In her previous life, Su Yao struggled for three years in the darkness of the apocalypse, but ultimately collapsed in that cruel extreme cold.
When the extreme cold first descended, the world seemed to be instantly frozen. Su Yao and her companions were initially grateful for some warm clothing and a makeshift shelter. They wrapped themselves tightly in their cotton-padded coats, huddled together, trying to draw warmth from each other's body heat. But as the temperature continued to drop, the cold, like a demon, seeped in relentlessly. Their stockpiled firewood was rapidly consumed in the struggle for warmth, each burning piece of wood like a countdown to their impending doom. Frost began to form on the walls of their shelter, and the chill seeped in from all directions. No matter how they tried to patch the gaps with rags and paper, they could not stop the onslaught of the cold.
Food also became a problem. The freezing temperatures hardened some of their normally edible reserves, forcing them to use their meager remaining heat to melt them—a very inefficient process. Furthermore, the extreme cold drastically increased their energy needs, making hunger a constant companion. People began to fall ill; in such harsh conditions, even a minor cold could be fatal. As medicine ran out, they could only watch helplessly as their companions succumbed to illness and the cold.
Su Yao watched her companions fall one by one, her eyes filled with despair. She tried to go out and find more supplies, but when she opened the shelter door, the biting wind cut like a knife across her face, almost suffocating her. The outside world was deathly silent; zombies were frozen in place, like terrifying ice sculptures. But she didn't give up, struggling forward through the snow and ice, each step requiring all her strength. Her hands and feet quickly lost feeling, her body trembled uncontrollably, but she had only one thought in her mind: to find something that could keep everyone alive.
However, the supplies she found were far from enough to change the situation. When she returned to the shelter with her meager haul, several more of her companions were already dead. Their faces were bluish-purple, their bodies stiff, as if the cold had ripped their souls out of them. The light in the eyes of the remaining ones was also gradually dimming, their hope flickering like a candle in the wind.
As time passed, the cold grew increasingly fierce. Cracks began to appear in their shelter, and the snow on the roof piled up thicker, threatening to collapse at any moment. Su Yao and her surviving companions tried to reinforce it, but their strength was dwindling due to the cold and hunger. One night, the roof finally gave way, and large swathes of snow crashed down, collapsing part of the wall. A tidal wave of frigid air rushed in, carrying the scent of death.
Her companions were buried in their sleep. Su Yao struggled to her feet in the snowdrift, calling out their names, but only heard her own desperate echoes. Her body had reached its limit, and her consciousness began to fade. She knew it was all over. She remembered the beautiful times before the apocalypse—the warm sunshine, the laughing faces—all now just distant memories. In her final moments, tears of resentment streamed down her face before she was completely swallowed by the cold.
But fate gave her a second chance. Reborn, Su Yao was filled with a yearning for survival and regret for her lack of preparation whenever she recalled the extreme cold of her previous life. In this life, she would never allow the same tragedy to repeat itself. She would use her wisdom and hard work to build a strong line of defense for herself and her family in the apocalypse, so that even in the face of extreme cold, they could survive tenaciously.
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