On the day they arrived in the Arctic, Leader Wu arranged for Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi to stay at the China Arctic Yellow River Station in the Arctic village of Ny-Ålesund. The other researchers aboard their ship transferred to the small boats sent to meet them, heading to the more distant Great Wall Station and Zhongshan Station to carry out their assignments.
The station's red building stood out against the polar region's perpetual twilight and snowfields. Leader Wu arranged a double room for them, its window facing snow-covered mountains and a fjord.
Once they had settled in, Leader Wu showed them around the station. When he explained that the station housed the largest space physics observation site in global polar research and pointed out the precision antennas and detection equipment, Ji Ting's eyes visibly lit up. He followed up with many questions about the things that interested him.
Although they were officially traveling as members of a research expedition, the two of them had come to the Arctic for their honeymoon. Leader Wu knew they would not stay at the station for long, so after dinner, he specifically sought Ji Ting out for a private conversation.
In the meeting room, Leader Wu spread out a detailed map of the Ny-Ålesund area and circled several strictly off-limits zones with a pen.
"First, the hunting grounds to the west," he emphasized. "Armed hunters are often active there. The danger of stray bullets is extremely high, and they're very sensitive to intruders. Whatever you do, don't go near it out of curiosity."
The second and third circles marked the glacier front and an area riddled with crevasses to the east, and the abandoned early mining tunnels to the north.
After making sure Ji Ting had memorized these restricted areas, Leader Wu took