area51novel Chapter 654 - 651 Reserve a Spot
Chapter 654 - 651 Reserve a Spot
Rushing a draft
Finished revising before one in the morning
To save space, the stairs on the ship are generally very steep, and the height of the rooms is only about two meters, with piping, cables, and insulation materials laid on top.
Once beds, closets, desks, and chairs are in place, the room is essentially filled.
Bi Fang maneuvered between the seats and the wooden table to sit on the edge of the bed, which was a standard single but even narrower.
There’s a good reason for the cramped bed space. At sea, it’s best to have a bed so narrow that it snugly fits your body.
Experienced sailors often stuff pillows and blankets at the head of the bed in advance so that when a storm hits, they can grasp the edges of the bed with their hands and brace their feet against the wall at the bed’s end to avoid being thrown to the floor.
Outside the room, the ship’s corridors barely meet the minimum international convention standard—0.7 meters.
When two people meet in the corridor, one must turn sideways and press against the wall for the other to pass.
As for entertainment, there’s hardly any public space besides the dining room.
No wonder tickets for such a cruise are so cheap. Experience new stories on .Côm
Bi Fang sighed in his heart. A fishing vessel turned into a cruise ship could only offer these conditions.
If it were before, the crew would have had to spend whole two to three-year fishing periods in such an environment, but converting to a cruise ship made things much simpler and the income a bit more stable.
Most people imagine life at sea as a long vacation: eating sashimi, feeling the ocean breeze, sunbathing, each day like in Hawaii.
The first few aspects are indeed true and are also the biggest selling points of this "cruise ship," which, as a converted fishing vessel, has retained some fishing capabilities.
In the Arctic Ocean, almost free from industrial pollution, you can catch seafood and enjoy the finest sashimi without any condiments—tender, sweet, and rich.
Not long after boarding, Bi Fang witnessed an unprecedented catch—120 pounds of fish.
He had never before tasted such delicious Arctic shrimp sashimi, which melted in the mouth with a sweet and glutinous texture.
But once your three meals a day become just that, continuing for years...
Thinking this way, the captain who decided on the conversion was indeed quite bold; by turning it into a cruise ship, only the good was retained.
Bi Fang took out his backpack and, from the innermost compartment, retrieved two documents, inspecting them back and forth.
What he had taken out were two certifications.
One was a hunting quota allocation for polar bears, and another was a hunting permit for seals.
They were given to him by the scientists at Yellow River Station.
Bi Fang remembered the night before last when the hotel front desk suddenly called him, saying someone was looking for him. At that time, he was curious about who would come to such a remote city to find him.
It turned out to be a compatriot from Yellow River Station.
The purpose of their visit was to bring him the two permits he was now examining.
At face value, it’s very simple: Bi Fang could now hunt polar bears and seals, and it would be through regular, legal means.
Greenland is also a stronghold for polar bears, and it’s very likely that Bi Fang could encounter them. They are animals with a very keen curiosity, especially in the fall when they try to accumulate fat.
Once a conflict arises, the outcome is unpredictable.
The same goes for seals, a single seal could save a life at a critical moment, whether it’s with its warm fur or the fatty seal meat, providing immense heat and assistance.
Never underestimate the determination of humans to protect the polar regions; their resolve is so firm that it’s even shocking.
There’s a regulation in the Antarctic Treaty.
"If you have not obtained ’permission to kill a seal’ before heading to Antarctica, in the event of a disaster where you’re about to starve to death, are you allowed to kill a seal to stave off hunger?"
The answer—unexpected by everyone: "You may not kill a seal to stave off hunger."
Incredible?
Yes, it seems incredible to anyone.
When regulations are this detailed, can anyone still think that the commitment to protecting the Antarctic ecosystem is a joke?
If these contents seem as empty as advice from a distant planet, it might be because your world hasn’t expanded to the ends of the Earth.
Of course, that’s the Antarctic Treaty, while Bi Fang is now heading to the Arctic, and even though an Arctic Treaty is being drafted, currently there are no such strict regulations in place, except for a ban on hunting by ordinary people.
Apart from Canada, only various re
Bi Fang had no doubts that, upon landing on the island, the temperature would drop below minus thirty-five degrees, and at the end of the polar night, it could even hit an extremely low temperature below minus sixty degrees.
After several days of sailing, that morning, the captain sent a sailor to knock on Bi Fang’s door to notify him.
The northernmost point of Greenland had been reached.
Bi Fang stood up and looked out the pitch-black porthole.
Although it was just a regular morning, the sky was still dark, painted with a faint, deep aquamarine ribbon, slowly drifting like a dreamy bubble.
It was the aurora borealis.
Today was a good day for the aurora borealis to appear, and in two more hours it would be dawn, but the silent icebergs of the night had already welcomed the first touch of natural light, turning the whole sky into an indelible aquamarine hue.
"Looks like it’s a good day to land," he said.