He didn't know how long they had been traveling, but when Gao Jianfei woke up, it was already broad daylight.
The convoy stopped, ate their lunch, and then continued on their way.
It wasn't until evening that we finally arrived at the outskirts of a small town.
There is an airport there.
Civilian airport.
Some civilian passenger planes, cargo planes, and helicopters are parked there.
Blank's men began urging the people to get off the trucks and board the plane!
Gao Jianfei jumped off the truck, full of suspicion. He could feel that the temperature here was much colder than in New York. The cold wind felt like knives cutting his face.
Song Ying approached Gao Jianfei and lowered her voice, saying, "Jianfei, we've arrived in Las Vegas. It's a place near the Arctic Circle in the United States. Now, we need to take the air route directly to Barrow."
"Huh?" Gao Jianfei choked. "We have to take a plane?"
Song Ying, with her broad knowledge, explained with a sweet smile, "Jianfei, Barrow is a town in the northern part of the United States, perhaps the most remote one. It is located 530 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle on the shore of the Arctic Ocean, and is subject to cold winds and frigid air, making the environment extremely harsh. Barrow has no roads connecting it to the outside world, and the airport is the transportation hub of the region."
As Song Ying explained, Gao Jianfei led everyone onto a passenger plane.
As Gao Jianfei boarded the plane, he calculated that there were approximately 300 laborers like himself recruited by Blank; and Blank also had over 300 armed soldiers under his command. Beside Blank were several men who seemed to possess some skill—like the white woman, exuding an aura similar to ancient Chinese martial arts. Presumably, these were Blank's bodyguards.
After boarding the plane and waiting for half an hour, it took off.
After a short flight, the plane landed at an airport in a small town.
Gao Jianfei and his group got off the plane.
At this moment, the world was pitch black, with only the lonely, cold star in the sky and the sparse lights and torches in the town bringing a little light to the world.
"Waaaaaah~~~~~Waaaaah~~~~~~~~"
The cold wind howled, like the weeping of a demon.
The temperature became extremely cold. Gao Jianfei had to use some of his internal energy to completely dispel the chill.
Li Yun and Zheng Cuiyun were fine; they could use their internal energy to ward off the cold. Song Ying, however, seemed somewhat uncomfortable. Her face was a little pale, and her body trembled slightly.
Gao Jianfei quickly took off his coat and draped it over Song Ying.
More than 300 laborers stood there, cold and terrified.
This small town gives off a sense of isolation from the world. There are no roads leading to it; it seems like a town cut off from the rest of the world.
In the town, there are many houses built of ice blocks, as well as wooden cabins, and some guys wearing strange coats walk around the town.
“Jianfei, this is Barrow. This is the area near the North Pole in the United States. You can take a boat directly to the North Pole,” Song Ying explained. “Also, Jianfei, this is already within the Arctic Circle, so there is no daytime here. In other words, this town experiences ‘polar night’ in winter, and the sun will not rise above the horizon to illuminate the town.”
Gao Jianfei nodded. "Damn, this environment is terrible."
At that moment, a man with a gun shouted, "Alright, everyone, you're free to explore Barrow town. Tomorrow, we'll take a boat and head straight to the Arctic for an expedition!"
Chapter 479 The Greatest Adventure
Chapter 479 The Great Adventure
Under Blank's arrangement, the expedition team began to enter the town.
Hundreds of people began to enter the town one after another.
Gao Jianfei and the women, also traveling together and filled with curiosity, entered the town. The town wasn't large, with many low wooden houses, igloos, and stone houses. Some huskies and Alaskan Malamutes followed men wearing fur coats around the town with unusually docile behavior.
Gao Jianfei observed these men... Strangely, their appearance wasn't typical of Europeans. On the contrary, they had yellow skin, very similar to Asians! However, they looked strong and had resolute gazes.
“These are the indigenous people of the Arctic edge, the Inuit,” Song Ying explained.
"Oh? So these are the legendary Eskimos..." Gao Jianfei suddenly realized. Just then, a dozen or so strong huskies pulled a sled past Gao Jianfei. Several Eskimos were sitting on the sled, carrying hunting rifles and pitchforks, leaving the town, seemingly on their way to hunt.
“Jianfei, the Inuit people mainly rely on hunting and fishing as their basic means of survival,” Song Ying continued to explain. “Although some Inuit people have been assimilated by modern civilization, most of them still follow their ancient lifestyles and customs.”
"Hmm." Gao Jianfei nodded. Actually, what he was thinking about now was those huskies… well, back in China, Gao Jianfei had seen huskies at the dog market, some even with so-called pedigree certificates. But all the huskies he'd seen before paled in comparison to the ones in this small town! They were utterly pathetic!
The huskies in this town are strong and robust, with an unwavering determination in their eyes. Even in the freezing snow, they show no fear or hesitation. Gao Jianfei personally witnessed some huskies burying themselves in the thick snow to sleep. It was truly adorable. Gao Jianfei once considered releasing a few level 1 ghosts to possess some of the huskies and keep them as pets. However, he temporarily suppressed this extremely tempting idea. After all, having husky pets now held no real meaning for him.
After the research team entered the town, the local natives did not seem particularly welcoming. At least, most of them did not show any friendliness or hospitality.
Gao Jianfei even noticed that some Eskimos, when looking at the expedition team, revealed anger and hatred deep in their eyes.
All indications suggest that Blank's Arctic expedition team is not very popular in the small town of Barrow.
Even some huskies barked softly, expressing their displeasure.
Blank's gunmen planted an expedition team flag at the edge of the town; it was a flag with an iceberg as the background and a strong polar bear as the design.
The flags fluttered in the evening breeze, looking quite majestic.
The expedition team began their free time. Blank and his bodyguards entered the town, to a large stone building with overhead wires illuminating it. On the building's plaque, a crudely drawn image of a wine glass and a large piece of meat... it seemed to be a bar.
The gunmen accompanying the expedition team, equally adept at finding their way into the town's other bars, quickly filled the air with the clinking of glasses, the sounds of rock-paper-scissors, and boisterous laughter...
The laborers lingered for a while, but unable to bear the cold any longer, they followed them into the town bar.
Li Yun and Song Ying both looked at Gao Jianfei with questions in their eyes.
Gao Jianfei saw a relatively small stone house with a sign that also advertised wine glasses and large pieces of meat. He smiled and said, "Let's go in and have a few drinks to warm up."
So, Gao Jianfei led the women into the small bar in single file.
As soon as I entered the bar, the feeling of coldness was dispelled considerably.
The bar was only about a dozen square meters in size, with a few stone tables set up, and several laborers were sitting around the stone tables drinking.
Several women dressed in animal skins were in charge of greeting customers in the tavern.
Gao Jianfei glanced around and found that these women, like the Eskimo men, possessed very obvious Asian features. However, perhaps due to their long-term life in the frigid region, their skin was rather rough. In short, they were large and robust, and by modern standards of beauty… they were all ugly.
Gao Jianfei and the women occupied two stone tables.
Immediately, a young, teenage Eskimo woman approached and asked in broken English, "Excuse me, do you need... what do you need?"
Her eyes held immense fear and dread, as if she had mustered all her courage to come and ask.
Gao Jianfei thought to himself, "Aren't these Eskimo women a little too timid?"
Gao Jianfei chuckled and replied, "What do you have here? And what are the prices?"
“There is…there is food and wine. The food is $20 per person; the wine is too,” the girl stammered in reply.
$20 for a meal; $20 for a drink. That's really not cheap!
However, Gao Jianfei didn't care about any of this. He took out a large wad of US dollars that he had advanced from Blank the night before, and casually pulled out a few bills. "I want nine servings of food and nine servings of wine."
The girl took the money and ran away in a hurry.
A short while later, several Eskimo women, carrying several trays, came to Gao Jianfei and his group, carefully placing the contents of the trays on the table. Then, they all ran away timidly.
Gao Jianfei ignored these rabbit-like Eskimos. He was going to eat something and drink some wine.
However, what he saw next made Gao Jianfei frown deeply!
The so-called food was divided into nine portions and served on nine wooden platters. Each platter contained several sea fish, as well as some raw meat that smelled blood and was cut from the carcass of some unknown animal. There were also some small dishes containing granular coarse salt.
There were also crude knives and forks.
Gao Jianfei picked up a raw fish. He brought it to his nose and smelled it; it had a fishy smell.
"Uh? This?" Gao Jianfei looked at the erudite Song Ying.
Song Ying frowned and said, "Jianfei, Eskimos eat mostly raw food. Perhaps, raw food is more delicious to Eskimos than cooked food. It's also nutritious. But... I wouldn't dare to eat it."
Zheng Cuiyun, who is always bold and playful, tore off a piece of fatty meat with her hands, dipped it in the salt dish, pinched her nose, put the meat in her mouth, and chewed it frantically.
All eyes turned to Zheng Cuiyun.
Gao Jianfei couldn't help but give a thumbs up and exclaim, "That's awesome!"
Two minutes later, after Zheng Cuiyun had completely swallowed the piece of raw meat, everyone asked in unison, "How did it taste?"
Nie Xiaoxia added, "Senior sister, if you feel like throwing up, just go ahead and throw up..."
Unexpectedly, Zheng Cuiyun's eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "It's delicious! Really, you guys should try it!"
"Really?" Gao Jianfei casually tore off a piece of fatty meat, dipped it in coarse salt, and put it in his mouth. At first, it was indeed unbearably fishy, but after chewing a few times, he found it to be sweet with a unique aroma and a bit salty, which was very delicious!
Moreover, it has a very smooth texture and is very pleasant to eat.
"Delicious!" Gao Jianfei exclaimed.
So everyone started eating raw fish, and paired it with some kind of wine made using some unknown process, and it was just like enjoying a sumptuous feast!
As they ate and drank, the chill gradually gave way to warmth. Gao Jianfei felt quite comfortable. He knew that after arriving in this small town, it wouldn't be so easy for the Americans to find him again.
Of course, this doesn't mean they can completely evade US military surveillance. Gao Jianfei understood that to be truly worry-free, he had to venture deep into the Arctic!
Now, Gao Jianfei is considering whether to follow this scientific expedition team and sneak into the Arctic, or simply live in seclusion in this small town.
Currently, after defeating Holman and with the scattered experience gained earlier, Gao Jianfei is only 375,000 experience points away from advancing to Level 5 Exorcist. Besides hiding and recuperating, Gao Jianfei has one more thing to do… accept quests! Gain experience! Strive to level up!
But in this harsh, cold place, far removed from modern civilization, could there be ghosts issuing missions?
Gao Jianfei prepared to find an opportunity to sneak into the ghost den later and see if there were any missions.
At the same time, since he was now with this mysterious scientific expedition team, Gao Jianfei needed to know the team's background. Therefore, he had already released several Level 1 ghosts to follow Dr. Blank closely.
A large bar in the town of Barrow.
Dr. Blank was sitting quite comfortably in a private room at the bar. In fact, this bar was not only the largest in the entire town of Barrow, but also the best-equipped.
There is heating and air conditioning here.
The bar's layout has a very modern feel.
Blank sat on a comfortable crocodile leather sofa, legs crossed, smoking a cigar.
Meanwhile, Blanc's bodyguards were also gathered in this room.
A white woman held a vibrant rose, its petals glistening with dew, inhaling its fragrance; the burly man who had been shouting through a megaphone was now drinking heavily; besides these, there were five other people. Among them were a pair of wiry twins arm-wrestling; a one-eyed man performing acrobatic feats, juggling five bottles, tossing them into the air before displaying dazzling skills; and two others, one handling a gun, the other feeding a burly Labrador Retriever.
Blank gave his men a satisfied look. Then, he clapped his hands.
The seven elite subordinates simultaneously stopped what they were doing and looked at Blank with admiring eyes.
"Guys, this adventure will be the greatest, and arguably the most miraculous, adventure of our lives!" Blank's expression suddenly became extremely excited, and a flame seemed to burn deep in his eyes.
“Great Doctor, we are willing to follow in your footsteps and complete adventure after adventure! It is our life’s honor!” the one-eyed man who was playing with the bottle said in a vow-like tone.