Cave Refuge

When the Thompson family of three woke up, Mr. Thompson immediately walked to the window, wanting to check the weather outside.

However, when he actually saw the situation outside, he couldn't help but tug at the corners of his mouth. He had thought that after a night, the accumulated water outside, even if not completely receded, should have at least decreased considerably. But, to his surprise, the water had frozen over during the night.

Perhaps because he had been in the constant temperature environment inside the Companion Spiritual Treasure, he had not noticed the change in temperature outside during the night.

Looking at the frozen puddle, Mr. Thompson hesitated about whether to go outside, when at that moment, Dong Tianyu also came to the window and saw the situation outside through the glass.

Although the puddle left from last night's rain had frozen, the weather was very clear, so Dong Tianyu decided to open the hatch and check the situation outside.

As soon as Dong Tianyu pushed open the hatch, he felt a chill so piercing cold that it rushed directly into the cabin through the door. Although Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were almost immune to temperature extremes, the biting cold wind still made them shiver unconsciously.

Noticing this, Dong Tianyu immediately stepped out of the cabin and then promptly closed the door.

When Dong Tianyu let go of the handle and turned to look around, the first thing he saw was the glowing surface of the ice below.

At that moment, with the sun high and not a cloud in the sky, the ice, despite being directly exposed to sunlight, showed no sign of melting. Although Dong Tianyu had reached a state of being immune to temperature extremes, he could still easily feel that the outdoor temperature was definitely below zero.

If it had been spring or autumn, the gentle breeze caressing the face would have provided an indescribable sense of satisfaction. But with the temperature dropped to below zero, even the gentle breeze brought only a piercing cold chill.

Just as Dong Tianyu was preparing to go down and take a look, the hatch suddenly opened, and he saw Mr. and Mrs. Thompson stepping out wearing thick coats, with Mrs. Thompson also holding a heavy coat in her arms.

As soon as the pair stepped through the hatch, Mrs. Thompson immediately went behind Dong Tianyu and draped the coat she was holding over him, all the while complaining, "I could feel the temperature outside when you opened the door. Why didn't you put on more clothes before going out?"

Although wearing the coat did not really affect Dong Tianyu, he gladly accepted it and did not argue, appreciating his mother's concern.

Mr. Thompson looked down at the ice but didn't go down right away. Instead, he rummaged through the storage space to see if there were any suitable tools for testing the path.

Mr. Thompson had not chosen the 'Bearing' evolution path for his Companion Spiritual Treasure like Mrs. Thompson, who had extra storage space. Although he had a storage ring given by Dong Tianyu, in order to save storage space, Mr. Thompson did not stuff random things into his storage space like Dong Tianyu did.

The items Mr. Thompson stored were naturally those that would be useful in certain circumstances, so after searching for a while, he did not find any suitable items for path testing.

"Dad, what are you looking for?" Dong Tianyu suddenly asked.

Taking the opportunity to speak, Mr. Thompson responded, "I want to find something to test how thick the ice is now. I want to test its weight-bearing capacity before we go down, to avoid finding out that the ice wasn't properly frozen last night and falling through into a hole."

Hearing what Mr. Thompson said, Dong Tianyu thought for a moment. Although he had already used Divine Sense to check the thickness of the ice layer, to reassure his parents, Dong Tianyu still took two 100-kilogram iron discs from the storage space and casually threw them out.

As the two iron discs heavily smashed onto the ice, cracks formed at the points where they hit.

Seeing the crack that extended from the bottom of the shot put, Mr. Thompson didn't hesitate and immediately walked over to the shot put, following the crack to see how thick the ice had actually frozen.

Actually, from the moment the shot put had fallen on the ice without making a splash, it was clear that the thickness of the ice had already reached a level that could support a person's weight, and when Mr. Thompson saw that even the deep part of the crack still showed ice, he finally felt relieved and then called out to his wife and son still standing on their Companion Spiritual Treasures, "The ice is solid; you can come down safely now."

Afterward, Mr. Thompson picked up the two shot puts that Dong Tianyu had left on the ice; thinking they might be useful later, he directly stored them in his storage space.

Seeing Mr. Thompson's actions, Mrs. Thompson rolled her eyes disapprovingly, "You always stuff everything into your own pockets, even taking your son's things; you really have some nerve."

Hearing Mrs. Thompson's complaint, Mr. Thompson didn't feel guilty at all; instead, he boasted proudly, "I will take my son's things if I want to; consider it his way of showing filial respect."

Although the items were his own, Dong Tianyu didn't get involved in his parents' bickering. Not to mention the two shot puts, if his father asked him for anything else he had, wouldn't he give it?

Of course, it wasn't to say that parents should take whatever they want from their children unconditionally; as long as it didn't affect him much, if his parents liked something and he could give it to them, why not? He could always go buy new ones if needed.

Hearing his father's call, Dong Tianyu helped Mrs. Thompson down from the ship's cabin entrance; at this time, since the ice was over a meter high from the ground, the first floor of their villa was naturally frozen as well. Anyway, the Thompson Family's décor style was Syria war-damage style, so this disaster didn't cause much loss for them.

The three of them walked along the ice to the front gate; even though their camp had transformed into this state, Dong Tianyu still saw several kids joyfully skating not far away.

Different from the carefree smiles of those playing children, another person stood by, chatting with a bitter expression.

There weren't many residents in the villa area, and since Mr. and Mrs. Thompson often went out to relax with friends, even though they frequently came home late, they were still familiar with the other residents and occasionally had chats when meeting them.

So, seeing people gathered and chatting, the couple naturally joined the lively group.

Seeing his parents chatting with acquaintances, Dong Tianyu felt somewhat bored and considered whether to leave, since hanging around there was somewhat dull.

Just as Dong Tianyu was about to leave, he heard Ye Liuyun calling him from not far away; seeing Ye Liuyun jogging over, Dong Tianyu decided not to leave and waited there.

Perhaps it was an inherent skill in his genes, Ye Liuyun stopped his jogging when he was close, pivoted his feet in a V-shape to slide straight across the ice, utilizing inertia.

When he reached Dong Tianyu, Ye Liuyun crossed his feet to increase the friction and firmly stopped in front of him. Seeing Ye Liuyun's skilled movements, Dong Tianyu couldn't help but compliment, "You really know how to have fun."

Hearing Dong Tianyu say this, Ye Liuyun didn't think much of it, taking it as a compliment to his good technique. He didn't show off too much, but instead directly stated his reason for coming:

"Tianyu, do you have any food to spare? I need some for an emergency. There's not much food left at home. If you have plenty, could you sell me some extra? I'll pay a high price."

Hearing Ye Liuyun's reason, Dong Tianyu was suddenly stunned; nowadays, it wasn't like before when most people didn't have storage equipment, as Companion Spiritual Treasures could evolve into bearing branches. Now, having storage space was not a rare thing.

As a merchant, Ye Liuyun certainly also had storage space, so Dong Tianyu couldn't believe that Ye Liuyun was short of food.