Professor Dale walked out.
"What's the matter?"
Both parties looked at him, even the sailors respected this authority in the field.
The lead sailor said, "We want to go to the ship earlier and wait for the supply ship to arrive, so we can bring back supplies as soon as they arrive, avoiding any shortage situations. But it's too cold outside, even if we wear thick clothes. We saw those cats seem to have wind-resistant equipment on them and want to borrow it."
"Did you ask for their permission?" Professor Dale asked.
The sailor was stunned and said, "Sorry? What?"
Frank, who had a temper, said loudly, "Use your brain and think, can a group of such smart cats not understand what you're saying? You want to borrow their things, you should ask them if they agree, right?"
"But they're just cats." The sailors felt the professor was being unreasonable, "Do we need to get the permission of a group of cats?"
"They're not ordinary cats." The students emphasized, "Felines don't have such intelligence, and their equipment isn't given by us; it belongs to them."
"Are you joking?!" The lead sailor said incredulously, "If it wasn't given by you, then was it conjured by cats? Aren't they just stray cats from the school?"
"Alright, I know you have feelings for these cats, but we're not trying to steal their things, just borrow them for a while. Once we bring back the supplies, we'll return them. I'm discussing this with you only because you seem to like these cats a lot."
His implication was that if it weren't for the professor and students, they would have just taken it. To those at sea, this was normal; any animal brought on board was essentially reserved food. After all, in the harsh environment of the ocean, if a food crisis arises, cannibalism could occur, let alone eating cats and dogs.
The students felt helpless; it was a chicken-and-duck talk, as sailors couldn't grasp what smart cats not being 'just cats' meant, nor did they have any concept of respecting cats' opinions.
Bat Cat resolved the issue with a very simple method—he pulled out a gun.
Bat Cat was indeed equipped with firepower, but like most Batmans, he doesn't like using guns and wouldn't pull one out unless necessary.
However, the pull-a-gun tactic was effective; he directly jumped onto the car roof next to him, armed up, and the jet devices at his waist lifted him while a small machine gun on his shoulder fired a burst onto the ground in front of the sailors.
"Oh! God!" Everyone ducked and ran.
Fortunately, maybe for lightweight reasons, Bat Cat's gun had a smaller caliber. However, Shiller remembered that in Cat City Gotham, cats had laser weapons, and Bat Cat might not have brought them out to keep something in reserve.
The sailors were shocked, incredulously looking at the armed Bat Cat, pointing at the cat, the professor, and then the cat again. Professor Dale shook his head and said, "These aren't given by us; we don't have such technology."
Most professors and students were also shocked, initially thinking Frank and Henry had secretly provided for the cats, but now it seemed this wasn't humanly possible technology. If they had such jet devices, why fly planes? With each person having a jetpack, they'd already be on the mountaintop.
The sailors swallowed hard and reached out their hands, saying, "Alright, black buddy, no matter what you are, we really need thermal equipment, or we can't go to the ship, and who's going to handle the supplies then?"
Bat Cat looked towards Professor Dale, seemingly waiting for his permission. Professor Dale walked over, picked up Bat Cat, patted his head, and then said, "Bob makes a good point; we can't wait for the supply ship to send someone; it's better to go earlier."
Then, Professor Dale said to the sailors, "We also plan to explore the mountains, so we can't give you all the thermal equipment. Carry more clothes and water bags."
The sailors had no other option; getting some was already good. Bat Cat pulled some small Shields from his waistband and demonstrated how to use them—one button does the trick.
The bothersome part was that Shields are designed according to cats' body types, not covering whole humans. Where placed, only that part is protected. Luckily, there was enough energy to last the sailors until they reached the ship.
Each sailor received one, and there were no complaints anymore. Having partial warm protection was already good; more so that everyone had one, which was unexpected.
The sailors left quickly, and the students and professors sighed with relief. They indeed were not good at dealing with such people, and their departure was for the best. However, most opposed Professor Dale's plan to venture into the mountains during a blizzard.
They couldn't understand why, with only a few days' difference, they couldn't wait for the storm to stop? Or even wait for the supply ship to reorganize before entering the mountains, which would be much better. Going in recklessly now is courting death.
Other professors who relatively understood Professor Dale also knew that this cautious old professor wouldn't make such decisions without reason. After some discussion, they decided to go along with Professor Dale's plan.
Professor Dale didn't plan to take many people. He ended up taking only his two students, Professor Dexter and his student, Shiller and Little Superman, the two cats, and Tibbers the dog.
Though few in number, they couldn't skimp on supplies; everyone set out fully equipped. If it weren't for needing to climb, they'd probably each have a bicycle, piled with gear.
As they departed, there was a brief send-off ceremony at the entrance. Everyone stood outside, praying for the team members. Professor Dale stood at the doorway, looked at the budding base, seemingly wanting to say something but remaining silent, then led the dog and picked up the cat, turning away and stepping into the snowstorm.
Shiller didn't let Dale carry him for long; they were carrying so much, with considerable physical exertion, no need for extra consumption. Though he couldn't walk as fast as humans, with the help of the jet device, he kept pace.
Walking into the boundless snowstorm, the world quieted down, apart from the heavy footsteps and breathing, nothing else remained. The cold greatly numbed sensations; everyone's face was shrouded in an indistinct white layer, formed by sweat frozen on facial hair, melted by breath then refrozen, accumulating over time into a thick coating.
Shiller could sense the wind's direction was off. Ordinarily, South Pole winds blow from one direction without easily changing, but this blizzard felt like encirclement from all sides; initially tailwinds soon turned headwinds and remained so.
They walked east along the mountain range, where a previously explored slope led into the valley, allowing gradual ascent. This was the path established in prior exploration and the only route found into the mountains; climbing was only possible this way.
After half an hour of trekking, Professor Dale suddenly stopped. The others halted too, thinking it was a rest break, but Professor Dale said, "Something's wrong; we should be able to see the valley entrance by now, but there's nothing ahead."
They had been following the mountain ridge, leaving little chance of getting lost. One student said, "Let's go a bit further; it might appear."
"No." Professor Dale shook his head, "Yueke, I've told you before, if you can't trust your judgment in the wild and always think 'just keep going a bit more,' you'll ultimately waste energy pointlessly and be swallowed by nature."
"Although I've only walked this path once, I'm very certain we should see the valley entrance. If we don't, either we went the wrong way or something's wrong. Everyone, drop your gear and rest for a bit; we need to figure out what's happening."
Shiller felt admiration; in the vastness of nature, people often struggle to trust their senses are correct. Sometimes, on a diverged path, not seeing previous landmarks or missing a destination despite expected timing leads people to think a bit more walking will get them there, unknowingly straying further on the wrong path.
Sometimes, timely turning back is the only way to save oneself, but due to dulled senses and doubt in judgment, a slim chance is missed, burying one's life.
They sat against the mountain rock, drinking water and eating to recover strength. The cats weren't idle; Little Superman began climbing the rock with the help of a mechanical arm. The mechanical arm indeed had climbing capabilities, seemingly inspired by Spider Man; the arm's ends secreted a sticky substance, aiding adhesion to climb targets. With cats being light, they could jump up with jet assistance, stick, and keep jumping and sticking, fast and steady.
Little Superman climbed this way continuously, though he wasn't foolish, making sure to look down after each jump to ensure nobody below was outside his line of sight. Close to losing visibility, he paused and began looking into the distance.
In such visibility conditions, he could see virtually nothing; Little Superman changed directions and soon spotted the dark mountain range. He sensed something was wrong, but couldn't pinpoint what exactly, and only descended again.
Reaching the bottom, he began recounting to Shiller what he observed.
Shiller immediately sensed what was wrong because he had just looked at the map before departure. The route through the valley meant detouring, so the dark target mountain range should have been behind them. Little Superman said the dark range was ahead, in their direction, completely reversed.