Chapter 18: 18

Chapter 18: The Weight of Life

 

 

The staff at the station did not know what use there was in capturing these animals, but Zhao Huasheng was very clear in his mind. 

This was to prepare for City of Life. If the level of solar radiation continued to drop and reached a point that was unbearable for humans, the City of Life would be activated. These animal specimens would accompany the two million lucky humans into the City of Life, where they would have a chance to survive in this freezing doomsday.

People dressed in thick winter clothes climbed onto the rumbling snow vehicles, and after all the ropes, nets, cages, and tranquilizers were ready, the convoy set off.

Due to the cold weather and the extension of the Arctic ice sheet, big guys like polar bears are heading south, only where the ice is thin can they get food. So we have to go south to catch them." A Changshan Station staff member explained to Zhao Huasheng. Zhao Huasheng nodded and said nothing.

The snowmobile was not very fast. Sitting in the car, Zhao Huasheng looked through the window and saw the desolate Arctic scenery.

Cold, silent, and desolate—this is the true portrayal of the Arctic. Zhao Huasheng felt that the icy cold of the Arctic seemed to be eroding his mind, making him restless, and the heart and soul that had been running at high speed gradually cooled down. This made Zhao Huasheng feel at ease from the inside out.

"Perhaps, travel really has some use." Zhao Huasheng thought silently.

The staff of the Changshan Station first checked some traps set up yesterday. Most of these traps had yields. The Arctic was too desolate, so the temptation of food was irresistible to animals. And because of the ban on hunting and fishing in the Arctic imposed by humans, the animals here had little fear of traps or humans. It was easy to capture prey with traps.

Four Arctic foxes, two deer, and three wolves had already been injected with anesthetic and thrown into the carriages before the polar bear was found. They would be temporarily penned up and then transported by plane to the City of Life.

In comparison, the polar bear was the hardest to deal with. They were too big and too fierce. Zhao Huasheng estimated that only Meng Zhuo could confront a polar bear, and relying only on these staff members, it is feared that four or five of them together would not be a match for the polar bear.

It's okay, though. The human technological system reveals an irresistible power at moments like this. With an anesthetic gun, even the physically weakest Li Wei can dispatch a polar bear.Therefore, this hunting expedition is more like a leisurely outing than a mission. 

The convoy stopped, and a polar biologist got off, searching the ground for a while with a confident tone: "Look around, there must be a group of polar bears around here. One big and three small; the big one is the head female bear."

"No need to be that troublesome." Meng zhuo jumped out of the car, pulling a deer weighing more than a hundred jin off the back of the car with one hand while a sharp black dagger appeared from somewhere in the other, stabbing it into the neck of the tame deer.The unconscious deer only made a vague sound before dying from excessive blood loss.

"Polar bears have a keen sense of smell and it's too cold now for them to get food, so they won't let go of these prey," Meng zhuo said calmly, dragging the deer corpse to a hill of ice about two hundred meters away from the convoy, and throwing the dead deer there.

Everyone was shocked by Meng zhuo's actions. The Arctic wildlife expert stared incredulously at Meng zhuo until he walked back from the glacier and shouted loudly, "Who gave you the authorization to kill an Arctic animal? Did you read the Arctic regulations before you came to the Arctic? I'm going to accuse you of poaching Arctic animals! You despicable scoundrel!"

Zhao Huasheng and Li Wei jumped out of the car at this time. Meng zhuo's coldness and treating life as grass made Zhao Huasheng feel uncomfortable, and even Li Wei felt a bit unwilling to watch this scene. But Zhao Huasheng and Li Wei knew more, so they also knew that Meng zhuo's behavior was actually not wrong.

It is enough to preserve the genes of a species with only a few individuals; too many of them would be a waste. Maintaining them requires extra resources, and if those resources were saved, a human being would likely gain hope for survival.

Meng zhuo glanced at the biologist and then turned away, wiping the blood off the sharp dagger with his gloved left hand. The biologist yelled for a while and then fell silent.

The group waited in silence for a moment, and in the distance, the sound of ice and snow being trampled was heard. Meng Zhuo waved his hand, and the workers followed him. The biologist said, "You, the executioner, go to the back; we will take care of the bear; you don't need to intervene."

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Meng Zhuo walked to the back of the group calmly, following behind at a leisurely pace. Li Wei grabbed Zhao Huasheng's hand and said, "Let's go, let's go take a look."

The hiking and hunting activity in this distant and desolate Arctic seemed to drive away all the gloom in Li Wei's heart, allowing the already youthful girl to regain her lively nature. A long-lost smile reappeared on her face, She jumped and hopped; even though she was wearing thick cold-weather clothing, she looked like a jumping elf.

The staff hid behind an ice mound and aimed the tranquilizer gun at the biggest polar bear, then pulled the trigger. The mother bear roared, trying to stand up, but the rapid loss of strength prevented it from doing so, and it eventually fell heavily to the ground and fell into a deep sleep. The three cubs that followed it panicked as well, abandoning the food in their mouths and wailing around the body of the fallen mother.

"The cubs are temporarily harmless, so no more tranquilizer guns. With the mother here, they won't run away." The biologist called out, "The tranquilizer gun may cause damage to their nervous system."

Several members of the staff nodded and took the net to go over. Behind them, someone drove a crane over.

Li Wei was very excited, pulling Zhao Huasheng's hand and walking forward until they were less than ten meters away from the mother bear. The three cubs were already caught by the net, struggling desperately. Li Wei even went forward to touch the cubs' heads and comfort them softly: "Be good; don't make a fuss. We are here to save you."

A motherly glow radiated from Li Wei, making Zhao Huasheng's heart ripple slightly. Zhao Huasheng turned his head and looked at Li Wei blankly. At this moment, Zhao Huasheng found Li Wei very beautiful, more beautiful than ever before.

But the mother bear lying on the ground had opened her eyes unknowingly. When she found Li Wei touching the cubs, she suddenly stood up with unknown strength, roared, and quickly rushed towards Li Wei.

The mother bear was less than ten meters away from Li Wei and Zhao Huasheng. The speed of the polar bear running at full force was even faster than that of the world champion in sprinting.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye and too quickly for anyone to react. Just as the biologist shouted "tranquilizer gun", and another worker grabbed the tranquilizer gun in a hurry and was about to aim it, Zhao Huasheng quickly grabbed Li Wei and used his back to face the mother bear, protecting Li Wei in his arms.

It all happened too quickly. All Zhao Huasheng had time to do was protect Li Wei, and all Li Wei had time to do was let out a scream. Before her scream had faded away, a crisp gunshot was heard. Zhao Huasheng tightly held Li Wei, awaiting the expected death and pain, but they never came. Zhao Huasheng released Li Wei, and when he turned around, he saw that the mother bear had fallen to the ground with a bloody hole in its head. Behind them, Meng Zhuo stood calmly without any change in his expression.

Evidently, in the critical moment, Meng Zhuo drew his gun and shot dead the mother bear, then put the gun away. No one saw how Meng Zhuo drew and shot, or how he put the gun away afterwards.

Everyone fell into silence, only the three baby bears cried out even more mournfully after they noticed their mother's death. 

The biologist started trembling, pointing at Meng zhuo, and tremblingly said: "Y-you, you shot dead a polar bear...... why didn't you use a tranquilizer gun......"

Meng zhuo gave him a faint look and said, "The lives of these two people are more important than the life of one polar bear."

Meng Zhuo walked past the biologist, up to the mother bear's corpse, and said calmly, "Sorry, the hope of humanity and the earth cannot be destroyed in your hands." After saying this, Meng Zhuo snapped his fingers and said, "Let's go; three cubs are enough."

Meng zhuo had become the leader of the group in an invisible way. After Meng Zhuo issued the order, everyone got on their own vehicles and set off on the way back.

"Thank you, Zhao Huasheng," In the carriage, Li Wei's expression changed and she whispered a thank you to Zhao Huasheng. Zhao Huasheng's eyes were very distant, as if he had heard but also as if he hadn't. 

"We killed a mother, a mother who attacked the intruder to protect her cubs," Zhao Huasheng said sadly, "but this is the end of the world; the end of the world is so cruel."

 

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