Chapter 20: The Novice Protection Period Has Ended, and the Wrath of Winter Begins

Outside: minus fifty-five degrees. Inside: plus eighteen degrees. Damn! Isn’t this temperature a bit excessive? It’s only the first day, and it’s already minus fifty-five? No wonder it’s so cold indoors—even in his reinforced vehicle, the chill permeated everything, let alone for others.

This won’t do; he needed another stove.

He opened the workbench and quickly crafted a second stove, igniting its fire. The room’s temperature began to rise steadily, finally stopping at plus twenty-six degrees. It didn’t make much sense, but this was a survival game; any way to keep warm was already a blessing.

“Let’s have a hot breakfast today—instant noodles and roast some meat.” With two stoves, one could boil water and the other roast meat.

Lin Mu opened the regional channel—22,312! As expected, those who survived the first week weren’t ordinary. Even after the night’s ordeal, so many remained.

“Damn! Lucky I was smart and prepared a stove, or I’d have frozen to death last night.”
“I just went out and almost froze to death.”
“Cotton jacket is so warm—so comfortable.”
“Hey guys, anyone got gasoline? I need to trade for 150 liters.”
“...”

Overall, people didn’t seem too bothered by the current situation. It was just cold, after all; as long as you dressed warmly, everything would be fine.

By nine o’clock, Lin Mu had been driving for over an hour. Heavy snow hindered visibility, so the car’s speed was slow. Just then, the familiar voice sounded from above.

“Surviving players, congratulations on making it through the newbie protection period!”

Lin Mu’s lips twitched. Nearly eighty thousand had died, and they called this the newbie period?

“Welcome to Winter’s Fury. Experience the joy of ice and snow! Seven days later, conditions will return to normal. Only those who survive the next disaster are worthy of knowing what comes after.”

Joy, my ass!

He opened the panel and saw a seven-day countdown. When it ended, Winter’s Fury would be over. What came next was still unknown.

Lin Mu opened the regional channel; everyone was fiercely discussing the announcement. He paid no mind, turning instead to the world channel.

Out of eight billion, only two point one billion remained. Clearly, some regions had far more survivors.

But this was only one week. Would only two or three hundred million remain after another? On reflection, it made sense: if the disaster had been zombies, the outcome would likely be the same.

Closing the panel, Lin Mu continued driving. Perhaps because it was a new week, after traveling one hundred kilometers, he encountered his first resource box.

The very first was a black iron resource box. Lucky indeed.

“Congratulations on opening a black iron resource box: received 100g bread x2, braised beef noodles x2.”
“Congratulations on opening a black iron resource box: received ginger tea x1, universal medicine x1.”

Lin Mu raised his eyebrows—a new item. He took the ginger tea from his backpack: a paper box containing ten tea bags.

“Looks pretty good.” He brewed a cup, took a sip, and warmth flooded his body.

[Ginger Tea]: One cup dispels cold for two hours, keeps the body warm—provided you’re dressed properly.

Excellent effect.

He pressed on.

“Congratulations on opening a silver resource box: received wind turbine blueprint x1, heater blueprint x1, silver ingot x5.”

A generator? A heater? More blueprints.

After collecting all ten resource boxes, Lin Mu did not rush to drive, but opened the trading center to check for new blueprints. Indeed, he found two:

[Ice Maker Blueprint]—trade for iron ingot x10, electronic component x2, silver ingot x1.

Both listings seemed to be from the same person, as the exchange values matched. Without hesitation, Lin Mu traded for them. Judging from last week, the next disaster might involve heat.

Regardless, acquiring them now could only help. He had more resources than he could use; the only pity was that fewer and fewer people remained.

“If only global trading could be unlocked.” The trading center was still restricted to the region.

...

At one o’clock in the afternoon, Lin Mu had already collected the second batch of boxes.

“How strange—why haven’t I encountered a single beast today? And why is there one box missing?”

He’d only opened nine boxes from the last batch, one short. He even drove back to check, but found nothing along the road or in the middle.

In the end, he had to abandon the search and move on.

Not long after he set off—

Screech!

His vehicle suddenly skidded. Clearly, driving on snow required anti-slip measures.

Lin Mu carefully parked, opened his modification skills, placed tires in one slot and iron ingots in another. Sure enough, the anti-slip chain option appeared.

“This skill is much smarter now—it just pops up instantly.” He spent four iron ingots to craft four chains, then used four more to reinforce them.

Afterwards, the car no longer slipped.

Ten minutes later, Lin Mu squinted his eyes—amidst the wind and snow, he saw two red lights ahead, moving slowly.

“Could that be a car? Isn’t this highway supposed to be a single road?”

Because of the snow and poor visibility, Lin Mu hadn’t noticed the roads converging at the start. In fact, almost no one had.

Suddenly, Lin Mu understood: “No wonder there were only nine boxes, one was opened by the vehicle ahead; but why didn’t they open the rest?”

A smile curled at Lin Mu’s lips. “Sorry, brother, but I need to upgrade my vehicle’s core. You’ll just have to bear with it.”

He floored the gas, ramming into the rear of the van ahead.

Bang!

The rear window of the van shattered instantly. The driver inside was startled as cold wind rushed through the broken glass.

The chubby man with glasses looked back. “What the hell—where did that car come from?” He tossed the stockings in his hand aside and slammed the accelerator.

But the road was too slippery; the speed wouldn’t pick up.

Lin Mu peered through the windshield, seeing the driver inside. “Turns out it’s a little fat guy—sorry about this.”

To upgrade the vehicle core, he had to destroy the other car. Even if Lin Mu didn’t make a move, the other driver very well might.

He couldn’t gamble on the other being a good person, nor could he suffer just to spare someone else.

Call him selfish or inhuman, he only wanted to survive in this world.