Super Gene Hunting Ground

Chapter 133: Chapter 133: Frozen World (Third update, please subscribe)

The heavy snow had lasted for over a month, piling up to about 3 meters on the playground, and the temperature had also dropped to below minus 30 degrees.

At first, people still went outside the kiln caves for some simple activities, but later, it became almost impossible to go out, even for Yang Xiao, Xiao Zhe, Zhao Gang, Huang Wen, and Chen Fei, who had entered the Primordial Gene Primary Stage. Staying outside too long made them uncomfortable, each time they went out, they had to wear special hats and gloves.

The hats, made from animal fur by Huang Wen and other girls, were simple cylindrical shapes that completely covered the head and neck, leaving only three holes: two on top for the eyes to watch the outside scenery, and one hole below for breathing.

Fortunately, the kiln caves provided warmth; lighting a fire daily in the kiln’s fire pits could maintain the temperature inside at about ten degrees, otherwise, everyone’s current cold-proof clothing would hardly resist such severe weather.

Fortunately, the food was also sufficient, with two hot meals a day, each meal providing about half a kilogram of dried meat and one kilogram of potatoes per person. Life was a bit dull, but safe and worry-free.

Every day, Yang Xiao would go to the Genetic Store and play Go with Gu Bo. Initially, Long Yongjun also followed, but later it became too cold. Just walking over a hundred meters felt extremely uncomfortable, especially since the snow was too deep to run through, making them have to tie planks to their feet and walk slowly.

Later, Yang Xiao stopped letting Long Yongjun come with him. Anyway, on his own turf, there was no danger, especially since he now possessed the Beast Soul Technique of One Finger Splitting Earth and the defense of Light Shield.

Gu Bo’s Go skills were very odd. Initially, when they started playing, Yang Xiao moved the pieces unusually slowly. But after getting used to it and going through some training, his pace became faster and faster.

Gu Bo’s skills in Go were mediocre, often losing to Yang Xiao. Old man Gu Bo was stubborn and insisted on winning against Yang Xiao. However, Yang Xiao never let him win, which led Gu Bo to almost want to flip the board after each game, but a few minutes later, he would pull Yang Xiao to continue playing.

After playing Go with Gu Bo for half a day, Yang Xiao would feel extremely exhausted as if he was drained, but after resting for half an hour, he would be revived fully, leaving the Genetic Store feeling refreshed and energetic.

”Old man, tell me the truth, what’s the secret behind your Go?”

Gu Bo smiled mysterely and said:

”I won’t tell you. If you are willing to come every day, I will play with you, if not, I’ll play with my assistant.”

Yang Xiao was speechless.

Once, Yang Xiao threatened Gu Bo,

”If you don’t tell me, I won’t come to play Go anymore.”

The next day he really didn’t show up, and old man Gu Bo played Go with his assistant. But the assistant’s skills were too poor; he found it uninteresting halfway through and just stopped playing.

It made the assistant very embarrassed.

It’s like exchanging skills with a master. Even if you lose while practicing with a master, you can continuously improve yourself, but practicing with a novice doesn’t help much.

Yang Xiao also found it strange; not going to play Go for one day made him anxious inside, so his resolve fizzled out.

Once after Yang Xiao left, Gu Bo’s assistant said to him:

”Master, spiritual power is the invisible attribute of biological evolution, greatly beneficial in enhancing the potential of all genetic attributes. You are helping Yang Xiao, why not tell him?”

”Hehe, I am just treating him as a training partner to enhance my own spiritual power. This spiritual power, as the fifth major hidden attribute of biological evolution, requires special training methods—a secret of our clan for tens of thousands of years. How could I easily tell humans?

By playing Go against me, he inadvertently improves his own hidden spiritual power, and I have done him justice. This is his opportunity. How far he can go depends on his own luck.”

...

Meanwhile, the entire Earth was covered in snow, as if it had suddenly entered an Ice Age.

Xianan University was experiencing a severe food crisis; coupled with the cold weather, even huddling inside the academic building, everyone was freezing terribly.

The firewood had long been burnt up, and even the wooden boards, desks, and benches of the academic building had been burned.

Starting from the first person who froze to death, people were dying in their sleep daily.

”Xia Luo, this can’t go on; many people will freeze to death.”

Zhou Qiang and others were standing in Xia Luo’s room; now even Xia Luo’s room did not have any firewood for heating, relying entirely on their inherent genetic evolution potential to endure.

”Do you have a better idea?”

Xia Luo retorted.

”Let’s give them a little more food. Eating more can help keep them warm and resist the cold.”

”No, even the elites of our squad need to cut down on food, where can we get more to distribute to the common people?”

”But...”

”Don’t tell me anymore, there are no buts. Nobody knows when this severe cold will pass, I can only be so ruthless, otherwise, you and I, all of us, none of us can escape this disaster.”

Everyone fell silent.

Zhou Qiang whispered:

”What if we go to Kongming Academy to see if we can borrow some food from them? Didn’t they build kiln caves? It might be good to take refuge there temporarily?”

Hearing this, Xia Luo gave a bitter smile and pointed to the transmission station 300 meters away:

”From here to there is 300 meters, with snow depth at 3 meters and the temperature at negative thirty-eight degrees. None of you have adequate cold-proof clothing, who among you can make it to the Transmission Array?”

Everyone was silent again.

Xia Luo was right; common people could hardly walk a hundred meters in the snow, they would quickly freeze solid, and with three meters of snow, falling into it meant certain death.

Those with Bird Beast Souls are primarily evolved in their Agility attributes, and their ability to resist severe cold is relatively low; they would freeze to death if they flew out.

Xia Luo looked at the dozen people in the room, all elite members of Xianan University.

”Even if you can make it to the Transmission Array and successfully reach Kongming Academy, how do you know that Yang Xiao and his team have enough food? Maybe they have already frozen to death in the kiln caves.”

Zhou Qiang and the others looked at the heavy snow outside, feeling utterly hopeless. Are we really fated to die in this ice and snow, unable to escape the apocalypse’s curse?

...

Star City was in the same situation as Xianan University, with a large number of people frozen to death.

...

Star River had frozen over, turning the entire river into one gigantic block of ice, which was covered with a thick layer of snow.

The Giant Snake on Kongming Bridge had long since vanished.

Inside the city, however, the scene was quite different.

Before the end times, Nanmu City had several subway lines, all built several meters under the ground, becoming a natural, large insulating kiln cave.

The populations of three Genetic Store bases in Nanmu City added up to about ten thousand people, all of whom had now moved into the underground subway tunnels to keep warm.

Most of Nanmu City’s buildings had collapsed, though a few commercial office buildings remained relatively intact. The heavy snow could only cover the streets and the exteriors of buildings, while the interiors contained plenty of wooden furniture that could be used for heating.

Also, there was a relatively abundant supply of food here, with hundreds of large supermarkets and countless small stores, so there was no problem with food supply.

Although it was equally cold in the urban area, the death rate was much lower.

Their only issue now was that they could only move within the subway tunnels and connected building structures, and they couldn’t easily go outdoors, as mild exposure would cause frostbite and severe cases could lead to death.

The severe cold limited most people’s range of activities, leaving the world feeling dead and desolate.

Until one night, while Yang Xiao and others were sleeping in the kiln cave, suddenly, a strange cry came from outside:

”Woo—”