82: Chapter 82 Emergency Repair of the Chimney and the Natural Freezer

The chill seeped in through the cracks in the stones.

The fire pit hadn't gone out, its charcoal core glowing red, but the air in the cave felt wrong.

Zhao Mengmeng was squatting by the side simmering venison soup. Just as white foam began to roll on the surface of the soup, she couldn't help but cough twice.

"Cough, cough... Brother Lin, what kind of weird stuff did you throw into the fire?"

Lin Ye stood up, his right hand moving to his crossbow.

He looked up.

The smoke that was supposed to vent through the stone cracks was instead spreading across the cave ceiling.

The smoke wasn't thick, but in a closed cavern, it was deadly enough.

Zhao Mengmeng coughed several times, her eyes turning red from the irritation.

"I can't take it. Why is this smoke backing up into here?"

Lin Ye grabbed the fire axe.

"The exhaust vent is buried by snow."

As Zhao Mengmeng was about to follow him, Lin Ye looked back at her.

"Watch the fire. Don't let it go out."

"The smoke is backing up, what the hell is the point of watching it?"

"If the fire goes out, things in the cave will get even more troublesome."

Zhao Mengmeng grabbed a wooden stick to poke at the charcoal, grumbling under her breath.

"This shitty place in the Void Sea... you need a license just to cook a meal!"

Lin Ye didn't respond.

The moment he pushed open the wooden door, a white gale carrying ice pellets roared ferociously into the cavern.

The water curtain outside the cave had frozen into a lifeless Ice Waterfall.

The ice layer hung straight down from the cliff top to the edge of the Water Pool.

Only beneath the overhang he had built last night was there still a tiny gap left.

Lin Ye raised his hand and swung the axe down.

Crack!

The icicles shattered, ice shards scattering all over the ground.

Changing his angle, he slammed the back of the axe hard against the base of the ice layer.

A dark crack widened bit by bit, barely enough to squeeze through sideways.

The bone-chilling wind poured in, drawing out more than half of the smoke from the cave.

Zhao Mengmeng covered her nose and shouted, "It's clear! The smoke is thinning out!"

Lin Ye stowed his axe and raised his right arm.

The Dark Weaver silently ejected.

Several nano-metal wires were precisely shot into the rock crevices on the side of the Ice Waterfall.

The metal wires pulled taut.

He pressed against the slippery ice wall and swung himself out with agile grace.

Great Xia Live Stream.

[Holy crap, that Ice Waterfall looks terrifying. If you fall, you're dead!]

[I laughed when Brother Eye was fixing that 'dog hole' yesterday, but now I'm ready to kowtow to it.]

[Anyone else would have definitely been taken out by the smoke when they woke up this morning.]

Lin Ye used the Dark Weaver to set three anchor points on the rock wall, moving his body laterally to the side above the waterfall.

The wind and snow slapped against his face, quickly forming into ice crystals.

He wedged the fire axe into a rock crevice and used the leverage to climb onto the top of the waterfall.

It was even colder up there.

The forest was turned white by the snow, which was deep enough to reach his calves.

Lin Ye bent down to search for the exhaust vent.

It was a natural stone crack. Currently, half of it was buried under heavy snow, while the other half was struggling to emit thin wisps of smoke.

As soon as the smoke emerged, it was violently swirled by the crosswind and forced back into the crack.

Found it.

Lin Ye began clearing the snow with his bare hands.

The ice and snow were frozen rock-hard; his fingers soon lost all sensation.

He used the back of the axe to smash through the snow crust, rapidly scooping out the broken snow.

The stone crack was exposed, and the smoke flow became much smoother.

But that wasn't enough.

The snow would keep falling, and the wind would keep blowing.

With the fire pit burning all night, the flue could be blocked again at any time.

Lin Ye descended back to the cave entrance the way he came.

A few minutes later, he climbed back up the waterfall carrying wooden boards, tree bark, and a lump of clay.

Short wooden branches were inserted into both sides of the stone crack to serve as slanted supports.

Thin wooden boards were pressed onto the supports, with the outer side raised and the inner side left open for a passage.

Tree bark was laid over the wooden boards and tied down tightly with vines.

Finally, he used clay to seal all the gaps on the windward side.

A crude but practical chimney cap took shape.

Smoke would hit the slanted board and be guided upward.

When the crosswind blew, it would naturally draw all the smoke outward.

Lin Ye then dug a shallow trench nearby.

Melted snow water would flow away along the trench, ensuring it would never backflow again.

By the time he returned to the cavern, the smoke had completely dissipated.

Zhao Mengmeng was squatting by the fire pit, holding the pot and sniffing hard.

"I'm alive again!"

Lin Ye unloaded the materials from his shoulders and casually dumped out a pile of large, frosty blocks of ice.

Zhao Mengmeng stared blankly at the ice blocks.

"You went up to fix a chimney and decided to pick up some stock while you were at it?"

"I chipped these off the Ice Waterfall; don't let them go to waste."

"You want to eat ice?"

"I'm making a refrigerator."

Zhao Mengmeng's mouth hung open, and it didn't close for a long time.

"A what? A refrigerator?"

Lin Ye moved the ice blocks to a cold, shaded spot near the cave entrance.

This area was partitioned off by the low windbreak wall, shielded from any heat from the fire, so the temperature was extremely low.

Large blocks of ice formed the base, small pieces filled the gaps, and finally, he packed it tight with snow-mud.

A few minutes later, a half-human-high, all-natural ice trough was finished.

He stuffed the leftover raw meat from yesterday, organ scraps, and semi-dried meat strips all into it at once.

He covered the top with a thin layer of ice and weighed it down with a wooden board.

All done.

Zhao Mengmeng walked over holding her pot, looking at him as if he were a monster.

"Other people are trying to survive and are so cold they want to die, yet you're using the cold wave as a freezer."

Lin Ye brushed the snow-mud off his hands.

"Since the natural disaster is already here, it might as well pay some rent."

The Great Xia Live Stream was boiling over.

[I'm impressed. He finishes the chimney and just casually builds a double-door fridge!]

[Extreme Cold: I'm going to freeze you to death. Brother Eye: Thanks for the cold chain delivery, boss.]

[Fire pit, wooden bed, oil lamp, and now even a refrigerator is arranged.]

[Even my rented house isn't as well-equipped as his cavern. Who exactly is the one struggling to survive here?!]

Meanwhile.

On the other side of the Level 3 Floating Island.

Soldier King Xu Haifeng was huddled miserably in the depths of a cave.

The cave entrance was blocked with dry branches and tattered animal skins, and his campfire was pitifully small.

Wrapped in coarse fur, his face blackened by smoke, he gritted his teeth and stared at the raging snow outside.

"This damn weather, I really want to punch the supreme will twice!"

The Great Xia audience couldn't help but be amused watching this scene.

[Brother Xu isn't doing bad either; he chose a good cave.]

[A soldier king is a soldier king. No fridge, but at least he can survive.]

[By comparison, Brother Xu looks like he's in exile, while Brother Eye is on vacation.]

In the livestreams of other countries, the scenes were simply tragic.

Russia's Ivan had started a large fire in a mountain crevice, enduring the frantically pouring cold wind.

With half-bare arms and sweat on his brow, he drank hot soup while shivering uncontrollably from the cold.

The Indian contestant was curled up in despair under the roots of a large tree. His fire had been smothered by snow, and he sat shivering while hugging a piece of soaked wood, his gaze vacant.

The Japanese contestant had used plastic sheeting to block the wind, but it was flipped over by the gale in the middle of the night. Now, he was desperately digging a hole in a snowbank in total despair.

A new Challenger from the USA was hiding in a tree hollow, his head covered in frost and his lips turned purple from the cold, looking like he was about to give out.

The camera cut back to the cavern.

Zhao Mengmeng sat by the fire pit drinking delicious hot soup, her body feeling warm and cozy.

She looked at the refrigerator in the corner and laughed out loud lightheartedly.

"Brother Lin, I really feel like the two of us could live here until New Year's."

Lin Ye pressed the wooden board back down firmly.

"In your dreams. Not enough firewood, not enough animal skins, and not enough meat."

Zhao Mengmeng's smile instantly froze on her face.

"You really know how to ruin the mood."

"I'm just reminding you that staying alive isn't the same as clearing the challenge."

Outside the cave, the wind and snow slammed against the Ice Waterfall, making a dull, booming sound.

Lin Ye walked to the fire pit and added two thick logs.

His gaze turned toward the several semi-dry animal skins on the wooden rack.

"We'll start making cloaks this afternoon."

The wooden spoon in Zhao Mengmeng's hand stopped.

"What?"

"Windproof hooded cloaks."

"I don't know how to do any of that!"

"You were just choked by smoke this morning; learning a skill that will make you suffer less this afternoon isn't a bad deal."

Zhao Mengmeng stared at those stiff animal skins.

"Is it too late for me to quit the team now?"

Lin Ye turned his head and glanced at her, his gaze calm.

"Sure. Go out and turn left, you can fly freely down the Ice Waterfall."

Zhao Mengmeng slammed the pot down and sighed in resignation.

"Fine, I'll be a tailor this afternoon!"