Professor, your turtle!

The closer you are to the pole, the earlier the polar night will come.The location of the base is northerly, and it has not been completely enveloped by the night.

On the way home, Ji Fan turned his head and looked out the window. The scenery was originally pitch black, but gradually, the horizon gradually brightened up.

They sailed north into the polar night line.

The sun has completely sunk, and only the dim afterglow remains on the horizon. The grayness is the dusk of sadness and the dawn of hope.

Ji Fan twisted his sore neck, and changed his posture - he was covered with the coat that Fu Mingyuan had taken off, as if being hugged by that person.

Thinking of this, he lost sleepiness at all.

"Are you awake?" Fu Mingyuan immediately noticed the movement of the co-pilot.

In fact, Ji Fan couldn't fall asleep all the way, but he was afraid of making the other party worry, so he nodded, rubbed his eyes, and pretended to be sleepy.

Fu Mingyuan took the time to glance at him, but found nothing unusual.

After a busy day, Fu Mingyuan was still in high spirits, driving the heavy-duty off-road like a sports car for a ride.

"Just look at it if you can't sleep," he said, "You won't be able to see it when you leave Antarctica."

Ji Fan pulled down his jacket and nodded.

Just then, something flashed out of the corner of his eye.

That is……?He immediately sat up straight, wiped off the fog on the glass a few times, and lay down by the window looking out.

"What?" Fu Mingyuan stepped on the brakes, the snow chains slid across the ice and made a creaking sound, and the speed of the car suddenly slowed down.

The light outside the window was too dark, and even the huge mountain was only a blurry outline, but not far away, a cloud of bright colors lit up in the darkness, like wildfire, very eye-catching.

Of course, it is not an easy task to think about igniting a fire under conditions of ice and snow and no flammable materials.

That's not fire.

Ji Fan narrowed his eyes, and there was something shimmering in the ice not far away.

He glanced back, Fu Mingyuan understood what he meant, stepped on the brake to the end, the car slid forward for a while, and stopped slowly.

"Go and have a look." Fu Mingyuan said decisively, put down the handbrake, pulled out the safety rope and climbing pick from the back seat and threw them to Ji Fan.

Ivan's off-road body is too heavy and can only be parked in place.

In Antarctica, it is very dangerous to drive across the unexplored ground—no one knows whether there are rocks, sea water, or holes hidden under the ice, and they don’t know how thick the ice is. lead to collapse.

Fortunately, those strange glowing ice walls are not far from the main road, only tens of meters away.

After getting off the car, the faint green fluorescence became clearer.

If the Antarctic wolf had not been completely extinct more than 100 years ago, they would probably have suspected that they had encountered wolves.

"Catch it." Fu Mingyuan shouted, throwing the end of the rope in his hand.

Ji Fan raised his hand in response.One end of the safety rope was firmly tied to the fixed hook of the off-road vehicle, and the other end led the two of them.

After getting ready, they groped and staggered towards the green light.

The uneven ice under the feet was not completely covered by snow.

The strange thing is that the ice layer is not flat, but presents an obvious longitudinal crack, as if several icebergs were smashed at the same time, and then squeezed and piled together.

Of course, cracks do not affect the hardness of the ice layer. Whether it is a crack or a protruding edge, it is hardened by the extreme cold weather, and even a mountaineering pick cannot easily dig through it.

This scene is very strange, not a normal Antarctic landform.

Ji Fan didn't know geological knowledge, so he was just a little surprised.Behind him, Fu Mingyuan frowned, and the deeper he walked, the more frightened he felt.

Going deep, there is a wonderful scene of "frozen waves" around.

The so-called freezing waves refer to the phenomenon that warm ocean currents freeze instantly when they encounter extremely cold temperatures.

The frozen waves still maintain a dynamic shape, with undulating waves and layers of "white foam" at the top, which seems to be falling down in the next second, drowning everything around.

Normally, such ice waves would only form on cold coasts, but now they appeared inland, no matter how you looked at it, it was very abnormal.

Fu Mingyuan became vigilant, secretly clenched the climbing pick in his hand.

Ji Fan was also aware of the change in his mood, slightly worried, and lightly tugged the rope connecting the two of them.

"Don't worry." Fu Mingyuan said in a calm voice, "It will be fine."

Finally, they came under an arch formed by "waves", and the mysterious fluorescent light gathered and flickered, finally revealing the whole picture clearly.

Ji Fan looked up at the ice wall more than ten meters high, squinted his eyes, and gasped when he saw clearly what was inside.

I saw countless dense krill sealed in the tall and thick magnificent glacier.They maintain their lifelike postures before they were alive, gathered together, and the fluorescent protein on the top of their heads still has a faint reflection.

The light of individual krill is so dim that it is almost negligible. When they are grouped together, they become a whole wall of ice studded with stars.

The krill swarms are vivid and still look alive, as if they can shake their heads and tails at any time after melting the ice.

But Ji Fan and Fu Mingyuan knew very well that their lives had been frozen as early as the moment the waves froze.

"This..." Facing such a magnificent and desolate tombstone, even Fu Mingyuan couldn't help being slightly moved.

Only during the breeding season will krill gather collectively in shallow seas, date and mate, and produce countless shrimp roe.

However, this breeding period is doomed to be that no new life will be born.

Instead of taking them in the right direction, the warm ocean currents brought a terrible death.

If it is said that the extreme climate caused the warm ocean currents to freeze, it may be able to explain why the number of Antarctic krill has fallen sharply in such a short period of time.

And that aquarium!

A flash of inspiration flashed in Ji Fan's mind—the so-called "saving the giant krill" mission is probably to preserve a spark of life in the extreme climate, right?

I still remember the day when the task was completed, groups of krill said goodbye to him with bubbles, flicked their tails, reluctantly left the incubator and returned to the thawed bay.

The giant krill reproduces very quickly, and after this difficult winter, perhaps it only takes one year for the population to resume prosperity.

But their parents stayed on land forever.

What a cruel change of life.

"So it is. The abnormal volcanic activity observed by the Progress Station is probably due to the frequent crustal changes nearby," Fu Mingyuan sighed with emotion, "It only takes a moment for the sea to turn into a mulberry field."

Originally, large pieces of frozen shrimp and countless plankton drifted on the sea surface.

With the movement of the earth's crust, they hit, squeezed, and deformed, forming a huge ice ridge, and then slowly connecting with the continental shelf-this is the scene in front of them.

What a spectacle it must be when an iceberg strikes!

With mixed feelings, Ji Fan sighed, and raised his hand to gently wipe the surface of the ice.

Suddenly, there was a slight roar around him.

He was startled, and turned his head to see that Fu Mingyuan had taken out a portable cutting machine from his backpack, and was seriously debugging it.

What is this for?

Noticing his gaze, Fu Mingyuan raised his eyebrows: "Since they're all here, don't waste them."

waste?Ji Fan blinked, a little dazed.In the next second, the rattling cutting saw blade had already plunged into a layer of ice.

Only then did he understand what "don't waste" meant.

Krill is a very suitable prey for little penguins. For emperor penguins, it looks like a big refrigerator full of delicious food.

Professor Fu is preparing to use waste, so he will take some snacks for his son back home!

Ji Fan's head was full of black lines, he opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.Beside him, Fu Mingyuan had skillfully cut a whole block of ice.

It's really pragmatism...

Fu Mingyuan moved neatly, cut about three or four regular-shaped ice cubes, tied them together with thick ropes, and tried to drag them.

The edges of the ice cubes rubbed against each other, making a harsh squeaking sound.

"It just so happens that there are not many fish and shrimp left in the base. I was thinking about where to catch fish, so I don't have to worry about it now." Fu Mingyuan straightened up, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and greeted Ji Fan with a relieved expression on his face. Come help me.

Ji Fan was still a little vacillating, but when he heard that his cub had nothing to eat, he quickly turned against him in a second.

He clasped his hands together, apologized to the unlucky Krill in his heart, ran to Fu Mingyuan's side, and pulled another rope.

The two dragged and dragged, and finally transported a large piece of "frozen seafood" to the off-road vehicle.

Fu Mingyuan dug out a large heat insulation box from the trunk, placed ice cubes, tied them with ropes and fixed them to the roof of the car, and returned with a full load.

The off-road vehicle restarted, and the two looked at each other and couldn't help laughing—this was really a surprise.

In the rearview mirror, the faint green light was left far behind, and the flickering fireflies became weaker and weaker, as if saying a final farewell.

The wheels turned, turned another face, and neither krill nor ice was visible.

"Thank you." Ji Fan mouthed silently.

The way home is clearer than the way back.Chasing the faintly glowing horizon, they headed north all the way, and soon returned to the original starting point.

Before I knew it, the whole night was almost over.

In the base, the little penguin woke up early, opened the lid of the incubator and ran out, swinging his paws all over the room looking for his father.

Seeing them open the door and come back, it opened its mouth wide excitedly, yelled loudly, and rushed up waddlingly, followed by a pounce.

With sharp eyes and quick hands, Ji Fan immediately dodged behind the door - with its current tonnage, it could probably knock him directly to the ground.

Fu Mingyuan smiled and opened his hands: "Jiujiu..." Before he finished speaking, his tone sank and turned into a muffled hum with a different tone.

The guy actually stepped on his toe.

Every little penguin misses the warmth of hiding on his father's instep to avoid the wind and snow. Even though Jiujiu doesn't grow up like ordinary penguins, he still has a special liking for the instep.

It sat down on Dad's feet, raised its neck coquettishly, and let out a series of clear and clear calls of Herod.

"Jiujiu~" (Dad, you brought a midnight snack!)

Seeing Fu Mingyuan's expression of gritting his teeth, Ji Fan held back his smile and held up his writing board: "Losing weight?"

Fu Mingyuan's expression was a little distorted, and he squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth: "Minus, must be less."

Jiujiu had seen the krill frozen in the ice cube by the door a long time ago, and realized that it was delicious, his saliva was almost drooling, and he rubbed his furry little butt around to act coquettishly.

Want to eat want to eat!Dad!

It has grown some gray fur all over its body, and it looks like a beautiful stuffed toy-but, if you hold it, you can tell that this thing is completely solid.

Fu Mingyuan squeezed its sharp beak and twisted its head back, and taught, "That's not for you to eat now."

Jiujiu can't understand human words, but he understands the gesture of pinching his mouth very well. Every time his father does this, he will take away his food.

Not allowed to eat?Its moist black eyes widened in disbelief.

"Gah..."

This sound is very frustrating.

Ji Fan would leave the base to go to school during the day, but Fu Mingyuan grew up with it all the time, watching it grow from a wet chick half the size of a palm to its current lively and lovely appearance.

Facing his son's watery black bean eyes attack, he almost couldn't hold back, and almost wanted to change his words immediately and say that we are not going to lose weight.

At this time, Ji Fan stretched out his hand from the side, glanced at him, and silently took the little penguin.

Compared to Fu Mingyuan, who is in charge of feeding, Jiujiu prefers to be close to Ji Fan, whom he saw first when he broke his shell.Facing the temptation, he let go of Fu Mingyuan's legs without hesitation, turned his head and threw himself into Ji Fan's arms.

Ji Fan squatted down, rubbed its hair, and shook its little wings, making it giggle, and forgot about midnight snacks for the time being.

Taking advantage of its distraction, he hurriedly winked at the people next to him.

Fu Mingyuan reacted quickly, dragged his "snack", quietly exited the room, and hurried to the storage room.

The little penguin's memory is very bad, and he couldn't see the food for a while, so he completely forgot about cheating, flapped his wings, and happily played with his father.

Ji Fan heaved a sigh of relief, let it go back and forth, and checked its health condition by the way.

There is no professional instrument at hand, and it is not convenient to check some complicated indicators. You can only check the coat color and wounds.

Coat color can most intuitively reflect the health status - if alopecia areata or moss is found, it may be due to nutritional imbalance or other diseases.

However, as the only surviving egg, Jiujiu was obviously a strong little penguin after the shell was broken.

Its fur is smooth and smooth, and its hair is so thick that even Ji Fan is a little envious. Its eyes are black and bright, and it is full of energy. Apart from being too fat, there are almost no other problems.

Ji Fan pinched the bones on the soles of its feet again, and felt nothing unusual, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

It happened that Fu Mingyuan also came back empty-handed, and the two of them worked together to carry the tired little guy back to the incubator so that he could sleep for a while.

Transferred from the arms to the mat, it didn't wake up, turned over in a daze, smacked its lips and continued to dream, in the dream there were buckets of small fish and shrimps.

Ji Fan looked down for a while and couldn't help laughing.He raised his eyes and looked to his side, only to see that Mr. Fu was also secretly looking at him.

The corners of the young man's eyes were raised slightly, and when he tilted his head to look at the person, a gleam of water occasionally flashed in his black and white eyes.

When their eyes met, Fu Mingyuan tugged at the neckline unnaturally: "It's time for us to rest too."

Hearing the word "rest", Ji Fan inevitably recalled that kiss in the dark, and the roots of his ears secretly turned pink.

What does that kiss mean?

He couldn't ask, and Fu Mingyuan didn't explain.Walking to the door of the room, he bent down to take off Ji Fan's thick coat, with rare tenderness in his eyes.

"Good night."

Another kiss fell on the forehead like a dragonfly.

The light went out, Ji Fan sat on the table in a daze for a while, raised his hand to touch the place where he was kissed.

what does it mean?

I should like it... right?

The special time was completely exhausted, and Ji Fan suddenly turned back into a turtle.

At that moment, a trace of regret flashed in his heart - he forgot to kiss back again, what a mistake.