Chapter 37

"It's snowing! It's snowing!"

The children's voices were full of surprise and wonder; for them, the first snow of winter was a gift of joy from heaven.

Xia Ke is having a meeting with two elderly gentlemen, Dong Hezhou and Zhao Chen, to inquire about the progress of the new project.

The window was open, and the company building was on a low floor, so the children's cheers outside could be heard clearly from inside the office.

It's snowing?

Xia Ke turned to look outside and saw a few snowflakes swirling and landing on the windowsill.

Snowflakes, carrying a chill, rushed into the office, and the three people inside shivered from the cold wind.

It rarely snows in Xi'an Province. Although the altitude is high, the latitude of the area is low, so there are no conditions for snowfall. In previous years, there have been occasional light snowfalls, but Xia Ke was always overjoyed to see snow, just like the children downstairs. This time, however, Xia Ke has never had such an ominous feeling.

Xia Ke suppressed her unease, got up, closed the window, returned to her seat, and politely nodded to the other two.

"Please continue, gentlemen."

"There are two main difficulties in developing thermostatic clothing. One is the special substance that is applied to the surface of the human body. We haven't found where we can extract this substance yet. Although the information provides a hint, the name in the research materials seems to be different from the actual substance. So our team needs time to experiment."

According to the information, the substance is called ammonia-hydrogen polyhydride. This substance is colorless and odorless. After being dynamically activated, it can form a thin film on the outside of an object. This film can be quickly restored after being penetrated and damaged by external force, and it has excellent heat retention properties.

Therefore, the working principle of thermostatic clothing is that light energy excites ammonia-hydrogen polymer to form a thin film, and then utilizes its heat-locking properties to exchange hot and cold air within the film, thereby achieving a constant temperature.

"The second challenge is the application of light energy. Although the research materials describe how to convert light into energy, the process is too complicated, and our team needs more time to study it."

The information provided by the system is based on the origin of these products, so it's normal for the names to differ from those on Earth. This is a drawback of the system's development data and cannot be avoided.

"Professor He, your progress is already very fast. If you need anything, please let us know, and the company will provide full support."

Xia Ke naturally hoped that the thermostatic suit could be developed quickly, after all, it had already started snowing outside, and the disaster predicted by the system had arrived, so she couldn't help but be anxious.

However, research cannot be rushed, and her anxiety only added pressure to the research team.

"Mr. Zhao, how about you over here?"

Zhao Chen, who was named, shook his head with a wry smile, "Our team has been researching materials for bionic prosthetics for some time now, but the data is too vast and too profound, and the team has not made any progress yet."

The development difficulty of bionic prosthetics designed for the human body is exponentially higher than that of thermostatic clothing.

For Xia Ke, a layman, the thought of those nerves and machines was enough to give him a headache; trying to understand them would certainly be a huge undertaking.

This cannot be rushed.

After Xia Ke offered a few more words of comfort to the two elderly gentlemen, the meeting ended.

She carried her umbrella downstairs.

The snow that was falling sporadically when the meeting started turned into a heavy snowfall in the short time it took to talk.

In the gray-white sky, snowflakes fell like goose feathers, clustering together and crashing down from high above. The clustered snowflakes burst open, revealing crystal-clear hexagonal snowflakes.

Xia Ke stretched out her hand, pursed her lips as she looked at the snowflakes catching on her dark coat.

She had only ever seen such a scene of heavy snowfall when she traveled in the north.

Something unusual must be going on.

Xia Ke's mood grew increasingly heavy.

After passing through the children playing in the snow and returning home, with some time before lunch was served at the cafeteria, Xia's mother was leisurely playing on her phone.

When Xia Ke entered the house, she heard the sound of her mother's phone video.

"We're in Jingshui Province, and it just snowed here! It's snowing so heavily! The image of 'goose feather snow' from our Chinese textbook has come to life!"

"According to news reports, snow has started falling in 27 out of 34 provinces and cities across the country today. What's going on? I was happy to see snow, but now I feel uneasy."

When Xia's mother saw the news, she exclaimed in surprise.

Then she called to Xia Ke, "Ke Ke, come and see this video. It's snowing almost all over the Flower Kingdom. Won't such heavy snow cause a disaster?"

"Some of the comments are from people abroad, saying it's snowing there too."

Why does it suddenly feel like it's snowing all over the world?

It continued to snow in Hongqi Village for the next few days.

The world was a vast expanse of white. Xia Ke measured the snow in front of her house; it was seven or eight centimeters deep. The roads were completely frozen, making it impossible for vehicles to travel. The only remaining modes of transportation were flying cars and spatial rings, but due to the low visibility, flying cars required extra caution and could not travel at high speeds.

If the snow in Hongqi Village, located in the south, is this heavy, the snow in the northern cities of the country is even heavier, with some areas having snow accumulations as high as 150 centimeters.

The most severe snow disaster in the history of Earth was the catastrophic snow disaster that occurred in Zhi City, Eagle Country in 1717. The snow depth reached an astonishing 274 centimeters. Although the snow accumulation in the northern region of Flower Country was not as extreme, it still seriously affected the lives of the residents.

"This is the most widespread and severe snow disaster in the history of the Flower Kingdom. Due to the snow accumulation, half of the land transportation in the Flower Kingdom is paralyzed, and supplies cannot be transported across regions."

In northern China, heavy snow and icicles caused power lines to break and power facilities to be damaged in several cities; in central China, residents using air conditioners, electric blankets, and other heating devices overloaded the power system, leading to widespread power outages.

The city's water supply system suffered damage due to extreme low temperatures, causing water pipes and meters to freeze and crack, as well as valves and pumps to break down.

Currently, most cities in China are facing difficulties such as water and power outages, lack of daily necessities, and winter protection equipment.

The accompanying footage, shown alongside the news anchor's report, depicted a road being dug through thick snow in a city, with people queuing to buy supplies at stores.

On the TV screen, people wrapped up like balls moved slowly forward, and when they reached the store entrance, the hair peeking out from their eyebrows and foreheads was covered with ice formed from the moisture from their breath.

Unfortunately, despite their efforts, they were stopped at the closed doors of the stores and supermarkets.

With such heavy snow, supermarket and store owners don't have much stock, so they naturally have to prioritize buying for themselves and their friends and family.

The news also showed people driving high-speed cars all over the city searching for open shops amidst the white snow, but to no avail.

Xia Ke and Xia An sat in front of the television, their faces showing the same worry.

Compared to the northern regions, the situation in the western provinces is much better. Although there is snow, society can still function normally with human intervention, whereas many places in the north have already stopped work.

Moreover, due to the impact of the massive snowfall, large-scale railway transportation could not be started, and the government could only use helicopters and airships to airdrop supplies. Compared with the huge disaster-stricken areas and people, this was simply a drop in the ocean.

Countless people in the disaster area who have not yet lost power and internet access are speaking out online, hoping that someone will send them supplies.