The sky slowly darkened, approaching twilight, and the temperature dropped further.
As the temperature plummeted, the ferocious blizzard intensified its assault.
From a great distance, everyone could hear the mighty roaring sound of the tornado whirling on the opposite side.
"Damn it, it gets dark here!"
Dai Xiaomei grumbled. The oasis had no distinction between day and night, and Dai Xiaomei had thought this place would be the same.
Unexpectedly, upon reaching the snow mountain, the cycle of sunrise and sunset had returned.
"What do we do! Where do we go now?"
Zhou Niannian cried out in panic.
Jiang Fan sighed; moving forward was impossible.
Moving forward meant traversing the mountain peak opposite, where the hurricane was located, and they would soon be caught in its embrace.
Some said the eye of the storm was the safest place, and as long as they stayed within it, they would be fine. That was utter nonsense.
It was no different from trying to take down a tiger with a slide tackle. Before they could reach the eye, they would have long been swept away by the hurricane to some distant land.
As for going down the mountain, Jiang Fan glanced at the hurricane. It was advancing towards them with lightning speed.
In less than an hour, the hurricane would be upon them.
As the saying goes, climbing up is easy, but climbing down is hard. It had taken them a full three hours to ascend.
To retreat to the foot of the mountain within an hour, the only way was to jump off the cliff. That was the fastest way to reach the bottom.
Of course, reaching the foot of the mountain in that manner would only yield a corpse.
"Can't go forward, can't go back. Are we just going to wait here to die?"
Zhou Niannian's voice was laced with tears.
Jiang Fan's hair was wildly disheveled by the wind, but his thoughts remained clear. After a moment's consideration, he came up with a good idea.
"Don't panic. I think we can only dig a snow cave to shelter from the storm."
Yao's eyes lit up at this, and he gave Jiang Fan a thumbs-up.
The wolf pack had experience digging snow dens to survive extreme cold in the wild.
"Dig a snow cave? Won't we freeze to death hiding inside?"
Dai Xiaomei's eyes widened.
"Idiot, have you been watching adventure shows with your brain elsewhere? Didn't Bear Grylls dig snow caves on the Patagonian Plateau?"
Jiang Fan berated Dai Xiaomei.
Seeing Dai Xiaomei looking wronged, Jiang Fan briefly explained the principle of snow caves to her.
In fact, in extremely cold weather, the temperature inside a snow pile was higher than being exposed to the wind outdoors.
Firstly, a snow cave could block the wind. Secondly, snow itself was a natural insulating material.
The principle was the same as with down jackets. Down jackets have many air pockets, and the air within them is a poor conductor of heat, retaining the body's warmth.
Of course, the temperature inside a snow cave was still below zero, the same as the snow, but the human body could endure this temperature.
"The Inuit even live in snow houses, and they're very warm,"
Zhou Niannian, being a bit smarter, recalled this fact.
"Let's dig quickly! We'll do the digging, and Niannian and Xiaomei can create the ventilation holes."
With that said, Jiang Fan distributed the entrenching tools to Yao and Panda, and he himself used the stone axe.
As Dai Xiaomei and Zhou Niannian lacked strength, Jiang Fan instructed them to create ventilation holes.
Unbeknownst to them, the blizzard grew increasingly fierce. The hastily dug pits were quickly filled in by the falling snow.
Jiang Fan and the others toiled with all their might, knowing that less than an hour remained until the storm hit.
To dig a large snow cave that could accommodate four people in an hour was truly a strenuous task.
They chose the cave where the skeleton had buried the backpack to start digging, as a natural cavity made the task easier.
Fifteen minutes passed, and everyone's hands were frozen red.
The speed of digging slowed down.
In such freezing weather, even moving a step consumed a lot of energy.
Let alone digging, a task requiring brute strength. Yao was already struggling to continue.
He was known for his agility, but this task, which purely tested raw strength, was not the wolf cub's forte.
Jiang Fan and Panda were also panting heavily. They did not sweat, for any perspiration would freeze into frost on their backs before it could even emerge from their pores.
Despite this, their movements were gradually becoming sluggish.
The viewers in the live stream were incredibly tense.
"Come on, Jiang Shen, the storm is about to hit."
"Oh no, Jiang Shen is getting slower."
"No kidding, frozen icy ground is harder than steel."
"Wuwuwu, is there still time? Jiang Shen, don't die."
Jiang Fan's hands and feet were stiff with cold. He vigorously moved them and glanced upwards at the observers.
There were still observers flying in the sky. These two darn creatures had already prepared snow caves for themselves.
At dozens of meters high, they had used their heads to chisel small holes in the rock face, providing shelter when the blizzard arrived.
"Damn it, if these two would help, they could easily open a hole dozens of meters wide."
Complaints aside, Jiang Fan knew that the observers would never help.
"Hah!"
Jiang Fan swung his stone axe again, with the spirit of Yu Gong moving mountains, and ferociously struck the frozen pit.
Zhou Niannian and Dai Xiaomei frantically poked at the snow with their walking sticks, ensuring important ventilation holes were left in the snow cave.
"Roar!"
Panda swung its entrenching tools with both hands, with an unstoppable momentum.
Ice shards and snowflakes flew everywhere. With everyone's combined effort, the snow cave on the ground continued to expand and deepen.
Finally, the snow cave was just large enough to accommodate four people and a panda.
Though a bit cramped, there was no time to dig further.
The hurricane was now only a few hundred meters away. Everyone's hair and clothes were being whipped by the wind, making it difficult to stand.
"Let's pack up the tools and jump in. We can dig more inside. I'll seal it!"
Jiang Fan raised the wooden board for sealing and shouted loudly.
Panda jumped in first. Its body was soft and pliable, providing a good landing spot for the others.
Yao, Zhou Niannian, and Dai Xiaomei then fell in one after another, landing precisely on Panda's soft belly.
It was Jiang Fan's turn. He raised the wooden board, just about to jump in, when suddenly, an incredibly strong suction pulled him towards it!
The tornado had somehow approached very close without them noticing. The immensely powerful hurricane was sucking everything into its vortex.
Jiang Fan instantly felt as if controlled by an invisible pair of hands, unable to move.
In the live stream, the viewers' eyes were wide with terror.
"Jiang Shen, come on, jump down!"
"Hurricane demon, stay away from our Jiang Shen!"
"Jiang Shen, I believe in you, you can do it!"
"Jump! Fly, Jiang Shen!"
"Jiang Shen, victory is yours!"
As if hearing the cheers from the live stream, Jiang Fan suddenly let out a roar. With a powerful push-off from his feet, he broke free from the hurricane's pull and fiercely leaped into the snow cave.