Chapter 78

One hour before the end of the world, in the living room of a villa deep in the mountains, the whooshing sound of the heating stove drowned out the sound of wind and snow outside the window.

Su Jing squatted by the stove, holding a small iron shovel in her hand, and had just put two pieces of smokeless coal into the stove—

A piece of coal fell onto the glowing embers, instantly igniting orange flames. The red glow from the furnace mouth warmed her fingertips, creating a stark contrast to the sudden chill outside the window.

She got up and walked to the window. The moment her fingertips touched the double-paned vacuum glass, she felt a distinct chill—

It was more than twice as cold as it had been half an hour ago. She raised her hand to wipe away the thin mist on the inside of the glass, and the scene outside made her frown slightly: what had been just fine snowflakes had now turned into heavy snow, pelting the glass and leaving streaks of water that quickly froze into ice.

The moat in the courtyard was no longer thin ice, but solid ice nearly 5 centimeters thick. When snowflakes fell on the ice, they instantly formed a layer of white that could never melt.

On the western solar panel, the snow has reached a thickness of 3 centimeters. Although the robot's snow removal mode is running, the falling snowflakes are much faster than the snow removal speed. The "backup power supply warning" light on the panel turned pale yellow, indicating that "solar power efficiency has dropped to 30% and will automatically switch to space energy."

"The outdoor temperature is 0°C, a sharp drop of 20°C from half an hour ago. The wind has increased to level 5. The snowflake density is high and the visibility is less than 50 meters. The infrared alarm has been activated for anti-freeze protection and the detection sensitivity is normal."

The patrol robot's electronic voice came from the doorway. Its outer shell was covered with a thin layer of ice, and its robotic arm occasionally made a soft "click" sound when it moved—this was the contraction of the parts caused by the low temperature. Fortunately, antifreeze had been sprayed beforehand, so it could still operate normally.

On the thermometer screen in its hand, a downward arrow next to the red number "0℃" indicated that the temperature was still dropping.

Su Jing glanced down at the digital watch on her wrist; the hour hand pointed to 11:00 PM, meaning there was only one hour left until the apocalypse officially arrived.

Just as she was about to check the switching status of the space energy, the system panel in front of her suddenly started flashing pale red notifications, and the words "Global Channel New Messages 999+" exploded like fireworks, instantly filling the entire screen—

Even though she had turned off notifications before, the barrage of messages overwhelmed her.

With a light tap of the fingertip, channel content flooded in like a tidal wave, pale blue, red, and gold icons mixed together, all filled with frantic cries:

- Light blue "China User 782": "Help! My water pipe suddenly burst from freezing! The water froze instantly, and the kitchen floor is covered in ice shards! I didn't store much water, and now we're almost out of drinking water. We can't even get into the shelter. What should I do?!"

- Light blue “User 349 from China”: “I’m in a rented room in the suburbs. The heating was turned off half an hour ago! The temperature inside is only 5°C now. I’m wrapped in two blankets and I’m still cold. I didn’t stock up on coal before, so it’s hard to even boil water. Can anyone lend me something to keep warm?”

- Red "US User 561": "New York is already below zero! The heating boiler in the shelter exploded! It's packed with people, everyone's scrambling for the few blankets they have. Someone next to me has turned purple from the cold and doesn't even have the strength to cry! 'I am the God of Wealth'! Where are you? Please save us!"

- Gold "EU User 893": "The water pipes in Paris are all frozen! Bottled water in supermarkets has been sold out. I went to three supermarkets and only managed to grab half a bottle of Coke. Now my hands are so frozen that I can't hold the bottle. There's still a long queue at the shelter. I don't know if I can make it in!"

The message contained numerous voice clips. Clicking on one, I heard a woman crying: "My child is only three years old, and he's shivering from the cold. I only have one thick coat, which I've wrapped around him, but I'm freezing myself. Can anyone give us something warm?"

There was also a man's angry roar: "We should have listened to the Chinese government and stockpiled supplies in advance! Now it's too late. We can't get into the shelters, and there's no heating in our homes. We're going to freeze to death!"

Su Jing's fingertips swiped quickly across the screen without pausing—she couldn't help with this chaos, nor should she.

Replying would only invite endless questions and demands, and might even expose her location, potentially ruining all her previous preparations. She raised her hand and clicked on "Completely Close Channel" in the upper right corner of the panel. A prompt appeared asking, "Confirm closing the global channel until it is manually reopened?" She selected "Yes" without hesitation.

The screen instantly returned to its clean state, showing only the basic system interface. The cries and anxieties were finally shut out.

"Add two more pieces of coal to ensure the temperature remains stable."

Su Jing turned back to the heating stove, bent down and scooped up two pieces of smokeless coal—the coal had a shiny black surface, was not damp, and was a large piece of coal that she had specially selected, so it would burn longer.

She gently placed the coal into the furnace, avoiding sparks, and then used a small iron hook to stir the coal pile inside, allowing the flames to coat each piece of coal more evenly.

The red light from the stove intensified, and the heat spread outwards along the grille. The thermometer on the living room wall remained steadily at "25℃." She reached out and touched the radiator; it was still scalding hot, showing no signs of cooling down.

The housekeeping robot "Chef 2" came over with a cup of hot ginger tea. The cup was wrapped in an insulated sleeve and was still hot to the touch when it was handed to Su Jing.

"The indoor humidity was detected to be 45% and the temperature to be 25℃, which meets the human comfort standard. Hot drinks and high-calorie food (roasted sweet potatoes) have been prepared to replenish energy to cope with the low temperature."

The robot's electronic voice had a steady rhythm, without the slightest sign of panic.

Su Jing took the ginger tea and took a sip—the spicy ginger flavor mixed with a faint sweetness slid down her throat, and the warmth instantly spread to her limbs, dispelling the lingering depression from watching the channel earlier.

She walked to the storage area, opened a sealed box containing sweet potatoes grown in her space, each about the size of a fist and with clean skin. She took three and handed them to "Chef 1": "Roast sweet potatoes, medium heat, 20 minutes, don't burn them."

While waiting for the sweet potatoes, she checked around the living room: the sealant on the doors and windows was tight, the thick velvet curtains were drawn tightly, and only a narrow gap was left by the window to observe the snow situation.

The backup battery indicator light in the corner is lit up green, showing "Space energy has been switched, power is 100%, can support the operation of basic equipment for 30 days";

The red indicator light on the infrared alarm continued to flash in the snow, and the panel displayed "No abnormal target approaching, defense normal".

"The roasted sweet potatoes are done." Chef 1 placed the roasted sweet potatoes, which were slightly wrinkled and steaming, on a white porcelain plate. The sweet aroma instantly filled the air.

Su Jing picked one up and pinched it with her fingertips. The outer skin was hot to the touch, but the inside was soft and chewy.

She broke it in half, revealing golden, glistening flesh. Taking a bite, she found it sweet but not cloying, with a natural sweet potato aroma—a benefit of space-grown cultivation, eliminating the need for chemical fertilizers and resulting in a purer taste.

The sound of wind and snow outside the window grew louder and louder, and the frost on the glass grew thicker and thicker, making it almost impossible to see the outside scenery.

Su Jing glanced at her digital watch; it was 11:50 PM, only 10 minutes left until the end of the world.

She returned to the stove, added one last piece of coal, made sure the stove door was closed tightly and the damper was half open, then sat on a small stool by the stove, holding a roasted sweet potato in her hand, enjoying the warmth of the stove and the sweet aroma in her mouth.

She stopped looking at the channel and stopped thinking about the chaos outside. Her attention was entirely focused on the furnace in front of her and the safety around her—this was the haven she had prepared for with countless efforts, from the laser gun in the cyber dungeon to the cultivation techniques and pills in the immortal cultivation dungeon, from 50 million resources to the 3-meter-deep moat. Every step she took had been worthwhile.

At this moment, all we need to do is wait, wait for the doomsday bells to ring, wait for the extreme cold to truly arrive, and then use everything we've already prepared to live steadily.

The hour hand of the digital watch pointed to 23:59. On the outdoor temperature display, the red number had already dropped below 0℃, becoming "-2℃", and was still decreasing at a rate of 1℃ per minute.

Su Jing swallowed the last bite of sweet potato, got up and walked to the window. Through the gaps in the frost flowers, she looked at the boundless snow curtain outside.