When the earthquake struck amid a blizzard, the three families were having hot pot together in Xi Xi's RV.
In the glacial region, snow on the southeast side cascades down the mountain ridge, instantly engulfing the surrounding gentle slopes in white waves that stretch to the end of the cross-sea bridge.
Meanwhile, the northeastern plains where Xi Xi and her group were located remained peaceful and serene. With the protection of the Earth Spirit Shield, the three RVs stood steadily beside the glacier.
"Sizzle—" The beef tallow broth surged and boiled in the pot. Xi Xi picked up a slice of fatty beef and dipped it in the spicy oil for three seconds. The steaming hot slice of meat was coated with minced garlic and sesame oil, making her tongue numb from the heat.
The blizzard outside rattled against the car window, and a thin layer of sweat beaded on the back of her neck. It was even a little hot!
"Everything is normal!" Xi Zhongcang's voice came from the driver's seat. His hands were still covered with some sauce as he stared at the movements on the central control screen and licked the chili oil residue from the corner of his mouth.
"That's about enough! I'll release it then!" Cheng Xu raised his hand and waved, releasing the third Earth Spirit Guardian Shield.
He somehow learned a major secret: supposedly, an authoritative figure in the English-speaking region had summarized a method for judging when the Earth Spirit's protective shield was about to run out.
Therefore, since then, Cheng Xu has been accurately deducing the specific duration of the protective shield's operation based on the surrounding sound wave frequencies, in order to ensure that each shield can be used to its fullest potential.
Through the car window, one could still vaguely see snow mist rising hundreds of feet high, shimmering with an eerie blue hue under the hazy moonlight, as if the sky had suddenly been torn open.
Although she couldn't feel any obvious tremors, Liu Yunyan still judged the duration of the earthquake by the sounds outside the window. She nervously gripped the bundle in her hand and then handed Cheng Xu a brand new Earth Spirit Guardian Shield.
Xi Xi used a slotted spoon to scoop up another shrimp paste, this time from the tomato broth, the sweet and sour aroma of tomato soup wafting from the spoon handle.
"Alright... stop eating now!" Chu Zhiqin patted Xi Xi's hand helplessly.
This girl doesn't seem to be taking refuge; she's probably having a feast... Shouldn't she at least wait until the earthquake is over before continuing to eat and drink?
"What's wrong?" Xi Xi glanced at her mother, puzzled. She was simply completely desensitized to earthquakes. With so many earth spirit protective shields combined, what was there to be afraid of?
On the public screen, rescue messages are scrolling rapidly. In the fragmented photos, the cross-sea bridge several kilometers away looks like a broken plastic toy, with the jagged steel frame exposed at the break, and orange life jackets dotting the sea ice.
"It's finally over!" Liu Yunyan breathed a long sigh of relief. She had only used three and a half Earth Spirit Guardian Shields. The earthquake stopped shortly after the fourth one was used.
"I was so nervous I broke out in a sweat!" Everyone calmed down and sat back down to continue eating hot pot.
Since the baby mermaid couldn't eat spicy food, Liu Enxi scooped out a lot of seaweed from the mushroom soup base and tomato soup base and fed it to her one by one.
"If you ask me, this hot pot should be served with chilled plum juice!" Liu Yunyan got out of the car in a hurry and came over with a huge thermos.
Xi Xi was taken aback. Speaking of which, her connection with Liu Yunyan started with a bottle of chilled plum juice.
"I thought opening a treasure chest and finding chilled plum juice in this freezing weather was incredibly unlucky!" Liu Yunyan laughed as she unscrewed the lid of the thermos. "Turns out this was waiting for me! Here, have a drink!"
Several young people raised their glasses together, their expressions of enjoyment as if they had drunk some fine nectar.
A hot pot with cold wine, absolutely delicious!
However, in reality, only the wine glasses of those four middle-aged men contained real alcohol; the warm-colored yellow wine was something that Cheng's father had specially obtained from the trading hall.
"Let's have another plate of sliced beef!" Cheng's father took a sip of his drink, then patted Aura, who was squatting next to him, in a good mood. "Wipe your drool off, Uncle will make you some meat jelly later!"
“It can’t eat that much!” Xi Xi waved her hand repeatedly, indicating that she had already fed Aura and the little white duck canned food.
"That's right!" Chu Zhiqin's eyes suddenly lit up as she looked at the little white duck that was proudly showing off its newly laid eggs not far away.
"Oh dear, how could I forget about that!" she muttered to herself as she stood up. "We were just saying we didn't have any good dishes to go with the drinks, and here we are!"
As she spoke, she walked quickly toward the little white duck, carefully picked up the still-warm egg from the carpet, and examined it closely.
"There are preserved eggs!" Chu Zhiqin excitedly shouted to the others, walking towards the jade box. "I'll go make you a cold dish, I guarantee it'll be delicious!"
"Cheers!" Xi Zhongcang also tilted his head back and drank it down after a long time, the burning sensation of the rice wine spreading from his throat to his stomach.
The surroundings were desolate and the weather was extremely harsh, with snow covering the ground and no one in sight. But what did it matter? There was plenty of fuel, ample heating, and plenty of food and purified water in the cold storage.
"I reckon we'll be stationed here for a few days." Xi Zhongcang looked at the potatoes bubbling in the pot, calmly calculating, "This time is a little different from the previous two times..."
“Yes, I think so too.” Xi Xi threw another plate of handmade shrimp paste into the pot and continued, “There are mountains in the distance. If the ice and snow on the high mountains really loosen to a critical point, the possibility of an avalanche will greatly increase. In short, it’s better to observe first.”
Liu Enxi took a sip of plum juice, trying to calm herself down. "So what can we do now?"
Xi Xi thought for a moment and said, "Let's hold back. Everyone should pay close attention to the messages on the public screen and keep up with the latest developments. For example, Cheng Xu made a great contribution this time by figuring out the relationship between the Earth Spirit Guardian Shield and the sound waves!"
Cheng Xu was a little embarrassed by the praise, and unusually, he became a bit shy, scratching his head shyly.
"Then, we still need to check the surrounding environment regularly, take turns shoveling snow and removing ice every day to ensure that the RV is functioning properly and to observe for any potential dangers." Xi Xi pondered for a moment while holding her chopsticks. "I'll make a shift schedule later."
Mr. Cheng nodded in agreement, while Mrs. Cheng sighed as she looked at the chat screen: "The situation on the chat screen isn't looking too good right now..."
In the photo, a woman wrapped in a down jacket is huddled in the shadow of a bridge pier, holding a baby, with a bottomless crevice in the icy sea behind her.
"Our area lost power because the bridge collapsed and the fiber optic cable broke, but thankfully we survived!"
"Someone help me! I'm trapped near the bridge pier!"
"Am I just imagining things? The blizzard seems to be getting even stronger..."
"Just one more shield, just one more shield, and my daughter won't die, hahaha..."
"Another person has committed suicide with their child."
"They've gone mad. They've all gone mad."
Just as the public chat was filled with howls and wailing, a rumbling sound like muffled thunder came from the depths of the icy plains. Everyone was stunned and their expressions instantly turned serious.
Xi Zhongcang quickly ran to the central control screen and opened the map. The loud noise sounded like an ice fissure expanding due to an earthquake.
The blizzard whipped up ice shards, creating a white, frigid wind that tore large chunks of frozen snow and ice in the distance into pieces.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
