‘No, is he sick?’
Xia Chi didn’t understand why the player with black-framed glasses would change his mind so easily.
Even if he was initially panicked, it was only due to the fear of entering the cold outside world. Ultimately, he would still go out.
But just because of a few words from Pink Hair, he changed his mind and decided not to leave.
Xia Chi patted Black-framed Glasses on the back, “Brother, the system said there’s a chance to refresh the time limit of the safe house, but it also mentioned the possibility of being transported to a dangerous and terrifying abyss. We don’t even know what this abyss is, so don’t be foolish.”
Pink Hair blinked his Barbie-like pink eyes, “Big Brother, aren’t you the one causing trouble?”
Xia Chi: “???”
‘Big Brother?
Are you calling me big brother?’
‘Hey, we don’t even know who’s older here!
I’m not that old yet!’
Xia Chi frowned, “Aren’t you the one causing trouble? What are your real intentions?”
Pink Hair looked at the player with black-framed glasses, his eyebrows slightly lowered, and with an innocent expression, said, “What could my intentions be? Of course, I don’t want to see Brother get hurt. Brother, you must stay safe. I’ll be cheering for you.”
Black-framed Glasses: “Of course, I will definitely survive! Trust me, Brother!”
Xia Chi: “…”
‘No, are the two of you really sick?’
Just as he thought this, Black-framed Glasses, who was standing in front of him, suddenly vanished.
The system’s voice then came into his ears.
[The safety time limit for the first player to enter the safe house has been reached. The player did not leave the safe house before the time limit, and now the player’s drop location will be randomly determined.]
[Judgment is complete.]
[Congratulations, player. The safety time limit for the safe house has been refreshed. The player can continue to stay in the safe house and will receive ten additional hours of safety time.]
[In five minutes, the second player will reach the safety time limit.]
[Player death X1, remaining players: 90.]
[The game continues. I hope you enjoy playing.]
As the system voice disappeared, Xia Chi saw a blur, and Black-framed Glasses who had just disappeared reappeared in the original spot.
He awkwardly fell to the ground, his body soft and seemingly unable to get up.
Pink Hair bent down and gently supported Black-framed Glasses’s arm, dragging him to the sofa. His voice was soft and tender, “Brother, are you okay?”
Black-framed Glasses’s chest heaved up and down rapidly. He lifted his weak arm to remove his face mask, his expression still showing the shock of near-death.
Sweat on his forehead had dampened his bangs, and after taking several deep breaths of fresh air, he gasped, “That scared me to death. I thought I was finished.”
Pink Hair: “How could that be? I knew you would make it.”
Black-framed Glasses’s cheeks reddened slightly, and he lowered his lashes shyly. “Thank you. If you hadn’t encouraged me to stay, I would have resigned myself and walked out.”
Pink Hair’s lips curled into a pure and beautiful smile. “It’s because you’re awesome. I didn’t do anything.”
With that smile, it seemed like countless dazzling sunflowers had exploded behind the young man, and he was surrounded by dreamy twinkling stars.
Black-framed Glasses’s face grew even redder.
Xia Chi: “…”
Was he watching some cheesy romance drama at the 8 o’clock slot?
…
The fact that the first person did not leave the safe house surprised everyone.
As soon as the system message ended, there was an uproar among the players.
The people inside had not left to make room, while one of the players outside had died from the cold.
This was certainly not uplifting news.
The human wall had been hastily assembled, and lacked trust or agreements.
There was a brief commotion in the crowd.
But they quickly calmed down.
What’s the use of being unwilling?
Did they have any other choice now?
If they panicked now, they would be the ones suffering.
And this was just the first one; aren’t there nineteen spots left?
Time passed quickly, and five minutes were soon up.
The players in the cold night silently watched the doorframe, waiting quietly.
“Creeeak—”
The wooden door of the safe house creaked from years of disrepair, then opened. A player fully wrapped up stood at the doorway.
The player was wearing a red down jacket, and as soon as the door opened, a gust of cold wind hit him, causing him to instinctively curl up. His foot that was about to step out suddenly hesitated in mid-air, then slowly retreated.
He just stood quietly behind the door, lost in thought.
The players in the snow waited silently, feeling anxious and cursing in their hearts.
They were anxious about why he wasn’t coming out to make space.
They cursed the player for being inconsiderate, wetting their appetite.
Time seemed to move unusually slowly.
Just when the players in the snow thought the red down jacket would retract like the first player, the red down jacket suddenly took a step forward and stepped firmly in the snow.
At that moment, the neatly lined-up human wall swarmed out like ants to food, rushing towards the open door of the safe house.
Among them, a shadow moved faster than the rest. The red down jacket player hadn’t even set his second foot on the ground before the shadow had already slipped into the safe house.
With a loud “bang”, the door closed heavily, once again separating the inside from the outside world.
[The player chose to leave the safe house. Available spots in the safe house: X1.]
[Ding! Someone has entered the safe house. Available spots: 0.]
[Friendly reminder: The current time is 20:59:00. A cold wave will arrive in one minute. Please prepare!]
[There are 21 minutes until the next player reaches the safe house time limit.]
[Please players, make sure to survive.]
[Survive!]
The crowd stirred again.
Soon, the player in the green down jacket stepped up to stabilize the situation: “Friends, there is only one minute left. Don’t hold back. Quickly take out all the cold-resistant props from your bags, whether it’s cotton clothing, armor, blankets, or even tree shovels or wheels. If you think it’s useful, take it out!”
“Everyone, get even closer together!”
They were all experienced players after all and the green down jacket took on the role of a leader. As soon as he finished speaking, the players began rummaging through their backpacks.
“I have a blanket here.”
“I have ten sets of clothes!”
“I have a set of red carpets!”
The crowd: ?
So, what were you planning to do with the red carpets?
Planning to walk the red carpet?
The players quickly gathered cold-resistant props. The players on the outer circle moved to the inner layers, while those in the center moved to the outermost circle.
The red down jacket had just left the safe house, so he was naturally assigned to the outermost circle.
They put all the things on the outermost circle in an orderly yet chaotic manner. The originally small circle of people shrank by two more circles, becoming even smaller.
One minute passed quickly. As the system’s time displayed “21:00:00”, the once quiet snowfield was suddenly whipped by a fierce wind!
Snowflakes began to fall from the sky.
The howling wind and heavy snow swirled chaotically!
The temperature, which was previously static at -55, began to rise.
-55.5.
-56.
-57.
-57.4.
The wind swept across the land, lifting the snow on the ground and swirling it in the air.
The light from outside illuminated the swirling white snowflakes, casting a yellowish glow around them. The snowflakes danced in the air like white fairies in the night sky.
No matter how beautiful the snow scene was, no one had the mood to appreciate it.
So cold, so cold, so cold.
It was really too cold.
No matter how many clothes they wore, it seemed to make no difference. The fierce wind caused them not only piercing physical damage but also psychological damage.
The thick down jackets seemed as flimsy as children’s clothing in the face of the cold wind. The players were exposed to the cold wind like a child’s bare bottom that could only get spanked without any resistance.
So cold, so cold, so cold, so cold…
The players huddled, shivering like quails in the biting wind.
-58.
-59.
-60!
“Smack!”
Someone fell heavily to the ground.
[Ding! Player death X1, remaining players: 89.]
[The cold wave will weaken in two hours. Please hang in there.]
Two hours!
They had to endure for another two hours!
Inside the safe house, the players gathered by the window and watched the horrific scene outside that looked like an apocalypse.
Although they were not outside, they could still see the temperature outside and hear the system notifications.
More and more people gathered by the window.
They looked at the players huddled together, feeling both relieved and fearful.
Relieved not to be among them and fearful that they would soon face such harsh conditions.
And it was only half of the first day.
They still had three and a half days to get through.
Among the players, one person looked particularly anxious.
Xia Chi stood by the window and quickly spotted Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin’s black-and-white down jacket was easy to recognize, especially since he was with Lin Jue, who had a little dinosaur.
The two stood closely together in the outermost circle with their backs to the wind.
Although their down jackets were thick, the cold wind blew on Bai Lixin’s’s body, easily deflating the down jacket and outlining the young man’s slender and tall body.
Xia Chi felt worried and could not help but ask in a private chat: [Brother, how are you feeling?]
Bai Lixin: [Cold.]
Xia Chi’s heart sank, and he hurriedly put on his own down jacket: [Brother! I’m coming to save you!]
Bai Lixin: [It’s cold, but not enough to freeze to death.]
Xia Chi froze, unsure of what to do with his panicked hands.
Bai Lixin: [Are you close to your time limit?]
Xia Chi: [I have an hour and a half left.]
Bai Lixin: [When you come out, head directly between me and the inside. Can you find me?]
Xia Chi: [I already saw you and Lin Jue. A panda and a little dinosaur. I recognized you when Lin Jue used his fire ability.]
A familiar voice came from the hall, and Xia Chi subconsciously looked over.
In the center of the hall were a few people.
He recognized two of them: one was Black-framed Glasses, and the other was the delicate Pink Hair.
The other two were unfamiliar, but from their actions of putting on down jackets, they were likely the next players reaching their time limit.
Pink Hair: “Do you want to ￥%￥#&?”
Xia Chi frowned and discreetly moved closer to listen to their conversation.
Black-framed Glasses had clearly become infatuated with Pink Hair. He followed him everywhere with eyes full of admiration.
It was unclear what Pink Hair had said, but Black-framed Glasses patted his chest and said, “Look at me now, I’m completely untroubled.”
One of the other two players hesitated, “But if we don’t go out, we might not refresh the time limit and could be sent to the horror abyss.”
“Fortune favors the bold,” Pink Hair’s voice was now clear, “Even if you go out, does it mean you’ll survive? The room temperature here is 20 degrees, while outside it’s -60. Suddenly moving across an 80 degree temperature difference, not to mention people, even a steel plate would break.”
Xia Chi: “…”
‘Uh, wasn’t that exactly what Pink Hair said to Black-framed Glasses earlier?’
‘The sentences don’t even need to be changed?’
Black-framed Glasses: “Exactly.”
‘Nonsense, does he think everyone will be as lucky as he was?’
The two still hesitated, and Pink Hair pulled out his trump card: “Brothers, we were the first group to enter the safe house. I really like you all and don’t want anything to happen to you. Outside is really terrifying. The brother in the red down jacket is already shivering in the outermost circle. I don’t want you to become so pitiful.”
“I hope that the twenty of us in the first group are still together at the end. We’re a family.”
“The people outside won’t care that we suddenly faced extreme temperature differences. They’ll only envy us for enjoying ten hours of warmth. That’s why they made the brother in the red down jacket go to the outermost circle to be a windbreaker.”
As Pink Hair spoke, his eyes suddenly reddened, and his voice choked, “How could I have any bad intentions? I just care about you, Brothers.
