83: Come back... then I won't blame you for hurting me.

She walked to the edge of the barrier, only a step away from Qin Lin.

Outside was a -74°C Hell, inside was a 23°C world, and they stood on opposite sides of the boundary.

"Qin Lin."

Han Qing's voice was soft, but clear.

"You must come back."

She paused, lowering her voice to a volume only the two of them could hear.

"Come back... and I won't blame you for hurting me."

Qin Lin was stunned.

The expression monitor inside his helmet showed his heart rate spike from 72 to 110.

Han Qing's face was very red, but her gaze was firm.

After saying this, as if she had used up all her courage, she quickly stepped back.

Qin Lin smiled, though no one could see it through the visor.

"Don't worry."

He also lowered his voice.

"I still have to come back and continue drinking with you."

The implication was too strong.

Drinking referred to that night.

Han Qing's face flushed even redder. She glared at him but didn't refute it.

"Come back alive, and everything is negotiable."

"Deal."

Qin Lin turned and stepped out of the barrier.

Instantly, the world changed.

Even with the protective suit, even with his surface temperature maintained at 36°C.

Qin Lin could still feel the oppressive sensation of the extreme cold.

It wasn't just cold, but a kind of... deprivation of presence.

The helmet display read: External Temperature: -74.8°C.

Wind Speed: 34 km/h.

Visibility: 25 meters.

The snow wasn't falling; it was flying sideways.

Gale-force winds swept up the accumulated snow, forming a white dust storm.

Visibility was so low he could only see outlines a dozen meters ahead; beyond that was a chaotic, pale blur.

Qin Lin activated the thermal imaging vision in his helmet.

The world shifted to a blue-purple hue, with lower temperatures appearing darker.

The RV behind him was a warm orange glow.

The power station ahead was a deep blue with a strange, bright white gleam.

That was the energy radiation from the eternal frozen marrow.

"Beginning operation."

His magnetic boots crunched crisply on the ice with each step.

With every stride, the boot soles generated magnetic adhesion to prevent slipping.

Qin Lin adjusted his walking mode, moving steadily and firmly like a mountain climber.

The gale wind pushed and shoved him like an invisible giant hand. Even with the 30-kilogram protective suit, he felt the strain.

He lowered his body, reducing wind resistance, and slowly moved forward.

[Environment Monitoring: Wind speed continuously increasing. Recommend seeking shelter.]

[Body Temperature Status: Normal (36.4°C)]

[Energy Remaining: 97% (Estimated usable: 70 hours)]

[Communication Status: Good (Signal Strength: 85%)]

Data continuously scrolled inside his helmet, reassuring Qin Lin.

After walking about a hundred meters, he glanced back.

The RV was already blurred in the wind and snow, only a faint outline visible.

But Su Yuran's voice came through the communication channel.

"Qin Lin, how are you? We see your positional signal moving."

"I'm fine," Qin Lin replied. "The wind's a bit strong, but manageable. Stay in the vehicle; it's too dangerous outside."

"Understood. Be careful."

He continued forward.

The snowfield was uneven, with rises and falls, and buried obstacles.

Qin Lin used his ice axe to probe the path ahead, confirming it was safe before stepping.

Once, the ice axe plunged into the snow, only to find emptiness underneath.

A pit hidden by snow.

If he hadn't probed first, falling in would have been disastrous.

The closer he got to the power station, the lower the temperature.

[Current Temperature: -78.2°C]

[Warning: Approaching protective suit design limit.]

[Suggestion: Increase pace, minimize stationary time.]

Qin Lin quickened his steps.

The outline of the power station gradually sharpened.

It was a massive concrete structure, built against the mountain, spanning a canyon.

Part of the main building's roof had collapsed, revealing rusted steel girders inside.

The dam lay across the riverbed like a giant serpent, but now the riverbed was completely frozen, the ice so thick no trace of water was visible.

The entire structure was encased in ice, like a crystal palace.

The ice wasn't uniformly covered but formed various bizarre shapes:

In some places, icicles hung down, thick as tree trunks.

In others, the ice layer was cracked, with an eerie blue light seeping through the fissures.

Elsewhere, the ice surface was smooth as a mirror, reflecting the faint snow light.

Qin Lin found the maintenance tunnel entrance.

A half-buried metal door.

The door was sealed by ice, a layer half a meter thick.

Qin Lin detached the thermal cutter from his waist.

It was a handle-shaped device. Pressing the button, a dark red beam shot from the front.

The beam contacted the ice, which rapidly melted and vaporized with a hissing sound.

But the melting speed was slower than expected.

[Detected high concentration of eternal frozen marrow energy in target ice layer.]

[Physical properties altered: Melting point increased, hardness enhanced.]

[Suggestion: Increase cutting power.]

Qin Lin increased the power. The beam turned bright red.

This time the effect was obvious. The ice layer rapidly melted away, revealing the metal door beneath.

The door was heavy-duty blast-proof design, but the lock was rusted.

Qin Lin pried at it a few times with his ice axe, and the latch broke.

He pulled hard.

The door opened, revealing a dark tunnel that exhaled even colder air.

Helmet display: [Internal Temperature: -81.5°C]

Qin Lin took a deep breath and walked in.

Darkness swallowed him.

The helmet's night vision mode activated automatically, turning the tunnel green-tinted.

This was a maintenance tunnel, very narrow, allowing only single-file passage.

Pipes and cables of all kinds lined both sides, now all covered in ice, forming eerie ice sculptures.

The floor was metal grating, coated with thick ice.

Magnetic boots adhered to it, providing stable footing.

But each step made a clanging sound.

It echoed in the silent tunnel.

The tunnel sloped downward, heading underground.

The further down he went, the lower the temperature.

[Current Temperature: -85.3°C]

[Surface Temperature: 36.2°C (Thermoregulation System load increasing.)]

[Energy Remaining: 91%]

Qin Lin's heartbeat quickened somewhat.

Not from fear, but tension.

In this extreme environment, any mishap could be fatal.

At the tunnel's end was a heavy fire door.

The door was ajar, the gap completely iced over.

Qin Lin pushed hard. The ice layer shattered, and the door opened.

Before him was a vast space.

The power station's main control room.

Standing at the entrance, Qin Lin was awestruck by the sight.

The control room had once been the brain of this hydroelectric power station.

A massive control console spanned the entire room, covered with buttons, knobs, and display screens.

The walls were covered with various charts, flow diagrams, and warning signs.

Dozens of data cables hung from the ceiling like monster tentacles.

But now, everything was frozen.

Not ordinary freezing, but an artistic, almost perfect preservation.

Every button on the console was encased in ice crystals, forming tiny ice sculptures.

The display screens were covered with a smooth layer of ice. Beneath the ice, remnants of LCD images lingered like insects in amber.

Data cables had turned into icicles, hanging from ceiling to floor, varying in thickness, emitting a faint blue glow.

The most stunning sight was at the room's center.

There was a raised platform, likely originally for important equipment.

Now, a fist-sized crystal hovered above the platform.

eternal frozen marrow.

Unlike the dull fragments Qin Lin had found before, this one was completely translucent, emitting a soft blue fluorescent light.

Light flowed inside the crystal as if it were alive.

Radiating from it, the ice spread in a radial pattern, each ice ridge as exquisite as artwork.

But behind the beauty lay lethal cold.

Helmet display: [Target Area Temperature: -89.7°C]

[eternal frozen marrow Energy Radiation Intensity: Extremely High]

[Warning: Prolonged exposure may cause protective suit performance degradation.]

Qin Lin didn't approach recklessly.

He took the environmental scanner from his tool pack and aimed it at the crystal.

[Scan Complete: eternal frozen marrow (Complete Intermediate)]

[Purity: Grade A (94.7%)]

[Energy State: Stable]

[Special Phenomenon: Energy field forming a low-temperature Domain. Abnormal temperature gradient within Domain.]

Sure enough, this crystal was actively altering the environment.

Qin Lin scanned other areas of the room.

The System previously detected zero life signs; now it was confirmed.

There were no living people in the control room, only several frozen corpses.

They wore power station work uniforms, curled up in corners, covered in a thin layer of ice.

Their expressions were peaceful, as if asleep, but their skin was bluish-purple, eyes half-open, pupils dilated.

Qin Lin counted: five people.

They were likely the staff who stayed behind when the disaster struck.

They had backup power, heating, and thought they could hold out.

But the appearance of the eternal frozen marrow changed everything.

The temperature plummeted, and they ultimately froze to death here.

"Rest in peace," Qin Lin said softly.

Now, it was time to retrieve the crystal.