Gold Rush Starts in the Bering Sea

Chapter 30: The Snowstorm Arrives

The next morning, the sound of rain hitting the windows could no longer be heard.

I opened the curtains, and outside, snowflakes were falling, gently landing on the ground.

Looking into the distance, the ground was covered with a layer of white snowflakes, indicating that it had been snowing for quite some time.

Fortunately, although there was wind, it wasn't strong.

After breakfast, I met Andy and Brent at the port to see how things were going.

"Clang~ Clang~ Clang~"

We were still quite far from the shore when we could hear the sounds of various ice-removing machines.

Good morning, Jason.

Good morning, Andy, Brent.

The three boarded the boat, which was covered with a thin layer of snow, and underneath that, a thin layer of ice.

The tarpaulin that covered the boat yesterday is now covered with a layer of ice. When you lift it, you can hear the cracking sound of ice breaking, and thin pieces of ice mixed with snow fall onto the deck.

Jason swept the snow off the deck and shoveled away the ice, while he simply banged on the railings with a steel pipe.

Andy and Brent restarted the device and tested it again.

After unloading the supplies from the vehicle onto the ship, the Lillian set sail again amidst falling snowflakes.

The weather was already very cold; even breathing would leave a trail of white mist in the air.

But many gold prospectors still set sail, as long as the Bering Sea is calm and there are no waves, what does a little cold matter?

The falling snowflakes also mean that the Bering Sea will soon freeze over, so we should speed things up whenever possible.

The procedure was the same, but this time the hot water circulation was turned up to the maximum to prevent people from losing body temperature underwater.

"Andy, how are you feeling?" Jason asked with some concern over the walkie-talkie on the ship.

As Andy operated the gold-absorbing pump, he replied, "Don't worry, I'll float to the surface immediately if there's any problem."

"Okay, be careful."

He believed that with Andy's more than ten years of gold mining experience, if he said that, it meant he had a plan, so Jason wouldn't be too worried.

As for Brent, he stood on the deck, checking the equipment from time to time. Although snowflakes kept falling, no one dared to be careless about such matters.

For Jason, who had been successful since the start of the gold rush and had a considerable amount of gold, the gold in the gold trough might excite him, but it was nothing like the excitement he felt the first time.

Jason glanced at the gold trough and felt, then went back into the cabin and retrieved the nautical chart.

The locations were marked according to the places detected along the way.

Of course, Jason's markings were in Mandarin, and they were recorded in two parts.

Back when the internet wasn't as developed, there were no mobile phone translation services. Even if you accidentally lost a nautical chart, no one would spend a lot of money to find a translator to translate it if they couldn't understand it.

The nautical chart was marked with circles of various sizes, and the notebook contained records of coordinates and a simplified map of the gold distribution on the seabed.

Only when both are combined can it be considered a true map coordinate and mining plan.

This picture is so valuable that it's worth its weight in gold. If others knew about it, some would definitely take the risk.

Even though I was inside the cabin, my hand holding the pen was still frozen stiff, and I had to put it down every now and then and breathe on it to warm it up.

Jason still hadn't fully considered everything for this voyage; he forgot some basic heating equipment, otherwise he wouldn't be in such a sorry state.

As the snow fell heavier, some equipment was covered with tarpaulins to prevent water from seeping in as the snow melted.

Fortunately, the wind was relatively calm and had no impact on the gold panning work.

"No, Brent, quickly pull up the gold from this location, we need to turn back."

The snow was so heavy that snowflakes filled the view, and the windshield in front of the driver's cab was covered with them.

The waterproof canvas needs to be cleaned every now and then.

Especially when the snow falls into the sea, the temperature of the Bering Sea, which is already not high, drops even further.

Especially now that there's no heating equipment on the ship, we can only wear down jackets and tough it out, and as we speak, our breath is all white vapor.

Even the photographers were filming in the cockpit at that moment, because the snow was falling so heavily.

Once the gold panning at this location was complete and the equipment was secured, the three of them entered the cab together. Now, this was the only slightly warmer spot.

Andy frowned and advised, "Jason, this kind of weather is actually quite normal in the Bering Sea. If we turn back now, we'll miss out on a lot of gold."

"Andy, there's no end to gold mining," Jason shook his head, deciding to stop his gold panning before buying heating equipment.

Brent, who was standing to the side, saw Andy's gaze and shrugged helplessly.

What can he do? Although they haven't known each other for long and Jason doesn't often lose his temper, he still understands Jason's decisive and straightforward personality.

On the way back, I communicated with my mother, Lillian, via radio about the situation at the dock.

Hearing the conversation, Andy suggested, "Jason, if it's not feasible, let Lillian buy some heating equipment first. Once we get to the dock, we can load it up and head out to sea."

Jason thought for a moment, then nodded: "Okay."

He really hadn't expected this situation; with the snow falling so heavily, not a single one had returned.

Then he picked up the radio and talked to his mother, Lillian, about the shopping. In addition to heating equipment, Jason also asked to buy a water heater and some hand-ground coffee.

Andy and Brent's back teeth ached from listening to that.

Is this a gold rush? They've never seen such sophisticated gold prospectors before, but what can they say when Jason is the boss?

Following the navigation back to the dock, I saw a pickup truck parked there in the distance. Judging from its appearance, it was clearly Lillian's.

A kettle, a heater, some coffee beans, a hand grinder, a thermos, and some other odds and ends.

The three of them worked together to load the equipment onto the boat, and after handing over their gold-panning harvest to Lillian, Jason steered the boat out to sea again in the heavy snow.

The round trip wasted three hours, but when they turned on the heater and the entire cab was no longer cold, they felt that the wasted time was still worthwhile.

Having found his destination, Jason went back into the sea.

Although he had been in the water many times, the icy seawater still made Jason gasp.

Having already scouted the area from the ship, and now that he was already there, Jason went straight to the gold deposit, shoveling away the rubble with his hands while controlling the gold-absorbing pump to suck up the gold.

As I moved around, my body gradually warmed up.

"Jason, we received a reply, we received a reply." Andy and Brent on the shore were getting anxious. Based on past experience, Jason should have come up a long time ago. It's been almost an hour now.

Jason asked, puzzled, "Got it? What happened?"

"Phew~" Hearing Jason's words, Brent and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Jason, remember to let us know in advance if anything happens."

"I'm sorry, I'll go upstairs right away after I finish here." This was Jason's mistake; the communication wasn't good, and he should admit his mistake.

After working for less than half an hour, Jason turned off the gold-absorbing pump and slowly floated to the surface.

Heat radiated from the wetsuit, while a blast of cold air hit Jason, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

Brent handed Jason a towel to dry himself off, while he quickly changed into his diving suit, waiting for Jason's blueprints.

After drawing the topographic map, Brenthe nodded, put on his diving equipment, and jumped into the water.

After changing his clothes and returning to the cockpit, Jason felt the chill dissipate from the warm air and breathed a sigh of relief.

In a corner of the cabin, Jason nestled on a small sofa, picked up coffee beans, put them into the grinder, and began grinding them with a whooshing sound.

Once the water was boiled and the coffee was ground and brewed, Jason gestured to Andy and the photographer Kyle, "Would you like a cup?"

"I want"

"I want one too!"

After serving the coffee, Jason poured the rest into a thermos, and under Andy and Kyle's alien-like gazes, he added two sugar cubes.

"Jason, you... well, never mind," Andy hesitated, then shook his head helplessly.

"My God, what have you done?" Kyle grabbed his hair, staring in disbelief at Jason's actions.

Jason took a sip and found the taste still wasn't right, so he threw in two more sugar cubes.

Jason rolled his eyes at Andy and the other's shouting. He didn't care about any of that. He had suffered for so many years in his past life, couldn't he have a little sweetness too?

Now that I have money, of course I'll do things my own way.

"No, Jason, you've completely ruined the aroma of the coffee!" Kyle's face was full of pain as he saw Jason throw in two more sugar cubes.

"Come on, Kyle, it's just a drink," Jason rolled his eyes, completely baffled by Kyle's thought process.

Kyle retorted righteously, "Culture, this is a culture unique to us Americans."

Jason was speechless. This rogue country, established only a few years ago, already has its own unique culture?!

Jason didn't argue, because arguing was useless. He knew that you could never change a person's perception, no matter how much you said.

Jason wondered if, more than twenty years from now, when the United States was being attacked from all sides, Kyle would put aside his unique arrogance.