Yuan Shenzi woke up with his face buried in snow.
The cold hit him like a blade dragged across bare skin. It wasn't the gentle chill of a winter morning. It was vicious, piercing straight through his thin white office shirt and black trousers. Snow had soaked into his socks and dress shoes, turning his feet into blocks of ice. His fingers, pressed against the frozen ground, had already lost all feeling.
He lifted his head slowly, snow clinging to his lashes. His breath came out in thick white clouds that froze almost instantly. Above him, the sky stretched endlessly gray, a uniform dull sheet with no sun, no clouds, only heavy snowflakes drifting down in silent, relentless waves. The temperature felt far below zero, perhaps twenty degrees below, or worse.
Wasn't I just leaving the office at 9 PM?
The thought surfaced sluggishly through the fog in his mind. He remembered the fluorescent lights, the stack of reports on his desk, the quiet hum of the air conditioner. Now there was only this frozen hell.
Shenzi pushed himself up on numb arms, stamping his feet to force blood back into them. The motion sent sharp needles of pain through his calves. He scanned his surroundings. This was supposed to be a busy street in the city center, now it looked like a graveyard. Abandoned cars sat half-buried under thick drifts of snow. Shop windows were shattered, their contents scattered and quickly disappearing under fresh powder. The wind howled between buildings, carrying distant, muffled screams and something far more unsettling: low, wet, guttural moans that rose and fell with the gusts.
He clenched his jaw to stop his teeth from chattering. Panic would kill him faster than the cold. Hypothermia could set in within thirty minutes if he stayed exposed like this. No phone signal, he had already checked out of habit. No lights anywhere. The entire city had gone dark.
Everyone from Blue Star has been transported here. The strange thought floated into his head unbidden, as if whispered by the wind itself. He didn't know where it came from, but it felt true. This wasn't just a freak storm. This was something else entirely.
Shenzi started moving. Every step was deliberate. He kept close to the buildings, using whatever cover he could find. His analytical mind kicked in automatically, the same one that had helped him climb the corporate ladder through careful risk assessment and quiet calculations. He was not the type to scream or run blindly. He observed. He planned.
Ahead, dark figures shuffled through the snow. At first he thought they were other survivors. Then he noticed the way they moved, slow, stiff, relentless. Their skin had a bluish-gray tint, frost clinging to their hair and ragged clothes. One turned its head toward him, empty eyes reflecting nothing. A zombie. Or something close enough.
He didn't freeze in terror. Instead, he noted the details clinically: They seem slowed by the cold, but they don't stop.
Two blocks away, a large supermarket loomed, a multi-story hypermarket with a wide glass facade, now cracked and half-obscured by snowdrifts. It looked promising. Multiple floors. Possibly storage rooms underground. If anything in this frozen nightmare still held supplies, it would be there.
As he pushed forward, his body began to betray him. His fingers had turned white. Uncontrollable shivering wracked his frame. His vision blurred at the edges, and each breath burned like swallowing shards of ice. The wind cut through his clothes like knives, stinging every inch of exposed skin. The smell of frost mixed with a faint, sickly-sweet odor of decay carried on the air.
In the distance, he heard fresh screams.
A small group of survivors, four or five people in thin jackets and jeans—were desperately trying to break into a convenience store. One man had managed to smash the glass door. The others rushed inside. But two shambling figures closed in from the side. The zombies moved slowly, yet the panicked humans made fatal mistakes. One survivor slipped on ice. Before he could rise, the creatures were on him.
Shenzi ducked behind a snow-covered car, watching from cover. The man's screams were sharp at first, then quickly weakened. Ice crystals visibly formed on his exposed neck and face as the cold claimed him faster than the zombies' teeth. His body stiffened, skin turning pale blue even as the creatures tore into him. The other survivors abandoned him without hesitation, grabbing what they could before fleeing deeper into the store.
Shenzi's face remained expressionless, though his heart pounded heavily against his ribs.
Helping them will only get me killed. Prioritize myself.
He turned away and continued toward the supermarket. The decision was cold, logical, and final. Guilt had no place in a world where freezing to death was faster than being eaten.
By the time the supermarket entrance came into view, Shenzi was barely holding on. His legs felt like lead. Black spots danced in his vision. The massive glass doors were frozen half-open, snow piled against the frame. He could see rows of dark shelves inside, promising shelter if nothing else.
Just a little further.
His knees buckled as he reached the entrance. He caught himself on the doorframe, breath coming in shallow, painful gasps. The cold had won. He could feel death creeping in—numbness spreading from his extremities toward his core.
Then, everything changed.
A translucent blue panel materialized in front of his eyes, glowing softly against the gray world.
[Infinite Resource System has bound to Host: Yuan Shenzi.]
A cold, mechanical voice spoke directly inside his mind, emotionless and precise.
[Rule: Every day at dawn (06:00), you will receive one completely unlimited item.]
Shenzi stared, too stunned to move. The panel shimmered.
[It is the first dawn after transportation. Congratulations, Host. You have received: Unlimited Thermal Blankets.]
In his numb, frozen hands, a perfectly folded thermal blanket suddenly appeared. Thick, silver-gray fabric, soft yet sturdy. The moment his fingers touched it, gentle warmth radiated outward, seeping into his palms like a promise.
The heat was real. It fought back the biting cold for the first time since he had woken up.
Shenzi remained silent for several long seconds, simply staring at the blanket. His analytical mind raced, processing the implications even as his body began to thaw slightly.
He wrapped the thick material around his shoulders. The warmth spread across his chest and back, chasing away the worst of the shivering. For the first time in what felt like hours, he could think clearly again.
Pushing through the frozen doors, he stepped deeper into the dark supermarket. Snow crunched under his shoes. Outside, the blizzard howled louder, and the low moans of zombies grew closer. On the horizon, the gray sky lightened ever so slightly—the first hint of an unnatural dawn.
Shenzi pulled the blanket tighter around himself, eyes scanning the shadowy interior.
"Unlimited…?" he whispered, voice hoarse but steady.