"Boom!"
In the pitch-black sky, a sudden thunderclap exploded.
The pale flash of lightning cut through the raging blizzard like a sharp blade, illuminating the entire frozen land in an instant.
Under the brief glow, what met the eye was an endless expanse of white. Thick layers of ice and snow covered everything, with only the tops of scattered buildings stubbornly emerging above the drifts. Like frozen islands trapped in a sea of ice, large dark shadows occasionally moved slowly beneath the thick ice sheets that had once been rivers and low-lying areas.
After the lightning, the sky, filled with howling wind and heavy snow, instantly returned to darkness.
This was the High-tech Zone of Yongcheng City.
The extreme cold had been going on for six full months!
The entire Yongcheng City had been completely buried.
With the rapid drop in temperature, the rivers and coastal waters had frozen solid. Ice layers in low areas had reached several meters thick. Buildings below fifteen floors were basically encased in ice and snowdrifts. Only floors above that were still desperately holding on.
By the window of the top-floor unit on the 32nd floor of Riverside Heights, after the thunder and lightning, a figure stood there gazing out.
"Six months already."
Yuan Shenzi frowned, yet he was also lucky that he had bought this thirty-second floor top unit back then.
Even though when he purchased it, the top floor had lots of problems like leaks and poor insulation.
At that time, he really went everywhere to find the property management and developers to get a different house.
But no one paid him any attention.
At that time, he was truly desperate.
He had spent half his life savings on this house.
Not only that, but he also took out loans of over a million, becoming a slave to his mortgage.
He thought he could marry his girlfriend with this house.
Unexpectedly, after moving in, his girlfriend quarreled with him more than ten times in just three days.
The apparent reason was that his girlfriend was dissatisfied with the house.
But the deeper reason, of course, was that she didn't want to share the heavy mortgage burden with him.
What broke Yuan Shenzi completely was his girlfriend's mother asking for a dowry of three hundred thousand.
Yuan Shenzi was frantic. In Yongcheng, being a southern city, a dowry of a hundred thousand was already considered high. His girlfriend's mother demanded three hundred thousand, which made him argue fiercely with his girlfriend.
He later found out that his girlfriend had a younger brother who had just graduated and was also dating.
But his girlfriend's brother's dating partner was from a province known for high dowry demands, and everyone had heard about those customs.
But Yuan Shenzi hadn't expected that her brother would count his dowry demands under him.
There was nothing more to say. Yuan Shenzi decisively broke up.
This kind of family, this kind of woman, whoever wants can have them.
The three hundred thousand saved in the bank could yield nearly ten thousand in a year.
Not expecting that he broke up in October, and in early November, Yongcheng City entered this abnormal cold wave.
Then the heavens went crazy, and this snow continued without stopping for a full six months!
In the first month, people didn't really notice.
Just felt that the winter this year was excessively cold.
But soon the news reported record low temperatures and snowstorms elsewhere, causing deaths in numerous places.
Yongcheng City had not yet faced real danger at that time, and everyone just took it as news, continuing to go to work as usual.
Until the second month, the blizzards didn't stop and continued falling heavily.
Yongcheng City also faced extreme freezing, with rivers and coastal waters freezing rapidly.
The whole Yongcheng City panicked and immediately organized emergency efforts.
In the Riverside Heights community where Yuan Shenzi lived, all ground-floor and underground parking areas were buried under snow and ice.
Residents on the lower floors were terrified and rushed to ask their upstairs neighbors for shelter.
Initially, it was still okay, but the blizzards continued for another week, burying even higher levels and causing everyone to panic completely.
People without a warm place continuously climbed upstairs.
A month without proper heating made everyone even more anxious.
Until news reports stated that mutated creatures had appeared in the frozen waters and ice cracks.
And it was a kind of mutated creature never seen before!
This piece of news shook the world!
The age of the great freeze officially began.
Six months later, everything below the fifteenth floor in Riverside Heights was basically buried or frozen. At that moment, tents were set up in the stairways and corridors.
And each household above the fifteenth floor had its doors tightly shut, with no one daring to take in outsiders.
Yuan Shenzi did the same, because two months ago, a household on the fourteenth floor took in a group of people.
The next day, the entire original family's bodies were found frozen stiff on the balcony, their faces twisted in horror.
The news had spread entirely in the community's property group, so no one dared to take in outsiders anymore.
Moreover, everyone could not afford to take others in, as their own supply reserves were running low.
Yuan Shenzi was grateful countless times for stockpiling a large amount of food and fuel in the first month when he sensed the bad situation, which allowed him to survive till now.
Standing by the window, he picked up the last piece of wooden board and nailed the window frame tighter to prevent the freezing wind from seeping in or anyone from climbing down from the upper floors.
He then raised his hand and looked at his watch, which showed that it was nine eighteen in the morning.
At this time, it should be bright outside, yet it was pitch dark, with not a trace of light to be seen, only the endless howling of the blizzard.
"Sigh, when will this snow ever stop?"
Yuan Shenzi couldn't help but sigh, worried that if the cold continued, even his thirty-second floor top unit would eventually be buried under accumulating snow and ice.
"Knock-knock-knock—"
Suddenly, a series of intense banging sounds came from outside the door.
Yuan Shenzi's face changed instantly, and he rushed to grab the reinforced ice axe on the table and ran to the security door.
Through the peephole, he saw three middle-aged people banging on his security door.
He recognized them as residents from the fourteenth floor, people he used to meet often in the community, occasionally nodding to greet each other.
These people seemed to be part of a jogging group in the community, who exercised regularly and had good physical fitness.
During the six months of the great freeze, some former neighbors had turned into devils wearing human skin.
The three in front of him were undoubtedly such people.
At the moment, the middle-aged man leading the group held a metal pipe and cursed, "Open the door, open the door for me!"
Thud-thud-thud!
The pipe struck the security door with a rumbling sound.
Yuan Shenzi said nothing, aimed the ice axe handle threateningly near the peephole.
"Get lost! If you dare bang again, I'll chop your hands off!"
The men outside cursed back fiercely.
"Little bastard, just you wait. I don't believe you'll never come out!"
Another person, enduring the cold, also cursed, "Kid, just stay in there if you can. Let's see how long you can survive with your fuel and food."
"Fuck your mother, you better freeze to death in there. If you come out, I'll skin you alive!" Another person roared, clearly on the edge.
Yuan Shenzi smirked coldly, "Idiots, my axe is sharpened on frozen bones. You're dead if you try anything."
Those words terrified the three people outside, who scolded him but didn't dare come near his door any longer.
One of them said, "Old Wu, let's go back first. It's too cold out here. I remember there's some scrap wood on the twentieth floor."
"Yes, yes, warm up first. Damn it, this guy's tough. Let's get Brother Hu to deal with him later."
Then came the sound of them retreating downstairs, their footsteps crunching in the snow that had blown into the corridor.
Yuan Shenzi listened for a while longer, then felt a slight relief.
This was the fourth attempt to break in this week.
If he hadn't bought a lot of renovation tools and prepared the ice axe when he sensed the cold coming, he wouldn't have been able to fend them off.
Putting down the ice axe, he walked to the living room. Seeing the many empty fuel canisters and food boxes piled up, anxiety filled his heart again.
"Not much supplies left."
His gaze revealed deep worry.
The portable heater in the corner was still running weakly on the last bit of fuel, giving off a faint warmth that barely kept the room above freezing. The rice bags were down to three, the canned goods were almost gone, and the warm blankets were already worn thin from constant use.
He had rationed everything carefully, but six months was too long.
Just as he was about to check the remaining fuel again, a cold mechanical voice suddenly burst into his mind, making him freeze on the spot.
[Ding!]
[Daily Sign-In System has activated!]
[Complete today's daily task to sign in and obtain points. Points can be used to purchase various survival resources from the System Store. Eliminating mutated creatures will grant additional bonus points.]
[Current daily task: Reinforce one survival barrier in your shelter and consume one warm meal.]
Yuan Shenzi stood there stunned, his heart pounding.
"What is this?"