Chapter 45: Extreme Cold
When men see this phenomenon, their ambitions instantly arise.
"One bubble of condensation for one house."
"One bubble of condensed water for 10 kilograms of compressed biscuits."
"One bubble of condensed water for 1 liter of drinking water."
Her words caused a stir among the crowd, and everyone left.
"Fuck! You're crazy because you're poor."
"It's just a prop, not a specific material. Whoever wants to buy it can buy it at this price."
The man panicked instantly, "Hey, don't leave, we can still discuss, two is fine, three, five is also fine!"
Tang Mingli happened to pass by and heard it.
"What do you want in exchange?"
When the man saw someone asking, his eyes turned.
"Two water condensation balls in exchange for 10 kilograms of food or 1 liter of drinking water."
Tang Mingli frowned, "You just said five."
The man said awkwardly, "Five is fine."
I don't know whether he is lucky or unlucky.
Good news: Wu Nai, a mobile phone addict who will die if he leaves his phone for five minutes, also has severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and cannot stand seeing any red signs on his phone. He has obtained the Doomsday Card Drawing System without exception.
During the gray fog, the Special Management Bureau searches for all people who have the Doomsday Card Drawing System and brings them together for protection. Everyone is allowed to bring their immediate family members, and survival supplies are distributed daily.
Although you need to turn in 3 N-level cards every week or 1 R-level card every three months, your survival and safety can be guaranteed.
Bad news: Just like his name, Wu Nai (helpless) is a poor guy. All he got in the past few months were N-level cards, and they were just the worst cards like a bowl of rice, a bottle of water, a biscuit, and a piece of firewood.
He can only live on the minimum living allowance every day. He has the lowest status among all the "card drawers" and everyone looks down on him.
He looked enviously at the people who were lucky enough to draw R-level cards and changed their names with each card.
I heard that there was a girl in the Northeast District who had just joined the Tax Bureau and was just a small clerk who was not valued.
She drew an SR-level card just a few days after the apocalypse. Now even the director of the Special Management Bureau, the chief executive, and the speaker have to be courteous to her.
This kind of example has become the dream of every "card drawer", but unfortunately dreams are just dreams.
Unexpectedly, God was kind today and he actually drew a pretty useful card. However, his greed almost ruined it. It makes me scared just thinking about it.
"Five water condensation balls in exchange for 10 kilograms of compressed biscuits or 1 liter of water."
Tang Mingli had stockpiled a lot of water, and he kept it in his backpack for fear that it would be contaminated, so it took up four slots. It would be best if he could reduce the space.
However, always bargain when buying something.
"15 jin of compressed biscuits or 1.5 liters of water in exchange for ten water condensation balls."
Wu Nai wanted to bargain, "18 jin or 1.8 liters of water."
But she turned and left.
Wu Nai hurried forward to stop him.
"Hey, don't leave. 15 catties is 15 catties."
The two went to the trading center and asked special staff to act as witnesses.
After the meeting, Tang Mingli came to the director's office.
"Mingli, you're here."
Only a few senior officials knew that Tang Mingli had an SR-level card. Unlike the "God of Cookery Card", her card was a combat type, and she was unwilling to stay in the bureau to be protected. She preferred to go out on missions and get more opportunities to draw cards as rewards.
Currently, SR-level card owners enjoy deputy director treatment, and no one can force them to give orders unless they wish.
"Chief, I have a friend who is a card drawer, but she doesn't want to join the bureau and asked if there is any non-staff contract worker."
The director's expression did not change. She was not the first person to ask him. Many people had asked him through various connections before. Even the Speaker and the Chief Executive had sent people to ask him indirectly.
They want the right to trade cards, but they don't want to have to take on the responsibility of having a special administration carry out its mission.
Originally, this precedent would not have been set, but everything can be compromised in the face of interests.
The establishment of the contract workers allowed him to severely blackmail the speaker who occupied a large amount of materials and the powerful chief executive.
The director gave a cunning smile.
“Of course there are contract workers, but it is not okay to just enjoy rights without fulfilling obligations.
Normal card drawers need to hand in 3 N-level cards per week or 1 R-level card every three months. Contract workers who do not live in the bureau and do not collect supplies but only trade cards are subject to the same conditions. If they live in the bureau, they need to hand in 5 N-level cards per week or 2 R-level cards every two months.
If you perform a task once a week, you don't have to hand it in, but you need to perform the bureau's tasks twice a year, and report to the local special management bureau once every six months.
Of course, if it is an SR-level card drawer, everything will be fine."
Tang Mingli said he understood.
Ninety-second day of doomsday, early morning.
Qiao Qiao stood under the volcano, looking at the boiling volcano so close at hand in confusion, his mind in a mess.
"Where is this? Am I dreaming?" She reached out and pinched her arm, but felt nothing. She was indeed dreaming.
Although I don’t know why I dreamed about volcanoes, since I’m here now, there may be more volcanic eruptions in the future, so I should just adapt to it in advance.
“Boom!”
After a deafening sound, I looked up and saw red-hot lava flowing down the mountain. The speed was much faster than what I saw on TV. There was no time to run away.
The magma transforms into cats of various breeds, including calico, ragdoll, British shorthair, American shorthair...
It ran towards her with its body on fire, meowing as it ran.
As the magma approached, she felt like she was about to evaporate. Just a second before being swallowed up, she heard the volcano speak!
"Qiao Qiao, wake up, Qiao Qiao."
Qiao Qiao shuddered all over, opened his eyes instantly, and lay on the bed breathing heavily.
The next second I felt very cold, as if I was in an ice cellar.
She was gently helped up by the shadow. It turned out that it was him who was calling her. Xiao Qiao was also meowing anxiously on his body.
"The extreme cold is coming!"
She murmured to herself, her voice trembling, revealing tension and coldness.
At this moment, the windows were covered with frost, and the frost flowers were extremely beautiful. If she was not about to freeze to death, she would have had the leisure to appreciate them.
The room was freezing cold, and her hands and feet were icy. She hurriedly took out cotton slippers and a long cotton jacket that reached her ankles from her system backpack.
I rushed to my parents' room while hurriedly putting on my clothes.
"Dad! Mom! Get up!"
She shouted loudly, but perhaps because Qiao Huizhou and Qiao Xinghe were sleeping in each other's arms, her reaction was not as big as Qiao Qiao's.
"How come it got so cold suddenly?" They quickly put on their cotton clothes.
Qiao Xinghe lit up the fireplace in the living room and the earthen kang on the second floor, and took out an R-rated card electric heater and placed it in the living room for heating.
Qiao Huizhou went to the sun room on the second floor. Even though she had expected this, the scene before her still made her heart sink.
Almost all the food that is grown is not cold-resistant.
The cucumbers, sweet potatoes and water spinach were all frozen to death, hard and lifeless.
The situation of cabbage, lettuce and rapeseed is slightly better. Although the leaves are frozen, there is still a chance for them to survive if the temperature rises immediately. However, don't think about harvesting them.
Onions, leeks and celery have relatively high cold resistance. Although there is frost on the leaves, they will slowly recover as the temperature rises.
Using R-level solar heating lights, the 20-square-meter usage range just covers the entire sun room.
Qiao Qiao glanced at the time and thermometer. At three o'clock in the morning, the indoor temperature had dropped to minus 24 degrees Celsius, and the outdoor temperature had reached minus 30 degrees Celsius.
From 30 degrees Celsius during the day to minus 30 degrees Celsius now, the temperature difference is 60 degrees Celsius in less than 12 hours.
What's more, the temperature dropped suddenly in the early morning and many people were still asleep, so they had no time to react.
She put on all her cold-proof clothing, including thermal underwear, mid-layer base shirts and sweatshirts, all of which were fleece-lined, with a long goose down jacket on the outside.
I am fully equipped with a hat, scarf, gloves and mask, and I wrap myself tightly before going out.
As soon as I reached the corridor, I felt a gust of cold wind blowing towards me and I couldn't help but shiver.
At this time, she was very glad that the best insulation materials were used in the renovation, so the thermometer showed more than 20 degrees below zero.
Even with a mask and scarf on, the cold wind cuts into my lungs with every breath, and the cold wind still fills my mouth.
"Tang Mingli! Tang Zhijie! Open the door!"
Qiao Qiao knocked on the door opposite her frantically. Tang Mingli had returned home last night and told her about the Special Administration Bureau's requirements.
A few minutes later the door opened and Tang Mingli appeared wrapped in down.
"Qiao Qiao, thank you. It's a good thing you came to wake us up, otherwise I'm afraid..."
"You're welcome. Keep warm."
There was no time for politeness. When I saw them wake up, I continued to run downstairs.
"Open the door! Wake up!"
“Wake up!”
"Don't sleep! The temperature is dropping!"
Qiao Qiao ran and shouted in the cold corridor. Although she had conflicts with the residents downstairs before, these were human lives after all, and some of them were innocent people like Yang Yi and Xia Momo.
"Fuck! Why did it suddenly drop below zero?"
"Dad, wake up, Dad!"
"Child, my child!"
"My wife!"
When Qiao Qiao knocked on 902, a cry for help came from inside the door.
She remembered that Yang Yi lived here, along with Grandma Li, his daughter-in-law and granddaughter.
"Help! The door won't open. It seems to be frozen!"
Most of the doors in the northeast area open inwards to prevent them from being blocked by snowstorms.
Theoretically, the door will not freeze easily, perhaps because the temperature drops too quickly.
Qiao Qiao pushed hard, but it didn't move at all.
She had no choice but to take out the axe from her backpack and chop hard at the door hinge.
Again and again, wood chips flew everywhere.
Finally, the door was cracked open, and she used all her strength to push the door open completely.
Yang Yi and his wife were shivering with cold, their lips turning purple. They had not expected the temperature to drop so quickly, so they only brought summer clothes and a few autumn clothes upstairs.
"Thank you."
Qiao Qiao nodded in reply.
Inside the house, daughter-in-law Wang Meng, wearing only summer pajamas, held her daughter covered in a quilt in her arms. She deftly opened the cabinet door and took out all the winter clothes and quilts.
Lying on the sofa was Grandma Li, whose body was stiff and she had already died.
Some people with good physical constitutions woke up, but some elderly people and children remained sleeping here forever.
In the apocalypse, it might be a blessing to die without pain in your sleep.
And they still have to face the extremely cold weather that is coming.
No matter what humans do, the cold wind is howling outside the window, the extreme cold is still raging, and the temperature is continuing to drop.
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