capable of summoning a strange plant from her body."

Station Chief Wang thought for a while and slowly nodded.

"Now that you mention it... someone did report that. One of our logistics personnel went to inspect equipment at the eastern point that day and saw a figure walking on the ice field from a distance. He said it was a young girl with very light-colored hair; she wasn't walking fast, but by the time he wanted to catch up and take a closer look, the person had disappeared."

He paused.

"At the time, we assumed it was someone from another expedition team. Later, we asked the surrounding stations, and they all said they hadn't sent anyone to that area. However, we can't be certain it was the person you mentioned—it was too far away to see clearly."

Lu Jianchuan didn't speak, just stared out the window.

Cynthia.

She was cloned. Her original body was an ultimate Evolver with an EVO concentration as high as 8.431%. If she appeared here...

Could it be that the "original body" was here?

Impossible. If it truly were here, Golden Bone and the others should have reacted long ago.

But why would Cynthia come to the Arctic? What exactly is she looking for after leaving GUPA?

He withdrew his gaze and took another sip of water.

Forget it. The most important thing now is to find the Professor.

But...

He looked out the window. The wind and snow howled, making it impossible to see anything more than ten meters away.

The entire world was filled with white. The gray-black building looked like a lone boat in a vast ocean, ready to be swallowed at any moment.

He couldn't go out now. He could only wait.

"Mr. Lu," a young Researcher walked over from the side, holding a steaming cup of beverage, "Here, have some hot cocoa. Warm yourself up in this weather."

Lu Jianchuan took the cup and thanked him. He held the cup, feeling the warmth spread from his palm, his gaze never leaving the window.

The wind and snow continued to blow, and he didn't know when it would stop.

— —

Three days later.

The sun finally came out.

Sunlight shone on the snowfield, stinging people's eyes.

Lu Jianchuan put on sunglasses, tightened his cold-weather suit, and stood at the entrance of the research station.

The snowmobile was parked next to him, its fuel tank full and supplies already secured.

Station Chief Wang walked over and handed him a locator.

"Follow this direction, about twenty kilometers, that is where Professor Zheng and his team originally discovered the samples. We have marked that location; you can go straight there."

Lu Jianchuan took the locator and clipped it to his waist.

"What about the place where the assistant said they split up?"

"It's also near there, slightly further east. You can check both locations."

Lu Jianchuan nodded and mounted the snowmobile.

The engine started, and the snowmobile carved an arc across the snow, speeding toward that endless white expanse.