July 1st, Yunhua City.
The urban area was completely frozen in deathly silence. Dozens of ters high ice walls stood everywhere, connected together as if transforming this place into an ice and snow kingdom.
Only a few main roads remained passable due to day and night snow removal. However, everyone traveling on these roads felt intense oppression and suffocation when they saw the towering ice walls on both sides.
Because of this, many drivers had been unable to endure the psychological pressure in recent days, abandoning snow removal work and letting others take over.
These connected ice walls almost completely sealed the entrances and exits of most gathering places. Whether schools, shopping malls, hospitals, libraries... all were like this.
The Livelihood Security Departnt and Ergency Managent Bureau had to frequently deploy drilling vehicles to bore holes through these sealed ice walls, thereby completing ergency supply deliveries.
But even so, during the final stage of the rules, riots still broke out due to insufficient supply distribution, prolonged water shortages, and low temperatures.
Serious conflicts erupted in many gathering points. Even with ard squads stationed there, so ntally broken individuals could no longer be deterred by force. Facing these indiscriminate attacks, the ard squads could only resort to lethal force.
So gathering points also collapsed due to accumulated snow. Although authorities had frequently dispatched helicopters to spray de-icing agents on gathering point roofs, due to too many gathering points, omissions were inevitable.
The people in those collapsed gathering points faced indescribable monts of despair.
Because building exits were sealed by ice walls, escape was impossible. They could only watch helplessly as collapsing roofs crushed them or were frozen to death by blizzards pouring into rooms.
When the Ergency Managent Bureau received a distress call from one gathering point and finally dispatched a rescue team, mobilizing multiple specialized vehicles to break through the entrance ice walls, they only saw groups of human ice sculptures in various poses inside the gathering point.
That terrifying scene, sothing that would only appear in disaster movies, undoubtedly left lifelong psychological trauma on everyone in the rescue team.
Now at Lihua Hotel, when the Fire Thief's voice sounded and sunlight shone through the high-floor windows, only sparse cheers rang out in the hotel, with more sounds being crying and screaming.
Groups of disheveled people hugged each other crying, both weeping and laughing, grateful to have survived while also releasing all the numbness and breakdown from these days.
Xu Xiaotian was currently among the crying crowd. Looking at the people around him, the hotel that originally gathered several hundred people now only had about three-quarters remaining - that one-quarter had all turned into cold corpses placed in guest rooms.
And such significant casualties mostly occurred during the final week of the rules. Not due to internal conflict or hunger, but because of low temperatures and illness.
By the final week, the hotel's power cables and outdoor ring main units, like the long-frozen water pipes, finally succumbed to damage, causing the power system to completely shut down.
Soon after, indoor temperatures dropped to over forty degrees below zero. People wore multiple layers of cotton clothes, covered themselves with thick quilts, and crawled into plastic bags, but even so, many were frozen stiff with pain like needle pricks.
Then ca numbness, illness, and death.
Many with poorer physical condition simply couldn't endure such low temperatures for long. So even experienced failed body temperature regulation, shouting "I'm hot" while actively removing clothes.
Others couldn't restrain them no matter how hard they tried, only able to watch helplessly as these people froze to death.
After one week like this, the death toll was several tis higher than during the previous twenty-plus days, barely fitting the corpses by vacating ten guest rooms.
Undoubtedly, they had fallen during the darkness before dawn. Therefore, when seeing daylight again now, the survivors couldn't control their crying, screaming, and gratitude for survival.
During the final stage, Xu Xiaotian, who relied daily on hot instant noodles to provide warmth and survive the low temperatures, finally understood how difficult survival truly was.
After crying for a while, he took out his phone with only 3% battery remaining and opened his contacts.
Many people in his contacts were those he t only after moving into the hotel, but quite a few had died during these rules, their ringtones never to sound again.
Xu Xiaotian couldn't bear to delete these nas. As he browsed, he stopped when he saw "Guan Tong's" na. The days of struggle and numbness had made him forget about Guan Tong leaving the hotel to survive elsewhere. Only when seeing the latter's na now did he suddenly rember.
With trembling fingers, he tapped the screen and sent a ssage: "Brother Tong, are you still alive?"
...
At the campsite by the mountain foot, Guan Tong looked up at the blazing sun hanging high in the sky. The scorching sunlight made him feel sowhat ntally dazed.
Imagine one mont there was heavy snowfall, the next there was brilliant sunshine - such contrast and change was enough to make people doubt whether they were dreaming or in reality.
Guan Tong believed it wasn't just him - most people who survived these rules would have similar feelings.
And this was the Fire Thief's power. Before its ability to arbitrarily manipulate nature's great forces, humans seed like re insignificant ants, struggling with all their might just to survive.
The dazzling sunlight made Guan Tong lower his head. He knew the challenges were far from over. He had to be prepared at all tis to survive the increasingly tricky rules in the future.
Wang Yan and Chen Na had returned to their large vehicle. This mother-daughter pair who had just finished crying needed so ti to calm their emotional fluctuations.
Guan Tong sat on the branch stool he made and began checking the rewards after these rules.
"Personal Terminal."
【Na: Guan Tong】
【Nickna: Shadow】
【Title: Order Keeper】
【Mind Power: 123】
【Ascension Coins: 150】
【Comprehensive Biological Information Evaluation: Excellent】
The 150 Ascension Coins were the reward for passing these rules.
Regarding Mind Power upper limit, Guan Tong rembered it was 119 points before the fourth rule began. Now after one month it reached 123, increasing by 4 points, which aligned with his previous judgnt of "in extre conditions, upper limit increases by one point every 7-8 days."
After checking the panel, Guan Tong opened the storage box. The items inside had gradually increased as he passed more rules.
【Wordless Book】
【Constant Temperature Tech Underwear】(Equipped)
【Multi-Terrain Marching Boots】(Equipped)
【Basic Food Box · Bronze Tier】*1
【First Ascendant Challenge Tournant Invitation】
【Survival Treasure Chest · Bronze Grade】*1
"After the first 【Sleep Deprivation】 ended, the survival treasure chest gave a fixed title reward. But that title had no bonuses, more like the Fire Thief using it to distinguish survivors."
"Wonder what this chest can give."
Guan Tong thought, choosing to open it.
【Obtained Random Item: Guiding Flashlight】
...What is this?
This strangely nad item made Guan Tong quite curious, imdiately checking the details.
【Guiding Flashlight】: The holder can silently recite the na of a target location in their mind. After consuming 10 points of Mind Power, the flashlight will project a guiding light only visible to the holder, directing the holder to that target location. This item is a single-use item and can be traded.
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