Chapter 42 Chapter 42 Clearing the Snow from the Base
Su Qing hung up the video and saw Lu Chen in the contacts list. She wondered if she should ask him how things were going over there. However, she tapped on him, hesitated for a moment, and then took her finger away.
She thought that in such extreme weather, Lu Chen, as the leader of the base, would probably be busy, so she decided not to disturb him and ask him about the situation tomorrow.
There were three electric heaters on in the room, and warm air was blowing. Su Qing looked at the snow outside through the window, and inexplicably felt that the room was not as warm as before.
She took out a few hot water bottles from her backpack, then took out a kettle, boiled a few pots of water, filled all the hot water bottles and stuffed them into the quilt.
Fugui'er had originally run back to his nest and lay down, but perhaps he felt the cold, so he jumped back onto the bed and curled up into a ball, blinking at Su Qing. She had no choice but to fill two hot water bottles for Fugui'er, cover him with a thick quilt, and then get into her own quilt.
The snow outside was too heavy, so she had to find a way to clear the snow in the yard early in the morning. If the snow outside continued to fall, she would be buried in the house. Fortunately, the house produced by the system was sturdy, otherwise the roof would collapse in such heavy snow.
As he was thinking, he felt sleepy. Su Qing yawned, snuggled into the quilt again, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
…
It was only about two hours later when I woke up again. Several electric heaters were working non-stop but could only keep the indoor temperature at thirteen or fourteen degrees Celsius above zero.
Su Qing put on thick clothes, got out of bed and looked outside. The snow outside had become smaller, but there was no sign of stopping. In a short while, the snow piled up a little higher.
Fortunately, she had her backpack with her, which was full of things, so she didn't have to run to the bathroom to wash up. She boiled some hot water and simply washed herself in the house, ate something casually, and then put on a thick down jacket, stuffed two small hot water bottles in the inner pockets of the down jacket, put on a thick woolen hat, scarf and gloves, and thick fur boots, fully armed herself.
Su Qing turned around and glanced at Fu Gui'er who had been curled up in bed. "Are you not going to come out?"
"Ouch!" Fuguier groaned and shook his head. It's so cold, I don't want to go out!
Very good, Su Qing saw full of rejection in Fuguier's eyes.
"As a Siberian Husky, you're afraid of the cold? Is that appropriate?"
"Awoo~Awoo~" This king wants to hold the flower bud in the greenhouse in the palm of his hand and protect it carefully!
Su Qing had no choice but to go out by himself. When he opened the door, a gust of cold air hit him in the face.
The living room was unusually cold. Su Qing felt as if the breath she exhaled would instantly freeze into ice, and the air she inhaled would also freeze her internal organs. It was too cold! She quickly pulled her scarf up to cover her mouth and nose.
Many things in the main hall were covered with a layer of frost.
"System! What's the temperature outside now?"
"Preliminary estimates indicate the temperature is around -40 degrees Celsius, and it appears to be trending downwards."
Forty degrees below zero!!! No wonder it’s so cold!!!
Su Qing has lived in the north all year round, but he has never experienced such a cold climate. The coldest time in winter is only about twenty degrees below zero, and there is air conditioning and floor heating in the house, so it is not too cold.
She had only heard of such cold weather in the northeastern border areas and neighboring countries, and never expected that such severe weather phenomena would occur in the end times. She couldn't imagine how those who were not well prepared would survive.
In such a climate without any preparation, countless people fell asleep and never woke up again after a night.
Su Qing's door opened inwards, and now there was more than a meter of snow outside, making her feel a little embarrassed about how to go out.
"Is there any way the system can deal with this snow?"
"Twenty-eight thousand gold coins can be exchanged for a snowplow. The machine is connected to your interface space, and the collected snow will be stored in the space."
Su Qing had already used up all her gold coins in exchange for a smart bracelet, but she had recently managed to save up a little more. Looking at the remaining 28,025 gold coins, Su Qing suspected the system was asking for more than she had. However, since it was very useful, she accepted the offer.
“Buy, buy, buy!”
Su Qing exchanged a snowplow at the exchange mall and took it out of his backpack. It looked like a small handheld vacuum cleaner. Su Qing took it in his hand and looked at it but couldn't figure out what it was, so he just let it go. Anyway, it seemed that the system had not produced anything really bad so far.
She came to the door and carefully opened it a little bit. However, unlike what she expected, the snow would slide into the house. The snow outside the door did not move at all, standing there in a flat surface on its side, as if blocked by a transparent barrier.
"Don't worry, host. The house has defenses, and the snow won't get in."
"If there are defenses, why is the room so cold?"
"Houses can protect against all kinds of damage, but they can't block out the air! Houses block out some of the heat, and there's still a temperature difference of more than ten degrees between indoors and outdoors."
Okay, she was thinking too much. She was content with the temperature difference.
Since the snow couldn't get in, Su Qing opened both doors. The sky outside was dark and small snowflakes were flying around. As soon as the door was opened, the cold air rushed into the house, making Su Qing shiver violently.
It's so cold outside.
She sniffed, held the snowplow to the snow in front of her and turned on the switch.
As the buzzing sound sounded, the snow in front was sucked into the machine, and the snow began to disappear little by little.
This thing is amazing! Although the machine is not very big, its working efficiency is very high. In just a few minutes, a large hole was sucked out in front of Su Qing, but it was soon covered by the snow on the side.
She used the machine to vacuum for a while, then stopped to warm up and came out to vacuum for a while. She repeated this for several hours, and the snow in the yard was almost cleared. Since it was still snowing, there was only a thin layer of snow on the ground. Then she cleared a path outside the gate for Fuguier to solve the problem.
Finally, after dealing with the snow accumulation in her home, Su Qing felt that her whole body was numb from the cold and she seemed to have lost all feeling. She hurried back to the house, closed the door, and cooled down her body temperature.
"System, I'm burning charcoal in the house. If I don't open the windows for ventilation, will I get carbon monoxide poisoning?"
"The house will protect the lives inside, no."
Awesome, today is a day to love you!
She thought that the base was short of resources and didn't want to take up too much of the space. So, after listening to the system, she decided to take the three heaters to the base and give them to those in need.
Su Qing took out a few charcoal braziers, lit the charcoal and placed it in the braziers one by one, then laid a few heat-insulating pads on the ground and placed the charcoal braziers around the room.
The charcoal basin is not as hot as the electric heater, but it can keep the temperature in the room above zero. She also replaced the hot water in the hot water bottle in Fuguier's quilt with new hot water. After everything was done, Su Qing put on her clothes, walked out of the house and stood in front of the spring pool.
No one knew what the setting of this spring pool was. It didn't freeze even in such a cold weather. Su Qing didn't notice it when it was covered with snow before. After clearing the snow, he found that it no longer flowed out when covered with snow, but started flowing again as soon as the snow was cleared.
Su Qing passed through the teleportation channel to the base. She opened and closed her eyes. Except for the space that could accommodate one person at the location of the teleportation stone where she was, everything else she saw was white.
She took out a snowplow and cleared the snow bit by bit, creating a path leading to the base gate.
When she got closer to the base, she heard a lot of noise and bustle inside. She opened the gate and cleared the way to the residential area.
Every household in the base was busy shoveling snow. Since they didn't have advanced tools like Su Qing, they could only rely on shovels and buckets to clean their own yards bit by bit. After working for a long time, they didn't feel so cold anymore. It was actually warmer than staying motionless in the house.
Fang Qing's house was in the courtyard at the front. Su Qing cleaned the house as he walked along. After clearing all the snow outside her house, he opened the door.
A small path had been cleared inside the door. When Su Qing walked into the front yard, he saw Fang Qing, Li Xing and Wang Tianqi working fully armed.
"Hey! Sister Su Qing! How did you get in?" Li Xing shoveled another shovel of snow and put it into the bucket beside him. He was about to stretch his muscles when he looked up and saw Su Qing walking in.
"I have a snowplow here, it's very useful. You guys take a break first, I'll take care of these." Su Qing took out the snowplow, shook it towards the few people, and started sucking the snow.
The three of them watched as Su Qing held a small machine to the snow, and then the snow began to decrease rapidly, and they couldn't help but look amazed.
"Oh my God, this thing is so high-tech. Where did the snow that Sister Su Qing sucked up go? This small machine can't hold anything at all." Li Xing stared at the machine in Su Qing's hand inquiringly.
"Uh... you can understand it as... a dimensional space." Su Qing thought for a moment and replied.
Fang Qing watched Su Qing operate it herself and asked, "It will be much easier with this thing, but can other people use it?"
Because this thing is connected to the space and no one else can use it, Su Qing shook his head, "Only I can operate it."
"It would be great if other people could use it, so you wouldn't have to work hard alone, Sister Su Qing. Let's continue shoveling the snow. It will be faster with more people." Wang Tianqi said as he picked up the shovel beside him.
"What's the current situation at the base?"
"I've contacted every household, and everything is fine. We're well prepared. Although it's still a bit cold inside, there are many people in each house, and everyone gathers around a fire to keep warm, so it's not too bad. Now everyone in the base is working hard to clear the snow from their homes."
"I thought of clearing a path here in the residential area first, and then organizing people to clear the path to the restaurants and shops. This way, daily life can be guaranteed first, and other places can be cleaned up little by little without rushing." Fang Qing said to Su Qing while shoveling snow.
"Well, once I'm done cleaning up your place, I'll go out and clear a path through the base. I'll just have everyone take care of their own business."
With Su Qing's help, the snow was quickly cleared. She left Fang Qing's house and Su Qing had already cleared the gate leading to the base from the residential area when she came. Now she started to move towards the restaurant. After the backpack compartments were filled with snow, she walked out of the base to clear the snow, and then went back to clean up.
After being busy like this for a long time, some people gradually appeared behind her. These people had cleared a path out of their homes. They all held shovels and went to work with anyone who needed help.
When people saw Su Qing using a small machine to clear the way in the base, they were all amazed and praised its convenience.
With these people helping to clear the snow, by dusk, they had not only cleared the roads to the restaurants and shops, but also all the main locations of the base, including the mission center, clinic, commercial street, factory, etc.
The snow had stopped at this time, but the temperature was still very cold. The snow had become quite hard after being piled up overnight, but it was still nearly a meter deep. The path that everyone had worked hard to open was winding through the white, looking a bit like a maze.
Su Qing came to the fields and found all the crops covered with snow. She quickly used a snowplow to clear the snow, and the vegetables and fruits underneath gradually emerged. She was surprised that they were not crushed or frozen even in such extreme cold and heavy snow.
Su Qing replenished a lot of warm clothes in the store and supplied sufficient food to the restaurant. In order to cope with the severe cold, she offered discounts on some hot foods, such as hot porridge and hot soup, which were half price.
She also specially put a red date and ginger soup on the shelves, which is available for free. In such cold weather, catching a cold can be very troublesome, and red date and ginger soup is just right for warming the stomach and dispelling the cold.
The base has provided free basic security to all personnel, but additional supplements need to be purchased by themselves. She knows the meaning of gratitude and resentment. If everything is free, she is afraid that it will breed a group of ungrateful useless people.
Here, as long as you have hands and feet and are willing to work hard, you will live a good life. Those who are lazy and only care about food will never get any advantage from her.
The base provides additional subsidies for the elderly, children and the disabled, and she has done everything she can.
Su Qing then posted a high-paying job opening in the task center to hire someone to work at the garment factory. She wanted to increase production to cope with the severe cold. She then posted a snow-shoveling task, focusing on daily snow removal in the fields, offering a high payout.
The heavy snow affects the growth of crops, and the only task in the fields at present is to clear the snow. Some people in the base rely on farming for a living. People need to work and earn money to eat. If they are idle, it may be detrimental to harmony and stability. She wants to find some work for the people in the base.
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The author has something to say: I have been quite busy recently, but I am also trying my best to make up for what I owe.
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