6: Chapter 6 Alternating Airflow

However, the weather is unpredictable.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, a blinding blood-red warning flashed frantically across the entire regional panel.

[Region-wide System Extreme Meteorological Disaster Notification!]

[Area 997 is about to encounter a super-large cold-heat alternating troposphere!]

[Phase 1: Heatwave storm lasts for 8 hours. The external temperature will rapidly climb to over 60°C within ten minutes. All survivors, please prepare for heat insulation immediately!]

As soon as this notification appeared, the regional chat channel instantly turned into a living hell.

"60 degrees?! Are they trying to roast us to death? My vehicle is a raft! Not only does it have no shelter, but what if the wood spontaneously combusts?!"

"Help! My glass cockpit is practically a giant greenhouse. The thermometer has already maxed out. I feel like a sweet potato in an oven; I can barely breathe!"

"Water! Who has water?! I'll trade ten sheets of iron for a sip of water! I'm dehydrating!"

Outside the window, the originally pristine white sea of clouds turned crimson at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the air became distorted due to the extreme heat.

Even through the metal bulkhead, one could feel a wave of heat frantically sweeping across the entire helicopter.

Zhou An frowned and sat up.

He glanced at the console. After upgrading to the Cloud Top Fortress, as a sealed heavy-duty cabin, this vehicle was no longer that drafty tin coffin.

With a light tap of his finger, he pressed a snowflake-shaped button on the control panel.

"Beep—"

[Environmental control system activated, adjusting cabin temperature.]

A few seconds later, a refreshing blast of cold air gushed out from the ceiling vents. Accompanied by the faint sound of the compressor running, the temperature inside the cabin dropped rapidly, finally settling steadily at an extremely comfortable number: 22°C.

Outside was a 60-degree death furnace where countless people struggled and wailed on the edge of death; inside was a 22-degree air-conditioned room, where the scent of hotpot still lingered in the air.

Zhou An yawned and casually pulled a clean piece of canvas over himself.

"This air conditioning is really strong; I should cover up so I don't catch a cold."

Accompanied by the faint mechanical white noise, Zhou An fell into a deep sleep.

...

The next day.

When the system notification announced the end of the heatwave storm, Zhou An stretched and woke up from his deep sleep. The cold flow alternation had already begun outside, but it had no effect on him; he just switched the air conditioner to heating mode.

He then looked at the warehouse. Sure enough, there was a small but real increase behind all the basic supplies.

His Compound Interest snowball had already started rolling.

Afterward, he habitually opened the regional chat channel.

When he saw the number of online users in the top right corner, his pupils constricted sharply.

[Current number of survivors in the area: 3,014,522 / 5,000,000]

Overnight.

Just because of one airflow event, over nine hundred thousand people failed to survive the night, having been roasted to death, died of thirst, or plunged into the abyss because their vehicles spontaneously combusted.

After finishing breakfast, Zhou An had just opened the system panel when he received a brand new region-wide notification.

[System prompt: The regional channel has opened coordinate sharing and team towing functions.]

[Warning: This system does not provide any free damage immunity mechanisms or betrayal penalties. Teaming up carries risks, and towing requires caution. Please hold onto your supplies and your heart.]

As soon as this announcement appeared, the chat channel, which had previously been filled with wails of misery, immediately shifted in tone, instantly turning into a massive matchmaking and recruitment site.

"Coordinates (145, -892), is there any brother willing to come and tow me? I'm a dance student in real life, 170cm tall, and definitely pretty! As long as you feed me two meals a day, I'll do anything!"

"Don't listen to those losers, girl, come to me! My hot air balloon has been retrofitted with iron railings, and I have a refined-grade crossbow in my hand. Absolute sense of security guaranteed!"

"Recruiting subordinates! Coordinates (332, 110), requirements: must bring your own rations and weapons. As long as you acknowledge me as the boss, we'll take on monsters together, and the loot will be distributed according to contribution!"

"I'm a doctor. Is there any team that needs medical personnel? I'm just looking for a vehicle that can shield me from the wind and rain..."

Zhou An watched these rapidly scrolling messages and sneered dismissively.

"A team-up without even system constraints is simply handing your back to a stranger holding a knife."

Zhou An shook his head.

"In this godforsaken place, when food is scarce, teammates are just walking emergency rations; when danger arises, teammates are just bait to draw fire. Whoever trusts them dies."

He decisively closed the chat channel and continued to pilot the Cloud Top Fortress, flying at a steady speed.

He didn't have to worry about food or drink at all now. With the Little Giant providing escort and Compound Interest laying eggs, playing it safe and developing is the only way to go.

...

A few hours later, Zhou An had nothing to do, so he opened the regional forum again.

However, the scene before him shocked him.

In just half a day, the forum's ecology had undergone earth-shaking changes.

Those recruitment messages from scattered individuals had been largely collapsed, replaced by guild recruitment posts, each with a uniform prefix.

Thousands of guilds, big and small, had sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and the system seemed to have opened a guild ranking panel. The top five super guilds had already exceeded ten thousand members!

[God's Domain]: 6,000+ members. Pure elite route, requires vehicles to have at least one green-quality defense or power component.

[Blood Blade]: 11,000 members. Focuses on looting and combat, does not accept useless people, and the description arrogantly states that if you don't hand over supplies, they will destroy your vehicle.

[Hongyan Pavilion]: 9,000+ members. Only accepts female players, using gender advantages to quickly establish a massive resource exchange network in the early stages.

[Four Seas Chamber of Commerce]: 10,000 members. A league of resellers dedicated to integrating regional prices, buying low and selling high.

[Sky Engine]: 15,000 members, the largest guild in the current region.

Zhou An clicked on the profiles of several guild leaders and discovered that they all had Tier 2 combat power.

He looked down at his own panel. Although his Cloud Top Fortress was already LV1, having been upgraded once, his personal physical fitness was still displayed as: [Tier 1].

"I risked my life to kill a mutant Pterosaur leader, and it only dropped a vehicle upgrade blueprint; it didn't give me anything to improve my personal combat power at all."

He had originally thought that although his progress was slow, relying on Hextech definitely placed him among the top tier of people in the region. Now it seemed he had clearly missed some key information.

Zhou An immediately opened the forum's search function and began frantically scrolling through the chat history from the past few hours, inputting keywords like "personal combat power," "Tier 2," and "enhancement."