40: Security Tower Message

Ai Yue watched from the side as her father was scolded for trying to be clever. The suppressed emotions in her heart vanished in an instant. It was so good! It was so good to still have her parents by her side!

The three people and one cat sat around the stove and ate a simple breakfast. After resting for half an hour, the three "fat figures" in their bulky clothes exercised in the cramped room. Then, they continued to huddle around the stove, passing the time by snacking and reading books.

Ai Yue could imagine what the outside world had become. People who had managed to survive the torrential rains and floods thought they could rebuild their homes and live well, only for the sudden extreme cold to completely destroy their moral bottom line.

Those who truly couldn't find food would eventually turn their gaze toward their frozen relatives and neighbors. Once such a thought surfaced, it could never be taken back. As long as someone froze to death, they would be immediately divided and eaten; even one's closest relatives would not be spared.

After eating their own kin, eating others would carry no burden. When the dead weren't enough to eat, the psychology of the living would become completely twisted. They would rush into their neighbors' homes like monsters to slaughter the living... That scene was not like the human world; it was like purgatory.

The more ruthless a person was, the more likely they were to survive, while the weak simply had no right to live. It was like the survival of the fittest in the law of the jungle.

To avoid freezing to death, the living could only put on the thickest clothes in their homes and go out trembling to find things to start a fire.

Trees that had finally managed to grow lushly during the heavy rains and floods were all chopped down overnight and hauled back to be burned as firewood. Those who went out later couldn't find any fuel; they were so anxious that if the ground hadn't been frozen rock-solid, they would have wanted to dig up the roots and carry them back.

Even the mountain where Ai Yue and her family lived was stripped bare, except for the area near their house. The rest of the mountain became completely bald.

Since the Apocalypse began, the entire city had rarely been so tidy. No combustible materials could be found; even the trash on the streets wasn't spared. As long as it could burn, it was all collected and taken away.

The extreme cold continued to drop. After a day and a night, the temperature drop stopped, and the outdoor temperature stayed at minus sixty-eight degrees. This was already the limit of human endurance; if it dropped any further, even with winter clothing, no one would escape the fate of freezing to death.

The entire world seemed sealed away, with no traces of human activity. All was silent.

Ten days into the extreme cold, snow began to flutter down from the sky, making things even worse for people who were already struggling to survive.

People kept praying to the heavens to stop snowing, but unfortunately, the heavens did not hear the human heart's cry. The snow fell harder and harder, eventually turning into heavy, goose-feather flakes.

The heavy snow fell for three days and nights. The entire earth was clad in silver, as if wearing a thick winter coat. The white snow was a story high, completely trapping people's footsteps.

The snow stopped, but the thick dark clouds in the sky did not disperse, and not a single ray of sunlight peeked through.

In such cold weather, Ai Yue's family was truly too happy. While others were on the verge of freezing or starving to death at any moment, they could gather around the stove eating a steaming hot pot. To the people of the Apocalypse, this was a life of the gods.

Although the weather was cold, it still couldn't stop Ai Yue and the two others from setting aside an hour for training every day. The extreme cold would last for a long time, and a little daily training would prevent their skills from becoming rusty.

During this time, Da Wang entered a growth phase. He ate three meals a day, consuming a pig's hind leg at each meal. Ai Yue cried out that she couldn't afford to keep him. At the rate he was eating, the meat meant to last three lifetimes would be wiped out in this one.

But Da Wang was the family's little darling, so no matter how much he ate, they had to provide. What else could they do? Since Ai Yue was the one who brought him back, she could only keep her complaints to herself and raise him willingly.

Da Wang had also completely changed his appearance. Ai Yue's family was now fully convinced that their little darling was a genuine tiger—and a white tiger, the king of tigers at that.

Da Wang was now as high as a person's calf. His whole body was covered in snow-white fur that was as smooth as silk and felt wonderful to the touch. If he were placed in the snow, he would immediately become invisible; if one didn't look closely, he couldn't be found at all.

The markings on his face from when he was a cub gradually faded as he grew until they disappeared, leaving him a majestic white tiger without a single stray hair.

The sound he made was no longer a soft, cute "awoo," but a tiger's roar. Hearing his voice would cause an inexplicable tremor in one's heart; this was perhaps the natural fear of tigers that had flowed in human blood since ancient times.

Although he had grown larger, he became even more attached to Li Shilan, following her wherever she went. He was incredibly well-behaved in front of Ai Yue's family of three, appearing just like a harmless big white cat—if one ignored his height and the sharp teeth he occasionally revealed.

When sleeping at night, the three of them snuggled against the warm Da Bai, feeling exceptionally cozy.

Days passed like flowing water for half a year. During these six months, Ai Yue's family seemed to have been forgotten by the world, with no one coming to disturb them.

Just when people thought life would continue this way, the snow vanished silently overnight. The dark clouds that had hung for half a year also dispersed, and the long-lost sunlight finally graced the world once more.

The moment the sunlight hit the earth, the temperature soared above freezing and continued to rise. The extreme cold was finally over, though who knew what other natural disasters were waiting in the wings.

When the long-sealed doors were opened, the survivors standing in the sunlight felt as if they had just woken from a nightmare. Looking back at the empty walls stripped for fuel and the bones picked clean of every scrap of meat, they realized with a shock that it had all been real.

The world recovered at an incredibly fast pace. In just two or three days, grass struggled to sprout, and the stumps of the chopped trees began to put forth tender green leaves. Suddenly, the earth was brimming with life.

People whose eyes had turned green with hunger, regardless of whether the new grass was edible, stuffed it into their mouths along with the dirt and chewed vigorously just to barely save their lives.

Good things come in pairs; the news of the Safety Tower that Ai Yue had long been waiting for finally arrived.

The moment the radio crackled to life, the heart that Ai Yue had been holding in suspense finally settled!

The national military had established ten Safety Towers across the country. It wasn't five like in her previous life, but ten—a full double. This meant humanity was a bit more composed in the face of the Apocalypse, and it also showed that the military had already begun preparations from the start, though they hadn't expected the disasters to come so quickly and densely.

Ai Yue thought that perhaps her initial warning to the authorities had been effective.

Having received the definite news, the three of them immediately began packing, preparing to go to Changyuan City, which was closest to them.

Yes, this was also different from her previous life. In her past life, the nearest Safety Tower had been established in An City, but now it was in the neighboring Changyuan City.

Early the next morning, the three of them, who were already prepared to set off, had to stop in their tracks.

It was raining again!

Ai Yue's family didn't dare travel in the rain, fearing it would be another torrential downpour. Being blocked on the road without high ground for shelter was too dangerous.

Ai Yue leaned against the window, her brow slightly furrowed and her thin lips pursed. She stared unblinkingly at the drizzling rain outside, a thread of worry entwining her.

She saw the large trees in the rain; their leaves turned yellow and black before her eyes, then fell and were pounded into the mud by the rain.

It was acid rain!