At the critical moment, Jiang Fan, relying on his excellent physical fitness, leaped into the air.
This leap helped him escape the hurricane's grasp, and he landed heavily in a snow pit.
Then, with a roar, Jiang Fan forcefully closed the covering.
Instantly, the howling wind outside raged like tidal waves.
Jiang Fan wiped a bead of cold sweat. That was close.
Had he been a moment slower, he would have frozen to death outside.
The wooden board used to seal the cave was made by Jiang Fan, with several layers of wood nailed together, a full twenty centimeters thick.
Yet, under the howling wind and blizzard, it still felt fragile, as if it could break at any moment.
Jiang Fan held up his trekking pole with all his might. He had found it in the skeleton's hiking backpack earlier.
Only by keeping the trekking pole above the piled-up snow layer could the ventilation hole be kept clear.
Otherwise, before suffocating, the people inside the snow cave would freeze to death.
Dai Xiaomei couldn't help but shiver.
"It's so cold!"
"This place is like a refrigerator. How could it not be cold living in a refrigerator? This is just a place to shelter from the wind, not a sauna for warmth," Jiang Fan said impatiently.
Living in a snow cave truly felt like living in a refrigerator.
The characteristic of a refrigerator is insulation. That is to say, when the outside temperature is very high, the inside of the refrigerator is close to zero degrees.
When the outside temperature is very low, the inside of the refrigerator is also close to zero degrees, always maintaining that temperature.
After all, it was a sub-zero temperature, so it was natural for a fragile human body to feel cold.
However, it was definitely warmer than being in a tent. If they were in a tent, it would have been blown away by the wind long ago.
When there was no water, they could even dig out a piece of snow from the wall to heat and drink.
Many tourists specifically looked for times with good winter weather to experience living in snow houses and snow caves.
Jiang Fan asked Zhou Niannian to hold the trekking pole steady, while he, along with Panda and Yao, continued to dig, intending to enlarge the cave.
"Won't this trekking pole break..."
Zhou Niannian felt the trekking pole, exposed outside the cave, shaking violently in the fierce wind, and her heart filled with trepidation.
"Don't worry, trekking poles are very sturdy. They are usually made of titanium alloy, and are very expensive. You might not even be able to break it with a tank shell," Jiang Fan reassured Zhou Niannian, then continued digging into the soil mixed with ice and snow.
"Why are we digging dirt inside the cave? Doesn't the dug-out dirt occupy the same space? Aren't we just doing useless work?" Dai Xiaomei, thinking she was clever, questioned Jiang Fan.
Jiang Fan directly tapped Dai Xiaomei on the forehead.
"You silly goose, dirt is loose. After we dig it out, we compact it, and then we'll have more space."
"Stop pretending to be smart, go stay over there."
The viewers in the live stream were amused, laughing their heads off.
"Dai Xiaomei is just Dai Xiaomei, a silly goose trying to pose as a smart person."
"Exactly, it's better for her to stick to her promising career as a big idiot."
"Every time Dai Xiaomei tries to act smart or cultured, nothing good ever comes of it."
"Last time she was reciting scriptures, she immediately triggered a trap."
"Jiang Shen, please don't let her mess things up, or we'll all be doomed."
Finally, after a second round of digging, the snow cave's space was expanded, just enough to barely accommodate four people sitting down.
Jiang Fan put down his tools, panting.
The four of them and a panda huddled together, sitting in the snow cave, their breath misting out in the cold.
This place was indeed a giant refrigerator. The outside temperature was estimated to be minus twenty or thirty degrees Celsius, and it was still minus several degrees inside the snow cave, which was unbearable.
Jiang Fan and Yao had rich wilderness survival experience and could still manage.
Panda's fur was thick, and with its hibernating instincts, it directly entered a dormant state to conserve energy.
Zhou Niannian and Dai Xiaomei, however, were from the south and had never experienced such extreme cold.
Even in the snow cave, they were shivering.
Zhou Niannian, teeth chattering, held the trekking pole and asked, "The wind and snow outside are very heavy. Will there be any problems?"
She was afraid the snow would get too deep, covering the trekking pole and burying them all alive in the snow cave.
Jiang Fan comforted her.
"It's okay. This kind of blizzard is like a thunderstorm in the south; it comes and goes quickly."
"The trekking pole is over a meter long, about the height of a car."
"I've spent time in the north. To completely bury a car, you'd need a whole day and night of heavy snowfall."
"The blizzard came from the opposite mountain peak less than an hour ago. It will last at most half an hour here, so we won't be buried alive."
Zhou Niannian listened, realizing she was worrying unnecessarily, and fell silent, reassured.
However, she instinctively moved closer to the heat source, hugging Jiang Fan's arm for warmth.
Jiang Fan said nothing. After all, in such a situation, huddling together for warmth was perfectly natural.
Dai Xiaomei, shivering uncontrollably, followed suit, hugging Yao's arm for warmth.
The viewers in the live stream saw this sweet scene and immediately started teasing.
"What's going on? Why did it suddenly get so intimate?"
"What do you mean intimate? Huddling for warmth is natural, isn't it?"
"What do you mean natural? You can hug a panda for warmth, it's nice and cozy."
"Panda is cozy, but also stinky, it hasn't bathed in a long time."
"So now we have two CPs."
"Ah, let go of my sister!"
In the dormitory, Zhou Ye saw Zhou Niannian voluntarily holding Jiang Fan's arm and exploded again.
"Calm down," Lin Yang said calmly while munching on potato chips.
"First, your sister is the one who initiated holding his arm. Second, if she lets go now, she'll freeze to death."
Zhou Ye paused, then seemed to find some logic in his words.
The four people and a panda were curled up in the small snow cave, huddling for warmth.
Outside, the wind and snow continued to rage. One could imagine that a thick layer of snow had already accumulated on the wooden board above their heads.
Zhou Niannian was terrified and dared not sleep. Jiang Fan, beside her, was already asleep.
He slept with a look of utter calm and composure.
Zhou Niannian sighed and hugged Jiang Fan's arm even tighter.
Today, it was again thanks to Jiang Fan's wisdom that they had escaped disaster.
In such a perilous situation, for Jiang Fan to sleep so soundly, was this the legendary demeanor of a great general?
Recalling their journey so far, she had been saved countless times by Jiang Fan's calmness and seriousness.
Without Jiang Fan, she would have long since died in some secret realm.
"We can get out. With you here, we will definitely make it out alive," Zhou Niannian murmured to herself, gazing at Jiang Fan with admiration, her cheeks flushing with shyness.
As she thought, Zhou Niannian also drifted off to sleep.
When she woke up, the blizzard outside seemed to have stopped. The world was silent, utterly devoid of sound.