Chapter 9
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Alex Carter knelt beside him, clutching half an uneaten compressed biscuit—the one Raymond had given him earlier. Ethan Frost hugged his father's machete, tears welling in his eyes.
"Chief Frost said he wanted to see cold-resistant wheat growing in our camp," Alex said hoarsely, placing the biscuit on the wooden frame. "Now the Station's running and soil can be cultivated, but he won't see it."
Jack squatted and patted Alex's shoulder: "We'll see it for him. Once we bring back helium-3 from the Arctic, the purification range can expand tenfold. The entire southern region will grow crops."
Marcus was modifying the armored vehicle seized from the shelter. He'd welded three layers of lead sheets to the exterior, installed zeolite filters in the ventilation ports, and mounted a modified radiation detector on the roof.
"Five people max," he knocked on the compartment. "Lily and Ella's brother need to lie down in the back. Radiation in the Polar Vortex is too high—they should move as little as possible."
Ben loaded bullets into his rifle, his arm bandaged with strips torn from Ella's shelter uniform.
"Checked the map—three days to reach the Northern Vein, passing through three abandoned Monitoring Stations. Expect mutated creatures." He handed the bullet box to Jack. "Armor-piercing rounds. They'll penetrate a radiation bear's hide."
Ella fed iodine tablets to Lily. The girl's fever had subsided, but she still lacked strength to speak. She leaned against Ella, clutching a small wire rabbit Raymond had made for her before he died. "What about the camp while we're gone?" Ella looked up and asked Jack.
"Alex can handle it," Jack looked toward the tall, thin teenager directing scavengers reinforcing tents. "And there's Ethan. They'll guard the camp until we return."
The sun had just risen behind the ruins, casting gray light over the camp. Jack lifted Lily and carried her into the armored vehicle, with Ella leading her brother behind them. Ben and Marcus followed.
Alex and Ethan stood at the camp entrance, waving until the armored vehicle's shadow disappeared at the railway's end.
The armored vehicle bumped along the tracks, the cabin quiet except for the steady beep-beep of the radiation detector.
Lily leaned against Jack's chest and slowly fell asleep, breathing softly. Ella's brother pulled Ben's pre-war comic from his backpack and read it quietly to Lily, bringing a touch of warmth to the cold cabin.
After traveling a day and night, the weather grew increasingly bitter, ice forming on the windows. Outside, wind howled like ghostly wails. Marcus suddenly shouted: "Polar Vortex zone ahead—Lead Coats ready!"
Jack quickly pulled out the spare Lead Coat, wrapped it around Lily, and donned one himself. Ella distributed filter cartridges for everyone to cover mouths and noses. The radiation detector reading jumped from 1.5 Sv/hour to 3 Sv/hour—and kept climbing.
"Something's wrong!" Marcus slammed the brakes, bringing the vehicle to an abrupt halt. "The Polar Vortex is spreading earlier than expected—radiation levels exceeding predictions!"
Visibility outside dropped below five meters. Fine radioactive dust carried by wind struck the windows with an ominous shh-shh sound. Suddenly, the roof detector emitted a piercing alarm.
The beep-beep-beep accelerated rapidly as numbers on the screen jumped to 5 Sv/hour.
"Polar Vortex Storm!" Ben grabbed his rifle. "Quick—to the Monitoring Station ahead!"
Marcus floored the accelerator, and the armored vehicle charged through the blizzard. The wheels skidded, nearly crashing into trackside scrap piles several times.
Suddenly came a thump-thump sound from outside—something hitting the vehicle.
"Mutants!" Marcus shouted. "They won't attack unless we touch The Vein!"
Jack peered through the window and saw several tall figures swaying through snow and wind. They had grayish-purple skin and asymmetrical limbs, carrying weapons woven from Decay Vines. But they showed no intention of attacking—only running alongside the vehicle.
"They're helping us!" Ella suddenly called out. "Look—they're leading the way!"
Indeed, the Mutants ran ahead of the armored car, heading toward the vague silhouette of a small building—an abandoned Monitoring Station.
Marcus followed them, finally bringing the vehicle to the Monitoring Station entrance.
The Mutants gathered around, and the tallest one who had led them spoke in a hoarse voice: "The Vein… don't touch… Aurora… bad…"
"Not here for The Vein," Jack pushed open the car door, raising both hands. "Need helium-3 for Purification Station—to save people."
The Mutant stared at Jack for a long moment, then pulled a black paste-like substance from a pocket and handed it to him: "Anti-radiation… Decay Vine… moss…"
Marcus took the paste and sniffed it: "Made from Decay Vine juice and cold-resistant moss. Absorbs radiation—works better than a Lead Coat!"
Jack suddenly understood—no wonder these Mutants survived in the Polar Vortex. "Thank you," he distributed the paste to everyone. "We'll only take helium-3 from storage—won't touch The Vein."
The Mutant nodded, turned and walked behind the Monitoring Station, gesturing for them to follow. Jack carried Lily while Ella held her brother's hand as they followed into the station's basement—where a passage led directly to The Vein's backup storage facility.
The passage was pitch black, with only the Luminescent Moss in the Mutant's hand providing light, revealing scratches on the walls—left by pre-war miners.
After walking about half an hour, a metal door appeared ahead bearing the "Aurora Energy Corporation" logo, rusted almost beyond recognition.
"Storage… inside…" The Mutant pointed at the metal door and stepped back.
Marcus pried open the metal door with a crowbar. Inside lay piles of silver metal canisters labeled "Helium-3," still unopened.
"This is enough!" Marcus shouted excitedly. "These can expand the Station's capacity to 500 square kilometers!"
Jack was about to move the canisters when he heard a rustling sound from the corridor—radiation dust, louder than before.
The Mutant suddenly shouted: "Polar Vortex… coming… quick…"
Marcus hurriedly grabbed two metal canisters, Ben carried two more, and Jack, holding Lily, followed them running out of the corridor.
Just as they exited the Monitoring Station, they saw the snowstorm had intensified. The radiation detector reading jumped to 8 Sv/hour—one step later and they would have been killed by radiation.
The armored vehicle was already running, the Mutant standing at the station entrance, waving. Jack waved back, feeling warmth in his heart—these radiation-distorted people weren't monsters but guardians of hope.
"Aurora Energy Corporation," Marcus suddenly said. "Before the war, they falsified helium-3 Vein data, claiming Countries Z and O were trying to seize it. They provoked the war when they actually wanted to monopolize The Vein themselves."
Jack was stunned—so that was the truth behind the "Great Burning." Politicians and capitalists, for their own profit, had turned the entire world into a wasteland.
The armored vehicle drove back through the snowstorm. The helium-3 canisters in the compartment were heavy yet somehow warm—representing hope for rebuilding the world.
Lily woke up, leaning against Jack's chest, pointing at the snowstorm outside the window, and whispered: "Brother, the snow is so white."
Jack patted her head and smiled: "When we get back, we'll see even whiter snow, and green grass too."
The snowstorm raged on, but in the hearts of everyone in the compartment, a fire burned bright.
They knew that if they could bring back this helium-3 and expand the Purification Station, the wasteland of ten years of gray frost would finally see its first true ray of light.
