The somewhat elderly Captain Sato, under the effect of psychological suggestion, willingly stripped off all his clothes and walked to the deck at the bow of the ship in full view of everyone.
The research vessel was venturing deeper into the strait shrouded in night. The temperature kept dropping lower. Although the captain was frozen purple and stiff all over, he still stood there hunched like a vulgar, borderline statue.
Seeing that he was about to die from hypothermia in the cold wind, Wu Bolin ordered Matsushita Heikichi to carry him back.
By the time the captain was carried back, his body was already rigid. Fortunately, he still had a faint breath. Once the temperature rose, he would not die.
Wu Bolin found him irritating and simply had someone throw him back into the cabin to rest. Then he summoned Matsushita Heikichi and asked, “How many days until we reach the Antarctic continent?”
Matsushita Heikichi replied respectfully, “It will probably take another three and a half days.”
Wu Bolin said coldly, “Find a way to reduce it to three days. I do not have so much time to waste at sea.”
“Yes!” Matsushita Heikichi agreed without hesitation. The research vessel’s original voyage and regulated speed included safety margins. It was possible to increase speed appropriately. Reducing three and a half days to two was basically impossible, but to three days posed no major issue.
Thus, the ship immediately went to full power and advanced at maximum speed toward the Antarctic continent.
At this time on the Antarctic continent, Ye Chen was driving a snowmobile, carrying three people toward a gentle hill south of the Nordic research station.
The splendid Antarctic aurora had already appeared. Ye Chen planned to reach the hill for a closer encounter with the aurora.
Upon arriving at the top of the hill, he swallowed a foundation cultivation pill, intending once again to perform the earliest set of hand seals. He would use the spiritual energy in his body to exchange with the mysterious entity inside him. The remaining five pills were his self-imposed safety line. No matter what, he had to ensure he kept five pills on hand for emergencies.
This time, the Four-Sided Treasure Stupa still transmitted sixteen hand seals to Ye Chen through the aurora. The Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seals now totalled a full eighty.
The eighty Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seals markedly improved the overall efficiency of spiritual energy acquisition once more. After returning to the research station, Ye Chen planned to seclude himself for a while. When he had accumulated enough spiritual energy in his body, he would exchange for the subsequent hand seals.
Once in seclusion, time seemed to cease existing. A few days passed in the snap of a finger.
Three days later, the Japanese research vessel docked at the fringes of the Antarctic continent.
Its docking point was about more than two hundred kilometres from where the Nordic Iliat had previously anchored.
The Japanese research team members were already waiting there. The process was similar to the Iliat’s. They first transported supplies over, then completed the personnel exchange.
This was Wu Bolin’s first time on the Antarctic continent. Seeing the aurora in the sky during the endless long night filled him with great wonder.
After viewing this desolate continent, he grew even more convinced of the story he had heard over a hundred years ago. Perhaps the gate to ascension truly lay in this boundless wasteland.
However, he still underestimated the size of the Antarctic continent. The coastline alone spanned tens of thousands of kilometres, with inland depths of thousands of kilometres. Searching for certain ruins in such a place would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.
For a moment, he did not even know where to begin.
Not knowing where to start, he simply began with what was before him. These Japanese research team members became his ideal lackeys.
Thus, he applied psychological suggestions to everyone. Conveniently, he found one proficient in Chinese among the stationed team, so he kept him and Matsushita Heikichi by his side as his two generals.
Originally, this Japanese research team that arrived with the ship was tasked with replacing the stationed members and returning to Japan on the vessel. These people had been in Antarctica for half a year and were particularly homesick. The return journey would also take over a month, so they were all eager to go home.
But Wu Bolin had no intention of letting them leave. Even those who had worked and lived in Antarctica for one summer and were now preparing to return home for rest, he was unwilling to release a single one.
This was because, to him, these research team members were merely oxen, horses, and slaves.
He had easily controlled everyone. In the time to come, they would all obey him without question, becoming his assistants and labourers in exploring Antarctica.
More valuably, this group knew Antarctica best. With them serving him, his plans could achieve twice the result with half the effort. Losing even one felt like a great loss.
Since he wanted to keep the ship, he might as well keep all the people. He needed more lackeys to follow his commands anyway. This way, in this vast, extremely cold land of Antarctica, he could act as a local emperor.
On the other hand, he could not allow the Japanese research vessel to leave Antarctica. Otherwise, if he needed to depart before winter arrived and could not find a ship capable of breaking ice and crossing the Devil’s West Wind Belt the whole way, it would be awkward.
