A few days later.
A snowmobile stopped on a high slope. Looking down from the high slope, there was a base not far below.
The base looks very dilapidated, with incomplete walls. Scaffolding is being erected in many places, and workers are going up and down for repairs.
The walls are mottled in color and many places are dark, as if they have been affected by war.
Inside the base, most of them are two-story buildings with dark colors. They seem to have no planning. The layout of the buildings can be described as 'messy'.
The sky above the building is densely covered with cables, tangled here and there. In some places, the cables are like a mess, and there are many privately connected wires that make it seem like a dark cloud is hanging over the base.
"Can I find what I'm looking for in this place?"
On the motorcycle, Song Qiutang pulled up his sunglasses and looked at the base below with some suspicion.
Luo Yan in front said in his mask: "I don't know, but this 'Blizzard Base' is the closest base to us."
"Unless you want to return to the chrysanthemum picking base, you can only try your luck here."
In the past few days, they were heading west along the Wu River, and Song Qiutang used 'Chaoyin' to search for traces of strange fish.
Unfortunately, there was no harvest.
Yesterday we found the end of the Wu River. When we got there, the Wu River flowed into the Song River.
The surface of the Songjiang River has frozen, but the water is still turbulent under the ice. This river almost traverses the entire Fenshui area.
The river flows through a vast area, so searching for stingrays in Songjiang is only a little better than finding a needle in a haystack.
Luo Yan decisively changed his strategy.
He took Song Qiutang straight to the nearest base, hoping to find suitable parts and tools to modify the 'Chaoyin' so that it could emit sound waves that attract the underworld fish.
The motorcycle started and slid down the snow slope to the Blizzard base below.
After paying the head tax, the two entered the base, parked their vehicles, and went deep into the base.
As soon as he entered the base, Song Qiutang frowned.
It's not her fault, even Luo Yan can't stand the smell floating in the air inside the base.
These smells are emitted by the garbage that can be seen everywhere on the road, clogged gutters and numerous filthy places.
It's winter now and there's ice and snow, so the odor is still within an acceptable range.
Luo Yan couldn't imagine that if it were in other seasons, would this base be surrounded by flies?
He has been to many places and seen many base camps, but the health conditions of no base are as bad as this one.
If he hadn't seen the mechas parked in the base on the high slope, Luo Yan would have doubted which refugee camp he had fallen into.
It is daytime now, and there are many people coming in and out of the base. In the crooked streets and alleys covered with snow and slush, there are people in strange clothes appearing all the time.
They may be wearing masks, or they may be slovenly, or they may be carrying guns or dangling swords.
Without exception, these people's eyes were malicious, and they were constantly looking around like scavengers.
It seems that as long as you give them a chance, they will pounce at any time.
This made Song Qiutang very insecure, so he unconsciously approached Luo Yan.
Luo Yan did not feel uneasy because of the looks of these people. Having bad intentions was one thing, but whether he could take advantage of him was another.
What surprised Luo Yan was the disorder and chaos of the base. From the moment he entered the base, except for a group of people at the gate who looked like they should be from the base.
So far, he has not seen anyone from the base.
Even though there were three or five big men fighting each other with weapons on the road, even though there were pickpockets stealing valuables from the crowd, and even though various disciplinary violations occurred in broad daylight, the law enforcement officers from the base were not seen.
When Luo Yan and Luo Yan passed by an alley, several people who looked like surface adventurers were beating up a big man.
They kept kicking and beating the big man, and some of them picked up sticks and beat them, and soon there were dots of blood on the snow.
Luo Yan just looked over there, and there were people staring at Luo Yan with hateful eyes, as if they wanted to pull Luo Yan over and beat him together.
One of them even raised his head, tilted his chin, and his eyes were extremely contemptuous and provocative.
Luo Yan glanced at these mad dogs indifferently, did not care about them, and led Song Qiutang around the corner.
The buildings at this base lack planning and are messy.
There is still a street ahead, but when it turns a corner, the street turns into an alley.
The random construction of small black buildings determines that this alley has no connection with words such as smooth and straight. The width and direction of the alley depend on the location of the buildings on both sides.
Not long after Luo Yan walked in, there were footsteps behind them, and then someone shouted.
"The ones in front, yes, are the two of you."
"stop."
"This is the territory of our 'Iron Wolf Society'. If you want to pass by here, you must either pay taxes or spend money."
Luo Yan turned around and saw that it was the group of men who had beaten the big man just now. The speaker was wearing a red scarf. He was smoking a cigarette and looked at Luo Yan with disdain.
Luo Yan said solemnly: "We have already paid taxes when entering the base."
The red scarf smiled: "That's for the base, not us."
"You've already come in, so you can only pay another poll tax."
"Or, go to the bar we operate to spend money."
He pointed to an inconspicuous bar not far from the alley ahead.
Luo Yan said calmly: "No base is like this. I want to complain to the base management."
Red Scarf burst out laughing: "Boy, this is your first time at Blizzard Base, and you actually want to complain to the management."
"I'm telling you, the base management will not come here."
"Even if you scream until your throat is broken, no one will come to save you."
Luo Yan said "Oh", already having some concerns in his heart.
The red scarf continued: "Originally, if you were wiser, you could just take out the money and be done with it."
"But I've changed my mind now."
"You two hand over everything you have and work for our 'Iron Wolf Society' for another three years. Then we will consider whether to let you join or let you go."
Luo Yan immediately took off his backpack and handed the red scarf: "Here."
"You're on the right track."
The red scarf winked at the bald man next to him, and the man came over. Instead of picking up his backpack, he smiled and reached out to take off Luo Yan's mask.
"Mysterious, what kind of mask are you wearing..."
Since the bald head was facing away from the red scarf, the red scarf only saw his hand reaching out, and suddenly screamed, not knowing what happened.
The next second, his subordinate flew back and fell to his feet. Only then did the red scarf see that the bald hand was twisted and the bones were poked out. It was terrible.
At this time, he saw Luo Yan shaking his backpack and said, "Here it is for you, why don't you come and get it?"
The red scarf's expression suddenly became ferocious: "If you dare to trick me, kill them!"
