48 Hours a Day

Chapter 1243 Gunshots In A Snowstorm

“We wanted to go outside the tent to see what exactly happened, but there were intermittent gunshots outside. The snowstorm was really big at that time, and as long as we were two or three meters away, we could hardly see anything. We were worried that we would be hurt by stray bullets, so we could only continue to stay in the tent. That kind of feeling was not good, especially when we didn’t know what kind of people or creatures were fighting with those retired soldiers.

“The doctor and I could only make wild guesses in the tent. Fortunately, the battle did not last long. After about two minutes, I found that the dogs in the tent had quieted down, and the gunshots outside had also stopped. Strangely enough, after that, the snowstorm had also quieted down. As the whistling of the wind had disappeared, I heard the sound of people talking. So Dr. Baker and I walked out of the tent.

“We found out that the people who were talking were the two ex-soldiers who lived in the same tent as us. When they saw us, they shut their mouths and went back to their expressionless faces.

“We tried to talk to them, but they wouldn’t say anything, so we had to find other people. During the snowstorm, we set up six tents. Five of them were intact, but one of the tents was missing

“I was quite surprised at that time, because as a guide, I was definitely responsible for what happened, but the problem was that after the tents were set up, I personally checked them one by one. I felt that they were not reliable, so I set them up again and reinforced them with ice bricks. Logically, this should not have happened.

“The tent that was lost belonged to a biologist. He used to live with the geologist, but because of what happened before, they decided to separate for a day. So he stayed with three ex-soldiers tonight. In addition to the tent, his luggage and some experimental equipment were blown away, and he looked very frightened. His body was shaking all the time, and he kept shouting, saying that we shouldn’t come here.

“That Chinese couple is comforting him. Baker and I also wanted to go over, but we didn’t expect Mr. Tam to find US first. or to be more precise, he came to find Dr. Baker. He was still smiling. He patted Dr. Baker on the shoulder and said, “It’s your turn to work.”Baker was stunned, and then asked, “What happened?”. Mr. Tam said it was no big deal, just that the wind had blown the biologist’s tent away, and that there might have been a few hungry polar bears after that, but our people had fought them off.

So what Dr. Baker was going to do next was to try to calm the biologist down, to get the poor man back to his senses, because he was so scared that he was hallucinating and talking nonsense.

“The doctor and I were a little skeptical. Not only because Mr. Tam said it was too easy, but also because we didn’t see the footprints and bodies of the polar bears around us. But the doctor still started working after that. Mr. Tam saw that I was still standing in the same place and suggested that I make a few cups of hot coffee for everyone to drink. I agreed, but after making the coffee, I found that the expedition team was missing two people.

“The three ex-soldiers who used to live in the same tent with the Doctor are now alone. I asked Mr. Tam where the two of them went. He said they had something to do and went back on the way. But when I asked if I should call a boat to pick them up, Mr. Tam told me that it was not necessary. They have their own boat. However, when I was making coffee, I saw a small group of ex-soldiers burying something. I saw something that looked like a human arm there. I wanted to get closer to take a closer look, but I was chased away by the ex-soldiers.

“I had a bad feeling in my heart, and when the doctor came back two hours later, he looked terrible. I asked him what had happened, and he hesitated for a moment, saying that the biologist had suffered from too much stimulation and had some mental problems, but he had already given the biologist a tranquilizer, which gradually calmed him down. He proposed to Mr. Tam that they stop the expedition and send the biologist back to the city for treatment, but Mr. Tam declined. Then he encouraged the others with his usual optimistic tone, saying that we were close to the ultimate goal and that victory was in sight.

“I was a little impatient. I stared into Baker’s eyes and asked him if he had forgotten our previous agreement. Once one of us discovered something, we would immediately share it with the other person. I was sure that Baker had heard something from the biologist, but now he seemed to be planning to keep the information for himself. This made me very angry. When Baker heard what I said, he could only smile wryly and tell me what he had heard from the biologist.

“He said that it wasn’t a snowstorm at all, but a very strange creature. It was difficult to find the right words and vocabulary to describe that ugly and terrifying thing. It was just like those randomly growing underwater monsters in prehistoric times. It had organs that looked like both animals and plants. Anyone who saw it would have nightmares at night. The biologist swore that it didn’t look like a species on earth, and its appearance didn’t conform to Darwin’s theory of evolution at all. It was just like something that was randomly pieced together by some creator.

“As soon as it opened the tent, it went on a killing spree. It used the tentacle on its head to kill a retired soldier. The biologist was completely shocked and did not move. However, the other two people in the tent reacted very quickly and immediately got up. Moreover, they did not leave their guns when they were resting, as if they had known this would happen.

“One of them pulled out his gun and fired, but the bullet’s damage to that thing seemed to be very limited. It took a few shots to its body, but it didn’t affect its movements at all. Moreover, the two ex-soldiers were also somewhat confused, not knowing where the vital parts of the thing were, and it quickly used its tentacles to snap the neck of the ex-soldier it grabbed.

“Then, it extended its tentacle to another person, but was dodged by the ex-soldier who was already prepared. However, that unlucky fellow did not expect that after reaching its limit, that thing could actually split out another five small tentacles. In the end, it was also caught. It seemed that it was too slow to break the neck, and this time, that thing directly used another tentacle to pierce through the body of the ex-soldier. However, at this time, other people who heard the gunshots also rushed over, and some of them even carried rocket launchers.

“The thing didn’t seem to want to fight, so it reached out its tentacle to the biologist. The biologist thought he was dead for sure, but the tentacle went around him and rolled over his backpack with the new fossils. Then it disappeared in the snowstorm despite the rain of bullets before the encirclement formed.”