novelTele Chapter 46 Deep Winter
Chapter 46 Deep Winter
Three days after Wang Meng's survivor team left, the once clear sky was completely covered by thick, leaden-gray clouds, and then it began to snow. At first, it was just a few scattered snowflakes, but as the night deepened, the snowflakes became larger and denser, eventually turning into a vast, all-encompassing blizzard that fell silently and powerfully.
The temperature had already dropped below zero, and the snow that had accumulated over the previous two months had not melted at all. Now, as the new snow fell, it piled up on the existing ice crust without any hindrance. Inside the shelter, Xu Mo could clearly hear the howling of the wind and snow outside, as well as the faint "crack" sound of the snow breaking dry branches.
Unlike usual, Xu Mo didn't clear the snow around his residence after it stopped, especially in front of the door and the passageway leading to the roof. This time, he deliberately left all traces of the natural snowfall. The area in front of the door, under the windows, and even the shallow footprints he occasionally left in the snow were quickly covered and smoothed over by a new layer of snow.
This was a necessary disguise. Xu Mo couldn't be sure if Wang Meng's team was among the last survivors to pass through this area this winter. Burying all traces of their activities beneath this pure white ground would make it harder for later visitors to discover the life hidden within the building, minimizing unnecessary contact and potential conflict. In this ruin marked as "worthless," complete "disappearance" was the best protection.
Xu Mo originally thought that this heavy snow would stop in a day or two, just like before. However, this time, God seemed to be exceptionally "generous".
For one day, then two, the heavy snow showed no signs of abating, relentlessly pouring down from the gray sky. As far as the eye could see, there was only swirling snowflakes and a chaotic white expanse. By the third and fourth day of the snowfall, Xu Mo's initial ease had vanished, replaced by a sense of solemnity.
On the fifth day, when the oppressive white curtain that had clung to the window for five days finally slowly lifted, and the snowflakes thinned until they stopped completely, Xu Mo looked out. Even though he was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow slightly.
The snow depth has reached an astonishing level. Roughly estimated, it generally exceeds 1.5 meters, and in some low-lying areas and sheltered corners, the snow can even reach more than two meters! The whole world seems to have been raised a layer, and many low-lying ruins and abandoned vehicles have been completely swallowed up.
"This snow has been going on for far too long," Xu Mo muttered to himself. Then, he thought of Wang Meng's team, which had left a few days earlier.
"Will they be able to reach Jiangcheng safely?" A barely perceptible worry surfaced in my mind.
Although it was only a brief transaction and contact, and both sides maintained sufficient vigilance, Wang Meng and his group were, after all, the first survivors Xu Mo encountered in this apocalyptic world with whom he could communicate and who still maintained basic order and principles. The difficulty and danger of trekking such a long distance in such extremely harsh weather are unimaginable. Could their rudimentary snowshoes effectively traverse such deep snow? Would their supplies and food be sufficient to sustain them through this sudden and even more severe cold?
Xu Mo shook his head, suppressing this useless worry. In the apocalypse, everyone has their own path to walk, and life and death are predestined; he has neither the power nor the intention to interfere.
"Boom—crash!"
Just then, a dull, loud crash, mixed with the sounds of snow sliding down and structures collapsing, came from another direction in the town. It sounded particularly jarring in the stillness after the snowfall.
Xu Mo's heart skipped a beat; this wasn't the first time he'd heard such a sound. During the five-day-long snowfall, similar sounds of collapse had been heard sporadically several times. Clearly, some houses, already structurally unstable or unable to withstand the weight, had finally collapsed under the immense pressure of the snow.
Xu Mo looked up at the roof of his three-story house. Although the building was fairly sturdy, he dared not gamble on whether the ever-accumulating snow would also pose a danger.
"The snow on the roof needs to be cleared."
Xu Mo went straight to the rooftop and frowned as he looked at the heavy, compacted snow, which was over a meter thick. Clearing this snow would take an ordinary person a long time, but for Xu Mo, who had already reached the Bull-Skin Realm, it wasn't a particularly difficult task.
He didn't even use a snow shovel. He simply circulated his qi and blood slightly, secretly gathering strength in his arms. He directly inserted his hands into the edge of the solid snow layer, let out a low shout, and used his waist and abdomen to lift his arms up sharply.
"Whoosh—!"
A large chunk of compacted snow, about the size of a door panel and weighing several hundred kilograms, was lifted up by his bare hands, flew over the low wall at the edge of the roof, and crashed down behind the house with a dull thud.
Xu Mo moved like a human bulldozer, swift and efficient. The thick snow was as docile as tofu in the face of his superhuman strength. In less than ten minutes, Xu Mo had cleared most of the snow from the rooftop platform.
Looking at the exposed concrete ground after the snow was cleared, and the several huge snowdrifts he had "bare-handedly" thrown downstairs, Xu Mo remained calm and composed, simply brushing the snow off his gloves. This amount of exercise was hardly even a warm-up for his current energy levels.
However, before the direct effects of the heavy snow had completely subsided, Xu Mo noticed an even more unsettling and ominous sign.
The day after the snow stopped, Xu Mo, as usual, went to the rooftop before dawn to collect the gas. However, he waited a long time before a faint, almost imperceptible glimmer of light appeared on the eastern horizon. When Xu Mo finally caught a glimpse of the purple glow of the rising sun, he subconsciously glanced at the waterproof watch on his wrist, which was still stubbornly ticking away—the hands clearly pointed to 9:20 a.m.
It was a little after nine in the morning, and the sun had just risen.
In the afternoon, when Xu Mo finished his daily cultivation and noticed the change in light outside the window again, he found that it was only about three o'clock, but the sky had already darkened significantly and rapidly, as if dusk had arrived early. Before four o'clock, it was almost completely dark.
The days become short, and the nights long and deep.
Meanwhile, the thermometer readings mercilessly confirmed Xu Mo's feelings. In the previous two months, although the temperature was cold, it mostly hovered between minus five or six and minus ten degrees Celsius. But now, even in the afternoon when the sun was at its brightest, the temperature was hard to break minus ten degrees Celsius, and in the early morning and at night, it could reach minus fifteen or sixteen degrees Celsius, or even lower.
At this temperature, the cold wind brushing against one's face was no longer just "like a knife," but truly caused excruciating pain. Xu Mo felt his breath becoming thicker, almost instantly condensing into tiny ice crystals the moment it left his mouth and nose.
Standing on the rooftop, Xu Mo looked at the sun, which was drawing a short, weak arc in the southern sky, and a chill rose in his heart.
Were the relatively "mild" cold and the fairly "normal" day-night cycle of the previous two months just the prelude to winter?
Is the real, brutal deep winter only just beginning?
Xu Mo felt a pang of regret. He regretted not asking Wang Meng how long a normal winter would last in this world, before the apocalypse. Was this extremely short period of sunshine and bitter cold the norm for winter in this region? Or had this global catastrophe completely altered the climate?
Lacking a frame of reference, Xu Mo couldn't determine whether the scene before him was a natural phenomenon or another ecological upheaval triggered by the apocalypse. This uncertainty about the unknown trends in environmental evolution was more unsettling than any clear danger.
Xu Mo tightened his down jacket. Even with his superhuman physique, he didn't want to be exposed to such low temperatures for a long time, since that would require extra energy to maintain his body temperature.
"If winter has only just begun and will last longer, even colder..." Xu Mo frowned as he looked down at the deep snow that was almost unbearable and at the pale sun in the sky that seemed ready to be extinguished at any moment.
Although he had sufficient fuel and food reserves, if the winter was longer than expected, he would have to readjust his consumption plans. Moreover, in this environment, the possibility of venturing out to explore was almost nonexistent; this apocalypse seemed poised to reveal its most monstrous side.