「The next morning.」
The Qingye Collection campground was completely frozen over.
The once-soft grass had long since vanished, replaced by a patch of frozen earth as smooth as a mirror.
The main campground building was covered in a glazed shell of ice several inches thick. Countless icicles hung from the exterior walls, glinting menacingly in the biting morning wind.
Su Chen had gotten up in the middle of the night to find the outside temperature had hit a record low of -82°C. At such an ultra-low temperature, an ordinary person would quickly suffer from frostbite even with thin clothing, let alone exposed skin. Xiaolin, however, was perfectly comfortable and cheerful, completely in its element.
At three in the morning, the frost-colored star trails in the night sky had already drifted far away, like the receding, ghostly blue afterimage of a tide, silently vanishing over the horizon.
The extreme cold began to slowly recede.
The biting wind gradually weakened.
A little after five, as dawn broke, the temperature began to rise at a visibly rapid pace.
The humidifier inside the RV had long been turned off, and the air conditioner was switched to its dehumidifying function. The extreme temperature difference caused the ambient humidity to skyrocket, and the entire campground became damp and slick, making it extremely uncomfortable.
After a long while, Yan Ruoruo’s eyelashes fluttered in bed. Noticing the man beside her was gone, she blinked her eyes open, her gaze hazy and distant.
Her consciousness felt heavy, and even the effort to lift a hand seemed too much. She turned slightly, instinctively burying her face into the lingering warmth of the bedding. Strands of hair fell across her cheeks, creating an image of poignant beauty.
After getting up, Su Chen and Liao Dahai cleared the snow together. The three water tanks in the other two unused RVs at the camp had already been emptied, so there were no frozen pipes. The frost encrusting the vehicles’ bodies was also harmless.
"Good thing we reinforced the building’s walls, or the indoor temperature would’ve dropped even lower," Liao Dahai said, still shaken.
Of course, to effectively prevent the cold air from seeping in, they would need to add insulation to both the interior and exterior of the walls.
By this point, radio communications had long been restored.
To boost the signal, Liao Dahai had also put back up the external antenna he had taken down earlier.
"...The current temperature is 5°C and will continue to warm up throughout the day. Citizens in need of emergency medical assistance, please use your walkie-talkies to access the dedicated emergency channel. Personnel with no medical needs, please do not use this channel."
A male announcer was broadcasting city-wide updates in real time.
Radio is a complex field.
To solve the communication problem in a world without power or internet, the Security Committee had designated specific radio sub-channels for every neighborhood and residential area.
Neighbors within these designated areas could communicate with each other on their channel, watch out for one another, and respond quickly if anything happened.
In addition to the regional channels, there were also over thirty dedicated emergency hotlines. Callers had to state their call sign, precise location, and the nature of their emergency.
This procedure might seem like dialing 911, but it was actually very different.
All calls were broadcast in cleartext and could be overheard by anyone. Furthermore, if multiple people pressed the PTT (push-to-talk) button to speak at the same time, it would cause signal conflicts and interference.
This was why the announcer repeatedly emphasized the strict access restrictions.
However, during the extremely cold night, many had passed away silently in their sleep. Many more had fallen into states of severe frostbite or become comatose. With so many people needing emergency aid, it was inevitable that the lines would be busy, effectively paralyzing numerous emergency channels.
The sad thing was, the Bloodthirsty Fungus hadn’t braved the blizzard to launch a night raid, yet this climate disaster had caused more deaths than the previous night.
’This isn’t a sudden disaster. It’s just the ecology of this world.’
Su Chen leaped into the air above the campground. Looking out, he saw that the surrounding ancient trees were unharmed despite the devastation of the extreme cold.
Their bark, as thick as Scale Armor, was difficult to breach. After the frost receded, the seemingly delicate leaves still displayed a deep green hue, refracting the morning light with a crystalline shimmer.
Just then, a frost-white figure shot back through the air from above the forest. It was the Ice Feather Frost Bird, its talons tightly gripping a deer. It folded its wings and landed steadily on the snow-covered ground in front of the main building.
Xiaolin had stood guard all night and only went out to hunt at dawn. Upon its return, it had even brought back a deer for its master.
After it landed, the deer began to struggle violently. Two piercing wounds were visible on its abdomen, but with the injuries frozen solid, no blood was visible.
Before it could kick its hooves in resistance, Xiaolin’s gaze turned cold, and a Rapid Freeze Beam froze the deer completely solid into a large block of ice.
"Amazing," Su Chen said in admiration.
’This technique is practically a natural freezer.’
Ms. Cheng, wrapped in a thick down jacket, stepped out from behind the RV door. The tip of her nose was slightly red from the cold. She smiled and said, "I can process the venison in a bit. We can make a stew or roast the ribs. Deer blood is also highly nutritious. Looks like the meal plan is changing for today."
As for the butchering, that was a job for her husband, of course.
"Great, thank you both."
After recalling Xiaolin, Su Chen began his disciplined daily workout.
He shifted his center of gravity, pressing the heel of one palm to the ground. His shoulders and back tensed like a drawn bow as he flawlessly executed a series of one-handed handstand push-ups. With each descent, his body remained perfectly still, before he steadily pushed himself back up.
His movements were clean and sharp. He did fifty in one go.
If this had been yesterday, his wrist would have started trembling as if filled with lead before he was even halfway through.
’Excellent.’
After his Power transformation, all the muscle groups in Su Chen’s body had been comprehensively enhanced. His wrist strength was just one manifestation of this.
Just as he finished his invigorating workout, a familiar voice suddenly crackled from the walkie-talkie sitting on the table outside.
"...This is Pang Peng from Jingcheng University. If you can hear this, we will be arriving at the campground in 15 minutes."
After being gone for two days and two nights, the Jingcheng University team was finally returning.
After establishing contact, Su Chen asked curiously, "Is everyone okay?"
"We had some setbacks. We participated in the city’s defense and an expedition to a nest. There were quite a few serious injuries, but in the end, we managed to make it back alive," Pang Peng said from the other end, sounding surprisingly nonchalant.

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