Ye Yi went back to the fire basin, sat down, and said to Xie Yi, “The snow’s stopped.”
Thinking he’d misheard, Xie Yi looked at her, puzzled. “Stopped?”
Only when Ye Yi nodded did he believe the snow had truly stopped.
He could finally make a trip back, all his supplies were left in the place he’d rented earlier. He looked at Ye Yi, torn, not knowing how to tell her, after all, he’d lied before, saying he had nowhere to stay in order to stay on.
Ye Yi reached out and lifted the plastic bag off an iron box. On a closer look, the baby greens had actually sprouted, little tender shoots poking up out of the soil, tiny green leaves on top. Truly adorable.
Today really was a good day!
While her luck held, she immediately began arming herself to the teeth. After handing Xie Yi a bag of hand warmers, she took another bag for herself and stuck them all over, stomach, back, legs, soles of her feet, sparing none. And that wasn’t all, she also ran to the bed, took out the hot-water bottles, refilled them with hot water, gave one to Xie Yi, and tucked the last into her own pocket.
She grabbed the keys from the coffee table, led Xie Yi out, locked the door, and got ready to set off, the whole sequence extremely swift.
Xie Yi accepted Ye Yi’s arrangements in a daze, utterly bewildered, not knowing what she planned to do next.
Reaching the stairwell, Ye Yi noticed the whole building was very quiet, not the faintest movement, quiet to the point of being abnormal.
Her and Xie Yi’s footsteps down the stairs could be heard throughout the building, but, thick-nerved, she didn’t dwell on it. Soon they reached the first-floor lobby, where the main door was now completely buried in snow.
Approaching the door, Ye Yi and Xie Yi each gripped a handle, exchanged a glance, then yanked hard backward and turned to run for the stairwell.
They didn’t stop until they’d run up the stairs. Turning to look at the doorway, they saw that once the door opened, only a small portion of the piled snow slid down to the floor, most of it stayed stacked, unmoving, in the doorway. The snow-mountain collapse she’d imagined didn’t happen.
Back at the door, Ye Yi raised her arm high, rose on her toes, and put her palm on the snow within reach. The familiar mechanical voice sounded: “A pile of snow detected. Gather?”
“Yes.”
Instantly the topmost cubic meter of snow vanished, the familiar white light appeared, and Ye Yi deftly picked it up and put it in the system Backpack. Then she gathered the snow below, and a cubic-meter patch immediately opened up in the doorway, only, the ground still bore the trace of where the snow had been.
Like this, gathering the upper snow first, then the lower, the road to the complex gate was slowly cleared.
Ye Yi didn’t stop until all the snow at the gate was gathered. By then her right hand was frozen bright red, but she didn’t dare take out the hot-water bottle to warm it, afraid the sudden shift from cold to hot would cause chilblains. In the end she couldn’t help rubbing her hands together for a bit and blowing on them for warmth.
This weather really was too cold, at least thirty-some degrees below zero. Out for only a short while, and a layer of frost had already formed on her eyelashes.
Thank goodness she’d stuck on hand warmers before coming out, otherwise, in a minus-thirty environment with just a down jacket, she probably wouldn’t have gone a few steps before turning back. She worked her hands and feet in place for a bit, and, feeling her frozen body give off heat again, lifted a foot to set off.
She hadn’t gone a few steps when Xie Yi pulled her to a stop. Puzzled, she turned back and asked, “What is it?”
The moment she opened her mouth, the warm breath she exhaled turned into white mist floating before her eyes, and the next second a gust of cold air drifted into her mouth. “Hiss—” truly too cold.
Xie Yi gestured west with his chin and said, sparing his words, “Over there.”
The cold wind made him unwilling to say a single word more, even so, he couldn’t help shivering. His rented place was to the west, if he didn’t go retrieve his things, he might not get back before the map ended, and the supplies inside would be wasted.
Frozen stiff, Ye Yi had no wish at all to ask why, she simply turned west and started clearing snow. Along the way, seeing toppled trees, she gathered the boards and blocks straight into the system Backpack. Following Xie Yi’s directions, they walked for over an hour before reaching the destination.
Xie Yi led Ye Yi to open his rented place and walked in. Ye Yi followed close behind, stood in the living room, and looked around. Xie Yi actually had such a big place, only now did it dawn on her: hadn’t he said he had nowhere to stay?
She looked at Xie Yi’s back and narrowed her eyes. Sure enough, he’d lied to her earlier.
Hah, a man’s mouth, a lying devil.
Seeing Xie Yi about to turn, she instantly composed her expression and pretended she’d noticed nothing. Seeing Xie Yi beckon, Ye Yi instinctively walked over, reached a bedroom doorway, and peered in: oh mama, there were this many briquettes, had he cleaned out the old man’s whole shop?
Xie Yi leaned calmly against the door frame and pointed at the briquettes. Ye Yi understood in an instant, stepped up, and briskly put them all into the system Backpack. Once everything was in, she opened the Backpack for a look, a full 4 slots taken, 100 briquettes per slot, 400 briquettes in all. With this, even without gathering wood, they could last until the map ended.
There was also a pile in the corner, supplies Xie Yi had bought at the supermarket, about 5 bags’ worth. The system Backpack had not a single slot to spare. Ye Yi reorganized Xie Yi’s supplies and still had 3 bags. She could only take out the gun, put the frozen food and perishables into one bag, freeing up 2 slots, store Xie Yi’s 2 bags in the system Backpack, and hand the remaining 1 bag to Xie Yi to carry.
Once everything was stored in the system Backpack, the whole place turned empty.
Seeing there were no supplies left to take, Xie Yi and Ye Yi left, one after the other.
Enduring the cold wind, Ye Yi made another trip to Sister Ma’s place. Standing at the door and hearing the voices inside, she was satisfied just to know they were safe. She borrowed 100 briquettes from Xie Yi, set them at Sister Ma’s door, and, before leaving, knocked hard to remind them to bring the briquettes in.
Hiding to one side, she watched Sister Ma and her husband Lin Hai carry all the briquettes inside before leaving, reassured.
On the way back, Ye Yi didn’t let a single snow-toppled roadside tree go by, she gathered them all, the boards and wood going into the system Backpack.
Xie Yi followed behind, carrying a plastic bag, like a supply-toting errand-hand-cum-bodyguard.
The cold wind howled. Ye Yi felt all her exposed skin had frozen into ice, her upper and lower teeth long since clenched tight. Although she’d stuck on lots of hand warmers, after being out this long their effect had greatly diminished.
If she didn’t get back soon, she felt she’d freeze to death.
Looking around, a white heaven and earth, houses all buried in snow, it was as if the whole world held only the two of them.
Not far on, she spotted the complex’s sign ahead. Ye Yi hopped in place a few times, ready to speed up and get home to a warm fire.
Soon all the roadside trees had been gathered clean by Ye Yi, and the snow leading to the gate was all gathered too.
As for the gathered snow-water, since the system Backpack was full with nowhere to store it, Ye Yi could only reluctantly give it up.
Passing the complex gate, she thought she heard someone knocking on glass. Ye Yi stopped, pricked up her ears to listen, then turned to look toward the sound.
A man with dyed yellow hair was pressed against the second-floor glass of a roadside shopfront, slapping the glass with his palm without stop, as if terrified no one would hear.
Ye Yi looked back at Xie Yi and asked, “Should we go?”
The shop below beside it had all its window glass shattered, the door torn off, the interior piled with snow, no telling what had happened there.
And what role had this yellow-haired man played in it?
“You decide.”
Ye Yi looked at Yellow-Hair again, thin and frail, not the fighting type. The man’s cries for help kept ringing in her ears. Sigh, help where she could, she couldn’t write a person off by looks alone.
She walked to the snowdrift in front of the shopfront and began gathering and clearing it, stopping only when a last bit of snow blocked the first-floor door, then called Xie Yi to head into the complex.
The last bit of snow, he could get out through on his own.
When they’d climbed to the sixth floor, in the silent stairwell, besides their own footsteps, another set of footsteps suddenly appeared.
Ye Yi pulled Xie Yi to a stop. The sound came from below. She leaned over to look down, saw nothing, only heard the footsteps keep coming, then stop abruptly.
Her heart lurched. It couldn’t be that man from just now who’d followed them up?
At that thought, her gaze fixed on the plastic bag in Xie Yi’s hand. That man might not have been calling for help at all!
No time to explain much, she grabbed Xie Yi and scrambled up in a burst.
Ye Yi and Xie Yi climbed faster, and the footsteps below sped up too. Listening to the sound, faster than theirs, closing the four-floor gap between them.
Heedless of exhaustion, she climbed up with every bit of her strength.
Listening to the rapid climbing footsteps below, Xie Yi understood everything in an instant and took the initiative to pull Ye Yi and quicken the pace upward.
Soon they reached the iron door on the twelfth floor. Ye Yi stopped, no time even to catch her ragged breath, and dug through her pocket.
Listening to the footsteps growing closer from the stairwell, the hand searching for the keys couldn’t help trembling. She finally found and pulled out the keys, but, panicked, couldn’t get them into the keyhole no matter what.
Seeing this, Xie Yi took the keys from her hand, slid them into the lock, opened the door cleanly, and firmly pushed her inside first. Ye Yi quickly turned to look out the door—Yellow-Hair, covered in snow, his face fierce, came running from the stairwell.
Ye Yi looked anxiously at Xie Yi, still outside, and cried, “Hurry in!”
At her call, Xie Yi took a big stride in. Ye Yi quickly grabbed the iron bars and slammed the iron door shut, only for it to be caught at the last second by a large hand. Her heart clenched instantly, but, forcing down her fear, she pulled the iron door hard with both hands, not letting the hand in.
Hearing the commotion behind him, Xie Yi immediately turned, saw a large hand reaching in, materialized a dagger in his palm, and stabbed it straight through, then cleanly pulled the dagger back out.
Yellow-Hair’s hand, stabbed by the dagger, jerked back in an instant, and he clutched the wounded back of his hand, wailing. Ye Yi seized the chance to slam the door shut. Yellow-Hair looked up at the iron door she’d closed and, heedless of the bleeding wound, stepped up, grabbed the bars, and shook them ceaselessly, cursing foully, “You sons of dogs, open the door now, or when I get in I’ll make you pay.”
Yellow-Hair—Wang Er, seemed to feel no pain at all, gripping the bars with both hands and shaking them back and forth, blood flowing from the back of his hand onto the iron door, and, feeling nothing, shook the door with a manic face.
Seeing this, Ye Yi couldn’t help stepping back, afraid the man would reach in and grab her.
Looking at the iron door, no telling how long it would hold, she turned back into the room and ran to the kitchen to see if there was anything she could use to scare the man off.
Seeing Ye Yi go into the kitchen, Xie Yi also put his hand on the bars, and the whole iron door instantly turned into a hedgehog of spikes.
Wang Er’s palm was immediately impaled by the iron spikes, his howl of agony audible throughout the building. Hearing it, Ye Yi ran out for a look and saw Yellow-Hair, screaming in pain, pulling his hand off the spikes, casting a terrified glance at Xie Yi standing inside, and crying out, “Monster!”
With that, he clutched his wound and ran off.
As Yellow-Hair left, bright red blood ran from the bars down onto the spotless tiles, dripping all along the path to the stairwell until it was out of sight.
Only when Xie Yi shut the wooden door did Ye Yi come back to herself. She looked at him blankly and asked, “Weren’t we not allowed to harm them?”
How could he stab a native and be completely fine himself?
“As long as you hold no intent to kill, it’s fine.” Xie Yi answered mildly. As long as you found the loophole in the mysterious consciousness, these natives weren’t so untouchable.
If he wanted, he had a hundred ways to deal with them. The mysterious consciousness could only stop their group from actively killing, if these people died by accident on their own, that was none of their concern.
Ye Yi nodded. So that was it, she’d thought they couldn’t touch a single hair on these natives.
Knowing this, she wouldn’t be so hamstrung in later maps. She said, “Thank you.”
Ye Yi returned the kitchen cleaver to the kitchen. It had been too thrilling just now, now that she’d calmed down, she felt her hands trembling a little.
Clenching her fists tight, she warned herself inwardly: never save people carelessly from now on, not everyone was Sister Ma.
Legs a bit weak, she forced herself over to the fire basin, plopped down, and glanced inside, only a little ember left.
It seemed the fire wasn’t far from going out. Steadying her arms to stop them trembling, she diverted her attention by putting wood into the basin to light a fire.
Watching Ye Yi’s trembling hands, Xie Yi said nothing, just quietly took the wood from her and started the fire.
There was no use saying much about this, she’d have to digest it herself. Going through it now was better than going through it alone in some other map later.
Experiencing it early, keeping her guard up more, she might live a little longer.
Warming herself by the cozy firelight, Ye Yi slowly grew warm all over, and only then discovered she’d been so scared she’d even forgotten to take off her shoes. She reached down and took them off, damp inside, and leaned them by the fire basin to dry slowly.
She rested a while, doing her best not to replay what had just happened. She opened the wristband, it was already past 1 p.m. Only then did she remember they still hadn’t eaten. She got up, took 4 sweet potatoes from the cabinet, and put them in the farthest corner of the fire basin to roast.
Turning, she saw Xie Yi had already lit the stove. She went back to the kitchen and started washing rice, pouring the rinse water into the basin she’d prepared to water the vegetables, water was running low, so she had to save it where she could. Once the rice was washed clean, she poured it into the stone pot, added water, and carried it to the stove to cook.
As for a dish, they’d have hot pot!
No one knew whether death or the map’s end would come first, so what was the use of saving so much good food?
She simply took out the meat, cut off a big piece, sliced it, and marinated it ready to use. She sliced potatoes and tomatoes, washed the baby greens, diced the carrot, then took from the hot-pot-ingredient bag Sister Ma had given her: two boxes of fatty beef, two bags of tripe, a bag of corn. Looking at the mushroom base, tomato base, and spicy hot-pot base in the bag, she was stumped, which was best to eat?
She stuck her head out and asked Xie Yi, who was adding boards, “Can you handle spicy food?”
At the sound, Xie Yi looked toward the kitchen and nodded. Seeing his nod, Ye Yi went back to the kitchen and kept prepping ingredients.
Since he could handle spicy, they’d have an authentic spicy hot pot.
She took a small bowl, minced garlic, cut green onion and chili into rings, then poured in some soy sauce and sprinkled some salt. Conditions were crude, so this would have to do for now, she’d stir-fry the hot-pot base later and add some to the dipping sauce.
She called Xie Yi in, and together they carried the prepped side dishes to the stool she’d set beside the fire basin. Finally she carried over a big iron pot and returned to the fire basin.
By then Xie Yi had already used his ability to raise the lid over the fire basin by 50 centimeters. He took the big iron pot and set it on the grate.
Ye Yi crouched, put her hand on the pot, and, feeling a bit of heat, poured in some corn oil. She opened a pack of hot-pot base—quite big, a whole block would be terribly spicy, so she’d use half.
She went to the kitchen, cut it in half, put the other half back in the bag, and, carrying the half in her hand, returned to the fire basin and put it into the iron pot. The chili oil fused with the sizzling corn oil, immediately giving off waves of crackling sizzles.
The aroma unique to hot pot spread through the air. She took a deep breath, wow, so fragrant, the familiar smell.
Her mouth watered on its own and she swallowed. As the temperature rose, the hot-pot base slowly began to melt. She lifted the spatula and stirred left and right, unable to stop sniffing as she went.
Once the base had fully melted, she poured in the marinated meat, potatoes, and other slow-to-cook foods, stir-fried them, then added water and put the lid on to simmer.
Seeing this, Xie Yi added two big blocks of wood and some broken boards to the fire basin, cranking up the heat until the fire blazed. Before long the water in the pot boiled. She pulled the dishes on the stool closer, so it’d be easier to swish the meat and vegetables, everyone cooking what they wanted.
She picked up the mixed dipping sauce, spooned some hot-pot base into it, and split half a bowl for Xie Yi.
She started first, swishing some fatty beef into the pot. The scalding slices tumbled about in the fiery-red broth, soaking up the spicy base.
Xie Yi added another big block of wood to the fire basin, got up to wipe his hands in the kitchen, and came back with two sets of bowls and chopsticks. He opened the stone pot, the rice was done just right, ladled a bowl for Ye Yi, ladled one for himself, and only then sat down to eat.
Rice with hot pot, in this cold map, it counted as a rather delicious indulgence.
Ye Yi was too satisfied for words, just cooking meat and vegetables with her head down, once they were done, she’d dip them in the sauce, add a mouthful of rice, and feel happy as an immortal.
A meal she’d normally finish in a dozen-odd minutes took a full forty-some minutes this time.
After eating, they cleaned up the pots and dishes, and the foods needing preservation went back into the system Backpack. Finally, back on the iron bed in the living room, she rested a bit, then suddenly remembered the supplies brought back from Xie Yi’s place hadn’t been sorted. She took them out, put them in the living room, and left Xie Yi to sort his own.
With nothing to do, she went back to the iron box of baby greens, crouched, carefully lifted the plastic bag on top, and, looking at the little green shoots, couldn’t help murmuring to them: You’ve got to grow up quick. In a few days when you’re a little bigger, I’ll take you out to sun yourselves and do some photosynthesis.
She had no fertilizer on hand, otherwise a little feeding would help them grow faster.
The blizzard started again that night. In the following days, they repeated their earlier life. Every day they woke, ate, checked on the baby greens, chatted with each other when bored. Ye Yi took Xie Yi as her teacher and learned some simple self-defense, preparing for the maps ahead.
After lunch, she’d rest an hour, get up, take the small, simple iron gun Xie Yi had made with his ability, and practice aiming and shooting with hollow iron bullets.
She had little strength, up close she definitely couldn’t beat others, so she practiced the iron gun first, later she could attack enemies from range.
Day after day passed like this. In between, someone came knocking on the iron door, and Ye Yi mostly ignored them.
Only once, when a young mother came knocking with a little girl. Seeing how weak they looked, she finally couldn’t hold back and, before the mother left, set two boxes of baby greens, now sprouting leaves, and two bags of noodles at the door.
Holding the little girl, the young mother wept and thanked her at the door endlessly, leaving only after Ye Yi told her to go.
Sigh, her abilities were limited after all, this was all she could do.
Counting the days like this, at last, in the final three days, the blizzard stopped falling. By now the town was completely buried in snow. Standing at the window and looking down, the road surfaces she’d gathered clean before were once again buried.
In the places she hadn’t gathered, the snow had piled to nearly two stories high. She couldn’t help worrying about Sister Ma: what was her family’s situation now?
As she turned to go back to the living room, Xie Yi pulled her to a stop. She looked at him, puzzled. Xie Yi turned to look at the sky, and Ye Yi followed his gaze, only to see a winged person soaring through the sky.
“Who is he?” Ye Yi stared at the gray wings flapping up and down in the air, too astonished to speak. There couldn’t really be someone whose ability was growing a pair of wings, could there?
Xie Yi was baffled too, it was the first time he’d seen someone with this ability.
The man flying outside spotted them too, streaked across the sky, flew over, and exclaimed excitedly, “Ah, you two are actually still alive!”
After flying for so long, he’d finally seen living people.
“Who are you?” Ye Yi found the man’s words a bit grating and said nothing more. She put a hand behind her back and materialized the iron gun Xie Yi had made her, ready to use him for practice if things went wrong.
She’d practiced this long and still hadn’t tried it in a real fight.
Beating his gray wings, the man answered calmly, “My name’s Li Yu.”
In fact he was about to freeze to death. Heaven knew that although he’d grown a pair of wings, he wasn’t a real bird, the feathers had no so-called insulating effect.
He really didn’t know why everyone else got to hole up in a shelter, while he had to scour the skies for survivors so miserably.
Hearing the two words “Li Yu,” Ye Yi felt something was off. Wasn’t that the “Li Yu” on the very first backpack she’d picked up on the plane?
Surely it couldn’t be that much of a coincidence!
Xie Yi discreetly stepped forward, using his body to block Ye Yi, and, staring straight at Li Yu, demanded, “What did you come here for?”
“Don’t be so tense.” Li Yu answered with a smile. Looking at Xie Yi’s tall, imposing frame through the window, he immediately raised both hands to show he was harmless. “I’ve got no intention of hurting you, besides, one of me is no match for the two of you.”
How was he this unlucky, saddled with a task like this?
Seeing not the slightest softening in Xie Yi’s expression, he explained nervously, “I’m with the Love and Peace Search-and-Rescue Squad. I’m in charge of searching for any survivors nearby.”
Such a chuunibyou name [1]cringey, self-important, from Japanese “middle-school-second-year syndrome” jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2933368_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2933368_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); sounded truly awkward coming from his mouth. Ah, would that man stop staring at him, he was really afraid of getting beaten up.
“Search-and-rescue squad?” Ye Yi said, puzzled. Was there some Survivors’ Alliance? The next second she heard Li Yu’s answer and couldn’t help smacking herself.
“That’s right, though I’m the only one out here.” Realizing he’d let it slip, Li Yu quickly added, “But our Survivors’ Alliance is teeming with talent—”
Ye Yi cut off his grandstanding and went straight to the point: “Get to the point.”
“The blizzard came down too hard, and a lot of the natives have frozen to death. Now that the snow’s stopped, we want to find survivors to help, rescue the natives here and help them set up a new shelter at People’s Square, where there’s free food being handed out.” Li Yu recalled what his boss had said before he left and rattled it off.
Seeing them stay silent and afraid they’d refuse to help, he was about to bring out his temptation tactic.
“Sure.” Ye Yi nodded in agreement. Even without him coming over, she’d been planning to go out later and see whether anyone else was still alive.
She looked up at Xie Yi ahead of her, she just didn’t know whether he’d be willing.
Xie Yi turned back just in time to catch Ye Yi’s inquiring gaze and quietly nodded.
Li Yu stalled for a moment, but was glad they were willing to help of their own accord. In his haste he blurted out the condition he’d have offered if no one was willing: “Uh, for going out to help, our boss provides 5 bottles of plant growth serum a day.”
“Plant growth serum?” Ye Yi’s interest was piqued. They actually had that?
From the name alone she knew it accelerated plant growth. If she had this, plus seeds, she’d never fear starving anywhere. She wanted it.
“Right. Every evening at 6, I’ll come deliver you 10 bottles of plant growth serum.” With that, Li Yu flapped his wings and flew off. No time to say more, he still had many places to go and had to hurry.
Seeing Li Yu fly off, Ye Yi turned back into the living room and began preparations. She wanted to first go check on Sister Ma’s family.
Xie Yi followed in and asked oddly, “There are only three days left before the map ends. Are you really going out to save those people?”
Those people out there, who knew whether they were bad or good? Or were they like that other group, out only to earn points?
“If we don’t save them, can your conscience rest easy?” Ye Yi crouched to dig through supplies and countered. When she had the ability to help others and didn’t, even if she hid here, held out to the last day, and won the most points, she might never get over that hurdle in the days to come.
Although she couldn’t help everyone, saving one was saving one.
She just didn’t know for what purpose this “boss” of Li Yu’s was saving people.
She dug out a bag of hand warmers, tore open the packaging, stuck them on her body, filled a hot-water bottle with hot water, and, holding up a bag of warmers, looked up at Xie Yi. “Are you going or not?”
If not, she wouldn’t give them to him, save the waste.
Hearing the question, Xie Yi came to his senses. She was only someone entering a map for the first time, how could she possibly know such information? He blamed himself for being oversuspicious, immediately reached out to take the warmers, and, showing his resolve to go, said decisively, “Going.”
Once Xie Yi was fully armed, Ye Yi checked the system Backpack again, made sure no weapon was left behind, and, done, briskly opened the door and set off.
Downstairs, she quickly gathered all the snow leading to the gate. She got her bearings toward Sister Ma’s place and headed straight for it.
She walked all the way to Sister Ma’s door and didn’t see a single person come out. Everyone hadn’t frozen to death, had they?
Standing at the door, Ye Yi suddenly didn’t dare open it, afraid of seeing some terrible scene inside. She hesitated at the door for a long while, and in the end it was Xie Yi who decisively opened it, went in for a look, and came out saying, “No one inside.”
“How can that be?” Ye Yi couldn’t believe it, how could there be no one? She ran in and searched all around, seeing only traces that people had been there, but indeed no one inside.
Where had Sister Ma and the others gone? Why weren’t they home?
The rooms showed no sign of robbery or struggle, they must have left of their own accord.
There was nothing Ye Yi could do. Her knowledge of Sister Ma’s family was limited to this place, she knew nothing else. She checked the other nearby households too, no one home at any, so she could only keep gathering the snow on the road.
The sky gradually darkened. Ye Yi, without a moment’s rest, had gathered most of the snow on the town’s roads, what remained were the alleys and the interiors of the complexes.
Her stomach aching with hunger, Ye Yi followed Xie Yi and felt her way back to their lodging in the dark.
Frozen outside all day, the first thing Ye Yi did on returning to the living room was start a fire. Enduring her trembling hands, she lit the fire basin, warmed up for a while, and only then slowly came back to herself.
Thinking that once today passed, in two more days they could leave the map, she suddenly lost that pressing urge to hoard food.
There was still plenty of food left in the cabinet, enough for their next two days of survival.
Xie Yi took over the cooking, imitating Ye Yi to prepare hot pot. Full and content, the two rested a while by the fire basin. Then Ye Yi got up, went to the balcony to check, and, looking at the little package tossed on the ground, bent to pick it up and opened it: ten small glass bottles, each full of green liquid.
She went back to the living room and called Xie Yi to seal the alloy door by the window shut, studding the outer door with nails all over, leaving not even a crack, that way they wouldn’t fear anyone getting in. Otherwise, if Li Yu climbed in through the window, all the supplies they’d worked so hard to store would be gone.
From the package she’d just brought in, Ye Yi took out five bottles of plant growth serum and handed them to Xie Yi. Then from her own share she took one bottle out to test, and stored all the rest in the system Backpack.
Back in the kitchen she picked up a bowl, opened a glass bottle, dripped one drop of green water into it, then poured in some bottled mineral water to dilute it, about half a bowl. She carefully carried it to the fire basin and sprinkled it finely over the baby greens by hand.
After a while, she noticed the baby greens were slowly changing, but very slowly, probably because the serum had been diluted or was too little.
Watching a while, she couldn’t see much difference. Forget it, she’d observe again tomorrow morning.
The 29th day soon arrived, with only two days left before the map ended.
First thing in the morning, Ye Yi checked on the baby greens. Looking closely, the green leaves were clearly a bit bigger than those in the box beside them, it seemed the plant growth serum worked. She stored the glass bottle left in the kitchen the day before into the system Backpack. After freshening up, she made a simple meal and went out with Xie Yi.
Today she planned to see whether there were any more survivors in her own complex. Standing below the other unit buildings, with no loudspeaker on hand, she could only cup her hands into a ring at her mouth and shout, “Anyone still alive?”
She shouted three times in a row, no response.
After waiting a while with no one coming out, she moved to the next building, gathering snow and calling out, building by building. She called out at five or six buildings with no response, and by then her heart sank.
Surely not a single person in the whole complex had survived?
Standing at the last three buildings, she shouted with all her strength, “Is anyone alive? If so, please make a sound. Someone’s set up a shelter at People’s Square where there’s free food being handed out, everyone can go get some.”
She shouted twice, still no one came out.
On the last call, seeing that Ye Yi was about to shout her throat raw, Xie Yi stopped her. “Rest a bit, I’ll shout.”
A grown man’s voice was louder than a girl’s.
Xie Yi cupped his hands into a ring at his mouth and shouted loudly twice, and just as they were about to give up and leave, someone finally came out.
It was a group of middle-aged men, walking out with sticks in hand.
The honest-looking man at the front asked weakly, “Is what you said true? Is someone really handing out food there?”
“Believe it or not, we’re only responsible for passing the news to you.” Xie Yi said coldly. He had no obligation to explain to them.
With that, he turned and pulled away Ye Yi, who wanted to explain.
The snow on the road was already cleared, the rest this group of grown men could handle themselves. Now time was life, more time meant more people saved, the time spent explaining could save more people.
Gathering snow and finding people, complex by complex like this, was truly too slow, but there was no better way.
While they gathered snow on their side, they could occasionally hear Li Yu flying overhead elsewhere, shouting through a loudspeaker he’d found from somewhere.
With both sides working, efficiency shot up. Sometimes before Ye Yi had finished gathering the snow, she could hear shouts from inside a building. The town slowly began to return to its hustle and bustle.
By nightfall, Ye Yi felt she could no longer lift her arms at all. Over these two days she didn’t even know how much snow she’d gathered, or how much snow-water she’d wasted at the roadside.
On the way back it was all Xie Yi’s doing, she was just in charge of sitting by the fire basin, warming up, eating, and sleeping.
The final day finally arrived, to Ye Yi’s anticipation. Once tonight’s 6 p.m. passed, this map would end, and they could return to Blue Star.
Ye Yi walked out of the complex to find that, after a day’s rest, the natives had come out early on their own, taking up tools to help clear the remaining snow. With everyone working together, the whole town’s snow was soon cleared.
Without the piled snow, the whole town seemed to return to its original appearance, and more surviving people walked out of their houses.
Although many had lost their precious lives in this blizzard, the survivors still had to go on living, they could only bear the grief in their hearts and strive to live on strong.
With the last hour before the map ended, Ye Yi searched People’s Square for a long while but couldn’t find Sister Ma’s family, nor did she see Li Yu and the others. She could only return, disappointed, to the rented complex with Xie Yi.
Back in the living room, Ye Yi dug out the rent Xie Yi had paid earlier, arranged it neatly on the coffee table, and left a note on top, hoping Sister Ma’s family would see it when they returned.
The iron bed in the living room, dismantle what should be dismantled, the pots and dishes washed clean and put back in place, the fire basin and stove she’d bought, and various odds and ends, all put into a box and stored in the system Backpack.
She glanced at the cabinet, there was still a bit of food left, which she arranged neatly on the coffee table. The cushions on the floor were all put back, the windows all shut, and everything restored to how it had been when she first arrived.
Xie Yi stood on the balcony and used his ability to restore the alloy door and window to their original state.
Looking at the briquettes still unused on the floor, Ye Yi looked up at Xie Yi and asked, “Do you still want these?”
Xie Yi shook his head indifferently, he couldn’t take these out with him anyway, they’d be useless to him.
Ye Yi put them all into the system Backpack. Finally she checked it: Slot 1, fire basin. Slot 2, stove. Slot 3, in one bag: 10 bottles of plant growth serum + pliers + a small square iron pot (made by Xie Yi with the tongs at her request). Slot 4, remaining supplies. Slot 5, 60 briquettes. Slot 6, 2 starter packs. Slot 7, gun + fruit knife (one bag). Slot 8, five planting boxes not yet fully harvested. Slot 9, the iron gun Xie Yi had given her. Slot 10, the dismantled iron bed (maybe she’d use it later).
After a final look around, with nothing left behind, she stood on the balcony with Xie Yi, looking at the firelight rising from the direction of the square and the round moon in the sky.
At last it was all over, or rather, a new beginning was about to arrive.
Before leaving, she couldn’t help looking at Xie Yi beside her, this man of few words who had helped her so much. Xie Yi’s pitch-black eyes gazed deeply at Ye Yi, if he didn’t look now, who knew when they’d meet again.
Finally, his voice as restrained as ever, he couldn’t help saying with concern, “Be careful in the other maps. Whatever you do, don’t trust anyone. You have to stay alive and wait…”
References[+]