Could there be an extreme cold snap?
The apocalyptic climate was unpredictable; nothing could be said for certain. Fu Erdie had not brought a thermometer, so she could only judge by feel. The outside temperature should be around ten to twenty degrees.
C City’s winter was only around ten degrees, and in the south, unless one was in the mountains, most places were warmer. Besides, after two years of extreme heat as a foundation, the temperature should only be higher, not lower.
Having read many apocalypse novels where the climate became abnormal and temperatures suddenly plummeted, Fu Erdie was a little worried that everyone might freeze in their sleep.
Just in case, they did not leave the night watch entirely to the zucchini. Instead, they took turns keeping watch.
The temperature kept dropping. By the second half of the night, when it was Sang Wenhao’s turn to keep watch, the temperature was already around ten degrees—completely C City winter weather.
Everyone was an ability user, so no one was frozen outright. But they all woke up when they felt cold.
There was no way to keep sleeping. Each of them had brought one hard-shell jacket and a few thin quilts.
But that clearly was not safe enough. They needed to find warmer clothing.
Fu Erdie was a little worried about how everyone back at the residential compound was keeping warm, but when she thought of the house being there, it should not be too much of a problem.
The group got into the box vehicle and, following the map, tried to search for nearby residences and shops that might contain cold-weather supplies.
At eight in the morning, the sky lit up dimly grey. It was time for Fu Erdie’s scheduled telegraph contact with everyone at the compound.
Most of Cen Xiyang’s space was filled with water, while a smaller section was specifically used to store miscellaneous items.
The telegraph machine and batteries were precision objects, so they were stored very carefully. Power usage was especially controlled. They were only powered when sending telegrams; the rest of the time, they were safely kept inside the space.
The instant power was connected at eight o’clock, Fu Erdie received a call from Senyu Residential Compound. Clearly, the people there had been waiting by the machine so they could be alerted the moment Fu Erdie came online.
Fu Erdie replied, “Here.” The other side immediately explained the situation and asked whether Fu Erdie wanted to return.
It turned out that in the southern area where they were, the temperature drop they felt was already relatively mild. C City and D City had almost been crushed by the cold wave coming from the northwest. Yesterday, within a single day, the temperature had dropped directly from over twenty degrees to around zero. The surface of the rooftop water tanks on some buildings had even formed a thin layer of broken ice. The house had discovered it and expanded its domain upward slightly, only then warming the water temperature enough for normal use.
The cold air had drifted in from the northwest. Yesterday during the day, it caused C City and D City to cool down. At night, it reached Fu Erdie’s location.
Now, the person stationed in Seventh Building in Jian City had also reported the temperature drop.
That stationed person was an ordinary human. Without the house’s protection, she was far less resistant to the cold than ability users. It was Green Radish and Succulent who noticed the problem in time and separated out leaves to wrap around her layer upon layer like clothing, preventing her from freezing. The residential compound was also going to send ability users over with clothes and quilts so she could live there without issue.
But the temperature was still continuing to drop…
Fu Erdie thought for a moment, then switched to the secret channel shared with D City and asked about D City’s situation.
D City was in much worse shape than Senyu Residential Compound and Jian City’s Seventh Building. They had too many ordinary people, and keeping them warm required a large amount of bedding and clothing.
However, the clothes and quilts that had not been needed before the apocalypse had become damp, mouldy, and infested with bugs. Even though some people had taken their bedding out to dry in the sun many times, the moment they brought it back indoors during sunless periods, the heat and humidity would make the clothes and bedding mould again.
And that was only the supplies found by the people who had originally lived in D City Base, or who had arrived in the first batch and had houses to live in. As for the twenty or thirty thousand people who had been taken into the base later, most slept in large communal bunks. Under the harsh environment, their personal belongings had been reduced to a few tattered odds and ends. Their most precious possessions were still the mutated crops that fed them every day. Now that the temperature had dropped, everyone was dumbfounded and could only hope that the base would come up with some way to help them.
The base dug out the stockpiled quilts and cotton-padded clothes that had already gone mouldy but had not yet been thrown away, distributing them so people could barely keep warm. Even so, many people caught colds and fevers. A small number with poor constitutions suffered flare-ups of new and old illnesses at the same time, and died.
D City Base forced itself into action, mobilising all available manpower and resources for emergency response. Fortunately, the temperature had dropped there during the day, so everyone had time to react; it had not caused half the population to catch cold all at once.
But these mouldy, bug-infested clothes and quilts could not be used long-term either. Otherwise, for ordinary people with poor constitutions, they were no different from slow poison.
Fu Erdie looked at the long telegram and felt grateful that she had left the house at the main compound.
However, this level of cold was also a continuous drain on the house.
It could maintain the temperature and humidity within its domain, making it comfortable for people to live in. But maintaining one room at around ten degrees and maintaining an entire residential compound at a higher temperature were completely different things.
Although the house was fifth rank and very strong, Fu Erdie knew that if no one lived in its domain, it would not need to maintain temperature or humidity at all. To it, there was no difference between positive one hundred degrees and negative one hundred degrees. It was only because people were inside that it had to maintain its condition to protect everyone.
At the compound, Aunt Cao Rui promptly relayed Professor Zhao’s meaning:
The compound’s power generation can allow residents to use air conditioning for five hours and electric heaters for ten hours each day, reducing the house’s ability consumption.
In other words, even if the house did not manage everyone directly, they could still survive by relying on the previous infrastructure and heating?
Fu Erdie let out a breath of relief.
The people from D City Base quickly stated that if Butterfly Garden had spare capacity, they hoped to cooperate in drying some quilts.
They would search outside for cold-weather supplies, then bring them to Butterfly Garden for processing. Whether it was using electric heaters to dry and remove dampness and mould, or asking the house to help deal with them, as long as the items could be used, that was enough. The supplies could be split fifty-fifty with Butterfly Garden.
Fu Erdie told D City to discuss it with her parents, who were currently managing Butterfly Garden, as well as with the house, who would be doing most of the work. As long as it was within the house’s ability, they could help. As for cold-weather supplies, Butterfly Garden only needed to take a symbolic portion of usable items. There was no need to insist on splitting so much.
As for Fu Erdie herself…
It was indeed difficult for them to find usable cotton coats, cotton trousers, and down jackets. But this was not a big problem. After all, as high-rank ability users, they had strong constitutions. Being a little cold, or wearing slightly poorer clothing, was not an issue. The zucchini could also help remove dirt, mould, and insects from cold-weather supplies as much as possible, so they could use them more comfortably.
In June, Fu Erdie’s group continued slowly toward Qing City.
The cold wave finally invaded the entire south-eastern region. After several rounds of dropping, pausing, and then dropping again, the temperature fell to zero degrees.
The floodwaters that had ravaged the vast land for so long began to form floating ice on the surface.
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