Returning to hometown to farm: The apocalypse system arrived ten years earlier?

Chapter 339 Extreme Cold, Global Freezing, Let's All Hibernate
Luo Feifei retreated rapidly, slashing horizontally with her White Tiger Sword. The sword energy briefly cleaved through the spatial turbulence. At the same time, her Electric Illusion Armor automatically protected her, giving her a moment to escape.

Beneath the altar's base, a ten-meter-tall magma giant slowly rose, its eyes as white as a molten furnace. Its body flowed with liquid fire patterns, each step leaving boiling footprints in the rock strata, and sulfurous fumes billowed from between its fangs: "Otherworldly blood... the perfect vessel!"

The sound was like hot metal rubbing against each other, sending chills down your spine.

Having overcome countless hardships to reach this point, Luo Feifei sneered, "You think you're worthy?"

The Yuanhai King's Seal emitted a dazzling blue light above his head, and at the same time, the "Slowness" ability within his body was activated.

The giant's molten lava fist suddenly froze—a strange force field arose within a hundred meters, the air became viscous like glue, and the giant's movements slowed down by more than ten times. The giant's raised hand hung in mid-air, and the speed at which the lava dripped was clearly visible.

Seizing this fleeting opportunity, Luo Feifei transformed into a streak of blue lightning and pounced forward. The White Tiger Sword split into dozens of sword shadows in the air, each sword precisely piercing the elemental nodes at the giant's joints.

Frost spread, and the crimson crystal core of the giant's elbow joint shattered with a sharp "hiss" sound, the lava shell emitting a crisp sound like porcelain cracking.

It roared and spewed out a rain of scorching fire, but Luo Feifei had already flashed onto its shoulder, with ice lotuses blooming beneath its feet to offset the soul-burning heat.

"Sharp Edge - Breaking Army!"

The sword suddenly unleashed a chilling light three feet long, slicing through the giant's spine as easily as cutting paper. Seven fire-elemental crystal cores exploded in succession, and the magma shell began to collapse. The giant frantically pounded its chest, attempting to transfer the cores to its brow, but then saw a cunning glint in the girl's eyes—

"The wait is now!"

The Lightning Phantom Armor exploded with a thunderous roar, and Luo Feifei transformed into a streak of light that shot straight to the top of her head. The White Tiger Sword, amplified by the "Critical Strike" buff, unleashed a frost tornado; the moment its tip pierced her brow, extreme cold energy spread wildly along the fiery veins.

"Crack!"

The magma giant, its expression one of shock and rage, knelt abruptly, its ten-meter-tall body freezing inch by inch into a bluish-black sculpture. Lofifi somersaulted through the air and landed, her sword lightly touching the sculpture's crown; the entire shell shattered into countless crystals.

She knelt on one knee, panting heavily. The White Tiger Sword was stuck in the rock, supporting her body. Before the sweat could drip, it was steamed by the high temperature.

"cough……"

Swallowing the metallic taste in her throat, she shoved three Ice Soul Spirit Fruits into her mouth. The violent medicinal power coursed through her body, and eighteen vortexes of spiritual energy spontaneously formed an array during the fierce battle, swallowing up the dense extraordinary particles in the air.

After catching her breath, she resolutely stepped onto the altar steps, and with each step she took, the chill intensified.

When she finally reached the top, her eyelashes were covered in frost. The "Nine Nether Ice Soul," suspended in the center of the altar, emitted a ghostly blue light, and simply approaching it caused the spiritual energy within her body to boil.

"Now!" Without hesitation, Luo Feifei reached out and grasped the Ice Soul, pressing it into her brow. The extreme cold energy instantly swept through her body, and eighteen spiritual energy vortexes spun wildly, eventually converging into a liquid spiritual pool in her dantian.

Inside the Tower of Bones, a blizzard raged, briefly suppressing the laws of fire. In the Spirit Pool, a new inscription emerged—"Time-Space Anchor."

"Brother Xiang... wait for me to come back." New runes flickered on Luo Feifei's fingertips as she looked into the void, searching for a target to test her methods.

This "spacetime anchor" can briefly freeze local spacetime or mark coordinates for instantaneous teleportation.

She was searching for the spatial rift she had encountered before; if there was one, this "spacetime anchor" could temporarily stabilize it before she could pass through it.

At the same time, she can also mark the coordinates on both sides, and if there are more coordinates recorded in the "space-time anchor", she can also draw a star map.

Extremely powerful.

“Unfortunately, this ability wasn’t developed when we came from Earth, so we couldn’t mark it,” Luo Feifei sighed.

"Are we going to be stuck here forever?"

There are powerful Molten Core Giant Lizards outside, so even though Luo Feifei has now reached the Saint Rank, she doesn't dare to go out easily.

Since she was already there, she decided to make the best of it. She still had plenty of food, water, and elixirs in her spatial gem ring, and the extraordinary particles in this world were abundant. As a Saint-level being, she could survive even without food or water. So she calmed down and began to cultivate.

After an unknown amount of time, about thirty kilometers from the altar, a purplish-black rift, just like the one before, suddenly appeared. She was also traveling at Mach 10, but by the time she got there, the spatial rift had already shattered.

There's nothing we can do about this; it's all a matter of luck. Fortunately, this space seems quite unstable, and there's likely more spatial rifts to appear.

Sure enough, not long after, another crack appeared.

This time, being closer, Luo Feifei flashed to the side of the rift and used "Time Anchor" to temporarily stabilize it. However, the "Divination" inscription was jumping wildly, warning her that the other side was extremely dangerous and she should not enter.

The danger level is even greater than when she entered this small world from Earth.

Helpless, Luo Feifei had no choice but to give up.

She is bold and decisive, but not without brains. She naturally won't do anything without being absolutely certain of success.

The inscription on the "divination" tablet could help her avoid misfortune and attract good fortune.

Luo Feifei took this as a period of seclusion for cultivation. She returned to the altar to consolidate her Saint-level realm. About seven more days passed, and finally, another spatial rift appeared.

This time, Luo Feifei anchored it in time, and then the divination inscription indicated that the other side was relatively safe. So, she flashed and passed through the spatial passage.

Shortly after she arrived, the spatial rift shattered.

However, Luo Feifei has already marked her coordinates, so perhaps there will be a chance to go back in the future.

"This is the Black Mist Starfield." Her current location is at least several light-years away from the coordinates she just saw. This is because the spacetime anchor has displacement records.

When two coordinates are "lit up", a simple "star map", well, a star map with only two coordinates, is "taken shape".

Luo Feifei looked at the churning black mist around her, where she couldn't see her own hand in front of her face. Fortunately, her "Insight" ability was still usable.

After reaching the Saintly Rank, the "Insight" ability allows one to easily perceive every move within a radius of tens of kilometers.

In addition, her many water and ice-type abilities were combined to create a powerful natal inscription called "Cangming Ice Extreme · Tianyuan Returning Tide", which greatly enhanced her various abilities such as water escape, ice escape, freezing, Yunmeng Marsh, and Sea Heart Chain.

At this moment, she was on an icy plain, dark and cold, with an extremely harsh environment, at least minus fifty or sixty degrees Celsius, unsuitable for ordinary people to survive.

Moreover, there is no air here, but there is a dense concentration of extraordinary particles.

As a Saint-level being, one can survive without air.

As Luo Feifei explored this new world, she soon encountered a nest of strange beasts. Fortunately, these beasts were not particularly powerful, and after a fierce battle, they were all wiped out.

These strange beasts were the cubs of some kind of space monster. Luo Feifei didn't recognize them, but they were extremely ferocious. As soon as they saw Luo Feifei, they pounced on her, and Luo Feifei didn't hold back.

Unfortunately, she didn't have a system, so killing alien beasts didn't earn her achievement points or elixirs, but it did hone her martial arts skills and various supernatural abilities, so she did gain something.

For example, she mastered the "Ice Soul Needle" technique, which allows her to unleash ten thousand ice needles simultaneously, all of which carry the "sharp" ability. Although the power of a single ice needle is not very great, it is a very practical area-of-effect attack skill.

……

This winter came earlier and is colder than usual on Earth.

Global freeze.

This year, Sichuan Province is not much better off than the icy plains where Luo Feifei is. The lowest temperature at night reached around minus fifty or sixty degrees Celsius.

It's slightly better during the day, but it can still drop to minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius.

The first year of the global snowfall, Singapore only experienced a day or two of light snowfall, which melted quickly. However, this year, temperatures in Singapore have dropped to below -10 degrees Celsius, and numerous ice floes have appeared in the sea. Although the Strait of Malacca is not completely frozen, it already resembles a frozen harbor from a distance.

The strait south of New Zealand and Australia is even more exaggerated, with ice layers tens of meters thick, as if the entire Antarctic ice wall had been pushed outwards for thousands of kilometers.

Vast icebergs dot the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans. The seas near land are completely frozen.

A Russian netizen commented: "Haha, let's all look for ice-free ports together and count how many are left. We've been looking for them every year but can't find any. Now we're finally in the same boat."

Russia has a vast coastline, but unfortunately, most of its ports freeze over every winter, leaving only a handful of ice-free ports. Now they feel at peace with it, realizing that everyone is in the same boat.

An Indian netizen commented: "Even so, we have five ice-free ports, while you Indians don't have any now."

Russian netizen: "So what if you have them? Do you dare to go out to sea now?"

With such frigid weather, long-distance trade has almost come to a standstill, and netizens around the world have begun to hibernate together.

A netizen from Northeast China shared some tips for hibernating during the winter.

For example, there is the "heated kang (heated brick bed) renovation method".

A netizen from Liaoning Province, @雪原猎手, posted a tutorial video on how to build a brick-built kang (heated brick bed), demonstrating how to use straw mixed with clay to compact the insulation layer while holding a shovel.

"Hey guys, remember to build the kang (heated brick bed) in a U-shape. Burning two bundles of corncobs will keep you warm all day!" His wife called out from off-camera, "The sauerkraut stew is ready!" The steam blurred the view as she lifted the wooden pot lid.

Someone immediately reported it because the wife's half-exposed face and unique voice sounded somewhat like "Sister Yu from Northeast China".

The account was quickly banned. After verification by the platform, it was confirmed that it was indeed Sister Yu from Northeast China.

Netizens are buzzing with discussion: "Wow, does Sister Yu really have to make a living this way? It's been so many years, and she still won't stop."

"Netizens are really something, reporting every single one they find, leaving no way for anyone to survive." A blogger from Heilongjiang province was livestreaming outdoors at -72 degrees Celsius, demonstrating his "treasure-hiding technique in a cellar": This guy was wrapped in a mink hat and was swinging a pickaxe at the frozen soil.

"See that? Dig three meters deep and you can keep the temperature around zero degrees!" The scene shifts to neatly stacked cabbages and vats of kimchi in the cellar, with frozen fish standing upright like sculptures in an iron bucket in the corner.

Netizens were amazed, wondering if it could really maintain a constant temperature of zero degrees Celsius?

Then, a father and son from Jilin province built a domed cabin out of snow bricks in their courtyard, creating an "ice and snow fortress." The eight-year-old son, wearing rabbit fur earmuffs, breathed white puffs of air and boasted, "My dad said the snow wall is more insulating than concrete!"

The father used his frozen, red hands to smear snow into the cracks of the ice bricks, while the milk tea pot on the tin stove inside the house was bubbling away.

Netizens from the south also shared their unique tips for hibernating during the winter.

A Guangdong netizen, @靓仔怕冷, lamented on a forum: "My air conditioner's outdoor unit is frozen and has stopped working!" The accompanying picture showed a figure wrapped in three layers of coral fleece pajamas, huddled next to an induction cooker. The comments section quickly offered solutions from netizens in Jiangsu and Zhejiang: "Use a hairdryer to defrost the outdoor unit, and remember to cover it with a windproof cover!"

Hotpot Saves the Day: A Chengdu girl posted a close-up video of herself chopping up frozen sausages on her balcony with a kitchen knife, creating sparks. The video received millions of likes, with comments like "Give this knife to the Antarctic expedition team."

A hot pot restaurant in Chongqing launched a "Minus 50 Degrees Challenge Set Meal," where staff wearing cold-proof masks performed a special trick at an outdoor table: tripe instantly turned into crispy ice chips.

A farcical scene unfolds with heating devices: A Shanghai white-collar worker complains on social media, "Unable to get an electric blanket, I stuffed my cat into my hoodie as a hand warmer!" The accompanying picture shows a British Shorthair cat peeking out of its collar with a bewildered round face, while half-meter-long icicles hang from a window frame in the background.

A shopping mall in Hangzhou launched a "down comforter sharing and rental" service, and surveillance footage of people slipping and falling on the ice while queuing became a hot topic that day.

Many videos of people hibernating in winter have also been circulated in China from around the world. For example, an Indian netizen posted a photo on Twitter of himself walking on the frozen surface of the Ganges River, shivering despite being wrapped in five layers of cashmere shawls: "The yoga method of keeping warm has completely failed!"

A Russian woman on the VK community was spreading the "vodka fuel theory": "Guys, three glasses a day can keep your blood boiling for four hours!" The accompanying picture was an ice crystal castle with empty bottles on a windowsill, and the list of likes included a large number of IPs from Northeast China.

……

Lijia Village.

With such freezing weather, the scenic area is naturally closed, and all the employees are on holiday. Yes, paid leave.

The villagers all say that working for Brother Xiang is just like working within the system. This year alone, he's taken countless days of paid leave.

Li Xiang turned the underfloor heating and air conditioning on full blast. He and Jiang Cai'er weren't afraid of the cold, but it was mainly Grandma who felt cold.

Jiang Jianguo and his wife also moved in, and Li Xiang now calls them his father-in-law and mother-in-law. Since there aren't many people, having his parents-in-law move in makes the house feel more lively with help with cooking. They can even put together a mahjong table.

The animals are all warming themselves in the greenhouse in the vegetable garden. It's well-ventilated and has a fire pit. The extraordinary pets aren't afraid of the cold, but Li Xiang's family also has many ordinary animals, such as the kittens that now number over thirty. One fire pit is simply not enough. There are seven or eight fire pits in several greenhouses.

Every day, just cooking for the animals requires making a huge pot of porridge.

The steaming porridge, along with cured fish, cured meat, cured sausage, dried cowpeas, and dried bamboo shoots, needed no extra salt or seasoning, and the little animals ate it with great relish.

Li Xiang added first-tier spiritual herbs to their porridge, resulting in the birth of several extraordinary and adorable pets, all of which were led by Erhuang and the little fox.

When Li Xiang is around, he cooks for them himself. When he's not around, Uncle Jiang and Aunt Jiang cook for them. If Uncle Jiang and Aunt Jiang are also unavailable, then Li Xiang's grandmother cooks for them.

But Grandma is getting old and sometimes can't manage everything, so Erhuang and the little fox will come to help. For example, they'll help pour rice into the pot and use their mouths to carry firewood to add fuel to the stove.

Despite the frigid weather, construction on the underground city continued uninterrupted. A large quantity of building materials had been stored at the site, and workers were busily engaged in construction and renovation.

Firstly, the underground city is relatively warm, and secondly, the workers need the money. They don't have paid leave; if they don't work, they don't get paid.

The first shelter was originally a filming location for the movie version of The Return of the Condor Heroes, but now that the movie's popularity has faded, Luo Feifei is "no longer here." She has not only retired from the film industry but has also left this world.

With the apocalypse only a few years away, Jiang Cai'er personally provided the blueprints to transform this place into a luxurious mountain villa. The furniture and flooring are made of top-grade woods from around the world, such as rosewood, golden teak, and padauk, which are extremely precious.

This place will be their family's home from now on.

The second phase of the shelter includes a clothing factory, residences for Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui, all of which have already been renovated. The remaining vacant areas are also being renovated.

Apart from Yao Yao and the others' residence, the rest of the house was made of ordinary wood and tiles. The house that Yao Yao and the others lived in was also a significant investment, and Li Xiang also gave them some precious wood and leather, as well as some cashmere blankets, all of which were of top quality and had exquisite patterns.

Besides these soft furnishings, there are also various precious ornaments. The lampshades are made of crystal, and the kitchen countertops are made of top-grade jadeite, crafted by Li Xiang's Crystal Gold Armor, which can reshape these crystals at will.

In short, it is magnificent and extremely luxurious.

If you have the means to enjoy life, why not?

Yao Yao and her friends' residence was located at the very back, at the very bottom, in a corner of the second phase of the shelter, far from the exit and the central square, because it offered better privacy.

The third phase is more grand, designed to accommodate around 5,000 people. It has already been completed and is now being decorated.

Due to the large number of people, the housing space is more compact, and the houses are all simply furnished. There are also many dormitories. Public places include commercial plazas, schools, hospitals, libraries, communal canteens, underground farms, etc.

There were multiple communal canteens; the second phase had three, and the third phase had eight. In the future, it's estimated that very few families will cook individually anymore.

Firstly, energy will be scarce in the apocalypse.

Secondly, and most importantly, there's the fire hazard in the underground city. In such enclosed spaces, a fire could have unimaginable consequences. While Li Xiang's area has many extraordinary individuals, making the situation less of a problem, a fire in another underground city could quickly engulf a large area, and evacuation would be extremely difficult. In a confined space, the smoke and flames alone could kill many people.

The rooms in the third-phase shelter all had cement floors, while the commercial plaza was paved with bluestone slabs. As for the soil in the underground farm, it was all fertile black soil from the Outer Northeast Plain, which Li Xiang had transported from the warehouse.

The Outer Northeast Plain is located in Amur Oblast, across the Heilongjiang River. It covers an area of ​​over 20 square kilometers. It is located at a slightly higher latitude and has a slightly lower accumulated temperature. Like the Northeast Plain in China, the land is exceptionally fertile.

However, due to the sparse population and lack of sufficient labor, market demand is low, resulting in a smaller arable land area and lower level of development compared to the Northeast Plain in China. Currently, a large amount of land in this region remains undeveloped.

With such fertile land lying idle, Li Xiang didn't hold back and transferred all the fertile soil to the underground farm.

Because the excavated mountainside in Lijia Village is mostly rock, although there is some soil, the soil underneath lacks organic matter and is relatively barren, making it unsuitable for crop growth.

If you're going to use it, use the best soil.

In addition, the Ukrainian plains of Ukraine, the Mississippi plains of the United States, and the Pampas grasslands of Argentina to Uruguay in South America are all fertile black soils, with the Pampas grasslands being subtropical reddish black soils.

Black soil does not refer to soil that is black in color, but rather to soil with a high humus content, the black color of which comes from the humus.

Online, some people sell this kind of soil for a few dollars for ten kilograms, with free shipping. But in reality, this black soil resource is limited. It takes a considerable amount of time to form.

With the soil ready, the underground farm began to take shape. Zhao Xueqing led some villagers to start working on the farm. For the time being, it was not a large-scale planting operation, but rather several experimental fields were set up to test some special species.

Plants need light to perform photosynthesis, and modern agriculture already has mature solutions for this. Li Xiang purchased a batch of plant light cultivation boxes for breeding. After the conditions are stabilized, he will then install lighting, irrigation, heating, and humidification systems on a large scale in the underground farm.

With Jiang Cai'er around, everything is naturally managed automatically.

Another need is to cultivate insects, such as butterflies and bees, to pollinate crops. If all else fails, artificial pollination is being explored.

Of course, while full automation is possible, manual intervention can still be used if necessary, such as when assigning jobs to people.

Due to heavy snow blocking the mountains and making the roads difficult to travel, for safety reasons, Li Xiang personally took charge and built five tunnels, the kind that can be driven, starting from the underground city of Lijia Village. These tunnels lead to Shenjiawan (the maternal grandparents' home), Yaojialing (Yao Yao's home), Zhaojiaping (Zhao Xueqing's home), Leijiagou (the home of the Lei siblings and some security guards), and the county town.

Li Xiang's actions are swift and effective, making it much more convenient for everyone, whether they're coming to work or shopping in the county town.

Construction sites also use underground passages leading to the county town to transport goods.

Many villagers, including residents of the county town, felt that their homes were too cold and that turning on the air conditioner or floor heating would consume too much electricity. So they would hide in the tunnels dug by Li Xiang, warm themselves by the roadside, and brew tea around the stove.

Underground tunnels are warm in winter and cool in summer.

There's one downside: it can obstruct traffic.

After learning about this, Li Xiang modified the tunnel again, selecting a densely populated area and extending some space from both sides of the road to design an "air-raid shelter." Inside, he also used crystal gold to assemble many stone tables, stone chairs, and iron stoves.

Because stone furnaces are prone to cracking, iron furnaces are more suitable. He collected a considerable amount of open-pit iron ore from Australia, but it was only a drop in the ocean for smelting a few furnaces.

Then some security guards were sent to maintain order in these gathering places. This attracted a lot of people to set up stalls and do business, and the underground commercial plaza opened for business ahead of schedule.

There was nothing they could do; even heavy snow couldn't stop the hardworking Chinese people's desire to make money.

As for the fourth phase of the shelter, it is still under construction, but it will be completed soon. The plan for the fifth phase has been finalized and construction will begin soon.

Li Xiang stepped in and helped excavate the underground space, saving the construction company a lot of trouble. Once the various shelters are connected, they will form a vast underground city.

The areas between the various shelters will later be used to build commercial centers, supply warehouses, underground farms, and so on.

As for the underground city's power system, that problem has already been solved.

Li Xiang created a space deeper underground and released two advanced nuclear-powered aircraft carriers from the Great Beautiful Country. Jiang Cai'er hacked into all the electronic components on the carriers and tampered with the control system permissions. The underground city's power was drawn from the aircraft carriers.

At the same time, Jiang Cai'er also referenced and learned from the design concept of nuclear reactors to improve her own new type of nuclear reactor, which can be upgraded and replaced when it is successfully developed in the future.

Previously, some destroyers and frigates were also looted. Jiang Cai'er also invaded these warships, gained control of them, and buried them on several other hilltops. The radar, naval guns, and vertical launch units on them can all be used to defend the base.

No one needs to operate it; Jiang Cai'er can handle everything by herself.

(End of this chapter)