72: -70 degrees Celsius

“You are survivors brought back by the Rescue Team. Where you choose to live is your freedom, but do not use my name to borrow supplies from other survivors.”

Jiang Fei deliberately raised her voice, ensuring everyone on the stairs could hear, and then said to Yu Xuanjiao and Huang Xiaoyuan, “We are just ordinary schoolmates; we have no close relationship.”

Huang Xiaoyuan's face turned red with embarrassment, and she blurted out, “We don't have supplies. If we don't borrow from people, are we supposed to rob them?”

Yu Xuanjiao tugged at Huang Xiaoyuan, signaling her to shut up.

“Senior, we've just arrived here, we're unfamiliar with the place, and we don't have any food. We only know you, so we resorted to this foolish method.”

“I heard them say that there are a lot of supplies on the 22nd floor. Why don't you lend me some so I can pay them back first? This would also solve the predicament for me and Xiao Yuan, and I will repay you double in the future.”

“I know Senior has a cold exterior but a warm heart; she wouldn't stand by and watch her companions suffer, nor would she hoard so many supplies all to herself.”

Yu Xuanjiao said softly, trying to morally bind Jiang Fei, and even attempting to incite people to force the 22nd floor to hand over supplies for sharing.

Little did she know, the residents in the building had long been brought into line by Jiang Fei.

Without Jiang Fei even needing to act, everyone pulled Yu Xuanjiao and Huang Xiaoyuan down the stairs.

“If you want to die, don't drag us down with you! Quickly return the quilt you took from me!”

“I felt sorry for you and lent you an extra bag of bread, but it turns out you're both big liars! Bah!”

“Yesterday, you threatened me, saying if I didn't give you coal, Jiang Fei would deal with me. Looks like that backfired, huh! Give me my stuff back!”

Yu Xuanjiao and Huang Xiaoyuan were cornered, scared and unsure what to do, when—

Clang——

The sound of the electric door hitting the wall rang out.

Everyone instantly fell silent.

Yu Xuanjiao had just let out a sigh of relief, thinking Jiang Fei couldn't bear to see them surrounded.

Jiang Fei's tone was icy, “If you want to make a scene, go downstairs. Don't disturb my rest.”

Zhu Zi, being perceptive, stepped forward, “Everyone, follow me! Let's go to the 12th floor and get all our things back!”

“Yes! If they don't return them! We'll go get them ourselves!”

“If they've eaten all the food, then make them do hard labor to pay it back!”

Everyone forcibly dragged Yu Xuanjiao and Huang Xiaoyuan downstairs.

Jiang Fei closed the electric door, a hint of mischief flashing in her eyes.

She believed that the survivors in the building would teach Yu Xuanjiao a good lesson.

As for Ling Zhaorui, seeing that Jiang Fei didn't need help, he returned to 2101 to catch up on sleep.

Jiang Fei didn't go back to sleep. She returned to 2202 and took out the soup dumplings and milk tea she had bought before for breakfast.

The soup dumplings had thin, chewy skins. With one bite, the deliciousness of crab roe and the tenderness of pork, along with the juices, bloomed on her taste buds.

The warm milk tea was silky smooth, and each sip brought the rich, caramelized flavor of black sugar pearls.

Jiang Fei comfortably slumped on the sofa, enjoying the warm breeze.

It was a pity that the apocalypse came too quickly; she hadn't had time to download movies and TV shows, otherwise she would have some electronic 'pickles' now.

Next time she went out, she could look for books.

After eating and drinking her fill, Jiang Fei burrowed into the warm covers, with no inclination to farm.

Having just returned from Zean County, she needed a few days to be a 'salted fish' and relax.

Lu Yu and the others had grown accustomed to Jiang Fei staying indoors and didn't disturb her.

The walkie-talkie, however, kept beeping. Su Liuyuan, bored while recovering from his injuries, would periodically switch channels to chat with people.

“Calling, calling, is anyone there?”

“Lu Yu? Chu Xia? Jiang Fei?”

Annoyed by Su Liuyuan's noise, Jiang Fei turned off the walkie-talkie.

That night.

【Beep beep beep—! Detecting rapid body temperature loss in host! Activating forced wake-up function: electric shock!】

Jiang Fei, who had been sleeping in bed, was suddenly shocked awake, gasping for air, but found her throat and nasal cavity in severe pain, and her vision was also obstructed.

The cold air in the room made breathing difficult.

Jiang Fei quickly took out a warm face mask and put it on, wiped away the frost from her eyelashes, and then put on a cold-proof suit. Enduring the discomfort of her stiff body, she got out of bed and started jumping to restore her body temperature.

Only then did she notice that everything in the room was covered with a thin layer of ice.

The heater and generator were completely frozen and malfunctioning.

Feeling her legs could move, Jiang Fei immediately ran to the next room, wrapped Xiao Chuxia, who was also sleeping in bed, in a military overcoat.

“Chu Xia! Wake up!”

Xiao Chuxia trembled as she opened her eyes. As soon as she took a breath, she felt as if her throat was being scraped by a knife.

Jiang Fei quickly put a warm face mask on her, “I'll go wake the others. You get up and move around a bit, then burn some coal.”

With that, Jiang Fei hurried out.

Just then, Lu Yu, wearing a thick cotton coat, came out of 2203.

Without time to ask about each other's condition, the two ran downstairs.

Lu Yu had the key to 2101, so he directly opened the door and went in, slapping Ling Zhaorui and Su Liuyuan awake.

Da Huang was so startled he almost bristled.

When did his owner become enemies with these two two-legged beasts???

Jiang Fei, meanwhile, was responsible for distributing cotton coats, telling them to put them on quickly.

With Lu Yu taking care of the two, Jiang Fei went to 2102 and knocked on the door.

Soon, the door opened.

Xu Qianyao, shivering from the cold, clutched his military overcoat tightly. Before he could speak, Jiang Fei put a warm face mask on him.

Xu Qianyao fumbled to put it on properly.

Jiang Fei also found Old Mrs. Xu in the living room, wrapped in a cotton coat and quilt, and put a warm face mask on her.

The mask was fur-lined, covering the head and face, leaving only the eyes exposed.

A few minutes later, Xu Qianyao, having recovered somewhat, said in a hoarse voice, “It's a good thing I went to bed late. When I noticed the temperature drop, I immediately woke up my grandma, otherwise we really would have frozen to death in our sleep.”

“Speak less now. Do you have coal here?”

Xu Qianyao: “Yes.”

“Burn coal for warmth. Before your body temperature returns to normal, you must keep moving, whether it's jumping in place or walking.”

After giving instructions, Jiang Fei returned to 2202, looking for the cause of the low temperature.

She finally found an anomaly by the window.

Although the houses in Yulan Garden were sturdy, after the typhoon and insect plague, tiny gaps appeared between the windows and walls.

If one didn't look closely, they wouldn't notice them at all.

When the outside temperature dropped to a certain degree, the windows leaked air, and cold air came in.

Jiang Fei took out foam boards from the Supermarket warehouse, cut them into appropriate shapes, used glue to fill the gaps in all the windows, and then sealed them with transparent plastic sheeting to block the wind.

After tidying up 2202, Jiang Fei went to deliver foam boards and glue to the others.

Lu Yu had already come up from downstairs and was using the foam strips he found to fill the gaps in the 2203 window.

Da Huang was put into his cat villa, curled up in the warm deerskin.

“I don't need any here; you can give them to Xiao Chuxia and the others.”

He always went to bed late, and he hadn't expected this habit to unexpectedly save his life today.

Seeing that Lu Yu had enough, Jiang Fei took the foam boards and glue to 2201 and 2101, and told them to go to their own homes once they recovered.

She also gave the extra sealing materials to Xu Qianyao.

Running up and down the stairs, Jiang Fei's body was slightly sweating, but she dared not take off her cold-proof suit. She took out new heaters and generators and plugged them in.

She didn't forget to take out a few more and place them aside, preparing to give them to Lu Yu and the others.

As the indoor temperature gradually warmed, Jiang Fei took out two gas stoves and pots; one for cooking tomato and egg noodles, and one for ginger soup, both of which could warm the body and dispel cold.

More than ten minutes later, the four people who had finished filling the window gaps came over.

Each person was bundled up like a bear.

Lu Yu also brought Da Huang.

As soon as he entered, Da Huang abandoned Lu Yu and made a beeline for the heater.

Jiang Fei poured the cooked ginger soup into disposable cups and distributed them to Lu Yu and the others.

“Drink the ginger soup before eating. I have extra generators and heaters here; you can take them yourselves later.”

“Miss…” Xiao Chuxia seemed not to have fully recovered from the cold, and she trembled as she gripped Jiang Fei's hand, “I just saw the thermometer by the stairwell…”

“It's minus 70 degrees Celsius now…”