Through Elder Zhong's channels, news quickly came back from the other side.
The result was pretty much exactly what Zhang Tianyuan had expected.
" Becker and his evacuation convoy has been out of contact for half an hour. According to the last reports, they were trapped in the Typhoon shortly after setting off..."
After listening to the report, Zhang Tianyuan and Elder Zhong exchanged a glance.
Everyone was a little surprised.
Zhang Tianyuan remembered this plot, but he had neither the obligation nor the motivation to remind the other side.
The other side isn't a member of the Mutual Aid Society and doesn't accept any of the Mutual Aid Society's opinions. The two sides are practically unrelated, if not completely unrelated.
Given this relationship, if he tells the other side to be extra careful when they retreat, they might actually think he's trying to help them out.
Moreover, the other side Mutual Aid Society at every turn. Although it's Becker's doing all the work, it must be authorized, or at least tacitly approved, by the entire hierarchy behind it, which is why that guy can exert such great power.
In other words, these people could be considered his enemies.
So he was sent to warn the enemy and save his life, and the enemy might not even appreciate it...
His brain isn't broken.
What Zhang Tianyuan didn't expect was that Becker would also get involved.
Unlike Zhang Tianyuan's complex ideas.
Elder Zhong was standing nearby, was completely taken aback.
A deep frown creased his brow, an instinctive feeling that something was amiss. "Didn't they ask the Mutual Aid Society association for help? Captain Wang is over there, isn't he?"
The assistant replied, "They said they had just sent a distress call to Captain Wang; they had been trying to rescue him on their own."
Even Zhang Tianyuan realized what was going on after hearing this.
Becker and his crew have probably been "heroically sacrificed"...
So he then had someone contact Wang Lei and ask him to report on the situation he had just received.
"We just received a search and rescue request from their National Guard and are preparing to respond. However, our vehicles are either in the south or in Washington; there aren't any near New York, D. C., and it will take at least several hours to get there..."
have to.
Several hours.
Becker and the others will be frozen solid by then.
Or rather, they might already be frozen solid.
After ending the call with Wang Lei, Zhang Tianyuan contacted Carl again and informed him of the result.
Becker should be completely dead by now. You should see when you can go over for the feast.
Upon hearing this news, Carl remained silent for a long time before muttering to himself, "Fortunately, the agreements were all signed beforehand, and the relevant records were kept..."
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Tianyuan shook his head, wondering what changes might occur on the other end.
Elder Zhong chimed in, "Things are going to get chaotic on the other side for a while."
Zhang Tianyuan said, "It would be good if they didn't start fighting."
New York.
Although it was obscured by thick clouds, the sky gradually brightened.
Jack, who had been bothered for half the night, was still huddled by the fireplace when he heard a scream from outside.
He subconsciously regained consciousness and then followed the other people around him who had also been awakened to walk outside.
After walking through the corridor into a large hall, a group of people were already vaguely gathered together.
Officer Gorilla approached Jack.
"What's wrong?"
"He... he's not moving..."
A girl in the crowd was trembling slightly. Following her finger, Jack saw a pale-faced man curled up against the wall, undisturbed by the commotion around him.
This person will never wake up.
Jack was silent for a moment, then said, "Move him away, take him to a secluded place."
The gorilla officer nodded, quickly pointed to several other officers, found a thin cloth to wrap the person up, and then took them away.
The entire library was deathly silent during this process.
Everyone standing around stared at the gorilla officers' movements as if they were moving not someone else, but their future selves.
Jack paused for a moment, then added some more wood to the brazier in the hall to make the fire burn brighter. But this was more of a psychological comfort; physically, he didn't feel the temperature rising at all. The air he inhaled was still as cold as an ice needle piercing his stomach.
This is because they dug a vent in front of the brazier. The brazier's efficiency in heating the air is far less than the speed at which cold air rushes in from outside.
There's no other way; if you don't want people to suffocate, you have to ventilate the room.
But with ventilation, the temperature dropped again.
They've arrived.
If there's no fire and no ventilation, people will freeze to death...
They had no choice at all.
"Dad, is there any other way?" Sam appeared beside Jack without anyone noticing, holding Laura's hand.
Jack glanced at his son and shook his head. "That's all. All we can do is keep adding firewood to the brazier."
Even with his extensive experience working in Antarctica, Jack is still at a loss; all the supplies he brought yesterday have already been distributed to the people in the library.
But it still seemed to be to no avail.
For the next while, everyone was depressed, huddling together to live in a state of minimal energy expenditure.
Even Jack is the same.
Without the support of various resources, he was no different from anyone else.
The cold weather always makes people drowsy.
Just as Sam started pecking at the rice like a chicken, a sound suddenly came from outside.
"A storm is approaching, and we are distributing supplies to everyone here... A storm is approaching..."
Sam snapped back to reality, and then Jack and Laura beside him rubbed their eyes, looking in confusion in the direction the sound came from.
There are people outside!
Upon hearing this, Jack suddenly realized something, rushed to the window, and quickly pried open the wooden boards sealing it.
Outside stood the Mutual Aid Society's sled team!
He immediately perked up.
Although he didn't know what was going on, he knew that the arrival of the Mutual Aid Society would definitely be beneficial to them, and this was absolutely good news!
" Sam, come with me!"
Jack picked a few people, and led by Sam, they rushed downstairs, where they ran into the sled team.
"Hey!"
Jack waved and rushed over.
He happened to recognize a man in the sled team; the man's name was Chen Song, whom he had met while studying during his Wandering Spacetime.
"Chen! I'm here, Jack!!"
The sled team slowly came to a stop after they came out, and Chen Song, who had been called by Jack, was even more surprised. " Jack? It's you!"
Yesterday, Jack's protective suit ran out of power and the signal disappeared, so the entire rescue team thought he had died.
Jack grinned and gave Chen Song and the other members of the Mutual Aid Society a deep hug before asking them why they had come.
Chen Song said, "We're here to deliver coal to the survivors in the city."
He pointed to the small cargo box being pulled at the back of the vehicle, which was covered with a cloth and simply weighed down with a few pieces of frozen coal.
Jack's eyes lit up when he saw this.
Chen Song knew what he was thinking, and asked him with a smile about the number of people in the library, to which Jack replied truthfully.
Upon hearing that there were over three hundred people, Chen Song nodded and then said to his colleagues, "This library looks quite large, why don't we choose this one?"
Upon hearing his words, the others also looked up at the overall appearance of the library and nodded in agreement.
Jack didn't understand what Chen Song meant.
What are you going to do?
Chen Song patted him on the shoulder, gesturing for him to lead him into the library, and said, "After we received the coal from headquarters yesterday, we studied it carefully and concluded that simply distributing the coal directly wouldn't maximize its value, and there would definitely be a lot of people dying in various accidents."
So we decided to adapt to the situation, gather all the survivors who were able to stay in one place, and then use coal for centralized heating..."
As Chen Song spoke, he led his men to survey the library, and soon selected several locations to Jack's surprise.
"This is it. Move the coal to these rooms."
Soon, amidst the onlookers, soldiers wearing exoskeletons carried boxes of coal into the library and dumped them directly into the designated room.
In less than half an hour, the coal in several rooms had piled up into a small mountain.
Only now did Jack understand what Chen Song and his group were up to.
Are you going to burn all this coal next?
Chen Song laughed and said, "That's right. It's not realistic to move all of you out, and we don't have enough time to build a safe haven, so we can only light these coals to keep you warm."
"Burn this coal in the outer room, then seal the door shut. You all retreat further inside the library so you won't be affected."
As Chen Song spoke, the other soldiers began to light the fire, and the mountain of coal slowly began to burn.
The group then left the room, cleared away any flammable materials outside, and ensured the door was secure.
After the fire was destroyed, the flames did not spread throughout the library. Instead, the surrounding passageways were sealed off to reduce airflow.
After the coal piles in these rooms continue to burn for a while, the heat will slowly transfer into the library through the walls. As long as Jack and his companions stay there, they won't be as comfortable as if the heating were on, but at least they won't freeze to death.
Moreover, once the combustion temperature inside the room reaches a high level, the window glass will break, allowing cold wind and snowflakes to blow in, which will help cool the room down, so there's no need to worry about overheating.
This is the new plan that Wang Lei came up with after receiving the new instructions.
While it cannot be done perfectly and there is a considerable possibility of causing a fire, it solves the ventilation problem when burning coal.
People no longer need to struggle to balance ventilation and temperature.
After Chen Song finished doing all this, the other soldiers also mobilized the surrounding people and led them into the library for refuge.
Soon, the library became crowded with people, and the noise was deafening.
Meanwhile, Jack watched as Chen Song and his group quickly transformed the library into a giant artificial heater, and the temperature, which could have been freezing, slowly began to rise.
Even...
"It's a bit hot!"
People leaning against the wall could feel the intense heat emanating from behind them, and sweat began to bead on their foreheads.
People around them started taking off their coats or going to the cooler rooms further inside the library.
Sam took off his coat, his heart filled with immense admiration for the methods employed by the Mutual Aid Society team. They had just been worried about freezing to death, but now it seemed they were starting to worry about dying from the heat.
Thinking of this, Sam's gaze involuntarily drifted towards Laura.
Laura gave him a strange look in return.
"What's wrong?"
Sam touched his nose and said, "Are you hot? I can get you your coat."
Laura: "... You scoundrel!"
Southern border.
Tom, who had already retreated here with the main force, was resting on the sofa. He had barely slept since the California tornado, and even on the way back, he had been handling various official matters.
However, he was woken up again after only a few minutes of sleep.
His assistant reported the latest developments to him.
"A report from NASA states that the International Space Station has just detected an anomaly in New York... A storm is heading there, and the eye of the storm is extremely cold, bringing large amounts of cold air from high altitudes to the ground, expected to lower the surface temperature by ten degrees Celsius per second..."
The assistant handed over the report, which Tom took, glanced at it briefly, and then got up to look for something.
What would you like?
Do you know where the report the Mutual Aid Society sent earlier is?
The assistant was found quickly.
Tom compared the two reports and breathed a sigh of relief:
"As expected! They predicted this situation long ago, and the result was exactly the same."
"What's the situation in New York right now?"
The assistant said, "We've completely lost contact, but the Mutual Aid Society's rescue team is still active over there. I heard they just brought back a group of people yesterday."
"Is Jack inside?" Tom pressed.
The assistant shook his head. "I don't know, but we haven't received any news about him from the department so far, so he shouldn't be inside."
Tom's heart sank; he felt like he had forgotten something.
" Jack... Lucy... How is Lucy?!"
He seems to have forgotten about Lucy!
Jack and Sam are in New York.
Lucy was also forgotten in Washington...
This whole family is gone!
If Lucy heard Tom's question, she would definitely tell him not to worry.
Because she has now reached the border as well.
Although Becker and his men were already dead, a temporary camp was still successfully set up here.
The Mutual Aid Society's convoy dropped off all the critically ill patients here, then turned around and continued northward.
Lucy got off the bus with Peter and, after some difficulty, managed to communicate with the camp staff and arrange a bed for Peter.
Before she could even catch her breath, she heard an urgent news report broadcast on the camp radio:
" The Mutual Aid Society's 'prediction' has come true once again: a cold storm is heading towards New York. According to preliminary forecasts, the eye temperature is approaching -98 degrees Celsius, and the Mutual Aid Society's rescue teams and New York residents are facing a difficult challenge..."
Upon hearing this, Lucy felt dizzy and nearly collapsed to the ground.