With Gou Dan and Gou Sheng leading the way, Yang Lin quickly entered an area of towering ice ridges from the vicinity of the North Pole.
From the complex terrain of this area, Yang Lin could imagine how fierce the ocean tides would be in the summer.
This was because it could only be the immense sea waves, hundreds of meters high, instantly frozen by the extreme cold, that could form such a spectacular ice ridge landscape.
And amidst this vast ice ridge terrain, a canyon, flanked by two ice peaks, first came into Yang Lin's sight.
Due to the depth of the canyon, even sunlight could not penetrate it.
As soon as he walked in, Yang Lin felt the temperature drop by more than ten degrees, and the howling wind felt like knives scraping against his face.
But even so, he still chose to press on.
Because just moments ago, Gou Dan, with its keen sense of smell, had told him that it had detected his father's scent here.
This meant that his father had also entered this canyon not long ago.
After Yang Lin and the Inuit people had struggled forward for a hundred meters in the canyon, he suddenly felt a sense of openness.
The scene before him was no longer the undulating ice ridges, nor the ice hills repeatedly torn and kneaded by the waves, but an absolute plain.
Or perhaps it should be called a mirror.
From Yang Lin's perspective, the entire ice surface was without a single wrinkle, incredibly smooth, and any occasional snowflakes were instantly blown away by the strong wind.
The azure ice surface appeared so pure, and not even a single bubble could be seen in the frozen seawater.
When the azure sky was reflected on the ice surface, he momentarily could not distinguish between the ice surface and the sky in front of him.
The words "Mirror of the Sky" involuntarily popped into Yang Lin's mind.
After being captivated, he quickly took out his phone and camera and took a photo with each.
It would be a true pity not to record such beautiful scenery.
After taking the photos, he began to survey his surroundings in this special area.
The environment here was so unique; he would never believe that there were no special influencing factors.
After some investigation, he finally focused his attention on the ice surface beneath his feet.
Under normal natural conditions, it was difficult to freeze completely transparent ice.
This was because water always contained various impurities, and during the process of freezing into ice, these impurities would obstruct the movement of photons, thus giving the ice color.
Unless the water source was constantly flowing.
But the smooth mirror-like surface before him clearly did not fit this description.
Eliminating this possibility left only one other: using a water pump to extract water from the bottom of the container (ice usually floats on water due to its lower density) and circulating it elsewhere.
This way, the impurities expelled by the newly formed ice would not accumulate, and the temperature of the flowing water would remain consistent, allowing ice to gradually form on the top. With impurities not trapped in the middle, the ice would be transparent.
However, this was the Arctic Ocean, and what kind of water pump would be needed to move the water here?
Thinking of this, Yang Lin immediately looked into the distance.
Five minutes later, a DJI drone, brought from the research station, was unloaded from his sled.
This drone, worth tens of thousands, was something he would not have bought himself if not for this trip to the Arctic.
He turned on the machine and connected the drone's camera to his phone. Soon, the drone slowly took off under Yang Lin's control.
As the drone ascended higher and higher, the entire mirror ice field area soon appeared on his phone screen in a wide-angle view.
Looking at the very regular circular area before him, some of Yang Lin's previous speculations were gradually confirmed.
As he was lost in thought, a very conspicuous ice hole appeared a few hundred meters away from him.
By estimation, this ice hole was the center of this special mirror plain.
However, from Yang Lin's perspective, this ice hole looked more like the center of a vortex.
It was precisely because of its existence that the seawater in this area was churned up, leading to its current state.
"Found it!"
A hint of excitement appeared on his face, and Yang Lin immediately controlled the drone to return.
After retrieving the drone, he immediately led Gou Dan, Gou Sheng, and a group of animals towards the newly discovered ice hole.
As for the Inuit people, he arranged for them to stay put.
Ten minutes later, as Yang Lin cautiously approached the ice hole with the animals, the dark, bottomless ice hole instantly gave him a chilling feeling.
With just one glance, he could roughly determine the cause of the ice hole's formation.
Brinicles, a natural phenomenon unique to the polar regions of Earth.
When the temperature at the poles drops to tens of degrees Celsius below zero, the salt in the seawater is precipitated, freezing and extending downwards towards the seabed in columnar form.
Wherever the icicles reach, marine life is frozen to death. This natural phenomenon is called a brineicle.
More precisely, due to the simultaneous occurrence of an underwater vortex, the ice column that condensed became a hollow icicle reaching the seabed.
The probability of these two miraculous natural phenomena occurring together is less than one in a million.
"They wouldn't have gone down here, would they?" As he watched, Yang Lin had a bad premonition.
As soon as this premonition arose, Gou Dan and Gou Sheng, who were beside the ice hole, began to bark ferociously.
Their barking confirmed Yang Lin's guess.
"How dare they?" Sighing helplessly, he began to prepare for a descent into the ice hole.
He had no choice, as his parents were inside.
Moreover, he had a feeling that there might be other secrets hidden beneath this ice hole.
After so many explorations, this was the first time Yang Lin felt so uncertain.
For this reason, he brought everything that might be useful below.
Light source, power source, emergency food, medicine, oxygen, and even a detonator given to him by a staff member at the research station.
After packing all the supplies, Yang Lin turned his gaze to the animals beside him.
Specifically, to the Arctic fox that had awakened the good luck talent.
"I'll only bring you this time. I hope you can bring me good luck."
After saying this, Yang Lin used a backpack buckle to tie the little fellow to his front.
"Okay, I think I have everything I need now."
"Prepare to depart!"
After giving himself a pep talk, Yang Lin stepped towards the edge of the ice hole.
Taking a deep breath, he also turned on the action camera mounted on his head.
The next second, he closed his eyes and then gently stepped forward.
The moment his foot missed solid ground, his back pressed against an icy surface, and then he felt like he was sliding down a slide.
With a scream, Yang Lin's figure disappeared into the mirror-like plain.