Chapter 212

On an abandoned main street in the city, a man wrapped in a thin, tattered coat staggered forward, his breath instantly condensing into white icy mist that accumulated at the corners of his mouth and chin, forming a thin layer of ice.

His cheeks were frozen purple, his skin was numb, and his feet crunched on the icy pavement, each step feeling like walking on a knife's edge.

He had set out to find his lost wife and children, and his home had no supplies for keeping warm. The rules for exchanging Xuanbing Pills and warm clothes were meaningless to him—he didn't even have a single first-tier demon core.

"Ali! Xiaobao!" the man called out hoarsely, his voice trembling in the -50°C wind, disappearing into the air as soon as he uttered the words.

His vision grew increasingly blurry, his eyelids felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead, and his body began to sway uncontrollably.

The temperature during the polar night has already dropped below -50°C, and the system panel display has turned red: [Current temperature: -52°C. Exposure for more than 3 minutes will result in freezing, and death within 5 minutes].

The man felt a bone-chilling cold seep into his bones through his pores, and his limbs gradually lost sensation, as if frozen in ice, leaving him without the strength to even lift his hands.

He wanted to stop and rest, but as soon as he bent over, his body went out of control and he fell onto the ice.

With a sharp "crack," his left arm slammed heavily onto the icy road. There was no pain, only a cold, numb sensation.

He tried to prop himself up, but found that his left arm was immobile. Looking down, he was horrified to find that his arm was broken at the elbow. There was no blood flowing from the break, only ice crystals on the broken surface, like a shattered ice sculpture, with fragments scattered on the ice, gleaming coldly.

"No..." The man let out a desperate sob, but before he could react, the intense cold plunged his consciousness into complete darkness. His body stiffened and lay on the ice, quickly merging with the surrounding ice and becoming an "ice sculpture" in the polar night.

In a nearby residential building, a dilapidated window was shattered by the cold wind, and shards of glass were scattered all over the ground, instantly freezing into sharp ice blades.

Inside the house, a young couple held their child tightly in their arms. The child had lost the strength to cry, his little face was blue from the cold, his breathing was weak, and his lips were covered with thick ice.

The couple wrapped their child in all the fabric they could find, but it was no match for the -52°C cold.

The woman looked at the chat messages in the China region on her communicator. [North Wind Howls] had just sent a message: "My child took the Xuanbing Pill and has recovered. Thank you 'I am the God of Wealth'!" But she only had half a moldy biscuit in her hand, not even enough to exchange for a Xuanbing Pill.

"What should we do? The child can't hold on much longer!" The woman's voice was choked with sobs, and her tears froze on her cheeks as soon as they flowed out, forming two glistening icy marks.

The man gritted his teeth, got up, and decided to try his luck outside to see if he could find any discarded winter supplies. But as soon as he reached the door, his hand touched the cold doorknob, which made a "sizzling" sound.

His palm instantly stuck to the metal doorknob. With a forceful tug, a layer of skin was torn off, revealing the frozen, purple muscle underneath. No blood seeped out, only the chill seeped into the wound.

"Ah—" The man screamed in pain, but the scream quickly turned into a hoarse whimper. His body swayed and he fell heavily at the door. In less than two minutes, he was completely still. His eyes were wide open, still filled with concern for his child and fear of death.

In another corner of the city, several refugees wrapped in cheap thermal clothing (not the Tier 3 manganese crystal material that Su Jing had exchanged, which could only withstand -30°C) were surrounding an old man who had exchanged for the Xuanbing Pill, their eyes filled with greed and despair.

"Hand over the pills! Or we'll kill you!" The burly leader held a brittle, frozen steel pipe and gestured at the old man's chest.

The old man clutched the small porcelain bottle in his arms tightly. Inside were three Xuanbing Pills, which he had exchanged for his only Tier 1 Demon Core. They were for his bedridden wife.

"No! This is life-saving medicine!" The old man clutched his chest tightly, his body trembling uncontrollably from the cold and fear.

After being rejected, the burly man completely lost his temper and raised the steel pipe to smash it down on the old man's shoulder.

The steel pipe had become extremely brittle at the low temperature and snapped with a "crack," but the enormous impact still caused the old man to fall to the ground.

The old man's forehead hit the ice, instantly forming a large bump that then froze into a hard lump.

He struggled to get up, but a refugee kicked him in the chest, sending him sliding across the ice. The porcelain bottle in his arms fell to the ground and shattered with a "crack," spilling out three Xuanbing Pills that were instantly frozen on the ice.

"The pills!" The refugees rushed over like madmen. Someone reached out to pick them up, but as soon as his fingers touched the pills, the temperature difference was so great that his skin stuck to the ice. He pulled hard, and his fingernails were torn off along with flesh and blood, making him howl in pain.

Another refugee snatched a pill and stuffed it into his mouth without thinking. But the pill was too cold and instantly froze his throat. He tried to cough but found that his lungs had been invaded by the cold air, making it extremely difficult to breathe. His body stiffened and he fell to the ground, quickly losing his breath.

The remaining refugees looked at their companions' miserable state and then at the two pills on the ice, their eyes filled with fear, but none of them dared to reach out again—in the bitter cold of the polar night, even robbery had become a deadly affair.

The temperature continues to drop, and the system panel update again: [Current temperature: -55℃. Exposure for more than 2 minutes will result in freezing, death within 3 minutes, and skin contact with cold objects will result in instant frostbite].

The cries of agony in the city gradually subsided, not because the situation was improving, but because more and more people had lost the strength to speak and were frozen in place.

A woman, holding her frozen child, knelt on the icy roadside. Her legs were numb and frozen to the ground.

She tried to warm the child with her body heat, but her own body was also getting cold quickly. Her skin began to crack, like parched land, and her blood froze in her veins, unable to flow.

"Baby, I'm sorry..." Her voice was so weak it was almost inaudible, tears frozen in the corners of her eyes. As her last shred of consciousness faded, her body remained in the position of holding the child, completely turning into a cold sculpture.

On the streets, the earlier conflict over the looting of cold-weather supplies had ceased. Most of the refugees who had participated in the looting were frozen stiff on the roadside. Only one person who had managed to exchange for a warm coat survived. Wrapped in a thick manganese crystal warm coat, he looked at the "ice sculptures" around him, his eyes filled with the relief of a survivor and the fear of the polar night.

He knew that if he hadn't been lucky enough to kill a mutated rat and obtain a first-tier demon core, which he then used to exchange for this only warm garment, he would have become a victim of the polar night, just like these other people.

The communicator was still flooded with messages, and the cries for help in the China regional chat were dwindling, replaced by death reports:

【Solitary Angler on a Cold River】: "My neighbors next door didn't get the Mystic Ice Pill, and the whole family of three is frozen stiff. I tried to knock on the door just now, but I found they were frozen to the door..."

[Official Logistics Team]: "Urgent Notice: More than 200 people in the western part of the city have died due to lack of cold-weather supplies, most of whom are elderly people and children. Our supplies have been distributed, but there are still many people who cannot be covered. Can 'I am the God of Wealth' provide additional supplies?"

【Nanshan Snow】: "The temperature has already reached -55℃! My thermal underwear can only withstand -45℃, and I'm already starting to feel cold. Are there any supplies that can withstand even lower temperatures?"

The situation was even more dire in the global public chat; for countries and factions lacking enough demon cores to exchange for supplies, the death toll was rising exponentially.

[Indian Watcher of the Ganges]: "Thousands of us have frozen to death here. We have no Mystic Ice Pills, no warm clothes. Who can save us?"

【Non-Desert Eagle】: "-53℃, frozen corpses everywhere, some people fell and their legs shattered like ice..."

[Ou·Canyang]: "Those who mocked the 'I am the God of Wealth' rules are all dead. We only have 10 Tier 3 Demon Cores left, which can be exchanged for 30 Mystic Ice Pills. Please, 'I am the God of Wealth,' don't close the exchange channel!"

No one made any more threats, and no one complained about the harsh exchange rules; survival became the only concern.

Most of those who tried to use moral blackmail and plunder supplies have perished forever in the bitter cold of the polar night.

Those who followed the rules and exchanged their demon cores for Xuanbing Pills and warm clothing, while also facing the threat of low-temperature upgrades, at least survived for the time being.

On the outskirts of the city, at a temporary official shelter, soldiers wearing the thermal clothing that Su Jing had exchanged for were working hard to maintain order and distribute the pills to the refugees who had received the Xuanbing Pills.

Even the thermal suits made of third-order manganese crystal material began to struggle at -55°C. Soldiers' cheeks and ears still felt the biting cold, some of their gloves were frozen solid, and it became difficult to operate the communicators.

"Report! The temperature is still dropping! It's already -58℃! The thermal clothing is about to give out, and the effect of the Xuanbing Pill is weakening. Do you have any supplies that can withstand temperatures below -60℃?"

The soldier spoke urgently into the communicator, his voice filled with barely concealed anxiety.

This question also appeared in the chat of the Chinese community and was seen by countless people.

The official logistics team immediately sent a private message to "I am the God of Wealth": "'I am the God of Wealth', the current temperature has reached -58℃, and it is expected to drop to -65℃. The existing warm clothing and Xuanbing Pills are no longer sufficient to completely protect us. Can you develop stronger cold-weather supplies? We are willing to exchange more Tier 3 Demon Cores for them!"

At this moment, Su Jing, who was in a villa deep in the mountains, saw this private message through her communicator, and also saw the discussion in the chat area about the low-temperature upgrade.

She walked to the window, looking calmly at the pitch-black polar night outside, where the temperature had dropped to -58°C.

The harshness of the polar night far exceeded expectations, and the limitations of existing cold-weather gear have become apparent. Temperatures of -60°C or even lower require stronger protection to withstand.

She knew it was time to create a cold-weather suit that could withstand extreme low temperatures, and the third-tier manganese crystal and the upgraded mineral ability were the key to creating this suit—a cold-weather manganese crystal suit capable of withstanding temperatures as low as -60°C or even lower was about to be released.

The city's frigid chill persisted, and the number of frozen corpses increased. The occasional sound of limbs breaking as they froze echoed through the empty streets, reminding every survivor that the ordeal of the polar night was far from over. Without sufficiently powerful cold-weather gear, even those who had obtained the Mystic Ice Pill might not be able to survive this long, dark night.

"I am the God of Wealth" remains everyone's only hope. They are all waiting for stronger cold-weather supplies to be available, waiting for salvation that can withstand this extreme cold.