[Dear passengers,
The next station is about to arrive.
Please prepare to disembark.
Next station: Extreme Cold Apocalypse Station.
Countdown 10 minutes: 600s, 599s, 598s…]
The train broadcast appeared right on time. After the announcement ended, the carriage immediately erupted into agitation. Waves of heated discussion broke out, and the Public Channel kept flashing with new messages.
“What is an Extreme Cold Apocalypse? Does anyone know?”
“Will it snow? I’m from the south, I’ve never seen snow before.”
“More than snow. If it’s extreme cold, there might even be hail!”
“I only have a hoodie, what should I do? The System Shop is too expensive. A down jacket costs 1 point, and I only have 3 points. I already spent some buying food. Can someone lend me two points?”
“Brother, what kind of dream are you having? Who knows whether you’ll even still be alive after the instance.”
“What kind of talk is that? If you don’t want to lend it, fine, but why curse me?”
“I served in the army for a few years. Any comrades want to form a team? Add me as a friend!”
“I’m hiring a bodyguard to protect me closely during the instance. I’ll pay 100,000 after this apocalypse instance ends.”
“100,000 is too stingy. Who would risk their life for that? You can exchange points for money in the system shop. I exchanged all my points for cash, hahaha. Instant riches overnight!”
All kinds of chaotic discussions filled the carriage, most of them meaningless complaints.
Rong Hui did not participate. She needed to make the most thorough preparations possible within the limited time.
Since the upcoming instance involved extreme cold, her thick down jacket would likely come in handy. Fortunately, because she had been traveling back to her northern hometown, she had already put on very thick clothing and boots in advance. Her starting equipment was not bad.
Entering the System Shop, Rong Hui indeed found many useful items for an extreme cold instance, such as heat packs and electric heaters.
However, the point prices were quite high, and she could not afford them.
After thinking for a moment, she decided to spend 5 points to exchange for 50,000 units of instance currency. Since the system provided this option, it must have a purpose. Under normal economic conditions, using currency to stockpile supplies in the instance should be much cheaper than buying items directly from the System Shop.
With the remaining 3 points, she exchanged for two additional backpack slots and one Survivor Basic Supply Pack.
She had already discovered many items in her photos that could be useful in this instance. What she lacked most right now was storage space.
As for the supply pack, she already had one, but it would be safer to stockpile another in case of emergencies.
Now her System Backpack contained:
Off road mountain bike ×1
Fully packed cycling bag ×1
Survivor Basic Supply Pack ×2
There were also 12 empty slots available for storage.
After putting on her down jacket and snow boots again and wrapping the wool scarf around her neck, Rong Hui felt slightly overheated in the warm train carriage.
The backpack she carried with her was now empty, but she still wore it on her back to avoid attracting attention.
Soon, the ten minute countdown ended.
A flash of white light passed through, and the carriage instantly became empty.
…
The sound of a soft, tinkling ringtone echoed near her ear.
Rong Hui slowly opened her eyes. Before her was a slightly yellowed ceiling. She was lying on a somewhat hard bed, and the phone beside her pillow kept vibrating.
Rong Hui picked up the phone and frowned when she saw the caller ID labeled “Team Leader Zhou the Exploiter.”
She had never seen this phone before, and she had no memory of this contact name.
The ringtone had been going on for a while. With no time to think too much, she answered the call.
“Hello…” Rong Hui spoke cautiously.
“So you finally answer the phone! Rong Hui! Do you even want this job anymore? Look what time it is! This isn’t just being late, this is absenteeism, do you understand? I think you don’t even know your own place…”
A rude male voice yelled at her through the phone. Rong Hui had only spoken a single word before the torrent of scolding poured out from the other side, leaving her no chance to interrupt.
She glanced at the time on the phone.
Monday, 10:00 a.m.
Alright. She roughly understood the situation now.
Rong Hui was not about to tolerate it.
“Are you insane? Can you speak properly? If not, I’m hanging up.”
Although she did not know why the person on the other end was also calling her Rong Hui, she clearly did not know him. Anyone would get angry if they were randomly scolded like that.
“Rong Hui, you’ve got nerve, don’t you! Fine then, don’t bother coming to work tomorrow. Actually, don’t come ever again!”
The man on the other side panted angrily, his shouting nearly bursting Rong Hui’s eardrums.
Rong Hui casually hung up. She had no intention of wasting time with him.
She had encountered many foolish supervisors like this while working part time during school and after graduation. They were all corporate workhorses themselves, yet the moment they gained a little authority, they became arrogant and domineering.
However, judging from the situation, the system had apparently given her the identity of an office worker in this instance.
She got up and examined her surroundings.
She was clearly inside a girl’s bedroom. Although the walls and ceiling showed signs of age, the owner had carefully laid a beige carpet on the floor. The bedsheets were decorated with sweet strawberry patterns. A blue stuffed toy hung from the wardrobe door beside the bed.
A pearl white desk stood by the window. Sunlight and birdsong drifted into the room through pale yellow curtains.
It was obvious that the room’s owner loved life very much.
This instance was called an Extreme Cold Disaster. Rong Hui felt the breeze coming through the window. The temperature seemed to be around 23 or 24 degrees Celsius, completely unrelated to extreme cold.
The winter clothing she had brought from the train now felt too warm.
Rong Hui quickly took off her down jacket and scarf and stored them in the System Backpack.
[Survivor Rong Hui,
You have entered the Extreme Cold Disaster instance.
At 12:00 noon, the disaster will descend.
Survive for 20 days to leave the instance.
Survive for 30 days to receive additional rewards.
Good luck.]
The system’s voice appeared at the perfect moment.
Rong Hui checked the phone.
It was already 10:05.
Less than two hours remained.
Fortunately, she had not wasted time arguing with that supervisor.
She opened her personal status.
[Survivor: Rong Hui
Age: 23
Stamina: 1000/1000
Cleanliness: 95/100
Satiety: 70/100
Health: 96/100]
All her values were green for now, so there was no immediate need to replenish anything.
When extreme cold arrived, it would bring transportation shutdowns, infrastructure collapse, closed shops, and halted production.
That would soon lead to supply shortages, social unrest, widespread frostbite, and famine.
Since she needed to survive at least 20 days in this instance, basic survival supplies had to be sufficient.
Simply put, she needed to start hoarding supplies immediately.
After spending several minutes thoroughly searching the room, Rong Hui found cash and a bank card belonging to the original owner.
Combined with the 50,000 yuan she had exchanged from the System Shop, she now had over 110,000 yuan available.
She also found the owner’s car keys, which solved the transportation problem.
Seeing that less than 50 minutes remained, Rong Hui grabbed the house keys and rushed out.
The original owner’s car was a Wuling Mini.
Rong Hui stared silently at the small pink car in front of her. The bow decoration on the front was so pink it almost hurt her eyes.
Well, having a car was still better than having none.
She did not have time to rent another car now. She had no idea what the situation would be once the disaster arrived.
For now, while everything was still normal, she needed to stockpile supplies as quickly as possible.
…