Lan Jin had seen the cafeteria make this before. Some chefs, looking for convenience, didn't even beat the eggs. They just poured boiling water in. Everything got mixed together, and in the end, it all tasted about the same.
After all, this was immortal soup. People drank the water and maybe a few leaves floating on top. Actually eating the contents was almost impossible.
But during this week of cooking, the outdoor temperature dropped several degrees again. Lao Gao had kept the radio on 24 hours a day, afraid to miss any important news. Sure enough, he caught a report that today's temperature had fallen to minus 41 degrees.
Compared to truly cold places, it wasn't that extreme. There were places with minus 60 or 70 degrees.
But they were in the south. If southern temperatures dropped below minus 40, how low must the northern regions go?
Lan Jin couldn't imagine how people could survive in that cold.
Lao Gao didn't seem concerned. He poked at the coals in the stove and said, "Why worry so much? Humans always find ways we can't even imagine. No matter the time, someone always survives. Didn't we survive low temperatures before? We're fine now, aren't we?"
Though he said it casually, Lan Jin felt something was different this time.
After another week of hard work, the section of the space for cooked food was stacked full. With this amount, eating one meal a day, it would take them at least two months to finish.
Breakfast, however, they had to prepare themselves, since who knew when anyone would wake up. Their schedules rarely matched.
As time passed, the outside temperature kept dropping.
Even gathered by the stove, they felt chilly. Grandma Ling covered herself with an electric blanket to feel more comfortable and stop shivering.
Lao Gao poked the coals and said, "Today's temperature set a new record, minus 48 degrees. With this cold, how could we not feel it?"
The cold wasn't just from the temperature. The wind outside howled constantly, making the living room windows rattle violently. If there were leaves on the trees, they would have made a rustling noise too.
Lan Jin stepped onto the balcony. The sky looked abnormal, black and misty. It was somewhat like the frozen rain day, actually worse. She went back inside. "Look outside. Could it be raining again?"
After being outside for a bit and coming back in, Lan Jin felt unwell, especially her head. She felt dizzy. At first, she thought it was the indoor-outdoor temperature difference. But when she pressed a thermometer to her head, the reading shocked her: 42 degrees Celsius. "I was fine just now. One gust of wind and my temperature is this high. No wonder my head feels dizzy."
Lan Jin quickly checked Grandma Ling. Even though Grandma Ling felt cold, her temperature was normal.
Qiao Qiao and Nana were also normal.
When Lan Jin measured Huang Jinghe, Ling Jiang, and Lao Gao, she found all three also had alarmingly high temperatures. Lao Gao had 42.3 degrees, even higher than hers by 0.3 degrees.
Lan Jin said in disbelief, "You don't feel anything with your body this hot?"
Ling Jiang shook her head. "No. Did you feel anything before you went outside?"
"No."
Same for her.
In one building, four adults had high fevers. That alone was strange. Thinking carefully, all four had a connection to the worm powder incident.
Lao Gao, after taking the worm powder and going mad, had injured them. No matter how much Ling Spring Water could detox, the damage was done. How else could one explain this coincidence?
The four of them weren't stupid. They quickly recognized the common thread and looked at each other.
Yet, they had all drunk Spiritual Spring Water. In this cold, the water on the stove was Ling Spring Water with brown sugar ginger tea, and still their body heat wouldn't drop. That puzzled Lan Jin the most.
Lan Jin said, "I feel like this isn't simple. Normally, after drinking Spiritual Spring Water, the temperature should drop right away."
No one doubted this. Even severe injuries could be healed immediately with Ling Spring Water. Simple fevers should be even easier.
Huang Jinghe asked wryly, "Do we need fever medicine?"
Ling Jiang hesitated. "It might not work. This isn't ordinary fever, but taking it is better than not taking it."
Lao Gao turned and grabbed fever medicine, giving each person one pill.
Since the space had been exposed, Qiao Qiao stayed there less. She sat with them, snacking. Seeing everyone take medicine, Qiao Qiao looked worried. "Mama, what's wrong?"
Lan Jin said casually, "Mama, nothing."
"Taking medicine?"
"Yes. It's just cold, causing a little fever. The medicine will help."
Would the medicine actually work? No one knew.
Lan Jin's head had reacted first after the wind exposure. Soon, the others began feeling dizzy too.
Their high fever had one strange feature: no shivering.
Normally, high fevers caused chills.
Everyone's complexion turned grim.
Ling Jiang suddenly remembered Lao Gao's madness before, realizing this was similar. She worried, "We won't suddenly go crazy, right?"
"You didn't take worm powder, so no worms inside. Shouldn't go crazy, probably not," Lao Gao said, "But maybe I didn't fully get the worms out. Should I try some salt? Maybe it helps."
Lan Jin winced, her head hurting, but replied, "If it's because of leftover worms, what about us? No worms inside. Could it be leftover toxins? Impossible. Salt won't help. But if you really want, try it."
Trying wouldn't hurt, but wasting salt wasn't appealing. Salt was unbearably salty. "Forget it. Save the salt. The salt we already used could fry a whole pot of vegetables."
Ling Jiang grimaced. "Ugh, you're disgusting."