The lights were still on, but dimmer than before, as if something was suffocating them. Chen Hao leaned against the edge of the control panel, his fingers unconsciously tapping his knee, while his ears were perked up, listening to the sounds outside. The wind was no longer lashing against the walls as it had before; instead, it was skimming low along the ground, like a group of drunkards who refused to leave.
He was just about to yawn when the pipes above his head suddenly made a "click" sound.
It's not an illusion.
Then came another sound, short and muffled, like metal clenching its teeth when it was extremely cold.
Almost simultaneously, Nana's hand touched the pipe wall, her fingertips slightly blue—she was activating the thermal sensing module. "Ice plug," she said. "The main circulation valve section is 73% frozen."
Chen Hao sat bolt upright: "What? Isn't there still fuel?"
He jumped off the chair and rushed to the storage cabinet, rummaging through it with a loud crackling sound. A half-sack of charcoal rolled out, dusty and gray, clearly scraps he'd salvaged from the junkyard last time. He picked it up and shook it, his voice as empty as his heart.
"This thing will stop burning after ten minutes."
“The actual burning time is six minutes and forty-seven seconds.” Nana took the charcoal bag, her tone so calm it made you want to smash something. “After being put in, it can raise the local temperature by 3.2 degrees, which is not enough to defrost the pipes.”
Chen Hao stood in front of the stove, holding a flint in his hand. He paused for two seconds, then suddenly burst out laughing: "Good heavens, we just sealed the house into a coffin, and now we're going to freeze ourselves inside like popsicles?"
Nana didn't reply, but simply dragged the temperature bar on the control panel down from 35 degrees Celsius until it stopped at 28 degrees Celsius. A message popped up in red: "[Energy-saving mode activated; heating priority reduced to maintaining basic living conditions]".
The air in the room seemed to gain weight instantly.
Chen Hao rubbed his arms and found that even his fat couldn't block the chill that crept up from the ground. He shrank his neck and muttered, "I should have eaten a couple more roasted deer legs before coming in."
“Calorie intake cannot replace external heat sources,” Nana said. “I suggest reducing physical activity and lowering energy consumption.”
"The house will warm up by itself if I don't move?" He rolled his eyes. "Then you might as well let me lie down and wait to die. It'll save electricity and trouble."
As he spoke, he wrapped himself in the blanket and squatted back down in front of the control panel. The system graph on the screen was a grayish-yellow, and the water flow signal was interrupted at the second connection port, like a snake being strangled.
Time slowly crept past 2 a.m.
He shuddered, his hand slipped, and the blanket fell to the ground. As he bent down to pick it up, his palm accidentally brushed against a section of exposed pipe.
"hiss--!"
The cold air felt like needles, piercing into the bones of his palm. He jerked his hand away, nearly falling to the ground.
But in that instant, he stared at his reddened palms and suddenly stopped moving.
"Wait..." he murmured, "Did I just... feel that it loosened a little?"
Nana turned her head: "You are in contact with interface number three. The surface temperature rises from minus five degrees to minus two and a half degrees. The change is slight but it exists."
"Then it works!" Chen Hao's eyes lit up. "Your temperature readings are accurate, right? My normal temperature is 36.5 degrees Celsius, but when my palms sweat, it can reach 38! Isn't that much more effective than that broken charcoal fire?"
"The human body is not a heating device," Nana said seriously. "Prolonged exposure to sub-zero metal can cause tissue damage, and in severe cases, necrosis."
"Even necrosis is better than the whole house freezing over." He grinned, revealing a set of white teeth. "Anyway, I usually only use these hands to flip skewers and grab the remote control; I haven't done anything important. If I can save the heating in the whole house today, I'll consider it a great deed."
Before she could respond, he had already rolled up his sleeves and placed his entire palm on the thickest section of the frozen pipe.
"Oh my god...it's so damn cold!" He gasped, his face contorted in pain, but he didn't let go of his hand.
Nana immediately pulled up the infrared image, in which his palm rapidly changed from orange to yellow, then turned grayish-white towards the edges. Tiny frost particles began to condense on the surface of his skin.
"The temperature of your palm continues to drop, currently at 34.1 degrees Celsius, warning level one." She spoke faster, "It is recommended to immediately remove contact."
"Hold on for ten more seconds!" Chen Hao gritted his teeth, frantically rubbing his arm with his other hand to warm it up. "Just ten more seconds... I feel movement inside!"
Sure enough, a soft "poof" came from deep inside the pipe, like a crack appearing in the ice.
The water flow signal flashed on the screen. Although it had only recovered three percent, it was indeed alive.
"It's working? It's working?!" he shouted excitedly.
“It’s only partially clear,” Nana said calmly. “We need to keep the heating on for at least twenty minutes to clear the main road.”
"Twenty minutes?" He smiled wryly. "My hands are probably going to turn into dried pig's trotters by now."
"You can alternate between the two hands, 30 seconds with the left hand and 30 seconds with the right hand, with a hot compress in between."
“What should I use for a hot compress? The kettle is still keeping the water warm, and I don’t want to pour it out.” He looked down at himself. “How about… I take a nap with the tube in my arms? Maybe I can even melt the ice while I’m dreaming about the heat.”
Nana paused for two seconds: "This suggestion is not in the emergency plan, but I understand that your mental state is close to the threshold of collapse."
"Thank you for the compliment." He took a breath and placed his other hand on top of it. "Come on, let's work together. You keep an eye on me to make sure I don't freeze to death, and I'll be your human little sun."
For the next few hours, he shifted positions at the control panel like an absurdist actor: one hand on the pipe, the other rubbing his stomach; stomping his feet to warm them, humming off-key songs to keep himself awake. Several times, he almost pulled his hand back, but each time he saw the water flow progress lines on the screen remain motionless, he forced it back down.
"Why do humans have to live such a hard life?" he muttered, trembling. "Other people transmigrate to find amazing artifacts and have cheat codes, but I transmigrated here just to be a hand warmer for the pipes?"
Looking at the data stream, Nana said softly, "Your actions are creating a new response model, numbered h-102, tentatively named 'Bio-Heat Conduction Emergency Plan'."
"Okay, when civilization is rebuilt someday, erect a monument for me and inscribe this line: There was once a fat man here who saved the whole winter with his body heat."
His voice grew softer and softer, and his movements became slower and slower.
Ten minutes later, the temperature of his palms dropped below 33 degrees Celsius, and his knuckles were stiff, almost unable to close. Nana increased the power of the nearby heating pad, trying to warm him up, but his body was like a sponge that had absorbed a lot of cold air, and he could no longer warm up.
"Core body temperature 35.4 degrees Celsius." She finally spoke. "Continuing will be risky."
"It's okay... just... just five more minutes..." he mumbled, his hand still on the pipe, "It was almost there... Look, the water's moving..."
The green lines on the screen finally connected, and the water flow signal recovered to 89%.
"The main circulation is restarting," Nana announced. "The system will resume normal heating in three minutes."
Chen Hao seemed to have heard something very distant; he swayed, his hand went limp, and he slid down the pipe wall.
He didn't fall because Nana caught him in time.
Her robotic arm steadily supported his shoulder, while her other hand quickly wrapped a thermal blanket around his trembling body. His lips were bluish, his fingers were curled up and couldn't straighten, but he had a smile on his face.
"So, did I hold you back?"
Nana didn't answer. Her electronic eyes continued to flash red, and the background data window scrolled rapidly: [Host body temperature abnormality level 2] [Initial signs of tissue cold damage] [Recommendation: mandatory rest for at least six hours]
She gently helped him to the cushion in the corner and turned up the electric heating pad above his head.
The room gradually warmed up.
The water pipes started gurgling, like a long-term patient finally coughing up their first phlegm.
Chen Hao, with his eyes closed, was still muttering, "Tomorrow... remember to cook me a bowl of hot noodle soup... with an egg... and double the amount of pork intestines..."
His voice grew softer and softer.
Nana stood still, not leaving. The red light reflected on the wall, like a wound that refused to fade.
On the console screen, a line of small text quietly popped up: [H-102 protocol archiving complete. Additional note: The physiological cost to the implementer exceeded the preset safety range; subsequent applications require reassessment of ethical priorities.]
Her fingers paused for a second on the virtual keyboard before deleting the last sentence.
Instead, a new command appears: [Save voice recording: 'Double serving of pork intestines, with an egg, while hot.']
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