On a late February evening, Bai Shuang said to Lu Yu, "If there are no deviations, the temperature should rise by midnight tomorrow."
Lu Yu: "The necessary preparations have been made. Now, all that's left is to deal with whatever comes our way."
Bai Shuang thought about it and realized it made sense. When the floods came, she was all alone; when the extreme cold came, Bai Jiu and the other man were by her side; and now she still had her husband.
Don't be afraid, just go to sleep as usual.
When Bai Shuang woke up in the morning, the room was unusually bright. She drew back the curtains and saw the sun, which had been dormant for several years.
But the dazzling light, white with a hint of red, hurt the eyes; the sun was like a ball of fire burning in mid-air.
Two years of extreme cold seem to have completely destroyed the oxygen layer, leaving ultraviolet radiation unhindered, like sharp swords piercing down.
Looking at the outdoor temperature, it has soared from -30 degrees to -10 degrees.
It's important to know that the temperature inside the ellipsoid is 20 degrees Celsius higher than the outside temperature.
I took out my phone, and a message came from the base:
Temperatures began to rise at midnight today, and have now risen from -50 degrees to -20 degrees Celsius.
I closed the window and touched the radiator; it was still lukewarm.
The snow leopard called out to the window for a while, then fell silent.
Baishuang Hospital closed yesterday to give everyone time to adjust to the temperature.
Bai Jiu and the others wore sunglasses and kept observing the changes outside.
At 9 o'clock, the temperature inside the oval body had reached zero degrees Celsius. In just 9 hours, the temperature rose by 50 degrees Celsius.
The base gates are closed to prevent accidents caused by melting ice and snow; there is no ice or snow inside the ellipsoid.
(The snow inside the base is usually cleared into various water storage pools to irrigate plants or purified and disinfected for use by survivors.)
At 12 o'clock, the internal temperature had risen to 10 degrees Celsius, and heating was turned off throughout the base.
Bai Shuang called Grandpa Lu, "Grandpa, while the temperature isn't too high yet, quickly have someone cover the planting platform with shade cloth to cool down the crops."
They've finished making my shed too; I'll transfer the points over later.
The planting sheds are the lifeblood of the base, and air conditioning fans have been installed in all of them a few days ago.
The focus now needs to shift from providing warmth and supplemental lighting during periods of extreme cold to providing shade and cooling.
Finally, at 4 p.m., the temperature began to drop due to the surrounding ice and snow, and returned to zero degrees Celsius by sunset.
Bai Jiu was an optimist, and Gao excitedly said, "The temperature has dropped, Miss. Maybe with such a thick layer of snow, the temperature won't rise for a long time."
But Bai Shuang knew that God wasn't so kind. "Don't be too happy yet. We'll see the real results tomorrow."
The outside temperature dropped to -15 degrees Celsius last night. I wonder how the plants in the planting area are doing?
The heating has been turned off, and restarting it is impossible due to energy shortages and the high cost.
There's no other way but to keep plugging in the electric heater, and continue using the cotton clothes and thick blankets.
But you still need to be prepared with light blankets, single-layer clothes, sun-protective clothing, sun hats, and cooling air conditioners, etc., because Mother Nature really knows how to cause trouble.
Although it's usually cold outside, it's always warm when you get home. This is the first time I've experienced something like this.
Bai Shuang is well-prepared, which is fine, but those with good conditions are a very small minority.
The staff at Baishuang Hospital were already on holiday, but many asked, "Can we stay at the hospital?"
There's a self-heating system there, so even sleeping on a table or a makeshift bed on the floor is better than being at home.
Bai Shuang agreed, but only to employees and their immediate family members; outsiders were not allowed to enter the hospital.
The next morning, the temperature inside the base had reached 20 degrees Celsius, and the sun was redder and brighter than the day before.
Now I can safely put away all my thick clothes, blankets, and other warm items.
The temperature rose to 30 degrees Celsius right after the harvest was completed.
How could that be? There's so much snow outside, making it colder.
While putting snow bricks into the basin, Bai Shuang called out to a few people to help the snow leopard shave its fur and put on thermal clothing.
At night, the temperature drops, and those in the base without heating can only endure the cold, shivering and feeling cold even with blankets wrapped around them.
As the temperature rose at daybreak, people initially said, "Finally, it's not cold anymore."
But after a short while, he was sweating profusely and took off his clothes one by one.
But the speed at which they took off their clothes couldn't keep up with the rise in temperature.
Even when he was down to just his shirt, he was still drenched in sweat.
This is worse than extreme cold, at least people have adapted to it. This extreme heat is fucking unbearable. God really knows how to mess with humanity.
Some people even lay there unwilling to get up, thinking it would be better to just die, to end it all and never have to suffer this torment again.
Even though I felt suffocated and the feeling of death was really there, I still stood up regardless. No, I still wanted to live.
After tidying up their home, Bai Shuang and the others put on thermal clothing, sunglasses, and sun protection shirts, they went to the planting area.
The planting workers have turned on the air conditioners inside the greenhouses, and they are living in each greenhouse.
Bai Shuang led them to another place, to a shed in the middle, where an open space was cleared out, and several clean, large water tanks were placed there to make a snow brick warehouse.
It can be used for cooling and also for providing them with water.
After leaving the planting area, the group saw many people walking towards higher ground in the base, presumably from where they could see outside the circular structure.
Bai Shuang also wanted to know what was happening outside, so the group followed along with the snow leopard.
We followed a winding road uphill until we reached the highest platform of the base, where a large crowd had already gathered.
Normally, you can't tell when they're wearing thick clothes, but today I saw them one by one, and even through their clothes, you could see their bare bones.
Despite the scorching sun, the survivors, having not seen it for years, decided to come out and check on the melting of the ice and snow.
Bai Shuang took out several binoculars and handed them to Lu Yu and Bai Jiu.
In the distance, a cloud of mist hung in the air, and the sunlight, refracted through the snow and the mist, emitted a kaleidoscope of colors.
"rainbow!"
"No, it's a mirage!"
Suddenly, everyone cheered.
It was indeed beautiful. Bai Shuang and the others quickly took out their phones to record the scene.
But then, crackling sounds like gunfire came from all directions.
Bai Jiu: "What's that sound?"
Lu Yu frowned. "The sound of ice and snow cracking."
Water was already flowing into the sea, and the current was getting stronger, with the sound changing from "ding-dong" to "whoosh".
Before the survivors could even appreciate the symphony, it turned into a thunderous roar, as if a thousand horses were galloping...
The floodwaters, carrying chunks of ice of all sizes, roared and crashed as they surged toward the sea, and human corpses could be seen every now and then.
The huge oval beneath Bai Shuang and the others seemed to be moving, rising with the tide.
Suddenly, a huge block of ice on the water came into everyone's view, and several people on it were waving and calling for help in the rapid current.
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