Chapter 49: The Greater Khingan Range Mission

The straight-line distance from Zhejiang to Heilongjiang is roughly a little over two thousand kilometers; by plane it only takes a little over three hours or so to get there.

The two of them boarded the plane. Since they had bought ordinary economy class seats, the seating was just as one could imagine, but neither of them really minded — it was only three hours after all.

At this time of day, the flight did come with an evening in-flight meal.

Qin Yun had flown a few times before, and for some reason always felt that airplane meals tasted pretty good. Today's in-flight meal was no exception — he ate with great relish. He even polished off Su Huan's portion as well.

Su Huan smiled at him: "If even this counts as delicious for you, then you're pretty easy to keep fed, huh."

Qin Yun let out a laugh. Truthfully, it wasn't that it tasted amazing — it was really a feeling inside, a kind of satisfaction.

The two chatted, passing the time, and before they knew it two hours had gone by.

"This time coming back, get Fang Nan to come out together…"

Before the words were finished, suddenly the system's notification chime sounded, and at the same time a panel dropped down before his eyes.

【Check-in mission issued: Host is to proceed to the secondary forest belt on the southern foothills of the Greater Khingan Range in Jilin Province. Apart from clothing and filming props, nothing else may be brought. Survive in the wilderness for five days and exit via Inner Mongolia — that counts as completing the check-in.】

"Together what? Why did you stop halfway through?" Su Huan looked at him in confusion.

Qin Yun continued: "Get Fang Nan to come out and get together. We've only ever been in touch online, so this time I'll treat her to a proper meal."

"Sure, she's told me more than once that she wants to meet you."

With a smile, Qin Yun tapped open the small TV on the seatback in front of him, checked the plane's current position, and instantly understood.

The plane was currently over Jilin Province, which meant the mission the system had issued still didn't violate the cross-region principle.

As for the new check-in mission, Qin Yun analyzed it carefully and still felt it was rather dangerous.

The Greater Khingan Range is one of the few well-preserved primeval forests in the country, teeming with wild animals — bears, tigers, wolves are all routine. For an ordinary person, going in there to survive would truly be seeking death.

Even with his current abilities, if he ran into one of these large animals, it would be hard to say.

But he had knowledge of zoology, botany, and combat skills on his side, so he was still confident about surviving five days. As long as he was careful, it should probably be fine.

The old him wasn't really a person full of adventurous spirit — at heart he preferred stability.

But as his skills grew more and more numerous, the instinct to seek challenges gradually awakened; the two consecutive rock-climbing sessions were proof of that.

"No rush — finish attending Gao Feng's wedding first, then we'll see. There's plenty of time, and the system doesn't have a time limit anyway."

……

The plane landed, the two took an airport shuttle bus, and arrived smoothly at a budget hotel in Harbin.

There they met Gao Feng as well as Shen Hu, along with several friends who had also come early for the wedding banquet — clearly with the same idea of arriving ahead of time.

At him and Su Huan arriving together, many people showed strange expressions, but Gao Feng and Shen Hu raised their eyebrows at him, looking every bit the "bro, nice going" type.

Taking advantage of Su Huan going up to the room to put away luggage, Shen Hu threw an arm around his neck: "Good lad, you actually bagged your class's class president — awesome."

Qin Yun quickly stopped his nonsense: "Don't talk nonsense, there are too many people around, if it gets out it's not good. I just happened to be coming from Hangzhou, so I asked Su Huan along, that's all."

"Pfft… still trying to fool me." Shen Hu clearly didn't buy it.

Gao Feng, standing beside them, bumped fists with Qin Yun and laughed: "It's been so long — you've really changed a lot."

"It's alright, just working out — you could do it too." Qin Yun looked at his belly. "Aren't you busy with work? How are you still this fat?"

"Don't even mention it — entertaining clients every other day, trying to pull in some investment. You think it's that easy?"

Qin Yun looked around and asked, puzzled: "Where's Lin Lu?"

Lin Lu was another roommate of his and Gao Feng's; their relationship in college went without saying. The only difference was that Gao Feng was in the same class as Shen Hu, while he and Lin Lu were in the same class.

"Can't reach him."

Qin Yun was taken aback: "What do you mean can't reach him? His phone won't go through?"

Gao Feng gave a wry smile: "The guy went abroad. I've left him messages on all the social apps, but he's never come online. No idea what he's up to."

Qin Yun frowned. He had also tried to contact Lin Lu before setting off, but couldn't get through either, and WeChat messages had gone unanswered — he'd assumed the guy was just busy and forgot.

"That doesn't add up. The phone not going through is one thing, but how can he not be reachable on social apps either? Have you tried contacting his family?"

Gao Feng shook his head: "No, I don't even know his home address. We'd have to ask the school for that."

Qin Yun made a mental note, planning to have Su Huan ask around after the wedding.

Gao Feng was a civil servant, so naturally his wedding banquet wouldn't be too lavish. Besides, Gao Feng's family wasn't wealthy, and the wife he married was also from a civil-servant family of matching status.

"This is my wife, Fang Yi."

Gao Feng's wife smiled, greeted Qin Yun and Su Huan who had come downstairs, and they briefly got to know each other.

Since the wedding banquet was still three days away, naturally there was no worry about meeting early or not — no such taboo.

"If you have things to do, go ahead, don't worry about us."

"Alright then, the hotel's three meals a day have all been arranged in advance — just show up at mealtimes." Gao Feng nodded, didn't stand on ceremony, and left with Fang Yi.

Of the friends of Gao Feng who had arrived early, Qin Yun knew only a handful, but several looked vaguely familiar — they must have met before.

"Want to go look around?"

Su Huan leaned over and suggested.

Qin Yun and Shen Hu naturally had no objection: "Let's go. We've never been to Harbin before — let's take a look and try some local specialties."

Harbin had plenty of local specialties. Among those Qin Yun had tried was Harbin red sausage — he especially liked it sliced and toasted in the oven, crispy and fragrant, unbeatable.

Besides that, since Harbin is also in the northeast, dishes like guobaorou were a local specialty too.

As for the rest, he hadn't tried them.

The three left the hotel, grabbed a tourist map, and wandered around at random.

"When the hell did you learn to rock climb? That's way too over the top — when I scrolled onto your livestream I almost thought I was hallucinating."

Shen Hu was quite astonished by Qin Yun's feat. He had originally assumed that since Qin Yun did self-media, he just traveled around, filmed scenery and the like, or maybe did some budget travel — nothing wrong with that.

But he hadn't expected that when he actually scrolled onto it, it would make his jaw drop.

Before Qin Yun could say anything, Su Huan laughed first: "When you scrolled onto the livestream, at least he was climbing with protection. You should know — the very first video you saw was him free-climbing Shanzi Cliff without any safety gear. Do you know what I was feeling?"

Shen Hu had also seen that video and sighed: "Just watching it made me panic like crazy. I really don't know how you dared — your nerve is way too big."

"It's not hard once you know how, and it's not as difficult as you imagine." Qin Yun said casually, "Many things are the same — you only know once you've done it. The waters inside are really just that."

Shen Hu rolled his eyes: "I'll believe that when I see it."

Setting that topic aside, Qin Yun suddenly asked, "Gao Feng's already married. What about you? When are you planning to get married?"

Shen Hu shook his head: "What's the rush? I'll tell you when I'm married. Besides, it's not that I don't want to — it's that my girlfriend's not in a hurry."

Qin Yun exchanged a glance with Su Huan. A girl in a relationship not in a hurry to marry — and both of them were nearly thirty.

"Get married sooner, and my red envelope could be saved a bit — don't you know that?"

"Hehe." Shen Hu laughed, "Then there's nothing for it, who told you to marry so early. Wait till you remarry, and don't even think about the red envelope."

"Aish!"

Qin Yun cursed with a laugh.

The three walked and stopped along the way, occasionally pausing at roadside snack stalls to buy a little something — quite pleasant.

Compared to Zhejiang, Harbin was actually quite different — at least the visual difference was huge.

Because it was close to Russia, looking up one could see quite a few European-style buildings.

Add to that the different geography, and the climate was noticeably different too.

For example, Hangzhou in October basically stayed at summer temperatures, but Harbin occasionally already approached zero.

By winter, the gap became even more obvious — minus thirty was a normal temperature.

And if Hangzhou ever reached that temperature, Qin Yun felt it would be a natural-disaster-level event.

Of course, the best season to come to Harbin was naturally winter. In winter you could see a landscape in Harbin where ice-and-snow art and natural wonders interweave — absolutely gorgeous.

The three wandered here and there, and before they knew it, it was already midnight.

Back at the hotel and each to their own room, for the next several days they also kept gathering to go sightseeing together.

These three days, Qin Yun could basically confirm that if he didn't complete the issued check-in task, absolutely no new check-in task would be issued.

At any rate, he was in Harbin now — a new map — yet so far there'd been no indication at all.

Early morning on October 3rd, he put on his suit and got busy.

Accompanying the groom to pick up the bride, livening the atmosphere, drinking with guests at the hotel, shielding the groom from the enthusiasm pouring in from all directions.

When the wedding ended, even given his physical condition, he felt already a bit tipsy.

As most of the people at the hotel dispersed, that guy Shen Hu had long since passed out and been carried away.

Gao Feng looked at Qin Yun's state and said to Su Huan, "Su Huan, I've had someone park the car outside. Are you sure you're alright?"

Before Su Huan could speak, Qin Yun waved a hand: "Worry about yourself. I'm just a bit woozy — my mind's still perfectly clear."

"Alright then." Gao Feng shook his head, "Alright then. Flight tomorrow, right? Let me know when you're leaving, or stay a couple more days?"

"No, we've already been here three or four days." Su Huan declined.

Saying that, she waved and half-supported Qin Yun as she walked out of the hotel.

Gao Feng's bride Fang Yi watched the two of them leave and said softly, "From the looks of it, Su Huan seems to have feelings for Qin Yun?"

Gao Feng scratched his head: "How come I didn't notice?"

Fang Yi's mouth twitched: "What could you possibly see? Didn't you notice when Su Huan was blocking drinks for you, the way Su Huan looked at Qin Yun — however you looked at it, it didn't seem like ordinary friends."

"Doesn't that mean my buddy's second spring is about to bloom?"

Gao Feng was quite pleased.

"I'm just guessing. Don't go spreading it around — what if they really are just ordinary friends?"

"Fine, got it."

Gao Feng brushed it off casually, thinking he had to pry some hints out of Qin Yun.

Qin Yun and Su Huan had gotten into the car by now, and he leaned back against the seat to dissipate the alcohol.

It was only because his physical condition was awesome — otherwise, with that much alcohol poured into him, he'd definitely have collapsed just like Shen Hu.

And as time passed, he felt his woozy state gradually fading, the alcohol in his body seemingly evaporating away.

In less than twenty minutes, the car stopped at the hotel entrance.

The two got out of the car and went back toward their rooms. Qin Yun swiped his card and entered his room, then after two steps suddenly noticed Su Huan had followed him in as well.

"You… what are you coming in for?"

Su Huan rolled her eyes at him in annoyance: "To see if you'd throw up. If it weren't for promising your aunt I'd look after you, hmph, I couldn't be bothered."

Qin Yun was speechless and let her be.

"You're underestimating me."

""