15: Frozen bone fragments

Beneath the main door of that laboratory, where the ice was thickest, a faint blue glow seeped through from under the ice.

It was very faint, yet in this grayish-white world, it was as clear as a lighthouse.

"crystal stone..."

Qin Lin muttered.

"Under the ice?" Su Yuran had seen it too.

"Then... how do we get it?"

Indeed, how to get it.

The ice layer was at least a meter thick.

Dig with hands?

Impossible.

Use tools?

Using an Entrenching Shovel to dig through this kind of hard ice, they wouldn't reach the bottom even by tomorrow.

Moreover, with the outdoor temperature at -61°C, they couldn't stay active outside the RV for long.

Qin Lin stared at the blue light, sinking into deep thought.

Energy was down to [38/100].

Food was only enough for two days.

And there was only one day left to complete the Seven-Day Task.

Yet the crystal stone was right before his eyes, and he couldn't reach it.

This sense of frustration was more torturous than not finding it at all.

"Let's go back first," Qin Lin finally said.

He turned the vehicle around, preparing to leave.

Just then, in the rearview mirror, the laboratory's main door.

From the crack in the door, a denser blue light seeped out.

It was as if something had awakened behind the door.

Qin Lin slammed on the brakes.

The tires skidded on the blue ice, and the vehicle body slid half a meter sideways before stopping.

Both he and Su Yuran stared at the rearview mirror, at that laboratory door.

"What... what is that?"

Su Yuran's voice was tight.

Qin Lin didn't answer.

He shifted into reverse and slowly backed up, creating some distance.

The vehicle didn't stop until it was twenty meters away; this distance allowed him to see the door clearly while providing enough reaction time.

He wasn't afraid of any dangerous creatures because, based on his experience...

These disasters were purely climatic; there had been no invasion of alien species.

The blue light seeping from the door crack grew brighter, flowing out like a liquid and spreading across the ice.

Wherever the blue light reached, the ice emitted faint cracking sounds, and more vein-like patterns appeared on the surface.

Qin Lin glanced at the thermometer.

-61℃.

No change.

"Is there... something alive inside?"

Su Yuran grabbed Qin Lin's arm, her fingers icy cold.

"I don't know," Qin Lin stared at the door, "but it's definitely not human."

Humans couldn't survive at this temperature, let alone produce such impact force.

The blue light stopped spreading, stabilizing within a three-meter radius around the door.

Silence.

A deathly silence.

There wasn't even the sound of wind, only the two's suppressed breathing and the low hum of the engine.

Qin Lin waited for five minutes.

The door didn't move again.

"I'm going out to take a look," he said.

"No!"

Su Yuran immediately objected.

"It's too dangerous!"

"I'll just stay by the vehicle, I won't go far."

Qin Lin unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Stay in the vehicle and lock the doors. If anything goes wrong, drive away immediately."

"What about you?"

"I can run." Qin Lin picked up the Entrenching Shovel and a flashlight, "Besides, I have this."

He pointed at the heavy clothes he was wearing.

In truth, this couldn't block the -61°C cold at all, but it could at least buy him a few dozen seconds.

Su Yuran wanted to say more, but Qin Lin had already pushed open the vehicle door.

Cold.

The instantaneous cold was like ten thousand needles stabbing into his skin.

Qin Lin didn't even dare to gasp, fearing injury.

He quickly closed the door and walked briskly toward the front of the vehicle.

This was ten meters from the laboratory door, a relatively safe observation distance.

The flashlight beam swept across the door.

Thick ice was frozen on the metal door, but near the ground, there were signs of cracking in the ice layer.

The blue light seeped out from those cracks, like an underground river flowing beneath the ice.

Qin Lin crouched down and carefully observed the ground.

The blue veins on the ice surface were clearer now.

He touched them with his glove; they felt exceptionally smooth, not like ice, but more like the surface of some kind of crystal.

Furthermore, these veins weren't random; they radiated from the direction of the door, spreading outward like tree roots.

He followed one of the veins forward.

Five meters, ten meters... the vein extended all the way to the corner of another workshop.

Qin Lin shone his flashlight toward the corner and found a depression in the ice layer; in the center of the depression was a small, protruding crystal.

It was very small, only the size of a thumb joint, embedded in the ice.

But it was glowing.

A faint blue light, identical to the one seeping from the door crack.

Qin Lin tapped the ice around the crystal with his Entrenching Shovel.

The ice was very hard, but the tip of the shovel still managed to chip in a little.

He continued to tap, being very careful for fear of damaging the crystal.

Two minutes later, most of the ice around the crystal had been cleared away.

Qin Lin reached out, wanting to pry the crystal out.

But he was afraid there might be danger.

However, the System had already indicated there would be no danger.

The moment his fingertips touched the crystal—

[High-purity energy source detected]

[Property: extreme cold attribute crystal stone (eternal frozen marrow fragment)]

[Energy Rank: High]

[Absorbable and convertible]

After picking it up, Qin Lin rushed back into the RV and slammed the door shut.

Because he felt his body temperature rapidly draining away.

Qin Lin slumped in the passenger seat, panting heavily.

His face stung with a burning pain.

It wasn't the numbness of frostbite, but the stinging pain of skin scorched by extreme low temperatures.

He raised his hand to touch his face, only to find his fingers so stiff they wouldn't obey him.

"Don't move!"

Su Yuran rummaged through the storage cabinet for a first-aid kit and took out some frostbite ointment.

"Your face... has blistered."

Only then did Qin Lin see his own face in the rearview mirror:

His cheeks and the tip of his nose were bright red, a layer of fine blisters had surfaced on the skin, and his lips were cracked, with the oozing droplets of blood already frozen into dark red icy residue.

-61℃.

Humans exposed to this temperature for a few minutes would suffer severe frostbite.

He had been outdoors for at least five minutes.

Su Yuran carefully applied the ointment to him.

The cool sensation of the ointment slightly eased the pain, but Qin Lin knew this was just a surface treatment.

Frostbite would penetrate deep into the subcutaneous tissue and might take several days to recover.

After treating the wound, Su Yuran finally noticed what Qin Lin was holding in his hand.

That thumb-sized crystal fragment.

The faint blue light flowed slowly inside the vehicle, breathing as if it were alive.

The fragment's surface consisted of perfect geometric facets, and inside, it seemed as if liquid light was flowing, breathtakingly beautiful.

"Is this... the crystal stone?"

Su Yuran asked softly.

Qin Lin nodded.

He and Su Yuran returned to the RV's living area.

He wanted to place the fragment on the table, but his fingers were still stiff, and the fragment slipped from his palm.

"Watch out!" Su Yuran exclaimed.

The fragment fell onto the dashboard, making a crisp clinking sound.

Both of them held their breath.

The expected extreme cold did not occur.

The fragment lay there quietly, emitting a soft blue light, but the surrounding temperature did not change at all.

Qin Lin even reached out to touch it.

What his fingertips touched was a gentle, moist coolness.

Like a summer stream, it was not at all the bone-chilling cold he had imagined.

"It... isn't cold?"

Su Yuran also tentatively touched it.

Just then, the System interface popped up automatically: