The fifty-seventh day,
Lin Yu'an awoke to an eerie silence.
Unlike the usual morning bird chirps and the rustling sound of wind through the needle forest, today, everything outside the shelter seemed unusually quiet.
He sat up a bit puzzled, rolled out of the sleeping bag, and left the warmth of the deer hide blanket.
The stove inside the stone house hadn't gone out yet, but thanks to the thick reed insulation on the walls, it didn't feel cold indoors.
He walked outside the shelter, and the sight that met his eyes made him gasp in astonishment!
Overnight, the whole world had changed its appearance!
An expanse of white covered everything in sight! The ground, tree branches, the woodshed he built, and the roof of the smokehouse, all covered in a thick layer of snow!
The sky remained gloomy, and tiny snowflakes continued to drift down from the gray clouds with no sign of stopping.
