This cold wave lasted for three days before the temperature gradually began to rise. The second cold wave that Xiao Lingfeng had worried about didn't arrive; instead, the eternal night suddenly ended.
When Jian Ning woke up in the morning and saw a sliver of light in the sky, she couldn't help but jump for joy.
The sun is out, and suddenly there's hope. At least when it's light, everything is easier, isn't it?
She didn't dare to open the curtains all at once; she needed to adjust to the darkness after being in it for so long. Xiao Lingfeng had been exhausted all night again, and unusually, he woke up later than her today.
Using the light filtering through the gaps in the curtains, Jian Ning carefully traced Xiao Lingfeng's features with her fingers: his high, straight nose, his long, slightly curled eyelashes—every detail captivated her.
Her slender fingers moved slowly, just about to touch his sexy Adam's apple, when Xiao Lingfeng suddenly opened his eyes.
He grabbed her little hand.
"Don't you want to get out of bed during the day?" His voice was slightly hoarse, and there seemed to be two leaping flames in his eyes as he stared at her.
"No, look, the sun is out!" Jian Ning gently pulled her hand away, pointed to the window, and smiled at Xiao Lingfeng.
Xiao Lingfeng turned around and looked, then laughed as well.
"With the sun out and everything coming back to life, this extreme cold and endless night should be over. It seems we don't need to rush to build the kang (heated brick bed), but rather we need to study how to prevent flooding."
The snow outside is so thick that it's impossible to clear it completely. If the temperature suddenly rises, a large amount of snow will melt into water, posing a challenge to the base's infrastructure.
"Don't be so optimistic. What if it's just sunny and the temperature keeps dropping? The weather is unpredictable these days. Let's go out and see what it's like outside."
Jian Ning quickly got dressed and walked out of the villa with Xiao Lingfeng.
They discovered that it wasn't just them; many people had already come out of their houses, all wearing thick cotton-padded clothes, covering themselves completely.
The sun outside was blindingly red. But people were all happy. It was as if the presence of the sun meant the presence of hope.
Jian Ning looked around and saw that apart from their two villas, the ground and walls nearby were in a mess.
The walls of the nearest villa were covered in deep marks cut by shards of ice.
That's impressive. It can leave marks on such a thick wall, let alone fragile glass.
The snow-covered ground was littered with trash, broken branches, mud bricks, and fragments of mangled human remains.
Dark red bloodstains—it's anyone's guess who was unlucky enough to freeze to death, their body torn apart by the gale and ice shards.
"Xiao Ning, you go back first, I'll go check on things."
Xiao Lingfeng also saw the mutilated corpse not far away. He frowned slightly and pushed Jian Ning to go inside first.
"I've seen it all before. In this apocalypse, when is it not people dying?"
"Never mind that for now, eat first, then you'll have something to do again."
Jian Ning nonchalantly took Xiao Lingfeng's hand and walked into the yard. They had only taken two steps when Jian Anping emerged from his yard, carrying a large iron shovel, apparently to shovel snow.
"Xiao Ning, brother-in-law, you're up so early! I've already cleared all the snow from my yard."
"I was just about to go to your house to clear the snow after I finished sweeping this up. Luckily, my brother-in-law is home, so let's work together, it'll be faster!"
Jian Anping had initially thought Xiao Lingfeng wasn't home, given the constant announcements over the loudspeaker about the cold wave and disaster situation. He knew Xiao Lingfeng must be very busy.
"Okay, bro, let's go together."
Xiao Lingfeng felt embarrassed to go back on his own. He took out an iron shovel from his spatial storage and, together with Jian Anping, cleared a path about one meter wide from the entrance of the courtyard to the main road.
"I haven't dared to leave the house for the past few days. Our base has suffered quite a few losses this time. Have a lot of people died?"
Jian Anping stood at the intersection, looking at the distant bungalows, most of which had collapsed and were buried under snow, and couldn't help but feel worried.
"The exact number hasn't been tallied yet, but there are several hundred people." Speaking of this, Xiao Lingfeng's mood was also heavy.
“These mud-brick houses are just not sturdy enough; they’re not as durable as houses built with cement bricks,” Jian Anping sighed.
They were all living, breathing people. I bet even these dead people never imagined that they would lose their lives while living peacefully in their own homes.
The two of them didn't look at it for long. They went back together and piled all the snow in Xiao Lingfeng's yard in the corner of the wall. Xiao Lingfeng even built two rather tall snowmen for Tian Tian.
Sweetie was perched on the window inside the house, laughing happily. Although it was too cold outside to let her out, just being able to watch from afar made her very happy.
After finishing breakfast, Xiao Lingfeng went to the regimental headquarters and attended a meeting there.
After brainstorming, everyone decided to use explosives to build a shelter inside the mountain. They set up a heated brick bed inside, so that even if there was a flood or a cold wave later, there wouldn't be any problems.
As for the villa below, it would be best to add another layer of protection with ice.
Although the sun came out, the temperature showed no signs of rising.
If these ice shards attack again, the walls, with their protective layer, will be able to withstand the attack for a longer period.
As for the glass in the villa, there are glass processing plants in the county town. We can go and get some to install, but this time we can't use ordinary glass; it's best to use laminated glass.
It involves adding a PVB interlayer between two glass panes.
This PVB film can effectively prevent glass from shattering and also has bulletproof properties. Xiao Lingfeng doesn't need to worry about these things; the soldiers will handle them.
With the plan in place, everyone quickly got to work.
Xiao Lingfeng was assigned the task of supervising the excavation of the mountain, and he was so busy that he didn't go home for three days.
Jian Ning could hear the sound of explosives blasting the mountains in the distance, even from her home. It was incredibly loud. But progress seemed slow; the mountain, combined with the frozen layer, was too solid and difficult to work with.
So that night, after everyone in her family had gone to sleep, Jian Ning secretly slipped away to the construction site.
Seeing that Xiao Lingfeng was so tired that he could barely keep his eyes open, she felt very sorry for him.
She walked over and quietly tugged at his sleeve. Xiao Lingfeng immediately realized it was her.
He took a few steps back and walked behind a big tree. He asked softly, "Wife, what brings you here?"
"What do you think? It's so close by, and you haven't been home for three days. What kind of project is so complicated?"
"There was no other way. The explosives I made weren't powerful enough. The rocks here were all large pieces, making them difficult to blast."
But this is the only suitable location, and it's not easy to change places. So we've been stuck here, fighting it out.
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