At four o'clock in the morning, while everyone was still immersed in the revelry, the snow fell silently.

At first, the snowflakes were like sprinkled salt, then they fluttered like willow catkins, and finally, the snow fell like goose feathers, covering the sky and earth, as if trying to wash away all the impurities.

Ye Ning and Xiao Jingchen were fast asleep, but for some reason, perhaps sensing something, Ye Ning suddenly woke up.

"Why is it a bit cold? Has the temperature started dropping again?" Ye Ning didn't want to wake Xiao Jingchen. Since she couldn't sleep anyway, Ye Ning simply put on a cashmere cloak and went to the living room.

It's gotten colder again; my bare feet felt a bit chilly on the thick carpet.

She went to the window and looked outside.

Snowflakes, like goose feathers, drifted outside the window, blooming like epiphyllum flowers in the night sky.

It turns out it's snowing; no wonder it's so cold.

This should be the first snowfall after the end of the zombie era. After this snowfall, there will be three more snowfalls, each of which will cause the temperature to drop by more than ten degrees Celsius, until it drops to nearly minus 50 degrees Celsius, at which point this temperature drop will end.

Then came a decade of severe cold.

Ye Ning turned on the nightlight, lit the fireplace, brewed a cup of hot coffee, and sat by the window, quietly watching the snowflakes fall one by one.

In the dim light of the fireplace, her silhouette appeared particularly soft and serene.

She sipped her coffee quietly, her eyes lowered, and the warmth from the fireplace made her feel cozy.

Just then, footsteps sounded behind them.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around Ye Ning's waist from behind.

"Why did you suddenly get up?" Xiao Jingchen whispered gently in Ye Ning's ear.

"I suddenly couldn't sleep, so I got up. Jingchen, why are you up too!" Ye Ning pulled Xiao Jingchen to sit next to her.

"I turned over and felt around and found the space next to me empty. I didn't know where you went, so I got up to look for you!" Xiao Jingchen gently covered Ye Ning's bare feet with a blanket.

"It's snowing!" Ye Ning looked up at the swirling snowflakes outside the window.

"Yes! It's snowing again! Ye Ning, are you scared?" Xiao Jingchen suddenly asked, looking at Ye Ning.

"I'm not afraid!" Ye Ning knew that Xiao Jingchen was asking if she was afraid of the long, cold, and bleak environment.

"Silly boy! What do I have to be afraid of! I have you, Da Huang and Er Huang by my side, and Wang Ma, Brother Long Fei and the others. I have nothing to be afraid of." Ye Ning leaned on Xiao Jingchen's shoulder.

"Jingchen, the environment in your past life was so harsh, did you really never think about going back to the Xiao family?" With the Xiao family's capabilities, Ye Ning believed that even if it were the end of the world, they would be able to hold out until the very last moment.

Xiao Jingchen shook his head. "Never! No matter how good the Xiao family is, there's no one in it I want to protect!"

Ye Ning yawned. She hadn't fallen asleep until 11 p.m. last night, and now that she was warmer, she felt a little sleepy.

"Ye Ning! Let's go back to sleep!" Xiao Jingchen asked affectionately.

"Okay!" Ye Ning nodded obediently, and the two of them held hands and returned to the room.

All that remained in the living room was the roaring fireplace and the swirling snow outside the window.

The era of superpowers officially began amidst this heavy snowfall.

Actually, this temperature drop isn't necessarily a bad thing, at least the plague brewing from the large number of rotting zombie corpses has temporarily stopped.

Moreover, most of the survivors possessed special abilities or skills, so survival wasn't a major problem for them.

Due to the cold and malnutrition, disease continued to spread among the survivors.

Meanwhile, Ye Ning and Xiao Jingchen also encountered new difficulties.

Due to temperature changes, many crops could no longer be grown outdoors. At that time, there were only a few greenhouses built indoors, which were insufficient to produce enough vegetables and staple foods for hundreds or thousands of people to eat three meals a day.

"Ye Ning, what do you think we should do about this? Can we build a few more greenhouses?" Although Lei Siming is a talented person in academics and experiments, he is practically an idiot when it comes to other common sense.

Ye Ning immediately rejected his naive idea. "This idea isn't very realistic. Let's think of another way!"

When Ye Ning built this shelter, she spent hundreds of millions of yuan. Many of the materials were not available on the market, and Li Zhengbo used his connections to have them custom-made.

The design team alone has nearly a hundred people, not to mention the construction workers.

Moreover, it's freezing cold now, how can we build houses?

"Alright then!" Lei Siming said dejectedly.

"Xiao Lei, I remember there were quite a few mutated seeds back then. Couldn't you have studied them and found crops that can grow even in extremely cold conditions?" Ye Ning reminded him.

"It's possible! But it takes time, and in extremely cold conditions, the growth rate will definitely be much slower than at normal temperatures."

"Let's do some research first! There must be one or two crops that can withstand extreme cold. If there really aren't any, we'll figure something out then."

Ye Ning knew, of course, that building a greenhouse would be the best option under such circumstances, but given their current conditions, it was simply not possible to do so.

“Professor Chen, this matter will require your help and Xiao Lei’s joint research.” Ye Ning then looked at Professor Chen.

"Of course, no problem!" Professor Chen agreed without hesitation.

Professor Chen has always been grateful to Ye Ning and Xiao Jingchen, his two saviors.

Moreover, after arriving at the shelter, everyone here took great care of them.

Professor Chen also felt very comfortable in the relaxed atmosphere of the shelter.

Not to mention he could continue his beloved plant research.

Now that Ye Ning has spoken, he naturally agrees without hesitation.

"Besides plants, we can't neglect animal husbandry either. Animals are different from plants. They can survive in extremely cold conditions, but their growth rate will definitely slow down. How to minimize this slowdown is not something you need to do further breeding and research."

As the number of people in the shelter increased, Wang Ma and the others were too busy cooking and managing the animals to have much time for them.

Currently, the care of the livestock is mainly the responsibility of Professor Chen's students, along with some of the original staff.

"No problem! Sister Ye Ning, we will definitely do our best!"

After the meeting concluded successfully, Ye Ning returned to the living area. She was indeed quite tired after a morning of discussions.