On the fifth day after the extreme cold descended, at seven in the morning, Rong Hui opened her eyes under the reminder of her alarm clock.
Over the past few days, she had been waking up early every day to exercise on a regular schedule. Early morning was the coldest time of the day, and in order to prevent the frigid wave from freezing her into numbness, she had been going to bed early and getting up early each day.
She stuck her body out of the down sleeping bag, and the icy air surrounding her made her shiver violently. When she glanced at the thermometer, the indoor temperature alone had already dropped to minus 30°C. Even though Rong Hui had grown up in the north, she could not withstand a harsh winter without heating.
Moreover, temperatures like this were rare even in her northern hometown. Now there was no heating and no electricity. Who knew how many people would be frozen sick.
Fortunately, the outdoor equipment she had previously spent a large amount of money to purchase was still quite reliable. At least it allowed her to sleep well at night.
She checked her personal stats. The stamina bar read (1010/1010). It seemed the exercise she had done over the past few days had not been in vain. Her stamina limit was slowly increasing little by little. Rong Hui believed that quantitative change would eventually bring about qualitative change.
After eating breakfast and finishing her exercise, Rong Hui habitually filled up her personal stats and curled up on the sofa to observe the surrounding map she had drawn by hand.
From the second day when the power outage began until now, the hail and blizzard had never stopped. Repairing the electrical grid did not look promising, and the residential complex had not regained power either. The air conditioner and electric blanket could not be used. The phone and computer had also run out of power. Only the power bank still had a few remaining bars.
Before the power bank completely ran out, Rong Hui had used the offline map to hand draw the rough layout of the entire city on white paper. Key landmark buildings such as government buildings, libraries, and large supermarkets had also been marked.
This map had taken three days of her effort to complete. Rong Hui had the system and knew that the disasters would not stop. When social order eventually descended into chaos, she would no longer be able to hide among densely gathered crowds. Sometimes people were even more frightening than natural disasters.
The city she lived in, H City, was considered a relatively prosperous southern city, with well developed infrastructure and a large population. Most people lived in apartment buildings.
She circled the large shopping malls and ecological parks on the map with a red pen. The malls should have the weapons and precious metals she wanted to find. The ecological parks were far from the city center and sparsely populated. If the urban area fell into chaos later, they could serve as a possible refuge.
Soon it was twelve noon. As expected, Rong Hui finally heard the system announcement.
[Survivor Rong Hui
Congratulations on completing the stage mission: Survive successfully during Instance Days 1 to 5 while maintaining personal stats above 80%.
Please choose one of the following rewards:
A. Increase stamina limit by 100
B. System points +5
C. Quick Life-Saving Pill (after use, all personal stats recover by 50%)
The system has detected that you have received the sincere gratitude of two native residents. As a special reward, you may choose two of the three rewards.]
Rong Hui was momentarily stunned when she heard this. The gratitude of two native residents? That must have been the young couple on the fifth floor. Helping native residents actually came with rewards? It seemed that the system might be encouraging survivors to help the natives.
In any case, she had not helped others for the sake of rewards. With a pleased expression, Rong Hui began to consider her choice. She would definitely choose the third option. Being alone in an unfamiliar instance world, what she lacked most were life saving items. As for the first and second options, Rong Hui hesitated somewhat.
In the end, she still chose the increase of 100 to her stamina limit. System points were good, but they were not impossible to obtain. As long as she completed instances with high quality performance, points would naturally be settled afterward. However, as a weakling, increasing stamina was very difficult.
Once the selection was completed, a small black pill appeared in her palm. Rong Hui’s stamina value also changed to (900/1110). When she carefully sensed her body, she only felt that it had become much lighter.
Just as Rong Hui was happily enjoying the generous reward, downstairs in 401, the survivors gathered together were not in a very good mood.
The four men were all bundled up like balls, wearing layers of thick clothing in a messy pile, crowding together in the living room around a fire for warmth. Frost sores had formed on each of their ears and hands.
“Brother Chen, will it really be okay if we don’t complete that system mission?”
The man who was addressed as Brother Chen had an ugly expression on his face. “Do you think I don’t want to complete it? The four of us grown men, who among us bought daily necessities? We only have one bar of soap that we’re taking turns using.”
In the two hours before the disaster arrived, they had frantically hoarded supplies. They had stocked up on plenty of food, drinks, and clothes, but none of them had thought about buying daily necessities.
Now they were trapped inside the house by the hail and could not go out. Only then did they realize that their cleanliness value kept dropping. At first they had not cared, until the cleanliness value dropped below the red line and their health values began plummeting wildly.
In the end they found a bar of soap in the bathroom. The four of them took turns using it, barely pulling their cleanliness value up to 50%. As for the 80% required by the system mission, that was out of the question. Who could have guessed that cleanliness would be this important?
“Sigh. I wonder what the generous reward the system mentioned actually is…” The man used a chair leg to poke at the fire, his expression depressed.
Meanwhile, on the sixth floor, the “rich woman” Rong Hui, who had stocked up on ninety nine bars of soap alone, had already stored away the life-saving pill rewarded by the system and was currently learning how to wear the professional ski suit she had bought from an outdoor equipment store.
From yesterday until now, hail had not fallen for twenty four hours. Just a moment ago, the broadcast in the residential complex had announced that government supply vehicles were distributing survival supplies at the Citizen’s Square, and citizens were asked to bring their identification cards to collect them.
Although Rong Hui was not lacking in supplies, she really wanted to go out and observe the situation.
The temperature outside had now dropped to the terrifying level of minus 40°C. Rong Hui had never experienced such a low temperature before. Recently, every day she could hear crying echoing through the residential complex. The electricity that had been cut off on the second day of the extreme cold still had not been restored.
Fortunately, the ski suits she had purchased earlier were professionally waterproof and insulated. Rong Hui planned to wear warm layers inside and then put the ski suit on the outside. That should allow her to move around in such temperatures.
After putting on all her clothing, Rong Hui’s hands and feet had already become somewhat clumsy. She put on a down hood and face mask, then wore thick waterproof gloves. Once everything was prepared, she pushed open her door.
A blast of icy air rushed toward her face. In an instant, a layer of frost formed on Rong Hui’s eyelashes. She let out a soft breath, and the white vapor lingered around her for a long time without dispersing.
The corridor was covered with frozen white frost. Snowflakes continuously drifted in through the smashed windows. Rong Hui carefully walked downstairs, since the floor was extremely slippery.
When she passed the fifth floor, she happened to encounter the young couple. The two of them had clearly put on every piece of thick clothing they could find at home. The mismatched layers looked somewhat comical. Rong Hui did not give them any special looks, she simply nodded in greeting.
Continuing downward, several floors remained completely quiet. Rong Hui hoped that the residents had simply left earlier than she had, rather than something unfortunate happening to them at home.
As soon as she stepped out of the building entrance, the glistening white snow blocked the road completely. Rong Hui stepped into the snow, and it immediately reached the depth of her knees.
Over the past few days of repeated hail and freezing rain, the ground had originally already frozen solid. However, the blizzard that began last night had covered the earth with another layer of silver.
Step by step, she struggled forward through the deep snow. After leaving the residential complex gate, Rong Hui finally saw people on the road, all slowly heading toward Citizen’s Square.
…