The wind howled, lashing at their bodies and bringing a bone-chilling cold.
However, the cold did nothing to dampen the tourists’ enthusiasm.
Everyone gazed excitedly at the snow-covered world, their eyes full of curiosity and anticipation.
"Everyone, follow ! We need to go through immigration first. After we get our luggage, we still have to catch a connecting flight."
"Hey, hey, hey! You old... ahem, you gentlen! This way! What’s so fun about a patch of ice?"
Zhang Kai waved his little flag, practically hopping in frustration.
Most of the tourists in this group were from southern cities. They were the type to get excited for ages just seeing frost, let alone a real snowfall. The mont they got off the plane, it was like opening a chicken coop—WHOOSH! They scattered everywhere.
After finally managing to round everyone up, they went through security, collected their luggage, and walked out of the airport.
There, they saw Tom standing beside two large buses, waving a small flag.
"Kai! Kai! Over here!"
Zhang Kai quickly led the group across the road to the buses.
The two n shared a quick hug before Tom imdiately pulled out a stack of business cards and started handing them out to the tourists, greeting each one as he went.
"I’m your daddy! I’m your daddy!"
Uncle Liu was instantly enraged.
’I paid good money to have a good ti here, and this guy gets to be my dad?’
The other old n also surged forward, surrounding Tom and bombarding him with a torrent of colorful Chinese curses.
Tom was completely dumbfounded.
’I gave them such a warm welco, so why are they ganging up on ?’
Seeing the situation, Zhang Kai quickly pushed them apart and grabbed the ranting Old Liu. "Master Liu, why are you yelling at him?"
"He said he’s my dad! How could I not curse him out? That bastard! If I were a few years younger, I’d beat the shit out of him," Old Liu fud, pointing an accusing finger at Tom.
Oh, for crying out loud!
Zhang Kai slapped his forehead. ’This is all Feng Shan’s doing.’
’Instead of teaching him anything useful, he had to teach him dirty tricks. Look at the ss now!’
With that thought, he quickly explained to the tourists that so shaless countryman had deliberately taught the foreigner to say "I’m your daddy," even telling him it was a more polite greeting than "hello" when eting friends back ho.
Hearing this explanation, the old n realized they had wrongly accused Tom. They quickly apologized, patting his shoulder warmly and saying,
"Don’t you worry, I’ll teach you so real good words later. Much better than ’I’m your daddy’!"
Tom couldn’t understand a word Old Liu was saying, but he could see from their expressions that their intentions were good. ’They’re all wealthy people from the East,’ he thought, ’and potential big clients.’ So, regardless of whether he understood, Tom just kept smiling and nodding along.
Once everyone was grouped up, they boarded the buses and left Fairbanks Airport.
The buses drove out of the city and into the outskirts of Polaris Town.
One of the old n in the group, the one wearing a rabbit-ear hat, deliberately asked in a loud voice,
"Hey, Xiaokai, how co we’re going further and further into the boonies? You’re not planning to kidnap us, are you, kid!"
"Exactly! This dump is more desolate than the rural areas back ho. It’s a place where even birds won’t stop to take a shit."
"Is this even a legit tour?"
The other tourists also started to feel uneasy because of the old n’s comnts.
After all, back ho, they’d often heard that things abroad could be complicated and chaotic.
They’d often seen on the news or heard rumors about tourists being tricked into going abroad, only to encounter horrifying situations, like being kidnapped for ransom.
In more extre cases, people simply vanished, as if completely erased from the face of the earth, never to be heard from again.
"Tour Guide Zhang, what’s going on?"
"Does anyone know the number for the police in Alaska?"
"Maybe we should stop the bus."
Zhang Kai was utterly exasperated by the old n’s antics throughout the journey.
He had wanted to be a good guide and make sure everyone had a fun and relaxing ti at Crown Camp. But these old n... They hadn’t been helpful in the slightest and just kept making things worse.
Facing a barrage of questions, he could only shake his head in resignation. He forced himself to stay positive and continued to reassure the other tourists, hoping to quickly undo the damage caused by the old n’s fear-mongering.
"Everyone, everyone, listen to ."
"The Crown Territory we’re heading to is north of the Brooks Range. It’s not accessible by road, and large planes can’t land there. We’re going to a different airfield now to transfer to smaller aircraft."
"There’s no kidnapping, no ransom. This is a legitimate tour group."
After reassuring them, Zhang Kai finally let out a heavy sigh of relief.
He had finally managed to clear up the misunderstandings that were making everyone anxious and calm the tourists down a little.
Then, he shot an angry glare at the four old n.
His expression was a mixture of exasperation and reproach.
’Can’t you guys just give it a rest?’
「Half an hour later.」
The two buses entered Old Tom’s Flying School.
The once-dilapidated flight school now looked brand new. The rust-spotted fences had been repainted, and the sign on the large iron gate had been replaced with one made of colorful lights.
Two DHC-6s were parked on the smooth runway.
After they disembarked, Zhang Kai split the tourists into two groups and had them board the planes separately.
Amid the roar of the propellers, the planes slowly took off, officially entering the polar night of the Arctic Circle.
...
「Crown Territory.」
After receiving a text from Old Tom, Feng Shan inford all the employees that the first tour group would be arriving in three hours.
The camp once again bustled with activity.
The restaurant staff rushed to check their food supplies, while employees in charge of lodging bustled between the cabins, carefully inspecting the beds and ensuring the heaters were working properly.
The other employees were all at their posts as well, so cleaning the common areas. Everyone hoped to make a wonderful first impression on the tour group.
The two planes flew over the darkness-shrouded Brooks Range, the vast mountain chain appearing especially mysterious and stark in the night.
The roar of the engines shattered the mountain silence. The propellers churned the air, creating swirling currents on either side of the wings.
Inside the cabin, the tourists peered through the windows, their gazes a mixture of curiosity and nervousness as they looked down at the dark, hulking silhouette of the mountains below.
"Well, I’ll be. Hey, Xiaokai, so this is that whatchamacallit... polar night? You don’t see the sun for months?" Old Liu glanced at his watch. It read 9:00 AM, but outside it was pitch black, without a single ray of light.
’Xiaokai?’
’Xiaokai? I’m *Big* Kai! Bah, forget it. You all are the real patsies here.’
Though he was ranting internally, Zhang Kai kept a pleasant smile on his face as he explained, "It’s not that long. We just won’t see the sun for a little over a month."
Whoa!
More than a month without sun.
The tourists looked astonished. Old Liu continued, "So what do people here do all day when it’s pitch black?"
Another old man bood, as if afraid the rest of the plane couldn’t hear him, "No daylight for over a month? What else is there to do but roll around in bed and make babies?"
In the cabin, the female tourists silently cursed the old n for being so shaless, while the male tourists just smirked. The old n themselves roared with laughter.
Zhang Kai shook his head, exasperated.
’Getting stuck with these characters on a tour... I’ve really hit the jackpot of bad luck.’
Just then, Tom poked his head out of the cockpit. Gesturing as he spoke, he announced, "We’re about to arrive at Crown Territory! You can see the view below from your windows."
Zhang Kai quickly repeated the announcent, and all the tourists turned to look out their windows.
In the pitch-black darkness, they could at first only make out a blurry silhouette, like the deep shadow of a slumbering earth.
As the plane descended, the brightly lit Crown Camp appeared before their eyes.
Colorful lights on the roofs of the log cabins cascaded down from the eaves, creating dazzling waterfalls of light. More lights twinkled enchantingly from the tops of the fruit trees, while those lining the paths outside the camp snaked their way into the distance.
As the plane slowly descended for landing, its trendous roar was especially loud in the quiet valley.
The mont the plane’s wheels touched the runway, they kicked up a flurry of snow. The aircraft ca to a steady stop in its designated spot.
Feng Shan, who had been waiting by the runway, imdiately led a group forward to greet them, a sincere smile on his face.
The cabin door opened, and Zhang Kai was the first to erge. He t Feng Shan’s gaze and gave a slight nod.
The tourists then disembarked one by one. So faces showed the fatigue of a long journey, but most were filled with curiosity and excitent for this new and wondrous camp.
But their excitent didn’t last three seconds.
The air of the Far North Tundra, at over thirty degrees below zero, was a brutal lesson for the tourists.
"Damn, it’s cold! Look, my breath is freezing!" Old Liu huffed into the air. The white mist that puffed from his mouth instantly condensed into tiny ice crystals in the frigid air, fluttering down like dust.
Hearing Old Liu, the surrounding tourists all started to copy him, breathing into the air. For a mont, clouds of white mist appeared before everyone.
Fack!
’Are you all insane?!’
Seeing the tourists’ reckless behavior, Feng Shan’s scalp tingled with horror.
...
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