The Snow Disaster Emerges

"Chii--"

Guan Tong unzipped his sleeping bag, sat up, and stretched his arms wide.

The night had passed. Although he hadn't slept very soundly, the sleeping bag was warm enough, and he had definitely gotten the rest he needed.

He squinted at the snow outside. After a night's snowfall, the area outside his "small camp" had accumulated about ten centimeters of snow.

"Mingdao Mountain is already like this. After tonight, the city probably has fifty to sixty centimeters of snow..."

Guan Tong didn't delay. He immediately got up, put on his cold-weather gear, and rummaged through the food in his backpack.

Besides several large bags of compressed biscuits, he also had a few cans, several bags of instant noodles, and a few bags of freeze-dried food.

If he rationed them, he could barely get by for a month, eating just enough to stave off starvation. Moreover, the previous rule, [Fasting Therapy], had trained many people to endure hunger, so going hungry for two or three days if he ran out of food wouldn't be a big deal.

He opened a bag of freeze-dried food and ate it with biscuits for breakfast. Then, he took out the [Wordless Book] and began writing "Ascension Coins" on the second page.

He currently had 70 coins and still needed 30 to buy the [Multi-terrain Marching Boots]. He could only use the Wordless Book and consume Mind Power to create the rest himself.

The first time he did this, his Mind Power Cap was low, and it took him nearly half a month to create 10 Binding Coins. But now, his Mind Power Cap had improved significantly, and his efficiency could also increase considerably.

Roughly estimating, it would take him about twenty days to create 30 Binding Coins now. Considering that under extreme conditions, he could increase his Mind Power Cap by 1 point in seven to eight days, the total coin creation time might be shortened by a day or two.

It would take a considerable amount of time, but Guan Tong could wait. This rule lasted for a full month. Even if he could only buy the boots ten days before the end, he would still have ten days to use them, which was enough for him.

After quickly finishing today's writing, Guan Tong put away the book, picked up his shovel, and went to clear the snow outside his camp. Although his camp was sheltered by a large rock high up on the mountain, blocking the snowfall, he still needed to clear a path for himself.

Otherwise, if he stayed confined to his small camp and let the snow pile up outside, after ten to fifteen days, when the waist-high snow froze solid, he wouldn't even be able to leave his camp.

Guan Tong didn't choose to clear a large area. He only had a folding shovel, and he couldn't clear a large area anyway. He simply extended outwards from the camp, clearing a path about forty to fifty centimeters wide.

He piled the shoveled snow on both sides of the path. It would eventually be piled high on both sides anyway. As for the direction of the path, it naturally led towards the main road.

After the rule ended, the continuous snow for thirty days wouldn't melt immediately. When the authorities cleared the snow, they would prioritize clearing the roads. This way, Guan Tong could wait for the road to be cleared of snow and then exit his camp via the path he had created.

For the next three consecutive days, after consuming his Mind Power to write, Guan Tong would use his physical strength to clear the snow from the path he had opened.

During this time, he also scouted the surroundings to see if there was anything he could use. The results were disappointing. Apart from a patch of wild forest, the area around Mingdao Mountain was all wasteland, with nothing else.

The wild forest was somewhat useful. Guan Tong chopped down many branches and brought them back. Whether it was for padding, making a fire, or as a wooden fence on both sides of the "snow path" he had cleared, they could all be used.

After three days, the snow on both sides of the path had become increasingly thick. It now exceeded forty centimeters, taller than the computer tower case at Guan Tong's home.

Furthermore, due to the continuous snowfall and the resulting low temperatures, frozen layers had formed within the snow. Guan Tong tried tapping it with his shovel, but it produced dull thuds, making it difficult to move.

This made him feel fortunate that he had persisted in clearing the path every day since the first day. If he had procrastinated for a few days, it would have been impossible to clear it!

"Hoo..."

He finished working again by evening. Guan Tong took a deep breath and carried his shovel back. He lit a campfire and sat beside it on a wooden stool he had made by wrapping branches with tape. He rested his hands by the fire, warming them to alleviate the numbness from working in the cold.

"The temperature is getting lower every day. I must be extremely careful not to get frostbite," Guan Tong thought as he watched the flickering flames. "When the temperature drops further in a few days, I'll try to work within the 6 hours that the [Thermostatic Tech Underwear] is effective each day. Outside of those 6 hours, I'll try to stay by the campfire in the camp."

He turned his head and looked into the distance. Through the falling snow, he could vaguely see the hazy glow of city lights.

"The rule has been in effect for four days. I wonder how things are in Yunhua City..."

Even Mingdao Mountain, where the snowfall had significantly decreased, had deep snow. After four days of heavy snow in the city, the situation could only be much worse.

Even if the city had various professional equipment, a large number of snowplows, and de-icing agents. But could these truly contend with the power of nature? Guan Tong wasn't very optimistic.

Of course, if he had remained optimistic, he wouldn't have resolutely decided to leave the city and come to this desolate place to survive alone...

"Beep--beep--"

Suddenly, Guan Tong, who was warming himself by the fire and lost in thought, jolted. He vaguely heard a non-natural sound coming from afar.

"What is that sound? Is it a car horn?"

Guan Tong immediately stood up and looked in the direction of the road where the sound was coming from.

His gaze pierced through the dim snow curtain, and he could vaguely see two thick, round beams of light shining from afar, like car headlights.

"How did it get here?" Guan Tong clearly remembered that the road was blocked about ten kilometers away by multiple crashed cars.

Did the drivers crash through those broken-down cars? It must be a large vehicle, with plenty of power, and able to travel on such thick snow...

Guan Tong watched the approaching headlights with a hint of vigilance in his heart.

More than three hundred kilometers away from Guan Tong, in Yunhua City.

The city had become a veritable snow city.

Except for a few main roads that were cleared by snowplows 24 hours a day, the other secondary roads, side streets, and all sidewalks were piled high with thick snow.

The height of this snow generally reached nearly two meters, surpassing the height of most humans. It looked like snow walls erected within the city, giving people a sense of cold suffocation.

A driver, wearing heavy winter clothing and driving a snowplow on a main road, looked at the tall snow walls on both sides, inexplicably feeling a tightness in his chest and difficulty breathing.

"This snow is killing me..."

He muttered, worried. It had only been four days, and there were at least six more "four days" to go. If these snow walls continued to pile up, wouldn't they eventually completely block and bury the shops on the street?

No, perhaps they already had...

"Rumble!"

A collapsing sound, as if from being unable to bear the load, came from behind the snow wall. The driver was slightly startled but quickly calmed down.

He knew it must be another shop, poorly constructed, collapsing under the weight of the snow.

He had heard sounds like this two or three times since yesterday. It wasn't just him; other snowplow drivers had also mentioned hearing the sounds of snow crushing shops and other buildings while working on the roads.

Some collapsed instantly, while others made that uncomfortable, teeth-grinding "crack-crack-crack" sound until they finally caved in after exceeding some critical point.

"If these little shops collapse, let them. It's not like anyone's there. As long as the places where people live don't collapse," the driver muttered. "If the places where people live collapse, the people inside... hiss... what a sin."