"Hey, wait a minute. I was wondering if we could take a picture together?"
Su Wei stopped in surprise and turned to look at the bearded man.
The other person was looking at him expectantly. Su Wei shrugged and put down the cardboard box.
He never expected that someone would want to take a photo with him.
After taking the group photo, Su Wei walked out with a beard-covered man's Blessing.
The snow in the parking lot was pushed to both sides, revealing a paved road surface.
Su Wei walked around to the rear of the Raptor, opened the hard cover of the cargo bed, and placed the cardboard box on the anti-slip mat.
KA-BAR 1217 was drawn from its sheath at the waist.
The knife tip sliced through the sealing tape, and the carton flap popped open.
The top layer is a product card with the Polaris logo printed on it, and the words " Polar Guardian Series - Limited Collaboration" are printed in gold lettering.
Su Wei tossed the product card aside and peeled off the anti-static bubble wrap used for filling.
The two jackets were stacked at the bottom and each was sealed in its own non-woven bag.
The first piece is a black and gray body with durable Cordura fabric panels on the shoulders and chest.
A very thin reflective strip is sewn inside the collar; it's practically invisible unless you look closely.
The zipper is a waterproof double-ended YKK design, and the metal pull tab has a frosted texture.
When you lift the garment, the weight is concentrated at the back, where there is a layer of high-density windproof quilting, but the front and underarms are breathable.
The second piece is dark navy blue, and its silhouette is more elongated than the first.
The fabrics have a different feel, with a slightly waxy coating on the outer layer.
The cuffs are double-secured with Velcro and elastic rib, and a windproof skirt is sewn inside the hem. The elastic cord can be tightened with one hand.
Su Wei flipped open the label on the lining of his navy blue windbreaker.
The fabric parameters are printed in four lines: waterproof rating 20000mm, moisture permeability rating 15000g/m²24h, and tear resistance 40N.
These figures aren't top-tier, but they're sufficient for commercial photography.
Su Wei pinched the edge of the fabric with her thumb and forefinger and pulled it.
It has good resilience, and the warp and weft threads are tightly arranged, indicating it's not a low-quality product that's been artificially inflated with glue.
There was also a flat accessory box at the bottom of the box, which he opened.
Inside were a matching windproof scarf and a pair of touchscreen gloves, with a small silver-gray Polaris logo embroidered on the back of the gloves—very understated.
Su Wei repacked everything back into the cardboard box and closed the rear compartment lid.
He opened the door of the Raptor, got into the driver's seat, and started the engine.
The heater started, and hot air rushed out, hitting the thin frost on the inside of the windshield.
The car drove out of the parking lot and turned left onto the main street in the town center.
The Kodiak Town is recovering slowly after the blizzard.
The snow walls on both sides of the street were still more than half a person high, and the signs of several fishing tackle shops were blown askew by the wind.
A yellow Alaska Electric Company repair van was parked at an intersection, and two workers were replacing a frozen cable.
Su Wei parked the car in a roadside parking space in the middle of the main street.
On the right is an Asian supermarket with a sign that reads "Golden Dragon Supermarket " in red with yellow lettering.
The storefront is small, squeezed between a laundry shop and a fishing net repair shop.
The glass shop windows were covered with discount flyers and notices for community events.
Pushing open the door, the aroma of warmth mixed with the smells of soy sauce and dried goods wafted over me.
The store is long and narrow, with shelves arranged closely together, and the aisle is only wide enough for one person to pass sideways.
A fluorescent light tube was broken, casting a shadow over the left side of the shop.
Su Wei picked up the red plastic basket from the doorway and walked along the shelf inside.
The condiment section occupies an entire wall.
Lee Kum Kee's oyster sauce, Lao Gan Ma chili sauce, and Wangzhihe fermented bean curd—these Chinese characters seem out of place on this small island in the North Pacific Ocean.
Su Wei picked out a bottle of light soy sauce, a bottle of aged vinegar, a bag of dried Sichuan peppercorns, and two packets of Pixian chili bean paste.
He hesitated for a moment, then took a bottle of sesame oil.
The passive feedback for [ Cooking LV3 ] flickered faintly in the background.
The moment his fingertips touched the sesame oil, the recipes for cold salads and spicy dumplings automatically popped into his mind.
Next to the condiment section is a freezer for frozen foods.
Su Wei glanced at the bag and took two bags of frozen dumplings and one bag of glutinous rice balls.
He continued forward, picked up a 10-pound bag of Northeast rice from the grain and oil section, and then took some dried shiitake mushrooms and seaweed from the dry goods shelf.
The plastic crates were quickly filled.
Su Wei switched hands and walked to the fresh food freezer.
The leafy green vegetables in the freezer are scarce and wilted, which is the norm in this polar town.
Fresh vegetables rely entirely on the cargo ferry that operates twice a week; if a blizzard closes the port, the supply chain is disrupted.
Only a few large cabbages and a bunch of wilted chives remained.
Su Wei took the cabbage but didn't touch the chives.
At the cashier was a Chinese woman in her fifties, with her hair tied up in a bun and wearing a blue striped apron.
She scanned the QR codes at a moderate pace, intermittently speaking in Cantonese to the man restocking behind her.
Su Wei pushed the plastic basket onto the conveyor belt.
One hundred and thirty-seven dollars and forty cents.
The woman quoted a price in English with a Cantonese accent.
Su Wei paid by card and packed the items into two brown paper bags.
Stepping out of the supermarket, the cold wind immediately dried the warmth from his face.
Su Wei put the two bags of ingredients into the back seat of the Raptor, sat back in the driver's seat, and closed the door.
The phone lit up briefly on the passenger seat.
He picked it up; it was a message from Matt, an email automatically forwarded by the engineering team's daily report system.
He opened it.
The title is: Polar Strong Shield – Emerald Lake Project Daily Report – DAY 47.
The main text is divided into three sections: progress, problems, and resource consumption.
[Progress: The plan to move the ammunition depot's infrastructure site 8 meters to the right has been implemented. 60% of the reinforcement work for the 20cm thicker load-bearing walls has been completed. The 3-meter buffer zone for the no-machinery zone has been marked with red warning posts.]
[Problem: The frozen soil layer within the buffer zone is harder than expected, with a large amount of gravel and hardened ice beneath the surface. Two workers reported that shovels and ice axes are extremely inefficient, with each worker clearing less than 0.4 cubic meters per day. Worker Pedro verbally complained, believing that manually clearing the frozen soil was treating people like animals.]
[Resource Consumption: Diesel consumption is normal. Supplementary budget for labor is pending approval. It is recommended to introduce a small pneumatic rock breaker to improve efficiency.]
Matt's signature was at the end of the daily newspaper.
Su Wei stared at the line "manual clearing of frozen soil" for a few seconds.
Pedro's complaints are understandable; digging through frozen ground with a shovel in sub-zero temperatures for hours on end will cause blood to seep from under your fingernails.
However, pneumatic rock breakers are still machines, and there is still a risk that vibrations can be transmitted to the underlying granite.
We cannot compromise.
That invaluable vein of gold-bearing quartz is buried directly beneath the buffer zone.
Any mechanical intervention beyond human intervention may create new cracks on the rock surface, thereby exposing the yellow reflective particles inside.
Su Wei typed two lines in the reply box.
"Pneumatic picks will be temporarily suspended. Manual clearing will continue. The daily shifts will be increased from two to three groups to shorten the time per operation. I have approved the additional manpower and budget; send the quote directly."
send.
Lock screen.
He did not start the car immediately.
He reached his right hand into the inside pocket of his windbreaker and pulled out the law firm's confidentiality agreement; the edges of the paper were softened by his body heat.
Three million in deposits, mining rights confirmed, rock samples sent for testing.
These three lines intertwined in my mind, forming an unformed web.
Once the laboratory report is released, the data on gold content will change from a system estimate to a legally valid third-party assessment.
Only then will it be time to calculate the value of this mountain.
Before this, all the excitement and valuations were castles in the air.