Chapter 3610

Hearing Wu Siyuan mention Wu Tianlin's arrangements, Wu Bolin furrowed his brow slightly and asked: "Why can't we board directly from the dock? Why must we figure something out at sea?"

Wu Siyuan could only patiently explain: "Elder, currently the only vessels waiting to enter the Antarctic Circle in Ushuaia are national research ships—there are no commercial vessels. Moreover, those capable of exploring Antarctica are mostly economically and nationally strong countries. If you were to rashly board any ship, you might be detected and targeted, which would also pose a risk to you."

Wu Bolin said lightly: "This is simple—I've already planned it. At that time, I will use spiritual energy to control their minds, making them obey my commands entirely."

Wu Siyuan replied: "Controlling their minds isn't difficult; the difficulty lies in getting from the dock to the ship, as surveillance equipment is everywhere. With no one to meet you, entering the dock might leave traces. If someone notices anything abnormal and traces your movements backward, they could track you to Buenos Aires, and from there, possibly pinpoint the location of the Broken Clear Society's base near Buenos Aires—this would also be a threat to the organization."

Wu Bolin fell silent for a moment, then asked him: "So you mean, if I secretly board a ship at sea, I can avoid trouble?"

Wu Siyuan nodded and said softly: "Wu the steward means that research vessels are under strict management, and dock surveillance data is uploaded in real time to servers. Argentine police, homeland security departments, and even hackers with backdoors can access this data. Data is backed up multiple times, transmission paths are long, and deletion is difficult. If you board at sea, you won't leave any traces at the dock. After boarding, you can use spiritual energy to control the crew and have them delete all ship surveillance after you disembark. For absolute safety, you could choose a suitable time to sink the ship and kill everyone aboard—then it would be even more certain."

Wu Bolin asked him: "What if I one day leave Antarctica—would I still need to board from the sea then?"

Wu Siyuan said: "That depends on when you leave. If you depart in winter, you'll have less than a month's window—you must catch a research ship leaving Antarctica in April. If you miss this window, you likely won't be able to leave the Antarctic continent all winter. If you wait until summer to leave, it will be much easier—there will be many commercial cruise ships coming and going. Our Left Army Governor-General's Office even operates a cruise company, and we happen to have a polar expedition cruise ship. At that time, we can send it to pick you up."

Wu Bolin lightly nodded and said: "Then let's proceed as Tianlin suggested."

……

After Ye Chen's research vessel, the Iliad, had sailed at sea for three days, it safely passed through the Devil's Westerlies, rounded the Antarctic Peninsula, and slowly approached the Antarctic continent.

At this time, the sea surface near the Antarctic continent had already frozen into a thick layer of ice, so the research vessel could only move forward at an extremely slow speed while breaking ice.

The vessel's position had already approached the 80th parallel south. Although it had not yet entered polar night, daily sunlight had already dwindled to less than three hours—on the eve of polar night.

The display screen inside the cabin showed the real-time outdoor temperature. Before sunrise, it had already dropped to an astonishing minus fifty-five degrees Celsius. After sunrise, the temperature would rise by about ten degrees.

However, compared to this extreme cold, the outside environment was surprisingly calm—almost no wind, waves, or snowstorms. Only the sound of ice cracking during icebreaking and the low-frequency hum of the engine could be heard.

After another sunrise, the window revealed a snow-covered Antarctic continent. The captain announced over the broadcast that in a few hours, the research vessel would dock at the edge of the Antarctic continent, and everyone should prepare to disembark.

As the journey neared its end, Ye Chen woke Yun Ruge and Song Ruyu, who had been in secluded cultivation.

The two returned to their room, simply packed their belongings, and waited for docking.

At this moment, Lin Wan'er delightedly discovered that on the already frozen sea surface, many penguins were marching in formation toward the continent.

She pointed at the dense black dots on the ice and exclaimed excitedly: "Young Master, look—it's emperor penguins!"

Ye Chen gazed into the distance and was astonished to find that these penguins were actually migrating from the frozen sea surface into the interior of Antarctica.

He asked in confusion: "Now the interior of Antarctica is the coldest—why are these penguins still heading inward?"

Lin Wan'er smiled and said: "Emperor penguins are just like that—other penguins head north in winter, but they return in winter to the deep interior of the Antarctic continent to breed and raise their young."

Ye Chen recalled something and said: "I think I once saw on TV that emperor penguins gather in groups of thousands or tens of thousands to resist wind and snow—it's quite a spectacular sight."

"Exactly," Lin Wan'er said: "Their habit is to breed during the coldest time, gathering in groups to hatch eggs and raise chicks. This may be the only animal we can see in Antarctica's interior during our winter."

Antarctica's winter is the harshest environment on Earth—very few animals can overwinter here, and emperor penguins are among them.

Since the sea ice near Antarctica is now freezing at a rate of several kilometers per day, the sea surface near the continent has already formed an ice layer several meters thick. At this point, the research vessel no longer needs a dock—when the ice thickness exceeds the icebreaker's capacity, the ship simply slows and stops, ceasing forward motion.

At this moment, several people waiting over a kilometer away saw the ship stop and signal, so they immediately drove several ice tractors slowly toward the research vessel.

These ice tractors each pulled a trailer—some carrying cargo, others carrying passenger cabins.

Next, Captain John Torreson came over and told Ye Chen: "Mr. Ye, you and the three ladies can prepare to disembark. The research station staff will first pick you up four. Your luggage and supplies can be brought along in the vehicle. If anything is too large or heavy, you can hand it over to us—we'll later use a lifting loader to transfer the ship's supplies and equipment onto trucks."

Ye Chen nodded and asked them: "Captain Torreson, when will you return?"

John Torreson checked the time and said: "We're still over a hundred kilometers from the research station. Traveling by snow transport vehicle will take at least four hours. We need to wait for the staff to move all the cargo, set up the station operations, and then return. After that, we'll all head back to Ushuaia together. From now until departure, it should take about four days."

Ye Chen gave a slight nod. Four days later, Antarctica would likely have almost no people left—which would be even more convenient for cultivation.