The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 623 A Terrible Night (Part 2) [Bonus Chapter 23 for AT]

At the same time, after the heavy snow began to fall.

It was only seventy or eighty meters away from the campfire where Xiao Cui and the others were.

Uncle Bo took the cigarette butt, which was almost completely burned and still burning his mouth, and used it to light a new Lucky Strike cigarette before continuing to smoke.

With smoke constantly billowing from one nostril, he looked like a human-shaped chimney.

Actually, Uncle Bo's smoking habit isn't that bad; the key reason is that the current situation is quite special.

First, Uncle Bo feels it's too cold now. He grew up in Guangzhou in the south, and after going to Uncle Sam's house, he has almost always stayed in Los Angeles, where the climate is relatively warm.

Such a pure southerner, suddenly thrown into the current environment of minus twenty degrees Celsius, is really hard to bear.

Only by constantly smoking could he feel a tiny, precious warmth on his frozen body.

Besides! With such strong winds, it's quite difficult to even light a cigarette; before, he had to work with several people and struggle for quite a while just to light one.

If he didn't keep smoking one cigarette after another, he would have trouble even lighting one by himself now.

Secondly, while he and Xufeng do have considerable experience in wilderness survival, they have never experienced such an extremely cold environment.

Given the current situation, we can say that we have no practical experience, only some theoretical knowledge.

However, there were as many as thirty or forty of them, so the shelter they built couldn't be too small, and they also had to consider factors such as conserving energy and speed.

For a time, he and Xu Feng felt immense pressure.

But the snow had already started falling, and in no time he could see a white patch on his shoulders. He knew he had to finalize the shelter plan immediately and start construction as soon as possible.

Then, Uncle Bo pointed to a rock about thirty meters away, protruding from the ground, more than two meters high and forty meters long, and told Xu Feng his thoughts:

"Let's build the shelter on the leeward side of the rock."

Find a tree trunk that is long, strong, and thick enough, and place one end on a rock as a main beam.

Next, some small tree trunks were placed diagonally across the main beam as the first layer of wall; then a large number of branches with pine needles were used to cover it as the second layer of wall.

Finally, how about covering it with another layer of snow, as a third layer of wall?

In Uncle Bo's description, the image of a shelter with a triangular structure and one side completely open appeared in Xu Feng's mind.

In a very short time, after analyzing the sturdiness of such a structure, the difficulty and amount of construction work, the speed of construction, and the insulation effect, Xu Feng nodded.

He was well aware that such a shelter still had many shortcomings, but he also knew that under the limited conditions, they were no longer allowed to find a better location or set up a better shelter.

The only thing we can do is to improve this kind of makeshift shelter.

He nodded in agreement, while also offering some of his own suggestions:

"These shelters are set up in pairs, with their open sides facing each other, and the two are at most three meters apart. This allows the heat from a fire burning in the middle to reflect off each other."

Building five sets should be enough; everyone can squeeze in and it will be warmer.

Also, bring back plenty of small twigs with pine needles and spread several layers on the ground to insulate against moisture and cold seeping from the ground.

Upon hearing this, Uncle Bo nodded, thus finalizing the shelter construction plan.

After gathering help from Hu Biao and about ten others, they began to take action...

******
An hour later, looking at the rows of triangular makeshift shacks in front of him, Hu Biao couldn't help but curse, "Damn it! This shelter is finally finished."

His tone conveyed an indescribable complexity and hardship.

Although Uncle Bo and the others around him didn't say anything, their unwavering approval in their eyes spoke volumes.

There was no other way! Before everyone got busy, Hu Biao measured the true depth of the snow, took an M1 Garand rifle, and plunged it into the snow.

Then, a frightening depth of snow accumulation was determined, which should be between 0.8 and 0.9 meters.

At this snow depth, it was much more difficult for them to do anything than usual.

DIY snowshoes can prevent them from sinking into the snow while walking; however, those big lumps hanging on their feet not only make it difficult to move but also require a lot of effort.

Not to mention they also had to carry logs, branches, pine needles, and other materials, moving them back and forth little by little.

In addition, as the heavy snow continued to fall, the temperature continued to drop.

As they worked, Hu Biao and the others quickly developed a layer of ice crystals on their eyebrows and the cotton cloth covering their faces, as if their breath was about to freeze.

Under the strong, cold wind, they were cold all over, but because they kept working, their sweat soaked their underwear.

Should they continue wearing them? This will cause them to lose body heat more easily, leading to thermoregulation and a significantly increased risk of hypothermia.

Take them off? The few clothes they already have will continue to dwindle.

Anyway, when Hu Biao took off his underwear and threw it by the fire to dry, he was left with only a sweater; often when a cold wind blew, the feeling was unbearable.

Fortunately, the shelter designed by Uncle Bo and Xu Feng was simple enough, and after more than a dozen people worked for an hour, it is finally finished.

Then, perhaps because things had taken a turn for the better, a string of good news reached Hu Biao's ears... It started with Xiao Cui, who waved to them from a fire in the middle of a shack and called out from afar, "You damn bastards, your underwear is all dried out."

Upon hearing this, Hu Biao and the others quickly went to the fire.

I plopped down in the shack, on a thick layer of pine needles, and the biting wind and snowflakes that kept falling on me vanished instantly.

This immediately lifted Hu Biao's spirits, making him feel much more comfortable.

After putting on the scorching hot underwear, he used the lid of the pork kidney lunchbox to pour some hot water from the M35 helmet on the fire and held it in his hand.

That feeling, which seemed to warm right to his soul, almost made Hu Biao cry out in comfort.

Under these circumstances, Black Star came over first and reported:

"Damn it, we brought back over fifty dead tree trunks and a whole bunch of branches. That should be enough to keep warm tonight, right?"

"That's enough, that's enough! Hurry up and sit down to warm up." Thinking that a tree trunk could burn for several hours, Hu Biao quickly replied.

Just as he finished speaking, another group of figures appeared in the distance.
As they got closer, they discovered that it was Zanana and her entourage returning from their patrol and hunting trip.

Of the group, apart from Zanana, who seemed to be particularly resistant to the cold and looked fine, the others were covered in snow and ice, looking quite disheveled.

But that's not important. What's important is that Zanana is holding a prey in each of her hands, one on her left and one on her right.

At first glance, it looked a bit like a deer, but it didn't have antlers on its head. It took a while to figure out that it was probably the legendary Siberian roe deer.

These two roe deer are not very big, weighing only about seventeen or eighteen kilograms; but after cleaning them up, they can make a good meat soup for everyone.

More importantly, his leather solved a major problem.

You know what! The seven newlyweds couldn't continue their journey in their slippers and high heels; but if we just processed the roe deer's skin a little, it would be much better for them to wrap their feet in it.

In addition, 803 and Lao K each carried a large package wrapped in camouflage cloth.

When the package was opened in front of the fire, it turned out to be full of dried Ula grass.

803 pulled out a lump of dough, placed it on a wooden stake, and then, holding an M1 Garand rifle, began to violently pound it with the butt of the rifle.

While pounding, he explained that he was breaking down the fibers in the Ula grass to increase its softness.

After pounding it a hundred or so times, 803 handed the much softer clump of Ula grass directly to Hu Biao.

After receiving it, Hu Biao immediately stuffed it into his crotch, which he considered the part that needed the most warmth; although the grass was still a bit prickly on his thighs, it did make him feel warmer.

It seems that if they stuff more of this stuff into their bodies, it can greatly increase their ability to keep warm.

Unfortunately, when Annie and Mina, who were in charge of making contact via radio, came over, they both shook their heads, indicating that they had not been able to reach anyone.

Even so, they now have shelter.

With a warm fire, food to fill their stomachs and replenish their energy, and some means to keep warm, the situation was much better than when they first arrived.

Then, the crucial question arises.

Now Hu Biao and his men can finally get a good night's sleep and set off full of energy tomorrow.
You're overthinking it! After stewing a roe deer with dried vegetables to replenish some energy and energy, everyone except the sentries who took turns keeping watch slept huddled together in a shelter.

Even though the fire nearby was burning brightly, no one slept well during the first half of the night.

Because around midnight, the temperature here drops to at least -40 degrees Celsius.

Despite having three layers of protection, they were still behind a large, windswept rock; the cold wind outside the shack penetrated through every nook and cranny, quickly drawing away their body heat.

The chill from the ground penetrated directly into their bones.

The combined effect of these two factors created a cold that made it impossible for them to fall asleep peacefully; they would often wake up from the cold after only a short while.

I had to get up and move around by the fire to avoid freezing to death.

The other roe deer, which they originally planned to eat for breakfast, was also stewed and eaten in the middle of the night, just to keep their bodies warm.

In the latter half of the night, no one could fall asleep; they got up and moved around even more often, and some even ate emergency food.

This constant torment left them all listless, with a sharp, stabbing pain in their heads, as if pricked by needles.

Even the locals, like those in 803, didn't perform much better, and were even worse; after all, the modern Northeasterners are already used to central heating.

So much so that when there was still an hour until dawn, everyone simply stopped sleeping and sat up quietly, staring at the fire.

Not to mention the newbies, even the veterans were extremely demoralized, and the morale of the transmigrator team had plummeted to its lowest point.

In this situation, Hu Biao threw his cigarette butt into the fire and began to speak leisurely:

"My God! We've become this miserable in just one night, while our predecessors in Northeast KL persevered for 14 years in such an environment."

Fourteen winters... how did they manage to endure them?

(End of this chapter)