It can be seen that Rob was extremely angry when he wrote this sentence. The tip of his pen directly cut through the paper. The three exclamation marks at the end represent his disappointment in his wife.
[She knew that there was something wrong with Solo but she was still willing to marry him? How could she hide such a thing...especially after the birth of Esther???]
[We had a big fight, and she probably thought I would still give in to her and tolerate her like I did when we were kids...but I know I won't.]
[Maren, she makes me feel strange. This kind of sacrifice is abnormal and beyond my tolerance. I can't tolerate her transferring this sacrifice to Esther. At least this child is innocent!]
[It was at this time that she finally told me everything, explaining that Solo had secretly traveled to the Arctic glacier and had come into contact with the legendary Ice Lake Tribe.]
[She begged me to reveal the secret behind the curse. Yes... after all, she is my mother. I gradually calmed down and remembered that the information was also related to the North Pole.]
"Solo Murphy..." Seeing this, Hitzfeld whispered the name.
"It's Solo Lawrence." Xia Yibing said quickly, "Do you remember the file I read before? The one of the few agents who defected in the file left by Villefort."
"I remember." The girl nodded. Xia Yibing had told her about this. The defected agent, Solo Lawrence, enjoyed a special status in the eyes of Batti Villefort. He once called him "very talented" and "there is hope that he can rely on him to realize certain plans."
But all this ended with Solo's defection, which was described by Villefort as inexplicable. Hitzfeld even thought about the logic behind it at the time. She suspected that Solo's sudden and desperate trip to the Arctic was related to his father.
That was the old Lawrence, the traveling merchant who died in Trierred. She had suspected that he was not dead, and that Solo had gone crazy because he had found out some information about him.
After thinking for a while, she stretched out her left index finger and pressed on a time data mentioned on the left page.
1978 years.
It is now 1986, 1979, almost 8 years ago.
Eight years ago, Rob discovered the research materials left by Solo, which was the predecessor of the "Pole Shift Theory". Solo's goal in investigating these things should be to find his missing father. He concealed this from everyone. This man is really thoughtful.
But he is a Shadow Lion agent.
As a Shadow Lion agent, he does not trust the organization behind him and chooses to abandon everything to help himself solve such a big trouble.
why?
Did someone threaten him, or did something happen in the meantime that we don't know about, causing him to lose trust in the security service and in Batti-Villefort, who promoted him?
His choice directly resulted in the Security Bureau not having any relevant information, and we who came to the Arctic this year were not mentally prepared for this. Although this level of curse has no effect on us, what if someone else comes?
The secrets of the Arctic cannot be frozen forever. As long as time passes, the ice will eventually thaw. In the foreseeable future, there will definitely be Shadow Lion agents coming here to investigate. Has Solo ever thought that his actions may indirectly kill countless companions?
Hitzfeld didn't like his choice.
But it's useless to say anything now.
Solo is dead. Villefort had come to look for him but returned in vain. What returned to the civilized world was only Solo's copy - an ice man. It should have returned to Wayne around the Ice Moon. That thing copied all of Solo's memories and still regarded Maren Murphy as his wife. It was during those few short months that Maren became pregnant. She should have discovered Solo's abnormality later because the notes mentioned that Solo's accident happened when he was "not well protected". If the ice man wanted to resist the sun, he must not go out and cover his whole body. This kind of thing could not be hidden from Maren in daily life, so she must know it.
Then, because of Esther's illness... according to the description in the notes, it was getting worse over time. Rob was afraid that Esther would turn into water like Solo one day. At that time, he might have simply thought that it was just a genetic disease. But after Maren's reminder, he happened to remember that the information he had read before was also related to the Arctic.
“……”Is it really just right?
Even though that document seemed unimportant due to Solo's manipulation and escaped the confiscation of the secret police, it was still Solo's relic after all. How could it be so easy for Robo to find it?
Combined with the association... Esther has never heard of her biological father, and common sense says that the person who keeps the deceased husband's belongings is the wife.
"Oh!" The Blood Crystal Crow obviously thought the same thing as her. She had no scruples and immediately started to curse: "Her mother is such a bitch!"
"We don't have enough evidence to prove that Maren Murphy was the one who pushed everything." Hitzfeld frowned, "But she is indeed a major suspect."
Regardless of whether she chose to do this out of selfishness, or whether she had some secret conspiracy, or even to put it bluntly, she was colluding with evildoers, this matter is definitely not over, and she must be investigated by the higher-ups.
But that’s all later.
Hitzfeld continued to read Robb's research.
As he said before, when he discovered the Pole Shift Theory, it was actually a very imperfect but interesting theory. Solo completed the first half of it, and Rob completed the second half. The first half mainly studied ocean currents - that is, the conversation they had with Rob on Line 3, about how the Willis people were able to spread all over the world in an era when tools were not well developed.
Solo believes this has something to do with ocean currents.
There were some scattered parchments in the middle of the notes. Hitzfeld recognized at a glance that they were the materials he had borrowed before, but these papers were not included in the materials at that time. They must have been taken out before they were lent to her.
After careful reading, she gradually understood the relationship between ocean currents and the prosperity of the Willis people.
Let’s assume that Solo studied these things in order to investigate the Arctic, to investigate the mystery of his father’s disappearance rather than death... Anyway, he worked with this motivation, and then he really discovered: ocean currents have changed in history.
This is very inconspicuous. No historian, geographer, or person engaged in related historical and cultural work would study this thing. Only Thoreau, by comparing some biological fossils on the coasts of continents and islands, and by studying the areas covered by ocean currents that should have been active in history, finally confirmed that the ocean currents had been deflected, and that the deflection was extremely drastic.
One of the evidences is that the fossils of a certain kind of marine fish have been found many times on the northernmost coast of Ikarolin. At that time, he did not think that the pole and the equator had swapped positions, but like most people who studied history, he thought it might be a special warm current - such as along the archipelago on the eastern edge of Ikarolin, following that outline all the way north, bypassing the Crystal Sea. This warm current was called the Ito Current in history.
The Ito Warm Current is of great significance to ocean navigation. Through research on the Ito Warm Current, some scholars believe that it was once an important waterway for the Guseran Empire. Guseran could use this waterway to transport goods to the ancient continent of Laceres, and this route would be twice as fast as the one they have discovered today.
When Hitzfeld saw this, he was stunned at first, but then he quickly understood - this is equivalent to saying that if you want to go to North America from the Asian continent, you don't have to go through the Pacific Ocean but go directly around the Arctic. The principle is the same.
Because the world is not what it looks like on a map. It is a ball, and of course you can walk on it. As long as your luck is not too bad, this way of walking will certainly be faster and shorter.
In his study, Solo mentioned that there may not have been a glacial continent in the ancient Arctic.
Although this conclusion seemed absurd to him at the time, the study of ocean currents and marine fossils all pointed to this result: the ancient Arctic was a blue ocean with no obstacles, so the ocean currents in the four directions below all rushed to the Arctic from various gaps. Countless ocean currents had converged at the Arctic. Thoreau called it "a big vortex that gathers ocean currents" and boldly speculated that the reason why the Willis people were able to spread all over the world was because their earliest tribes lived near the Arctic.
It was not a fantasy story about a storm crossing Cambia, but because they lived near the pole, their ships would be affected by the vortex of ocean currents. Every time the Willis tried to go out to sea, their ships would be swept into the vortex of ocean currents and thrown randomly in another unknown direction - they were always in the wind at this time, and with the North Pole as the base point, this wind would directly send them flying quickly to the world below in a "scattered flower" trend.
That's why the Willis people are spread all over the world. They don't have advanced shipbuilding technology, nor do they have floating cities as they imagined at the beginning. They are just a group of natives who got lucky, and the reason behind this is the wonders of the Arctic.
Amazing…
Xia Yibing was also reading this document. Of course, she was amazed. Who wouldn't be amazed? This was not just history, but a natural miracle that had existed in history. Its grandeur and vastness were beyond human comprehension. Just thinking about it, she felt an oppressive sense of her own insignificance, and her breathing became rapid.
Think about it, if this is true, how many years did it take for the Arctic to freeze itself?
If the North Pole was once the equator, what happened in between that caused even the polar magnetic field to deviate? What secrets were hidden in those years that were beyond human control?
[Solo only wrote about this.]
Next is Rob's handwriting.
[The details are irrelevant... Anyway, it looks like normal ocean and geological research. I guess he chose to marry Maren for this. Many of his ideas were actually learned and borrowed from that great professor!]
He was talking about Roger Murphy.
He is a first-class member of the Order of the Oak Leaf, a recipient of the Oak Leaf Medal, and an authority on literary and historical theory.
He is also the father of Maren Murphy.
Not a human being...
Hitzfeld shook his head secretly.
In order to achieve his goal, he would use any means necessary, even love... She just felt sorry for Rob.
Why did Rob have the opportunity to come to the Arctic Glacier this time?
According to Heidi's description, he owed Nian Lun a favor, and Nian Lun was not satisfied with just sending Heidi to protect him, so he wanted to send Robo and others as well.
Because Robbo was also a superhuman, perhaps this was one of the few powers she could assign at the time.
Here comes the problem - Esther's disease does not wait for anyone, Rob doesn't know much about this disease, he knows it is very dangerous for Esther to live in Wayne, but he has no chance - he has no excuse, he must hide his true purpose from everyone because he doesn't want Esther to be taken away and "sliced".
Until this time I came to the Arctic.
Annual Rings gave him a mission, and he came along, but this was not his first time here. Don't forget that the reason he owed a favor was because he was rescued by Annual Rings on the Arctic glacier 7 years ago. He had come here once 7 years ago!
1978 was 8 years ago, and 7 years ago was almost 1979?
It doesn't matter... The time interval is so short, and Maren Murphy is definitely behind it. No matter how much responsibility Robb bears for concealing this matter in the following seven years, at least at that time, Robb definitely didn't have any extra thoughts.
He just wanted to know what happened to Solo after he went to the North Pole, and he just wanted to remove the curse on Esther.
[It doesn't matter. ]
In his notes, Robo's handwriting became increasingly sloppy.
[I have seen some things clearly... but at least Esther shouldn't have to endure this. I swear I will do my best to give her an explanation. I will walk the path that Solo has not completed. Yes! I will reveal the secret of the 'God-given Road'!]
[…I have completed Solo’s analysis of ocean currents and compiled it into an article called “The Pole Vortex”. I had intended to publish it before I left, but time was tight, so I could only try to get the news out in this way, including my subsequent research.]
[What kind of research? The Pole Vortex does explain why the Willis are spread all over the world, but this alone cannot explain the many anomalies in the Arctic.]
[Those fossils...even if they were brought by ocean currents, they can explain this theory and provide evidence for us, but they can't explain why even tropical plants are frozen in the Arctic?]
Seeing this, their eyelids jumped.
They looked up at the corner of the tent at the same time and saw Heidi still whispering to Esther, and they finally felt relieved.
really……
This is not something that can be explained by ocean currents...
But Robo's next message made people feel even more nervous.
[I saw the northern lights.]
[Beautiful light...green...purple...]
[Dazzling ice lake... you have frozen everything, including time. You have sealed the evidence at the bottom of the lake for future generations to explore. I want to unveil your veil and understand the source of this curse!]
[I gradually saw... I saw a force spreading from here to the whole world.]
[I saw the magnetic field deflecting, I saw life being shredded, I saw the laws of nature being tampered with and reversed in the face of this great power... All the rules were rewritten, and the only way to escape everything was to escape into the cracks of time...]
[Why...why is this such a despairing truth?]
[Will I die here?]
[It doesn’t matter anymore…]
[I want to see more...more...]
[Esther, please go first...]
[This is not the place for you...]
Chapter 40: Advance Team (Two in One)
At the same time, on a snowy road that was closer to the Depp-Valtina Ice Lake, also along a spine line and deliberately bypassing the Black Forest and keeping parallel to it, four figures were struggling to move forward.
The wind and snow were so strong... People couldn't even open their eyes. When it was the worst, they couldn't even see the range of the lantern light. The four of them had to huddle together and kneel down to lower their center of gravity, otherwise they would be in danger of being blown away.
After walking a little further, the taller figure patted the other three people on the shoulder and drew symbols on their backs, reminding them to find a place to rest.
It was impossible to rest on the ice field, so they turned left and gradually approached the Black Forest. They found a place with lush trees near the exit of the forest, took off their backpacks, started camping, and built a medium-sized tent.
“Oh!” As soon as the tent was set up, one of them threw himself into it, and shouted in the space that was finally free of ice and snow: “Finally… When can we get out?”
"Grande, come out first." Another young voice sounded outside, "Nette seems to be sick, let her go in and lie down to rest, we will go out to collect some firewood."
"You only know how to be a nice guy." Grande grumbled in dissatisfaction, but he quickly struggled to get up from the blanket, "Yes, yes... you are the one who is always the nice guy, damn it, I finally understand why you are so popular even though you always have a bad face..."
"Because at every critical moment, everyone can find that Vera is quite reliable." Along with this voice, a girl about 15 years old bent over and came in, giving Grande an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry Grande... I really don't have much strength... otherwise I know that this shift will be mine and Vera's..."
"It's okay, it's okay!" Grande interrupted her immediately, "It's just right, isn't it? I'll show you all! I'm still the man you can rely on at critical moments! When you get back, you have to tell the others about my behavior!"
"Haha!" Laughter came from the tent. It was not that the young people were really heartless and did not take the danger in front of them seriously, but that they were already overly nervous and they had to rely on their remaining sense of humor to relieve their depressed emotions.
Only Vera didn't laugh.
This tent has a protruding corridor, about one meter long, similar to the ice houses built by the ancient people of Binghu. He stood in the corridor to temporarily avoid the wind and snow, sometimes looking at the classmates who were talking in the tent, sometimes looking at the wind and snow outside, and looking at the man waiting in the wind and snow.
Rob...Grande and Nette both trusted Professor Rob very much, but at the last moment I saw that the professor took the initiative to collapse the ice cave...
He couldn't help but recall the scene he saw more than a day ago: countless ferocious white bears were rushing towards this side, the hunters were shouting, shooting and retreating, the people in the front were held down by the white bears and ripped open, the others saw this scene within the range of light and completely lost the courage to fight. In addition, the team leader Xintala was also shouting at them to retreat, and many inexperienced students - including them - were almost scared into an unorganized flee.
Esther had this tendency. She completely ignored the professor's initial order for them to "stay with Sintara no matter what happens." When the situation got out of control, she identified Robbo and even went in the opposite direction of the fleeing crowd to find him.
Then how could I turn a blind eye to it?
Similarly, I went there myself, so as Grande's best friend, how could he remain indifferent?
Together with Esther's good friend Nette, they finally caught up... They eventually got separated from the main group, and when Rob and they realized this, the two sides had already been cut off by the polar bears, and there was no way for them to meet up.
Then Vera saw that scene - Rob first bumped into Esther, picked up a backpack from the side and threw it at her, then he jumped to a certain position and stomped his feet hard. It can be said that he got what he wanted... and also sent down several white bears and the others who were rushing over.
There were no accidents in killing those polar bears.
For the first time, they truly learned about the professor's abilities. He was actually a superhuman! He could summon terrible flames from the dream world! The polar bear's fur was undoubtedly a defense against extreme cold, but it was its biggest flaw in the face of high-temperature flames. Robo killed them one after another, stripped their fur, and killed them for meat.
The fur and meat helped them survive the day. Although part of the white bear skin was burnt, the area after cutting was still considerable. They pieced it together to make a simple fur cloak. The roasted bear meat tasted delicious in the ice cave world.
But why would he lie?
This was the source of Vera's gloom. He didn't understand. Robb had deliberately collapsed the ice cave, causing himself and the white bear to fall down... Even if he said that, they, the students, would definitely not blame him because it could be explained as "to save Esther."
But why did he lie? Why did he have to say that they were unlucky, that the ice collapsed because of the polar bears that gathered?
Moreover, he clearly possessed such a powerful force but he had been hiding it.
