Wang Laiyu stood on the foredeck of the "Snow Dragon", looking at the white expanse around him, as if covering the thick ice of the entire sea, at a loss.

"Snow Dragon" is a behemoth. The red hull is 307 meters long, 40.5 meters wide, and has a full load displacement of 42,000 tons, almost about the same as a light aircraft carrier. The ship has 6 floors and can carry 130 people. Generally, the expedition team members have two people in a room, each room is about 10 square meters, with central air conditioning, a bathroom with 24-hour hot water supply, refrigerators, wardrobes, writing desks, etc.

The "Snow Dragon" is the latest and most advanced polar scientific research ship of the Republic, equipped with advanced navigation, positioning, and automatic driving systems, equipped with advanced communication systems, and a platform, hangar, and supporting equipment that can accommodate two helicopters. In addition, there is a broadband Internet café, a small library with thousands of books, a small swimming pool, and even a sauna and massage room, a small basketball court. Three restaurants and video rooms of varying sizes.

The "Snow Dragon" is equipped with a 20,000-horsepower main engine and three 5,000-horsepower auxiliary engines, with strong power and huge size, so that this large-scale offshore comprehensive laboratory can be at a speed of 25 knots, endurance of 15,000 kilometers, can resist winds above level 12, and can swim in any ocean in the world.

The most important thing is that as a large polar research ship, unlike what Lei Dong thought, the "Snow Dragon" itself has a strong ice-breaking ability, which is the most basic condition for it to survive in the polar regions. Relying on the wide shape and the dead weight of more than 20,000 tons, the multi-propeller design and the strong structure of E-type special steel and special alloy steel, the "Snow Dragon" is handy and powerful whether it is continuous icebreaking or collision icebreaking. According to the design standards, this huge polar research ship can successfully break through two meters of ice and one meter of snow at a speed of nearly one section!

However, Wang Laiyu never imagined that this snow dragon would encounter such a large area of ice that is beyond imagination, you know, even in the Antarctic Ice and Snow Continent, there is almost no such a difficult situation.

Freezing comes suddenly without warning.

More than ten hours ago, the Snow Dragon suddenly received an urgent telegram from the Government Council and the General Staff, asking them to set off immediately to pick up a team of about 200 people on the Holy Emperor Guangming Island.

The call did not say who was to be answered, but Wang Laiyu, who had been "bombarded" by the news about the disappearance of the "DH740" flight in the past two days, could immediately conclude that it was very likely that even the passengers on the missing flight!

Wang Laiyu didn't even have time to put down the message, he immediately turned on the broadcast system he put on, and excitedly gave a series of orders: check the mechanical power, check the circuit, check the supplies, check the fuel...... Considering the possibility that passengers will experience physical and psychological discomfort, Wang Laiyu even put on a three-person medical team and a psychological counselor.

Under Wang Laiyu's urging one after another, the Xuelong, which was resting, put all the members of the scientific expedition team and unrelated people to the "Great Wall" scientific research station built on the edge of the Antarctic ice and snow continent, completed all the preparations within 20 minutes, and set off for Beihang.

The voyage was very smooth, the sea was calm after the storm, and under the strong impetus of the "Snow Dragon", the "Snow Dragon" cleaved the waves and moved forward at full speed.

Who knows, seeing that it is only about 30 nautical miles away from the destination, the Holy Emperor Guangming Island on the navigation map is already close in front of you, and the ice that comes out of nowhere traps the huge Snow Dragon on the sea surface and can't move.

It seems that it is just a blink of an eye, the last moment, the sea is still calm, the next moment it is changing color, the endless chill falls from the sky, the entire sea surface is frozen into ice in an instant, the waves split by the hull, before it has time to fall back to the sea, it becomes a wave of crystal ice, around the "Snow Dragon", one after the other, forming a fold on the flat sea ice.

Under the tremendous power and strong inertia, the "Snow Dragon" rushed forward with difficulty and out of less than a hull, and the sound of bang still sounded in the ears without dissipating, it was completely frozen in the ice, motionless, and the ice that the hull crashed into was also re-solidified in an instant, nailing the Snow Dragon to the spot!

From full speed to abrupt stop, like everyone on the ship, Wang Laiyu was slammed out of the command chair by the huge inertia, his head hit the bevel of the command platform, a huge swollen bag immediately appeared on his forehead, and his head was even more thunderous and lightning-like dizziness, but he didn't care about all this at this time, jumped up quickly, crawled to the front of the command platform, and roared and gave the order of full power output.

The roar of the four engines with more than 35,000 horsepower and full power almost broke Wang Laiyu's eardrums, but he couldn't care about it at all.

"Left rudder 220, propeller number one at full speed!" Wang Laiyu shouted hoarsely in the communicator.

"Yes, left side drive 220, propeller number one, full speed!" The chief engineer's response came from the control room, and the "Snow Dragon" immediately roared angrily, and the huge hull shook slightly, and then violently trembled, but soon, this shaking stopped, and it resumed its motionless posture.

"Left rudder, no response, No. 1 propeller, no response......" The chief engineer's throat was as angry as smoke, but Wang Laiyu felt a chill through his bones.

With the four engines operating normally and the power output normal, the ship's control system is completely unresponsive, and there is only one possibility: the ice is too thick, and the propellers and rudder have been completely frozen!

Wang Laiyu didn't want to give up, but after many tests, everyone on board began to despair - the huge "Snow Dragon" was still trapped in place, motionless. The best one was just a slight upward movement of less than a meter from the bow of the ship. In normal times, even in the face of the boundless thick ice floe of the Antarctic Ice and Snow Continent, after such maneuvering, the first half of the hull of the "Snow Dragon" should have jumped onto the ice under the huge momentum, crushed the ice layer apart with its own weight of tens of thousands of tons, and then broke the ice and moved forward!

This damn ice seems to have frozen the whole sea into a single piece!

Wang Laiyu scolded angrily, walked out of the command room and came to the foredeck, hoping to find a way to break through the predicament on the sea, but the sea was white, and he couldn't even see the shadow of a seabird, what could he do?

Wang Laiyu glanced at the search and rescue helicopter on the tarmac. "It looks like this helicopter can only be sent over to transport people......"

But he also knew that not to mention the carrying capacity of this medium-sized helicopter, how many times it would take to transport more than 200 people from a distant island, not to mention the damn ice, I am afraid that it will be difficult to melt in ten days and a half months, and the food on the ship will become a huge problem, just the hellish temperature, I am afraid it will be difficult to get through!

You know, the vast sea surface of the endless huge ice, will make the surrounding temperature drop sharply, according to the current trend, in less than a few hours, the temperature on the sea surface will drop below 0 degrees, a large number of people gathered on the ship, there will be a large number of people will not be able to get enough warm clothing, at that time, must not rely on the operation of the engine to maintain the temperature on the ship, but the oil on the ship can support the ice melt? It is better to let the team of more than 200 people stay on the island and burn the trees and grass to keep warm.

Since receiving the order, Wang Laiyu has been speculating about who did the matter, and will the opponent give these people the opportunity to stay on the island in peace and wait for rescue? Thinking of the countless variables that may arise in things, Wang Laiyu's heart twitched for a while.

"There's no other way!" Wang Laiyu took a hard breath and made up his mind that he could only send a helicopter to transport personnel, and at the same time break the radio silence order and ask for help from the headquarters!

"Shame!" Wang Laiyu clenched his fists tightly, his nails almost pinched out a bloody mark in his palm, and his heart was even more faintly painful, he would usher in the first failure in his marine career, and at the same time, it was also the first failure since the launch of the "Snow Dragon"!

However, compared to the lives of more than 200 people, what is his own failure? Wang Laiyu took out a cigarette from his pocket, played the "Dubao" lighter that had been with him for many years with trembling hands, lit it tremblingly, and took a deep breath with all his might, and the choking smell of smoke poured into his lungs, making him almost cry.

"Helicopter ......" Wang Laiyu spewed out the smoke swirling in the lobes of his lungs and roared loudly.

But before his words fell, the first mate, who was beside him and silently observed the sea surface with a telescope, had already shouted, and the voice was confused, but also with the surprise of a desperate life: "Look, look, look......"

The first mate seemed to have lost the ability to speak, and his mouth just shouted the same word over and over again, Wang Laiyu copied the telescope on his chest in his hand, held it in front of his eyes, and looked at the sea along the eyes of the first mate.

"What's that?!" Wang Laiyu shouted and jumped up, and the hot blood in his whole body rushed to his head in an instant, making his face flush in an instant!

In the distance, a straight black line on the ice rushed towards the direction of the "Snow Dragon" from afar, the black line was extremely fast, and it had reached several kilometers away in a moment, from the telescope, the black line was getting wider and wider, and behind the black line, the white waves were surging, galloping, and jumping.

In less than ten minutes, a sea passage up to 50 meters wide that stretched all the way to the Holy Emperor Guangming Island appeared in front of the "Snow Dragon"! The sound of the rushing waves and the continuous crackling sound when the ice breaks, at this moment, converge into a majestic symphony!

"Ahh

"Power cabin, full power output! Pressurized water tank, drain all water, full speed, set sail! Wang Laiyu howled and issued a series of orders.

"Hum-" The engine roared loudly again, and with a crisp rattling sound, the propeller stirred up huge waves under the water, and the "Snow Dragon", which was trapped in the sea ice, slowly set sail and accelerated, and a few minutes later, the giant ship had already ridden the wind and waves, and moved forward proudly!