Chapter 697: Winter in One Second
"Is it snowing?"
Bai Xiqin let go of Leng Yebai’s ear, incredibly catching the snowflakes falling from the sky with her hand.
The snowflakes seemed extraordinarily fragile, disappearing instantly upon landing on Bai Xiqin’s hand.
The snowflakes fell faster and bigger, turning into thick snow in less than five minutes.
The sun quickly hid behind the clouds in the sky.
Bai Xiqin could feel the temperature around her dropping rapidly.
She was still wearing short sleeves, and in no time, goosebumps appeared on her arms.
It was from the cold.
From the moment the snowflakes started falling to the time Bai Xiqin felt the cold, only a few minutes had passed.
"Let’s go inside, it’s getting cold out here."
Zhang Yiming also sensed the change in temperature around and put down the knife in his hand, heading into the courtyard.
Squinting at the sky, he could see the clouds thickening with the naked eye, and more snowflakes falling.
Some snowflakes looked as big as thumbs, crashing straight to the ground, quickly melting into drops due to the high surface temperature.
Large clumps of snow kept hitting the ground; at this rate, even high temperatures won’t prevent the snow from accumulating quickly.
"The weather is really unpredictable!"
Bai Xiqin shook her head, only surprised for a moment, then she was not puzzled anymore.
The energy tides affected living beings on Earth and had impacts on the climate.
For instance, this summer was especially hot—heat was tolerable, but people feared the cold winter the most.
It seemed the apocalypse only had summer and winter seasons.
It was clearly only July; the moment before, we were wearing short sleeves, and now snowflakes were falling!
"Is there an injustice? Why is it snowing suddenly?"
Bai Yifan and Fan Tangtang also walked out from the house.
Bai Yifan was amazed at the snowflakes falling and didn’t notice Fan Tangtang cautiously glance at Zhang Yiming, then silently standing behind Bai Yifan, not daring to get too close to Zhang Yiming.
This child was almost scared silly these days.
"Winter has arrived."
Bai Xiqin sighed, once again marveling at the reversal of fortune within her space.
Thankfully, there was a lot of supplies inside; no worries about food and clothing, with various styles of down jackets available, no fear of getting cold!
"Ha~ It’s really cold!"
Bai Yifan exhaled a breath of air, visible as white mist with the naked eye.
Bai Yifan was stunned.
"What does cold feel like?"
Fan Tangtang and Bai Yifan were also wearing short sleeves, but he didn’t shiver like Bai Yifan, looking shameful.
He would only shiver in fear, this wasn’t shameful; being scared silly by Brother Zhang wasn’t embarrassing.
He was too young to remember much, his memories mostly blurred; now, the sensations he had were just Zhang Yiming’s terrifying brainwaves and the joy of eating flesh.
"Cold feels like fear, it makes you shiver."
Bai Yifan knew Fan Tangtang had no sense of touch, thought for a moment, and explained in another way.
"So that’s it! Tangtang is cold all the time, cold enough to shiver." Fan Tangtang’s eyes widened. "Looks like I need to ask dad to help me wear a thick down jacket!"
He’s been shivering in fear every day from Brother Zhang’s aura; turns out it was because of the cold!
Fan Tangtang suddenly had a weird idea: if he wore more clothes, would he not be afraid of Brother Zhang anymore?
Thinking of this, Fan Tangtang rushed into the house to find Fan Liping.
Zombie King Li Mucheng’s house also didn’t have thick down jackets, as he wasn’t afraid of cold.
After searching for a long time, Fan Liping found some thick quilts for everyone to wear.
Since everyone wanted to admire the snow scenery outside, Zhang Yiming lit a fire in the courtyard, warming themselves while watching the snow.
"I’ve asked... them to help find thick clothes for you, hold on for a while."
Zhang Yiming was still wearing short sleeves, without putting on thick quilts, rather concerned about Bai Xiqin and others freezing, so he asked the zombie minions to find thick clothes.
"Aren’t you cold?"
Bai Xiqin knew Zhang Yiming was aware, capable of sensing temperature.
"I’m not afraid of the cold, it’s quite good like this."
Zhang Yiming smiled, extending his hand to catch a few snowflakes, seriously feeling the cold temperature.
Although Ganmu didn’t turn him into a human, it gifted him with the five senses humans have.
Only when he could feel the outside temperature did he feel different from other zombies; if a distinction must be made, he felt he was closer to evolving into a human than other zombies.
"Alright then!"
Bai Xiqin glanced at Zhang Yiming’s bare arm, then looked at the ground already covered with a thin layer of snow, silently tightening the quilt around her.
Bai Xiqin was an Ice Ability User, generally not afraid of cold, but given the sharp drop in temperature, instinctively she wrapped herself in the quilt.
Seeing Zhang Yiming wearing so little, Bai Xiqin felt the weather was really cold!
Zhang Yiming noticed Bai Xiqin tightening the quilt, pursed his thin lips, and silently went to find a quilt to drape over himself.
"Would this snow signal the arrival of winter already?"
Bai Yifan opened his mouth wide, catching the large snowflakes falling from the sky.
This fool still couldn’t grasp the severity of the situation.
"Yes, this winter seems tougher than last year’s."
Bai Xiqin looked at the thick clouds, a heavy look in her eyes.
She clearly remembered that more or less a year into the apocalypse, supplies drastically diminished.
The supermarket’s supplies were essentially cleaned out by survivors; even if not cleared out, some things had spoiled, unusable.
Some supplies were trampled by zombies, with no survivors daring to take them.
At this point, survival meant needing food, but farmland hadn’t been restored for farming, so different wild vegetables and fruits became the only food.
Summer was alright, everywhere there were mutated plants, crazy growth, some plants produced abundant fruit without care.
But in winter?
No grain stored, no supplies, only able to hunt animals.
Winter animals were not easy to hunt...
Food, ultimately, is a major issue in the apocalypse.
Bai Xiqin looked at the snow filling the sky, her thoughts drifting back to the past.
Even when she was later held in the research institute, being a significant experimental personnel, her daily food was just a palm-sized cake.
The researchers were the same.
When humans are hungry, they are not easy to get along with; for food, anything can be done.
Bai Yifan sat beside Bai Xiqin, silently leaned closer to Bai Xiqin.
Hearing his sister’s tone, Bai Yifan knew winter was terrifyingly dangerous.
He better not wander off, staying with his sister, to avoid starving.
After half an hour.
The heavy snow didn’t show signs of weakening; larger snowflakes kept falling, hitting the ground and rooftops. A thudding sound could still be heard.
Bai Yifan saw such big snow for the first time, especially in the hot July.
The kitchen sent out a rich aroma of food, Bai Yifan secretly glanced at Bai Xiqin and Leng Yebai watching the snow, silently took two steps towards the kitchen.
Fan Tangtang originally wanted to follow Bai Yifan, but upon seeing Bai Yifan approaching Zhang Yiming, Fan Tangtang decisively didn’t follow, silently sitting next to Bai Xiqin.
Dare not let Bai Xiqin kill Brother Zhang, but sitting beside Bai Xiqin, Fan Tangtang felt safe.
"Eat!"
Zhang Yiming thought Bai Yifan was craving food and directly cut off a big drumstick, handing it to Bai Yifan.
"I didn’t come for the food." Bai Yifan took a fierce bite of the drumstick.
Zhang Yiming chuckled, cutting another drumstick down, placed it on an empty plate for Bai Yifan to eat.
Bai Yifan chewed on the drumstick, back turned to the doorway where Leng Yebai and Bai Xiqin sat watching the snow, sneakily pulling out his cellphone.