Chapter 26

As soon as Su Jing sat in the truck's cab, before even starting the engine, her phone's "China Regional Chat Room" was flooded with message notifications, with the red unread number jumping from "0" to "99+" in just a few seconds.

She frowned and opened the interface—text on a white background refreshed like a waterfall, densely packed with discussions about "points," even the previous comments about dungeon experiences were completely wiped out.

"Holy crap! Did you guys check the leaderboard? What's up with 'I'm the God of Wealth''s score? 302,000? Am I seeing things?"

The user with the ID "Cat Who Loves to Drink Cola" posted a message with an exclamation mark followed by three "dumbfounded" emojis.

The message was immediately flooded with dozens of replies:

"I saw it too! At first I thought it was a system bug, but after refreshing three times it was still 302,000. The second place 'Hunter' only has 1,000 points. This gap is too outrageous!"

"300,000! I only earned 500 points after completing the dungeon. Did she empty the dungeon?"

"Is it possible to farm points? But the system says points can only be earned by collecting resources and completing tasks, so how can I farm them?"

The comment from ID "Northwest Wolf" was slightly calmer, but still tinged with doubt: "I dug up 150 kilograms of sweet grass roots in the dungeon and only got 500 points. 'I am the God of Wealth' has 300,000 points and needs to collect 30 tons of resources? That's impossible. Where are there so many edible plants in the dungeon?"

Su Jing watched the discussions, her fingertips swiping across the screen, without saying a word. She knew her high score was due to collecting 30,000 jin of giant plants and completing "hidden missions" (such as fighting off giant mantises and rescuing Ivan), but she couldn't say anything, so she could only continue to stay hidden.

Suddenly, a message with an "@" tag popped up: "@I'm the God of Wealth! I need a help! I know the strategy for the next 'Cyber ​​World' dungeon, can you help me? I can help you move supplies and scout the way!"

The message was sent by the ID "小萌新" (Little Newbie), followed by a series of "pitiful" emojis.

Following this, more and more messages appeared asking to curry favor with powerful figures:

"@I'm a God of Wealth, are you looking for teammates? I can repair generators and equip first aid kits, which will definitely be useful in dungeons!"

"@I am the God of Wealth, I have a space... no, I don't, but I'm strong enough to carry 100 pounds of supplies, please take me with you!"

Some even resorted to moral blackmail: "@IamGodofWealth, you have so many points, you must have stockpiled a lot of supplies, right? We're all Chinese, you should contribute your supplies and share them with those who didn't complete the task, otherwise it's too selfish!"

As soon as this message was posted, the chat room instantly split into two factions.

Supporters said, "Exactly! The dungeon supplies can't be taken out, so keeping them is useless. We might as well contribute them to help everyone tackle the upcoming dungeon quests!"

Those who disagreed argued: "People earn their points and stockpile their supplies through their own abilities, why should they contribute? You can't even complete the task yourself, yet you have the nerve to ask for it?"

Su Jing looked at the comments about "contributing supplies" and a cold smile appeared on her lips—these people didn't know that her space could take supplies with it, and thought that the supplies in the dungeon were all "junk that couldn't be taken out".

She ignored it, set the chat room to "Do Not Disturb," and started the truck to head towards the villa deep in the mountains.

At the same time, chat rooms in other parts of the world also exploded.

A message from the US region's "God of War" read: "Who is 'I am the God of Wealth'? 300k points? Is this a system glitch?"

A user named "Bear Hunter" from the Russian Bear Kingdom region replied: "No glitch, my friend. I saw her in the Giant copy, she had a robot!"

—It was Ivan, whom Su Jing had saved before. He didn't reveal Su Jing's name, but he hinted that she had special tools.

Su Jing didn't see any of these discussions. She was focused on driving, thinking about the future arrangements for the villa—the generator should be placed in the corner of the yard, and an electrical wire should be connected to the villa.

The coal should be piled under the rain shelter on the west side of the villa;

Warm clothing should be stored in the "warmth zone" of the space for easy access.

In the General Affairs Office of the Ministry of Emergency Management in Beijing, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the sunlight shone through the blinds, casting long strips of light and shadow on the floor.

The filing cabinet was covered with yellow sticky notes marked "Pending" and "Urgent" in red pen. Folded reports were stuffed into the gaps in the desk. The printer spit out freshly printed weather warning documents. The air was filled with the faint smell of coffee mixed with paper and ink.

Sister Zhang from the General Affairs Department was checking last week's disaster statistics on her computer, clicking the mouse rapidly. Goji berries were soaking in an enamel mug on the corner of the table, the water already cooled down.

Xiao Li from the mailroom walked in carrying a stack of letters and placed the top white envelope on her desk: "Sister Zhang, this was just sorted out. The recipient is from the department, but there's no sender's address. It looks like an anonymous letter."

Without even looking up, Sister Zhang reached out and shoved the envelope aside, grouping it with several similar letters piled up next to it: "Another anonymous letter? We just dealt with two last week, one saying there would be an earthquake, and the other saying there would be a flood, but nothing happened. They were just idle people writing nonsense."

My colleague, Brother Wang, leaned over for a look and said with a smile, "Maybe it was written by some sci-fi fan. There are so many apocalyptic novels lately, with -60°C extreme cold, 60°C extreme heat, and monsters. This setting is pretty exciting."

He reached out to take the letter and read it, but Sister Zhang pressed him down: "Don't open it. It's a waste of time. The last letter that mentioned a meteorite was even more mysterious than this one. In the end, it turned out to be written by a middle school student."

As the two were talking, the office door was pushed open, and Minister Zhou walked in.

He had just finished a national video conference on disaster prevention and mitigation. His suit jacket was draped over his arm, his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, revealing an old-fashioned mechanical watch on his wrist, and his brow still bore the seriousness of the meeting. "Xiao Zhang, have you finalized the extreme weather response plan for last week? The meteorological bureau said there might be a cold wave next week."

Old Zhou's voice was a little hoarse. He had just drunk half a bottle of mineral water, and there was still a little bit left at the bottom of the bottle.

Sister Zhang quickly got up and rummaged through the pile of documents to find the plan: "Director Zhou, it's ready. Please take a look. It mainly addresses the measures to deal with low-temperature freezing, including high-speed de-icing and power grid protection."

When she handed over the proposal, her elbow accidentally knocked over the anonymous letter on the table. The envelope fell to the ground, revealing a corner of the printed letter inside, with the words "-60℃ extreme cold" landing right at Lao Zhou's feet.

Old Zhou bent down to pick up the envelope, his fingertips pinching the yellowed edge. He glanced at the recipient, "Ministry of Emergency Management of China," then turned it over. Indeed, there was no sender's address or stamp mark, only a postmark from a small town on the outskirts of the city.

"What's this?" he asked Sister Zhang, his fingers already loosening the seal on the envelope.

"It's just an anonymous letter, probably another prank. It says there will be extreme cold, extreme heat and monsters in the future, and it wants us to build a shelter. I haven't had time to deal with it yet."

Sister Zhang quickly explained, afraid that Lao Zhou would think they weren't careful enough, "We receive several of these letters every month, most of them are unfounded guesses."

Old Zhou didn't speak, but pulled out an A4 sheet of paper and read it carefully. The paper was ordinary printer paper, and the handwriting was in Song typeface, size 5, without any handwriting marks. The opening title, "To the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People's Republic of China," was very formal. It was divided into three stages: "Extreme Cold, Extreme Heat, and Monsters," with specific times for each stage (extreme cold will occur in the next 10-15 days and last for more than 15 days).

Extreme cold is followed by extreme heat, which lasts for more than 10 days, and lasts for 5-7 days.

(Monsters will appear 10-15 days after the extreme heat), and even the supplies for dealing with it are listed in great detail: "Cold clothing for -60℃, hand warmers, gasoline generators of 5 kilowatts or more, smokeless coal". The shelter recommendations also mention "underground or high-altitude areas, insulation layers, independent energy sources, and water storage systems". Even the defensive facilities are specified as "metal fences and protective nets".

Old Zhou's brow furrowed slightly as he lightly traced the words "gasoline generators of 5 kilowatts and above" with his finger. He looked up and asked Sister Zhang, "When did you receive this letter? Which post office did you use for the postmark?"

"It was just transferred from the mailroom this morning. The postmark is from a small town post office on the outskirts of the city, but I couldn't see which town it was."

Seeing that Lao Zhou looked serious, Sister Zhang quickly took out her phone to check the mailing and receiving records. "Xiao Li said it was a registered letter, and the logistics showed that it was sent from the suburbs yesterday."

“Pranks wouldn’t be written in such detail.”

Old Zhou spread the letter on his desk and pointed to the sentence, "Outdoor exposure for more than 10 minutes during extreme cold weather is life-threatening." He said, "Look, this time point is very specific; it's not something made up."

There are also recommended generator capacities, 5 kilowatts and above, with automatic start-stop. Only those in the know can provide this information; ordinary people wouldn't know these parameters.

Brother Wang also came over to look, his previous joking expression gone: "Minister Zhou, now that you mention it, it's true. The last letter about the earthquake only said 'an earthquake is coming,' without so many specific details."

Furthermore, the text mentions "demonic beasts" and describes them as "mutated creatures." If it were fabricated, people would usually say "monsters" or "aliens." The term "mutated creatures" seems more like a plausible guess.

Old Zhou nodded, then pointed to “shelters built underground or in high-altitude areas”: “We have made contingency plans for extreme low temperatures before, and we have also considered the insulation of underground spaces. High-altitude areas actually need more protection because the low temperatures last for a long time. The suggestions in this letter are consistent with the direction of our professional contingency plans, and it doesn’t seem like it was written by an amateur.”

He picked up his phone and dialed his secretary, Xiao Chen's number: "Xiao Chen, come to the General Affairs Department now and bring a copy of the 'Emergency Information Reporting Procedure Form.' Also, contact the Technical Department to check the logistics track of the anonymous registered letter we received today, which post office it was sent from, and whether the sender left any contact information. Even if it's just a blurry surveillance video, we need to retrieve it."

After hanging up the phone, Lao Zhou said to Sister Zhang, "Don't dismiss this letter as a prank yet. Compile the contents into an electronic version, mark it 'urgent information to be verified,' and I'm going to report it to the Vice Premier in charge. Just say that an anonymous letter provided detailed warnings of extreme natural disasters and biological threats, with specific details that may have reference value."

"Huh? Report it to the Vice Premier?"

Sister Zhang was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect that this seemingly ordinary anonymous letter would attract so much attention.

"Extreme weather and unknown biological threats are both major issues related to the safety of people's lives. Even if there is only a one in ten thousand chance that they are true, we cannot ignore them."

Old Zhou tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his eyes serious. "Look here, it says 'One month before the end of the world.' Time is very tight. If an extreme cold wave really comes and we are not prepared, the consequences will be unimaginable."

Soon, Secretary Xiao Chen arrived with a form and notebook. Lao Zhou handed her the letter: "Write down the contents first, making sure not to miss any details, especially the timeline and material recommendations. Then coordinate with the technical department to check the logistics. Let me know as soon as you have any results."

Xiao Chen nodded and immediately sat down at the empty table next to him to start taking notes, his pen gliding rapidly across the notebook.

Old Zhou walked to the window and looked at the national flag fluttering in the courtyard below, but he felt uncertain.

In his 30 years of practice, he has handled countless disaster warnings, including official meteorological and geological data as well as anonymous reports from the public. But he has never encountered an anonymous letter that specifies the time, location, and response measures in such detail.

"I hope I'm just overthinking it," he muttered to himself, "but what if..."

Meanwhile, in her villa deep in the mountains, Su Jing was directing two robots to move shovels and gasoline cans. The outline of trenches, 2 meters deep and 1 meter wide, had already been drawn with lime around the villa's courtyard. The robots' mechanical arms, gripping shovels, were slowly digging through the soft soil, preparing to pour in gasoline to build the first line of defense against the monsters.

On the roof, solar panel delivery boxes were piled up at the door. Su Jing looked at the installation tutorial on her phone, knowing in her heart that regardless of whether the emergency department would take that letter seriously, she had to be fully prepared. The footsteps of the apocalypse were getting closer and closer.