Chapter 343: Three Hundred and Fifty-Four: A Scene of Devastation!

As for Xiao Yi at this moment, he had no intention of waking up the two little things.

After all, these two little things had been sharing his anxiety inside the tent for seven or eight hours.

Since they were still sound asleep, let them sleep comfortably.

Then, Xiao Yi got up alone, put on his down jacket, and planned to go outside and take a look.

“Sss! Sss!”

The instant he stepped out of his sleeping bag, even though Xiao Yi had prepared himself mentally, he still couldn’t help but inhale sharply twice.

It had to be said that because the tent had some gaps letting wind in, the temperature was indeed much lower than before.

Afterwards, Xiao Yi zipped open the tent and stepped out again.

“Huh!”

The carbon dioxide Xiao Yi exhaled instantly turned into white mist—imagine how cold it was outside the tent.

As for the wind outside, it had indeed weakened considerably.

Although the wind still felt like ice blades cutting into Xiao Yi’s skin, it was no longer strong enough to knock him off his feet.

Yet the scene outside left Xiao Yi utterly stunned.

The world outside was pure white—a frozen realm of ice and snow.

Amidst this ice and snow lay numerous tree trunks intertwined.

Some entire trees lay quietly toppled—clearly the work of yesterday’s super blizzard.

From near Xiao Yi’s tent outward, the snow depth increased steadily until it became uniform.

Xiao Yi knew the reason his tent’s front had so little snow was entirely due to the three snow walls, which had blocked most of the accumulation.

Even so, the snow in front of his tent still stood over thirty centimeters high.

As for the distant snow, Xiao Yi estimated its depth to be about a meter.

Such a massive blizzard was something Xiao Yi, in both his past and current lives, had never seen before.

Then Xiao Yi circled the tent again, and his first glance fell on a pine tree whose roots were pressed tightly against the spot where his tent stood.

The tree’s main trunk was crushed beneath broken ice chunks from the snow wall.

Seeing this, Xiao Yi finally understood how the northern snow wall had collapsed.

Clearly, the pine tree had been uprooted by the blizzard and, under the force of the super blizzard, had slammed directly into his northern snow wall.

The wall had been pierced and shattered by the tree, and the tree itself had been stopped here due to the wall’s resistance.

It took less than a meter—even less than one more meter—for this tree to have crushed him; if it had pressed forward just one more meter, Xiao Yi would have died or been critically injured.

Given the speed at which the tree had flown through the air, there would have been zero time for Xiao Yi to react.

Even if he’d had his system back then, it wouldn’t have helped—thinking of this, Xiao Yi broke into a cold sweat.

Afterwards, he silently thanked his luck—he’d always made it a habit to build snow walls whenever he set up camp.

This time, the snow walls had saved his life!

Then Xiao Yi ignored the pine tree and walked toward where the reindeer herd had originally been.

Seeing this, Xiao Yi felt a pang of sadness.

The spot where the reindeer herd had been was now buried under snow, and all the sleds were buried beneath it too.

Seeing this, Xiao Yi picked up several branches and began digging.

Not long after, Xiao Yi couldn’t help but smile—a shovel appeared before his eyes.

As he dug, he’d been following his memory of where the shovel had been placed.

After all, digging with just a few branches was far too difficult; now that he had the shovel, things would be different.

Fortunately, Xiao Yi’s luck held—he found the shovel without digging long.

More importantly, the shovel was still there, untouched by the blizzard.

With the shovel in hand, Xiao Yi’s pace quickened, though he still moved cautiously.

As he dug deeper, a reindeer antler suddenly appeared before him.

What followed made Xiao Yi fall silent.

The reindeer before him had its antlers broken, its skull caved in, and its entire body frozen stiff.

Xiao Yi knew this reindeer was dead.

Although his bond with these few reindeer wasn’t as deep as with Heidan, Goudan, or the lynx kitten,

these reindeer had traveled with him for a while, and seeing this scene still brought him sorrow.

But now wasn’t the time for sorrow—Xiao Yi dug faster.

He wanted to see if any reindeer had survived.

Even though he knew the chance was minuscule, he still wanted to try.

With heavy heart, Xiao Yi continued digging, but no good news came.

Soon after, a second reindeer corpse lay fully exposed before him.

Its neck bore deep gashes.

Clearly, during the blizzard, this reindeer had panicked violently, struggling to escape this terrifying place.

Seeing this, Xiao Yi fell into deep thought, even beginning to doubt himself.

If he’d untied the ropes around the reindeer’s necks, would they have had any chance of survival?

Then Xiao Yi shook his head, rejecting the idea.

Reindeer were fast, but not faster than the blizzard’s approach—they couldn’t outrun the storm’s core zone.

Given the blizzard’s power, even fleeing would have offered no hope; staying put, as long as the snow walls held, gave them at least a sliver of chance.

Though now, that sliver of hope seemed laughable.

More accurately, Xiao Yi had simply been luckier—the reindeer herd had been less fortunate.

If the flying pine tree hadn’t smashed into the northern snow wall, perhaps all three walls might have held through the blizzard.

Then, while not all five reindeer might have survived, at least two or three might have.

Xiao Yi had no time for further lamenting—he resumed digging.

When the fifth reindeer corpse was unearthed, Xiao Yi’s emotions shifted again.

Because this reindeer lying there was the one Xiao Yi had most favored.

He’d even believed that, given time, this reindeer could have become a herd leader—it already showed signs of leadership.

But before it could grow into a leader, it now lay frozen and lifeless.

Such is the unpredictability of fate!

Then Xiao Yi saw the fourth reindeer corpse—by now, he had given up hope for any survivors.

Yet often, when hope fades, miracles appear.

“Oooh! Oooh!”

Just as Xiao Yi was about to stop, he suddenly heard faint reindeer calls.

He quickly dug toward the sound, and soon three chaotic sleds blocked his view.

Clearly, the sleds had been tossed about by the wind, and the reindeer’s call came from beneath them.

Xiao Yi pulled away the sleds and found a reindeer trapped inside.

The space inside the sleds was cramped—just enough for the reindeer to press against the walls, and it had been kneeling half-bent the whole time.

Or rather, it wasn’t that the reindeer had chosen to press in—it had been crushed into place by the blizzard’s force.

But precisely because it was trapped there, it had survived—barely injured at all.

The sleds above shielded it from the blizzard’s sudden impacts and also blocked the biting cold of the snow.

The reason this reindeer was so weak now was that more and more snow had piled on top, cutting off oxygen.

The air inside was nearly depleted—that’s why it was so feeble.

Fortunately, just as oxygen was about to vanish, Xiao Yi heard its faint cry, dug away the snow, and revived it.

Otherwise, it would have suffocated slowly.

Now, seeing a reindeer had survived, Xiao Yi finally couldn’t help but smile faintly.

He let the reindeer take a few slow steps to adjust.

Then he patted its antlers and said:

“You’re lucky, kid—your name from now on is Lucky.”

“Oooh! Oooh!”

Feeling the strength in Xiao Yi’s hand, Lucky let out two contented calls.

But when it saw the four reindeer corpses nearby, its calls turned mournful.

If one looked closely, one would notice tears glistening in its eyes.

Yet this touching moment went unseen by anyone but Xiao Yi.

Then Xiao Yi stepped forward, patted it again, and comforted it:

“I couldn’t save all of you in this blizzard. Since you’ve survived, cherish this second chance.”

After that, Xiao Yi left the reindeer alone and began assessing his losses.

Outside his tent now lay a pile of items.

At the front lay the four reindeer corpses, followed by three sleds.

Yes, only three—the other two he searched for long and found nowhere; they’d clearly been buried or blown away by the blizzard.

Fortunately, the two missing sleds were one empty sled that had carried his tent and sleeping bag, and the other that held his spare clothes.

Other supplies were still there, but even so, Xiao Yi knew his wilderness journey was likely coming to an end.

Then Xiao Yi split open a sled and started a fire to cook.

No matter how troubled he was, eating was most important now—especially since his pots and bowls hadn’t been swept away by the blizzard.

The wind wasn’t strong now, but lighting a fire was still difficult; yet this didn’t stop Xiao Yi from getting to work.

Soon, Xiao Yi built a smaller snow wall around the perimeter, and with the wall in place, the fire was no longer affected by the wind.

……

……

Not long after, the steaming pot atop the fire began to boil, and the aroma instantly spread out.

“Mmm! Mmm!”

“Chirp! Chirp!”

Soon, the sounds of two small creatures suddenly came—Xiao Yi naturally smiled at hearing them.

He muttered, “Those dog noses are surprisingly sharp!”

Just as Xiao Yi finished speaking, the Rough-legged Hawk flew out first from the tent.

It landed on Xiao Yi’s shoulder, then looked around—and froze in place.

“Is this still the place it remembers? Everything here has changed completely.”

But before the Rough-legged Hawk could recover from its shock, the lynx kitten burst out of the tent too.

Yet this little creature’s entrance was clumsy—it tumbled headfirst into the snow the moment it jumped out.

“Hah! Hah!”

Seeing this, Xiao Yi laughed—rarely so—and then ignored the little thing, returning to tend his pot.

The little creature was only about fifty centimeters tall, and the snow in front of Xiao Yi’s tent was thirty centimeters deep—this outcome was only natural.

Of course, if Xiao Yi had thrown this little thing into the distant snowdrifts,

it might have been completely buried.

“Mmm! Mmm!”

Seeing Xiao Yi not only ignore it but also mock it, the lynx kitten huffed twice in annoyance, then struggled to crawl toward him.

“Mmm! Mmm!”

When the little creature finally reached him and saw the four dead deer lying nearby, it rushed over and began huffing again.

But this time, its huffing sounded mournful.

The lynx kitten hadn’t interacted much with the deer, but these few had been the only ones among Xiao Yi’s large animals that showed it no hostility.

The lynx kitten hadn’t expected that after just one night, the only deer that had been kind to it was now reduced to one.

Xiao Yi sneered at this scene—the little thing had eaten plenty of reindeer meat, and now it was acting sentimental?

It was like a cat crying over a dead mouse—fake pity!

After that, Xiao Yi ignored it, plunged his knife into the pot, pulled out a piece of meat, and put it in his mouth.

Then Xiao Yi picked out a few small pieces and tossed them to the Rough-legged Hawk on his shoulder and the grieving lynx kitten.

Seeing the meat thrown out, the Rough-legged Hawk on Xiao Yi’s back instantly flew off.

“Chirp! Chirp!”

“Chirp! Chirp!”

But what happened next left Xiao Yi stunned.

He hadn’t expected the usually greedy lynx kitten to ignore the meat he’d thrown.

Though the Rough-legged Hawk moved quickly, after grabbing the meat, it didn’t eat it right away.

Instead, it held the meat in its talons and kept calling toward the sky, as if waiting for something.

Then the Rough-legged Hawk flew back, looking sorrowful.

Strange as it was, Xiao Yi paid it no mind—he looked up at the sky.

The sky was deep blue, spotless, clearly cleaner after the blizzard had passed.

But Xiao Yi knew this peaceful sky wouldn’t stay undisturbed for long.

He didn’t believe rescue teams wouldn’t come under these circumstances.

Besides, Xiao Yi had already made his plans—and even made an important decision.