Chapter 590 - 392: Frostbite

Chapter 590: Chapter 392: Frostbite

Feng Shan snatched the gloves off the ground and threw them hard at Nash, his eyes wide.

He roared, his face contorted with rage.

"Are you trying to lose your hands? Digging in the snow with your bare hands in this cold... they’ll be frozen solid in no time! Get out of the way, and don’t piss me off!"

After his outburst, Feng Shan’s anger hadn’t cooled. He turned to look at Tyson.

In a situation like this, human hands were no match for a tiger’s claws. When it came to digging efficiency, Tyson and his pack were the best help they could ask for.

So, Feng Shan pointed at the snow pit and said, "Tyson, you and the others start digging. Right here, just go straight down."

AWOO!

Tyson understood Feng Shan’s command. He let out a low growl, signaling the other tigers to come over.

Several tigers quickly gathered, their eyes fixed on the pit. Then they started digging furiously at the snow with their strong, powerful forepaws.

Their sharp claws carved deep grooves into the snow, sending flurries flying.

Feng Shan and Nash stood to the side, watching the tigers anxiously. They prayed silently, hoping they could get Liu Lan out quickly.

Every second of waiting felt like an eternity. They could only hope that Liu Lan was safe down there.

Alaskan snow has a unique temperament. It’s completely different from the snow in southern climes, but quite similar to the snow in the north.

In the south, snow tends to have a high water content, making it wet and sticky.

With just a light squeeze, you can pack it into a firm snowball.

That’s why, in a southern snowball fight, the projectiles fly through the air with real force and can actually sting when they hit you.

The snow in the north, on the other hand, is relatively dry, with a lower water content.

The flakes are more like fine granules, almost like tiny grains of salt.

When you try to pack it together, any snowball you form quickly disintegrates into a light powder.

This is because northern snow crystals grow more slowly, forming a looser structure.

Furthermore, the cold, dry air means there is very little moisture between the flakes, preventing them from sticking together. This keeps the snow perpetually fluffy, and the resulting snowpack is the same.

It was precisely because Alaskan snow had this fluffy quality...

...that Tyson, with his powerful claws, was able to dig a pit over a meter deep in no time at all.

Seeing this, the other tigers joined the digging effort.

With five or six tigers working in unison, their progress was several times faster than before.

Soon, they reached the bottom of the pit.

Just then, an animal hide came into Feng Shan’s view. The stick they had found earlier was poking through a hole in it.

’An animal-hide tent?’

Feng Shan’s heart leaped as a thought flashed through his mind.

’Could Liu Lan be under there?’

He quickly ordered the tigers to back away.

It would be a disaster if one of them accidentally fell in and crushed Liu Lan.

Once the tigers had moved away, Feng Shan and Nash carefully approached the edge of the pit.

He took out his Hunting Knife and gently sliced at the hide, trying to cut an opening.

Once a slit was cut into the hide tent, Nash grabbed the edges of the opening and tore it wider.

As the hide was pulled back, the space within was gradually revealed.

Feng Shan peered through the opening and, in that instant, his gaze met a pair of clear eyes brimming with excitement.

"Khilla."

It was followed by a cry tinged with grievance and sorrow, yet also a hint of joyful surprise.

The voice was faint, but it was like a ray of light, instantly illuminating Feng Shan’s anxious heart.

"It’s Liu Lan!" A smile of relief spread across Feng Shan’s face. He glanced up at Nash, whose face was flushed with the same excitement, and said softly, "Hold the hide taut. I’m going down to get her."

As he spoke, Feng Shan took up his Hunting Knife again and widened the opening.

Then, without hesitation, he slipped through the opening.

"Khilla, I thought... I thought you’d abandoned me!" Liu Lan sobbed, clutching a small teddy bear, and threw herself into Feng Shan’s arms.

Her body trembled, as if in that one moment, she was releasing all her fear, frustration, and anxiety.

Feng Shan quickly unfastened his fur coat, tucked Liu Lan inside against his chest, and held her tight, as if he could squeeze all the fear out of her.

Once Liu Lan was settled, he finally had a moment to survey his surroundings.

It was a crude tent made of animal hide, just over a meter high—barely tall enough for one person to stand.

The ground was covered with thick blankets, and some snow had been piled up along the edges of the tent.

Clearly, the tent had been erected in a hurry.

Liu Lan must have desperately thrown it together in a moment of crisis to shelter from the blizzard.

"Khilla!" Nash’s anxious voice called from above.

"I have Liu Lan! Pull me up!" Feng Shan quickly replied, reaching a hand up through the opening in the hide.

Nash immediately grabbed Feng Shan’s hand and, with all his strength, pulled him out of the tent.

Liu Lan weakly poked her little head out from inside Feng Shan’s fur coat. Her face was flushed red from the cold, but her eyes were full of reliance on Nash.

Looking at Nash’s tense expression, she called out softly.

"Brother!"

Nash, who was never good at expressing his emotions, tried to crack a smile to comfort her.

But the resulting expression was more painful than a grimace, even as his eyes glinted with both heartache and joy.

"Let’s go. We need to get out of here. This snow isn’t stable," Feng Shan said simply, carefully climbing out of the pit while holding Liu Lan.

His footsteps were heavy, and each step on the soft snow made a crunching sound.

The moment they were clear of the pit, they heard a loud CRASH from behind them.