Chapter 3603 The End of the World

The overwhelming media coverage and the widespread praise from the public across the internet surprised Helena and the entire Nordic government. No one expected that seizing this opportunity would have such a huge impact.

Online, in addition to praising Helena's decisiveness and courage this time, many people have also reviewed her series of actions since her ascension to the throne. Looking back on her journey, people have found that this young and beautiful empress has taken each step steadily and with great steadiness.

Beautiful, composed, capable, and righteous, Helena possesses almost all the qualities that royalty desires, naturally boosting her prestige.

Ye Chen, the mastermind behind all of this, has quietly landed in Ushuaia, the southernmost port city in Argentina, known as the end of the world.

After Ye Chen and the three beautiful women landed at Ushuaia Airport, the four of them successfully entered the country as Nordic citizens.

The crew of the Nordic research vessel were already waiting outside the airport.

He received information that several meteorologists from Northern Europe were going to temporarily board their ship to Antarctica to install a batch of climate monitoring equipment before returning with the ship.

The reason for saying this is that the Nordic research station is not a year-round station. If someone were to say right away that someone wanted to stay here for the winter, it would be almost tantamount to suicide in the eyes of these researchers. The news would likely spark a discussion among them before Ye Chen even arrived, and Ye Chen would not have time to solve the problem by using psychological suggestion.

Ye Chen's Nordic identity is named Jimmy Lewis. He and three beautiful women had just exited customs when they saw a middle-aged man holding a sign with the words "Jimmy Lewis" on it. So he went up to the man and said, "Hello, I am Jimmy Lewis."

The other party was somewhat surprised to see that the meteorological experts who came were of Asian descent, and that all four of them were Asian. He stammered, "Are you Mr. Louis? Then... then these three must be the other three experts who came with you, right?"

The Nordic countries are not immigrant countries, so Asian tourists are common, but Asian immigrants are much rarer. The meteorological department is not a department where Asians have a strong advantage, like the power sector. So, it was indeed a bit unbelievable for the staff member who was picking them up to have four Asian meteorological experts arrive at once.

Ye Chen smiled and said, "That's right, it's the four of us who need to take the boat. When does our boat depart?"

The man snapped out of his daze and explained, “Mr. Louis, our research vessel is currently waiting in Ushuaia to refuel and replenish supplies. The original departure time was 7:00 AM three days from now, but the Drake Passage has been very rough lately, so we may have to wait here for a couple more days until the waves subside before we can set sail.”

At this point, he quickly added, "By the way, Mr. Louis, you four can come with me to the dock to board the ship later. We have prepared four rooms for you. The research vessel is large and has good facilities. Moreover, we are mainly picking up people this time, so there are not many people on board, so it is relatively quiet and comfortable."

Because the journey to Antarctica involves passing through the Roaring Forties, where the winds and waves are among the worst in the world, Antarctic research vessels from around the world use large-tonnage hulls capable of withstanding even stronger winds and waves. Their displacement is generally over 10,000 tons. These vessels have very ample internal space and can carry not only a large amount of fuel and supplies and scientific research equipment, but also at least a hundred people. Since there were not many people on this trip, the rooms were naturally very spacious.

Ye Chen had originally thought that he might as well find a comfortable hotel in Ushuaia and stay for a few days before going to the port to board the ship before it departed.

But then she thought, although Wu Feiyan's plane had never been to Ushuaia and had always traveled between Buenos Aires and other parts of the world, this place was not far from Buenos Aires and was close to the territory of the Po Qing Society. Whether it was herself, Lin Wan'er, or Yun Rugo and Song Ruyu, they were all people that the Po Qing Society was eager to find, so it was not appropriate to be too conspicuous. Moreover, Asian faces were not common here, and four Asian faces together would be even more eye-catching.

So Ye Chen agreed to the other party's suggestion. After they had all the luggage, the four of them boarded the minibus he had driven and headed straight for Ushuaia Port.

The four of them brought a total of ten suitcases, most of which were prepared by Helena at Lin Wan'er's request. She knew that Ye Chen, Yun Rugo, and Song Ruyu would spend most of their time cultivating, and time would pass in the blink of an eye for the three of them, while she would have to spend several months in the bitter cold of the polar night, so she naturally prepared more luggage.

March in Ushuaia is autumn, with relatively pleasant temperatures. Ye Chen saw many backpackers on the road, each carrying huge and professional backpacks. Most of their outdoor gear was in very bright colors, making the streets quite distinctive.

Ye Chen asked the middle-aged man who was picking him up at the airport curiously, "Are all these backpackers tourists going to Antarctica?"

The middle-aged man smiled and said, "These backpackers are tourists who just came down from Antarctica and the South Shetland Islands before winter. The annual tourist season in Antarctica is from November to March. Only during these four months can commercial expedition cruise ships go to Antarctica. After this season, all commercial expedition cruise ships cannot enter the Drake Passage. It is already late March, which is almost the last window for withdrawal. After these tourists return to Ushuaia, some will fly directly out of Argentina, while others will choose to stay in Argentina for a while before leaving."

Then, he introduced to Ye Chen: "Ushuaia is the most important springboard to Antarctica, and it serves as a transit point for more than 90% of Antarctic tourists. Therefore, the tourism industry here is very developed, accounting for 40% of the local GDP. Half of the city's jobs are used to serve ships and tourists traveling to and from Antarctica. Every year, at least 100,000 people go to Antarctica from here."

As he spoke, he smiled and said, "However, it is not the peak tourist season in this small town right now, because Antarctica is about to enter the polar night of winter. Ordinary tourists will gradually leave Antarctica in the next half month, and many professionals from summer research stations have also begun to leave. We will also have to rush back from Antarctica in early April, so the four of you may only have three days to process the equipment, at most five days."

Ye Chen asked him, "If the ship departs from Ushuaia, how many days will it take to reach our research station?"

The other party thought for a moment and said, "If it goes quickly, it might take two and a half days; if it goes slowly, it might take three and a half days."

Ye Chen then asked, "Are the other research stations around our station summer stations or year-round stations?"

The other party said, "The research station we are going to is close to the Antarctic interior. Within a radius of tens of kilometers, there are almost all European research stations, and they are all summer stations. This is because the closer to the interior of Antarctica, the harsher the environment becomes. Therefore, most of the year-round stations are built on the Antarctic Peninsula and the surrounding islands."

Ye Chen felt a little relieved. Before coming here, he had researched the Antarctic winter climate and knew that the Antarctic climate was very strange. After entering the polar night, the winter here is so cold that even the air movement is greatly restricted. Therefore, during the polar night, the Antarctic continent rarely has wind and snow. It is almost all long, cold, and clear nights. On the contrary, Antarctica is windy and snowy in summer.

Winter nights in Antarctica are the kind of nights with temperatures below -80 degrees Celsius, no wind or snow, a sky full of stars and the aurora borealis, and an extreme tranquility.

In such a cold and clear environment, the visibility would certainly not be too bad. Under the stars and the aurora, the visibility would be at least several kilometers. If there were other countries' permanent stations nearby, it would probably not be so convenient for those people to come and go. If there were only the four of them left within a radius of tens of kilometers, then everything would be much simpler.