Cave Refuge

The four of them discussed for a while and made some arrangements in advance. Even though Dong Tianyu talked a lot about possibilities and 'what ifs' today, the older three obviously understood his meaning.

That night, Dong Tianyu ultimately did not stay in his parents' room, but went back to his own refuge in the middle of the night, managing to squeeze in his last cultivation session before midnight.

The next morning, when Dong Tianyu walked out of the door of his refuge, the world outside looked as if it was draped in a pure white wedding veil, an expanse of white that was somewhat glaring.

Since the start of the snowfall, the coal yard and grain depot had intensified supplies, and now, the accumulated snow on the road to the nearby subway shelter had been compacted by passing vehicles.

After suffering consecutive natural disasters, Pengcheng started to prepare in advance as soon as there was a slight change in the outside world.

They began to distribute the stored supplies via the subway network to various parts of Pengcheng. With the officials once again taking control of all the refuges in Pengcheng, the supplies delivered to all refuges were no longer limited to just a seven-day supply.

Following the notice from the officials, all refuges made preparations in advance, especially the subway shelter, which once again resumed its practice of non-stop drop on and drop off of people, even if it meant risking faster wear and tear of the vehicles, just to deliver supplies to each of the nearby shelters faster.

The snowflakes falling from the sky grew bigger and bigger, and the frequency of snowfall increased. Though there were no gusts, it was still quite a sight.

After returning from the subway shelter, when Dong Tianyu woke up every day, he would clear the accumulated snow on the platform outside his cave.

Yet, even though he cleared the snow daily, the layer of snow on the platform would be thicker by the next time he cleared it.

Looking at the non-stop snowfall, Dong Tianyu sighed softly, "I guess the subway shelters nearby will soon stop delivering supplies to the community shelters."

Reminiscing about receiving the last supplies in the community shelter in his previous life, after everybody's concerted efforts, they finally dug a tunnel before the stored supplies ran out and successfully connected to the subway network.

Their shelter was diligent and lucky. Later, he heard from others that when the weather warmed up, the number of survivors in many shelters was less than a hundred, but a normal community shelter could accommodate thousands.

The people who came out of those shelters had red eyes. Because of the disaster, the officials did not trouble them. Still, after the flood came, the officials refused to let them into the shelters governed by the streets.

Just as Dong Tianyu was admiring the snowy scenery on the platform outside the cave, a glimmer of light suddenly flashed across the dim sky.

A meteor?

It doesn't look like it.

A plane.

There shouldn't be any in operation at this time.

As the glimmer in his eyes gradually faded, Dong Tianyu's curiosity soared.

'When I have a chance in the future, I must get a flying vehicle.'

The snow on the platform outside the cave was getting thicker and thicker, even though it was cleared daily, the thickness of the layer of snow the next day would always be more than a meter.

Seeing the ever-increasing thickness of the snow, Dong Tianyu knew that the temperature would probably rise soon.

Not long after, just as Dong Tianyu had guessed, the heavy snow that had been falling for some time began to lighten, and in just a few days, the snow outside the cave entrance had disappeared.

Looking at the sparkling and somewhat reflective snowflakes around him, Dong Tianyu knew this was a sign of rising temperatures.

Drip drip! Drip drip~

Drops of water kept appearing at the entrance of the cave. At this time, the outside temperature was even colder, which was a scenario caused by snow melting and absorbing heat.

As the sound of the water flow grew louder, the accumulated snow on the mountain began to gradually melt.

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The first to detect this situation in the underground refuge were two gatekeepers. They used to get shivered all over by the cold wind blowing in from somewhere while on duty, but that had not happened recently.

"Second Brother, can you feel the heat?" One gatekeeper asked while trying to loosen his collar.

The entrance was much colder than the deeper parts of the refuge, so they always dressed heavily when assigned to keep the door.

"Now that you mention it, yes, it does feel a bit warm."

Hearing that the other person agreed with him, the gatekeeper got somewhat restless: "Second Brother, given that it's been cold for so long, do you think the temperature will start rising now?"

"Hasn't it already risen? I heard on the radio a couple of days ago that the outside temperature has risen from minus one hundred degrees to minus forty or fifty degrees, and the temperature continues to rise."

"I really don't know when the outside temperature will rise above zero. By then, we can go home."

"Yeah, it's been a while since we've been home."

The officials had long been aware of the rise in outside temperatures. Even when the outside temperature was continually dropping, the officials had already arranged for meteorological bureau staff to monitor the situation. Regardless of whether there were changes in daily temperature, reports were required.

When the temperature rose for the first time, although it only increased by three degrees, it gave the officials hope.

When the outside temperature dropped to minus eighty or ninety degrees, it began to snow in the sky. When the temperature dropped below one hundred degrees, everyone was trapped in the refuge, and no one could move about outside.

During this time, all the refuges became isolated islands, and the constant supply to these refuges was cut off.

This made the high-level officials who had moved back to the subway shelters somewhat worried, since their family members were still in those independent shelters outside.

Now that the outside temperature was starting to rise, although the rise was not high, it was a good sign for them.

Once the outside temperature reaches minus sixty or seventy degrees, they can restart the steam vehicles and restore the supply of goods to the various shelters.

While everyone was anxiously waiting, the outside temperature began to rise steadily and firmly.

When the temperature rose to minus sixty-something degrees, the steam vehicles started up again. Following the original plan, they still used subway shelters as the centers and distributed supplies to various shelters in all directions.

However, by this time, some shelters, like the one Dong Tianyu was in during his previous life, had dug tunnels connecting to the subway network.

As for the remaining shelters that had not been dug through, some were filled with corpses due to starvation, while others sheltered only a few survivors with red eyes.

For these situations, the people responsible for delivering supplies didn't interfere much. They just left the supplies at the doors of these shelters and reported the conditions of the shelters when they went back.

The officials were somewhat helpless after knowing this. However, in this round of supply distribution, as long as there were survivors, they would distribute supplies as planned, but for shelters with only a few red-eyed survivors remaining, they did not plan to distribute supplies in the future.