Chapter 349

“Ah! Ah! This time I actually got a full sleep!”

At that moment, Xiao Yi in the tent couldn’t help but murmur softly, then sat up straight.

Xiao Yi felt that sleep had been incredibly comfortable; he felt unusually energetic after waking.

But his movements startled the nearby lynx kitten and the rough-legged hawk.

The rough-legged hawk was fine—it had woken early as usual, but seeing Xiao Yi still asleep, it simply lay still beside him, silent.

As for the lynx kitten, it was definitely a lazy little thing; only now, because Xiao Yi moved too abruptly, did it slowly stir awake.

“Mmm! Mmm!”

Even after waking, the little creature chirped twice at Xiao Yi in confusion, but Xiao Yi paid it no mind.

Instead, he put on his down jacket and walked toward the tent’s entrance.

“Hss!”

When Xiao Yi stepped outside, he couldn’t help but inhale sharply.

Snowfall isn’t the coldest part—it’s the melting that’s truly freezing.

Though the temperature wasn’t high enough to melt the snow, it still felt bitterly cold to Xiao Yi.

Then Xiao Yi realized in his mind that he needed to speed up his rescue efforts.

If it was this hard for him, then Shen Meng’s three rescue team members must be struggling even more.

Especially Shen Meng and the other two—they were trapped in just one bear den; with this weather, they couldn’t last more than a few days.

Afterward, Xiao Yi turned his gaze toward the snowplow, then sighed helplessly.

The snowplow had nearly turned into a giant block of ice; even the windows were frosted over.

Xiao Yi tried pulling the door, but aside from his hands stinging from the strain, the door didn’t budge an inch.

After that, Xiao Yi had no choice—he took out his pot from inside the tent and started a fire.

Then he poured the warmed water onto the door.

In fact, it wasn’t just Xiao Yi who faced this problem; at the main rescue camp, two more vehicles had become giant ice blocks.

One was the same snowplow that had come with Xiao Yi’s; the other was a snowplow dispatched in the afternoon.

Seeing this, Wang Ming was extremely anxious.

If all the machines faced this issue, rescue operations would become even harder—but luckily, Sam and the other were very experienced.

After seeing the situation, Sam and the other smiled and said they had brought their own de-icer, and had also asked camp staff to heat water.

Clearly, having lived for years in such icy regions, they handled frozen doors with ease.

Sure enough, soon after, they opened the doors; seeing this, Wang Ming relaxed.

Wang Ming was from southern China; he’d heard of such cases before, but had never seen a car door frozen shut—today was his first time.

Then Wang Ming seemed to remember something and quickly contacted Xiao Yi, since Xiao Yi had no de-icer.

When Xiao Yi answered Wang Ming’s radio, he clearly paused, puzzled—why was this guy calling him so early?

After learning Wang Ming’s intent, Xiao Yi felt grateful and appreciative of his thoughtfulness.

But clearly, Xiao Yi didn’t need Wang Ming’s reminder—he’d already thawed the door with warm water before the call.

He’d heated water three times, then scraped the ice from the door seams with his knife before finally opening it.

Hearing this, Wang Ming felt slightly embarrassed.

He suddenly remembered—he was talking to Xiao Yi! Did he really need to remind him of such a small thing?

Then Wang Ming gave Xiao Yi two more reminders to be careful, before ending the call.

Hearing this, Xiao Yi shook his head with a sigh—he thought Wang Zong was great in every way, except he had a bit of a motherly streak. But it was nice.

Afterward, Xiao Yi and the two little creatures began eating breakfast.

“Chirp! Chirp!”

But suddenly, a “chirp! chirp!” came from the sky, and a figure swiftly flew toward them.

At that moment, the rough-legged hawk perched on Xiao Yi’s shoulder instantly took flight, soaring toward the figure in the sky.

Seeing this, Xiao Yi was momentarily stunned, then smiled faintly.

“Chirp! Chirp!”

“Chirp! Chirp!”

Soon, the two rough-legged hawks tangled together in midair, then circled above Xiao Yi’s head.

Not long after, both birds returned and landed around Xiao Yi’s camp.

The one that had always followed Xiao Yi showed no hesitation, naturally landing beside him.

But the newly arrived rough-legged hawk was wary—fearful of Xiao Yi, and equally fearful of the lynx kitten.

Seeing this, neither Xiao Yi nor the lynx kitten paid it any mind.

The lynx kitten even glanced at the hawk once, then returned to Zhuanxin eating its food.

In the past, the lynx kitten would have definitely threatened or fought the hawk—it was a vengeful little thing.

But since going through that disaster with the bald bird, the lynx kitten had clearly let go of some grudges.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t have coexisted so peacefully with the bald bird these past two days—even with Xiao Yi watching them.

If the lynx kitten still held a grudge, the rough-legged hawk might have truly suffered.

After all, the lynx kitten had grown again, now swollen like an inflated balloon.

If the two faced off one-on-one now, the lynx kitten would likely win.

“Chirp! Chirp!”

Seeing the new hawk still on guard, the one that had stayed with Xiao Yi began soothing it.

Only then did the new hawk dare approach, moving slowly, testing each step.

When it saw Xiao Yi meant no harm, the hawk finally relaxed.

Xiao Yi couldn’t help but smile gently—this hawk’s return was a good omen for the day.

His mood was good, for he’d never thought this rough-legged hawk could survive that violent blizzard.

Then Xiao Yi picked up a piece of deer meat from the pot and tossed it toward the hawk.

Seeing Xiao Yi’s motion, the hawk startled and instinctively flew upward.

But when it realized he’d thrown meat, it swooped back down and lunged for the food.

Clearly, though the blizzard hadn’t taken this hawk, it had deprived it of food—it probably hadn’t eaten in at least two days.

Now that it saw the deer meat on the ground, how could it resist?

Seeing the hawk return, Xiao Yi’s livestream chat exploded with activity.

Of course, viewers could witness this scene only because the drone was powerful enough.

With its own temperature control system, it had survived the night at minus twenty degrees and still worked perfectly.

“Oh my! This rough-legged hawk is still alive? That’s surprising.”

“Right! Even four of Xiao Shen’s reindeer died!”

“Glad it’s alive—look how happy Xiao Shen is to see it.”

“Indeed, its chirping this morning has brought some life back to this wasteland.”

“Hope Xiao Shen’s search goes smoothly today.”

“Yes, we hope they find Shen Meng’s team soon—this weather freezes car windows; how are they even surviving?”

…

…

In fact, seeing the rough-legged hawk still alive filled the livestream viewers with joy.

If this hawk could survive the disaster, how much more likely were Shen Meng’s team members to make it?

This gave viewers even more confidence that Shen Meng’s group could survive the catastrophe.

Afterward, Xiao Yi didn’t dwell on the hawk—he packed up and headed toward the snowplow.

Inside the snowplow, the temperature had risen; the frost on the windows had melted.

Then Xiao Yi drove the snowplow forward again, now with one more curious rough-legged hawk inside.

In truth, Xiao Yi had been thinking quietly—if only he’d met these two hawks earlier.

He could have trained them; perhaps they could have helped with the rescue, even brought some surprises.

But then Xiao Yi immediately dismissed the thought.

Even if he’d met them earlier, he doubted he’d have had the interest to train them.

…

…

While Xiao Yi continued his search, the rescue base was bustling with activity.

“Mr. Li, the Maple Country police rescue team has arrived, and the five supporting helicopters are with them.”

Hearing this, Li Yong’s heart leapt with joy; he turned to his assistant.

“Where are they? I’ll go meet them!”

The assistant smiled and replied, “Everyone is waiting in our base’s lounge.”

Hearing this, Li Yong didn’t delay—he headed straight for the lounge.

Li Yong hadn’t expected Maple Country’s support to arrive so quickly.

After Li Yong left, his assistant naturally followed behind.

Before Li Yong even entered the lounge, he saw a crowd of foreign faces in rescue uniforms already gathered outside.

Then Li Yong greeted everyone with thanks and headed toward the lead officer.

“Officer Ange, this is Li Yong, the overall producer of our program!”

“Li Zong, this is Officer Ange, the officer dispatched by the Maple Nation police to assist with our rescue.”

As Li Yong stepped closer, a young man, nineteen centimeters tall, with a ruggedly handsome face, golden hair, and a police uniform, stood there smiling at his arrival.

Soon after, Li Yong’s assistant hurried over to introduce the two to each other.

At that moment, Li Yong was slightly stunned—he hadn’t expected the Maple Nation police to send such a young officer.

“Hello, Officer Ange.”

Li Yong spoke first, politely, since this man had come to support them.

“Hello, Li Zong. I’m Ange.”

Upon hearing Li Yong’s greeting, Ange replied.

He introduced himself in Mandarin—and spoke it with exceptional fluency.

Now Li Yong might understand why the Maple Nation police had sent this young officer.

“Officer Ange, what arrangements has your police force made?”

Li Yong continued to ask, since this man was sent by the Maple Nation police to assist them; Li Yong didn’t dare issue direct orders, so he turned to ask Ange instead.

Hearing this, Ange chuckled lightly.

“Our chief gave us no instructions at all—only told us to coordinate fully with Li Zong’s program team. So if you have any tasks, feel free to assign them.”

“That said, personally, I’m very eager to meet Mr. Xiao Yi. I’ve watched all the footage of him capturing Daniel. I deeply admire his skills, and if possible, I hope to spar with him after the rescue.”

Upon hearing this, several officers around who understood Mandarin grimaced.

They knew this would happen—indeed, the police had never intended to assign this guy in the first place.

But when they heard the rescue involved Mr. Xiao Yi’s program team, he volunteered on his own.

Even their chief was exasperated, since this guy’s father still held considerable power in the Maple Nation.

After weighing the options, their chief ultimately let him come along—and even appointed him head of the entire rescue team.

Of course, there was also the unspoken hope that Xiao Yi might humble this guy’s arrogance.

Still, although Ange was genuinely arrogant, his abilities were undeniable.

He was fluent in six languages and possessed high combat prowess—he’d won the Maple Nation’s Sanda championship.

Those in the Maple Nation police who knew him all praised his abilities—he had every reason to be proud.

Li Yong “….”

Hearing this, Li Yong frowned.

This guy sounded like he had ill intentions. He fell silent.

Xiao Yi was Li Yong’s most valuable asset—who the hell was this guy?

Even if he’d come to support their program, it didn’t matter.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere, the assistant quickly stepped in to defuse it.

“Officer Ange, if you want to spar with Xiao Shen, we can’t decide that. When you meet Xiao Shen, you can discuss it with him directly.”

“Oh! Right. In that case, I’m even more eager to meet Mr. Xiao Yi!”

After hearing the assistant’s words, Ange continued speaking.

“By the way, Li Zong, please arrange the rescue work quickly! My time is precious. With our Maple Nation’s professional rescue team here, your program’s trapped personnel should be rescued very soon.”

Hearing this, Li Yong felt even more irritated—he felt this man wasn’t here to help the program, but to annoy him.

Still, since the man was here to help, Li Yong carefully explained the current overall rescue situation to Ange.

He repeated all the plans and ideas Wang Ming had reported to him the day before.