The people dressed like Eskimos were very friendly to Ning Beichen, offering him their food because he had helped them hunt the giant fish.
However, Ning Beichen found the thick grease from some animal or fish extremely difficult to swallow. He understood, though, that such fatty foods were valuable in the cold environment, providing ample heat. Even though he didn't need it, he ate a small piece to blend in with these people who resembled Eskimos.
Soon, they enthusiastically led Ning Beichen back to their dwelling. When Ning Beichen saw their primitive settlement, he was speechless. There was no satellite phone, not even a single slightly advanced item. Everything was so primitive.
With a language barrier, no phone, no way to contact the outside world, and no idea where he was, Ning Beichen could only sigh. But sighing was useless; he had to find a solution. So, Ning Beichen used language, gestures, and expressions to communicate with them arduously.
However, the communication was like talking to a brick wall. They could guess some simple things, but complex matters, such as where they were, if there was a phone to contact the outside world, where their leader was, or if there were any human civilizations nearby, like scientific research stations, were beyond their comprehension. And Ning Beichen couldn't understand their replies either.
Despite this, the people were very hospitable. They invited Ning Beichen to share the fish they had caught, and that night, they arranged a place for him to stay. When Ning Beichen entered the room, he found it wasn't an empty, unoccupied room but a girl's room. When the girl started undressing in front of him, Ning Beichen was so startled that he scrambled out of the room. Regardless of whether the girl was beautiful or not, which Ning Beichen didn't have time to observe, he absolutely did not want to leave any romantic entanglements here.
He couldn't stay here any longer. Ning Beichen decided to leave that very night and continue searching for a place with human civilization. Without saying goodbye, Ning Beichen secretly left under the cover of night, braving the wind and snow, and flew towards an inland direction. He reasoned that this place might be Antarctica or the Arctic, and if he could find a scientific research station, he should be able to contact the outside world.
However, Ning Beichen realized he had overthought things. After flying all night, the surroundings were still an expanse of ice and snow. Forget scientific research stations; there wasn't even a trace of human habitation. Exhausted from flying all night, Ning Beichen found a place that could shield him from the wind and snow to rest.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye. During these three days, Ning Beichen was still in the icy, snowy wilderness, having found no sign of human life or any scientific research stations. Just as Ning Beichen was about to give up hope, he suddenly heard some sounds in the distance. At first, Ning Beichen paid little attention, thinking it was the sound of the wind. But gradually, the sounds grew louder and closer. Ning Beichen became concerned and moved towards the direction of the sounds.
Soon after, Ning Beichen was shocked to see a huge wooden ship sailing on the ice. What astonished Ning Beichen was that the ship was not sailing in water but on ice. It had four enormous wheels beneath it, and at the front of the ship, two ten-meter-tall monsters were pulling the vessel with ropes, making their way across the ice. On the ship, people who appeared to be human were holding long whips, occasionally lashing the monsters pulling the boat. Ning Beichen recognized these two monsters; they looked almost identical to the one he had fallen into the abyss with.
Looking at the giant ship and the towing monsters, Ning Beichen had a bad premonition. Initially, he thought he was in the Arctic, Antarctica, or somewhere in Siberia. But now, it seemed none of those were correct. Even though Ning Beichen had never been to the Arctic or Antarctica, he knew such things wouldn't exist in those places. Ning Beichen remembered the colorful vortex, leaving only one possibility: he was no longer in his original world.
To be honest, Ning Beichen was very panicked now, his mind in a turmoil. He wasn't afraid of strange ships or monsters, but he was terrified about how he could return. He worried about James, who was still on the snowy mountain, and about Liu Yilin, Ye Ya'er, his senior sister, and others in Haizhou New City, whom he hadn't said goodbye to. If he disappeared, Ning Beichen couldn't imagine what would happen to them. Would they turn the whole world upside down to find him?
However, it was clearly not the time to ponder these things, as the people on the giant ship had spotted him and were treating him as prey. Someone on the ship swung a lasso towards Ning Beichen. Ning Beichen frowned but did not dodge or attack. Instead, he let the lasso ensnare him. Following this, Ning Beichen was obediently dragged onto the giant ship by the rope.
Upon closer inspection, Ning Beichen confirmed they were indeed humans, and unlike the previous Eskimo-like people, these humans appeared much more civilized and educated. At this point, a person on the ship spoke to Ning Beichen in a torrent of words. Seeing Ning Beichen's lack of response, he switched to several other languages. Finally, in the last language, Ning Beichen's eyes suddenly lit up. What the person had said sounded somewhat like the language of his original world's ancient eastern kingdom. Although some syllables were different, most of the meaning was similar to the ancient eastern language; roughly five or six out of ten sentences were the same. The person had been asking who he was and why he was there.
Ning Beichen hastily replied that he was lost, trapped here, and hoped they could take him away from this place. Then, the people asked him where he was from and why his speech was so strange. Ning Beichen made up an excuse, saying he came from a remote place and it was his first time traveling far. The people on the ship believed his story but then told him that if he wanted to leave, he would have to work on the ship, as they wouldn't feed people for free. Ning Beichen immediately nodded in agreement, saying he was willing to work for them on the ship. Then the person asked what he could do, specifically if he could control the "human beast" – referring to the two ten-meter-tall monsters pulling the ship. Ning Beichen shook his head, saying he couldn't, but he was strong and could do any work that required physical strength.