Plague Doctor

It was noon on December 3, but the polar night sky was strangely dark and full of untimely stars.

Wrangel Island is located at 71°14' north latitude and 179°25' west longitude. The island once had a military airport runway, military radar facilities, and even a mine, but they were all abandoned shortly after they were established. The village of Ukhakovskoye is on the southern coast, and the naval base is adjacent to this former small settlement.

The base consists of a complete set of 34 prefabricated modular buildings, and hundreds of people from two countries are currently active in it.

Gu Jun and the other five arrived at Messchmidt Military Base yesterday. When the weather conditions allowed today, they took a helicopter over, successfully flew over the distance of more than 200 kilometers, and landed on the base's apron. Now that the sea is almost completely covered with ice, ships are no longer suitable for navigation and icebreakers are needed to clear the way.

The strong wind roared, and the five people stepped off the helicopter one after another. They were all wearing thick warm adventure clothes and each carried a bag of luggage.

The remaining temperature in the helicopter cabin had been destroyed by the strong wind. As soon as Gu Jun stepped on the ice and snow of the island, he suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold. His face covered by the hood and mask was still aching from the cold wind. I can barely keep my eyes open.

So cold. Didn't he grow up in the north? Isn't this the first time in his life to feel such coldness, more than 20 degrees below zero...

But it’s not just cold here, the humidity is also very high, and it’s often foggy, giving it the nickname “Kirishima.”

The cold mist moisture seemed to have penetrated through the thick thermal clothing, penetrated into his skin, and also penetrated into his lungs through the respiratory tract. He breathed harder and harder after a few breaths. It was a bit difficult to breathe, chest tightness, nose and respiratory tract Feeling faintly tingling.

"Ah..." Uncle Dan next to him had already shivered a few times from the cold. When he arrived here, he felt even more uncomfortable than he had been in the stone path for several days.

"I really need to drink some vodka." Lou Xiaoning muttered. It's not a place where people live. It's dark and cold. It's 7,600 square kilometers. It will only get worse the further north you go.

"It's so white." Wu Shiyu looked at the bright ice and snow around him under the night sky, feeling like he was looking at a field of colors during global training.

If you stay in this environment for a long time, you will experience the Ganzfeld effect - seeing hallucinations and mental changes.

"If anyone feels uncomfortable, please don't hold on." Xue Ba told everyone, flexing his muscles, but his square face with beard was already red from the cold.

Activities in the Arctic Circle in winter are very challenging mentally and physically. Given enough time, they all need some training first. And people like Gu Jun who are terminally ill should not set foot on this land. But now everything cannot go as usual.

Just in front of the helicopter, there was a group of about ten people waiting to greet them.

Among them are members of the "Arctic Wolf" expedition team from the Tianji Bureau here, including Captain Yu Xiaoyong and Deputy Captain Zhang Xiaoqi. "Arctic Wolf" is a large-scale mobile task force temporarily formed to cope with this task. There are various personnel configurations in the team, and professional Arctic expedition personnel are indispensable.

Next to Captain Yu are the personnel of the Russian National Security Bureau. They are the hosts here, and all the members of the Secret Bureau are guests.

The leader of the Russian team is Ivanov Mstislav, a middle-aged Russian whose beard and muscles are even more exaggerated than Xue Ba's, resembling a brown bear.

"Captain Yu." Xue Ba took the lead and walked up and called out in less than standard Russian language: "kaпntahmctncлaвa."

Although they are not proficient, Xue Ba knows how to speak many languages.

"Captain Xue!" But Mstislav, who was summoned, responded in less than standard Chinese. This big brown bear didn't lose in language either.

Now everyone got to know each other, and when Gu Jun was introduced, everyone looked curious, especially Yu Xiaoyong and the others.

For no other reason, Gu Jun was too young, but the order passed down from the bureau was to ask them to cooperate with him in starting work, which was centered on Gu Jun. However, Yu Xiaoyong and the others had read some information about Gu Jun and knew that he had some supersensory perception and "special spiritual power."

"I'll take you to the dormitory building first." Mstislav greeted warmly, "Go in and have a drink to relax."

Although Gu Jun wanted to take a look around anxiously, he knew that he still had to go through the procedures, and settling in the dormitory was one of them.

And there was no rush. They already knew what was going on here before setting off. The island is so big and the weather is so bad that the Arctic Wolf team doesn't even know which area to search for, so the work is at a standstill.

The dormitory building is the largest barracks here. There are separate barracks-style dormitories for men and women. They have electricity and heating supplies, but these energy sources must be used sparingly.

The supplies stored in the base are enough for them and thirty Alaskan Malamutes to survive for a month, and support can also be provided from the opposite coast, but nothing is certain.

After settling down, Gu Jun immediately asked to start exploring. Captain Yu and the others took the five of them out and boarded a group of snowmobiles to head to the west.

Not long after, the deserted Ukhakovskoye village appeared in the snow ahead. Captain Yu introduced: "It has been like this for many years. The Russians will not clean it up themselves, nor will they let others clean it up."

Gu Jun knew that this was the case after reading the information.

Under the light of the car lights, I could see some dilapidated telephone poles on the snow that were about to collapse, and messy wires connected to some dilapidated low wooden houses. The snow had not yet completely covered up all kinds of garbage on the ground. , especially those abandoned oil barrels that have long been eroded by rust.

The surroundings are still white, connected to the undulating mountains in the distance, extending endlessly.

"There's a polar bear there." As soon as the snowmobile convoy stopped, Wu Shiyu pointed the direction to everyone, and Gu Jun turned to look.

Sure enough, they saw a strong polar bear walking beside a broken house less than 20 meters away. It glanced at them and turned away.

Why... Gu Jun frowned and had a strange feeling, as if the polar bear had already been waiting there, waiting for him to come...

The wind was rumbling, and there was only silence around them. He could hear the sound of his own blood flowing. Has his spirit been affected?

"Captain Yu, I want to go over and take a look at that house." He still said.

The polar bear had already run away, and there was no need for anyone to chase it away. The next group of people walked over. It was a very ordinary old rotten wooden house, less than thirty square meters. The roof was about to collapse due to the weight of snow, but it had been here for decades.

The door of the wooden house was ajar. Gu Jun reached out and pushed it open, looking into the house with a flashlight.

Love the Plague Doctor.