Chapter 167: The Sea Surface Freezes

Chapter 167: Chapter 167: The Sea Surface Freezes

[A Player: Please, the temperature is dropping too fast! I need fire! I need supplies for warmth! I can trade food for them.]

[Turtle-Loving Empress Dowager Chen: Trading for padded jackets, trading for padded jackets, trading for padded jackets. Important things must be said three times! Come trade with me for padded jackets!]

...

Shi Zhile quickly finished the ginger soup in her bowl, ladled out a little extra to set aside, and then sent the two large pots of ginger soup—pots and all—to Jiang Jing.

Jiang Jing video-called her almost immediately. He wanted to trade for more ginger.

Shi Zhile had no more ginger and told him so. Wen Bai, however, quickly sent some over to him.

There was still some pre-cut ginger left, so after Jiang Jing returned the pots, they brewed another batch and sent it over.

While they were busy, the sky turned completely dark, and the air grew even colder.

The first floor was a main hall with no separate rooms. Aside from a sofa and a coffee table, it had no beds or wardrobes.

Excluding Shi Zhile’s south-facing room on the second floor, there were four rooms remaining.

Mr. Wen stayed in the Planting Space as usual. Shi Zhile had wanted to let the others rest inside the space as well, but they all refused.

With no other option, Shi Zhile decided to share a room with Shi Zhiyi, leaving the other four rooms for the remaining eleven people.

They split into two groups—one of six and one of five—to take shifts standing watch. That way, the four rooms were enough for everyone to get some sleep.

Before going to bed, Shi Zhile paid a visit to Jiang Yuxing’s island and got fifty bottles of Plant Growth Liquid from him.

She had intended to probe for more information, but Jiang Yuxing seemed to anticipate her plan and promptly ducked into a bathing unit.

The freezing rain hadn’t stopped, and it rattled against the treehouse with a relentless PITTER-PATTER. Looking out, she could see nothing but endless darkness.

Afraid of being pelted to death by the icy rain, she gave up on the idea of exploring the island and returned to Stone Island.

Shi Zhile was woken by the cold in the middle of the night. She threw on a military greatcoat, found another blanket for Shi Zhiyi, and placed a Magma Stone Basin under the window. After adjusting its temperature, she tiptoed downstairs.

In the first-floor hall, the fireplace was still lit, but the extreme cold outside overwhelmed most of its warmth.

She opened her system panel and saw that the outside temperature had plummeted to -60 degrees.

She stuffed a few more logs into the fireplace, then dripped in a single drop of magma.

The magma was incredibly hot. The iron fireplace could withstand the heat of a drop or two, but any more and it would risk melting.

Once that was done, she went straight to the third floor.

There were six people on watch. Despite the pitch-black darkness outside, four of them were still assigned to guard the four windows.

The temperature on the third floor was much lower than on the second. Shi Zhile placed a Magma Stone Basin in each of the two rooms there. After confirming everything was secure, she returned to the second floor to rest.

「By dawn the next day, the temperature had fallen yet again.」

The freezing rain had stopped. Looking out the window, the entire world was encased in a layer of ice, like a candied hawthorn skewer, giving it an eerie, glassy beauty.

The sky was overcast and the wind was bleak, whistling as it seeped through the cracks in the windows.

After the long night, the chat channel had grown much quieter.

After freshening up, Shi Zhile went into her Breeding Space to feed the chickens, ducks, and cows as usual. Once she had collected the eggs, she moved to the Planting Space to harvest some vegetables.

With Mr. Wen in the space, Shi Zhile was saved the trouble of having to select and pick the produce herself.

By the time Shi Zhile and Mr. Wen emerged from the space, Luo Chuan and his men had already received their breakfast distribution from the base via the system.

The fourteen servings of breakfast included portions for Shi Zhile and her companions.

Each person received two cornmeal buns and a bottle of water. The buns were dry and hard, clearly dry rations that had been made and stored well in advance.

Shi Zhile took a bite but couldn’t even make a dent, leaving only a faint scratch on the surface of the bun.

Shi Zhile: "..."

Luo Chuan let out a hearty laugh. With a powerful squeeze, he broke the cornmeal bun into small pieces. "These buns are really dry. You have to break them up and soak them in water before you can eat them."

Shi Zhile was silent for a moment. Then, without a word, she took out the vegetables she had just picked, along with fifteen eggs.

"Let’s just have congee," she said. "The Base Commander assigned you to me. Your mission is to protect me. Since I’m the mission objective, you’ll eat what I eat. From now on, we won’t be eating the base’s rations."

’This stuff is going to break my teeth!’

Luo Chuan sternly refused.

Shi Zhile pressed on. "Don’t be so quick to refuse, I’m not done. During this time, I’ll definitely have other work for you to do. There won’t be any wages, but I’ll provide three square meals a day."

Luo Chuan fell silent. In the past, he certainly would have refused.

But now, Huaxia Base was also struggling. It was incredibly difficult to feed over two thousand players just by opening chests and scavenging for supplies.

Shi Zhile had Wen Bai get the fire going.

She started putting rice and vegetables into the pot, but when she moved to crack the eggs, everyone’s eyes widened in unison.

Shi Zhiyi rubbed her forehead, pushed Zhile aside, and quickly scooped the vegetables out of the pot, setting them to one side.

Mr. Wen, sitting on the sofa, didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "Next time, just stay out of the kitchen. You cook like you’re boiling pig slop."

Shi Zhile said, "...Is it possible I was just washing the rice and vegetables?"

Shi Zhiyi didn’t believe her for a second. "Do you need to crack eggs to wash rice and vegetables?"

Shi Zhile: "..."

Taking advantage of the moment, Shi Zhile sent a message to Jiang Jing, officially declining the food provisions from the base.

Breakfast was a vegetable congee. After the meal, Shi Zhile, along with two others, geared up and stepped out of the shelter.

The temperature in the courtyard was around -20 to -30 degrees, but beyond the walls, it was -70.

Even wearing soft armor and thermal suits, they couldn’t completely block out the bone-chilling cold.

They didn’t go far. After confirming that the surface of the sea was frozen solid enough to walk on, the small group returned to the shelter.

「On the third floor」

Shi Zhile told everyone who had been on watch to get some rest, then took Shi Zhiyi with her into the Planting Space.

"With the two hundred-some units of soil from the base, I now have five hundred total. It’s time to upgrade the space."

Shi Zhile took out the soil, and a message immediately popped up from the Planting Space.

[Planting Space Prompt: 500 units of soil detected. Absorb?]

"Yes!"

[Absorption successful. Planting Space area increased by 250 square meters. Current Planting Space area is now 351 square meters.]

Although the area had expanded significantly, the space still felt too small; you could take it all in with a single glance.

The severe cold created an urgent need for large quantities of cotton. Only with enough winter supplies could the players avoid freezing to death.

Shi Zhile left the space to retrieve some seeds from the basement. When she returned, she found the space had grown by another 20 square meters.

She asked and learned that Shi Zhiyi had added the 20 units of soil she had, while Mr. Wen had added various seedlings he’d been cultivating.

Because the seedlings were rare species that the Planting Space didn’t have, the system awarded an additional 10 square meters of area for them.

Shi Zhile took out the cotton seeds and the Plant Growth Liquid. The three of them worked together, and over the course of a busy morning, they managed to harvest five full batches of cotton.

The raw cotton had to be processed before it could be used. Finding the task too troublesome, Shi Zhile simply sent all of it to Jiang Jing.

Wen Bai made lunch: a thick corn and mixed-grain congee, served with pork stewed with green beans and a side of stir-fried cabbage.