Chapter 279: Major Temperature Drop

"Alright, let's do it this way. Everyone, get some rest now."

As dawn broke, after the meeting concluded, Lei Youliang dismissed the group and trudged back to his quarters, his body weary.

"Phew, it's so cold..."

"Lei Youliang, when can you bring Xiao Ya back?"

No sooner had he opened the door than a woman's cold voice rang out; a shadow stood beside the wall in the dimness, as if waiting for a long time.

"Lei Lei? You scared me half to death. You just finished your shift?"

Lei Youliang paused briefly, then smiled and invited, "Come on, let's go inside—it's too cold out here!"

"I'm asking you again—when can you bring my sister back?"

Su Lei pressed forward, unyielding, but showed no intention of entering the room.

"Can I come too? Fine, you've got a deal—we'll go together!"

The first thing he did upon opening his eyes was check the remaining number of the Green Dragon Battalion—after one night, he discovered their population had dropped to forty-five.

He had planned to seize this perfect opportunity to expand Tianma Island's population, but fate turned against him—he knew he lacked the strength to rescue the Green Dragon Battalion from among ten thousand zombies.

Zhang Su slipped on slippers and walked to the window, cracking it open to feel the air—the extreme cold instantly raised goosebumps on his arms.

Hours later, the sun rose as promised, yet brought no warmth.

"Damn, this is a massive temperature drop!"

Creak!

"So cold?"

"My god, it's freezing!"

"Alright, bye. You'll see Xiao Ya tomorrow—don't worry."

Lei Youliang stepped forward, grabbed Su Lei's arm, and said, "Don't be upset. Sending Xiao Ya undercover was just to give you two sisters proper benefits. Come inside, sit down."

Zhang Su rubbed his eyes drowsily—he'd been dragged into a long chat by Fu Weijun last night, then lay awake thinking about the Green Dragon Battalion until two or three in the morning; his energy was low.

Convincing the surviving members of the Green Dragon Battalion was no longer difficult for him—but this number left him uneasy...

Lei Youliang kissed Su Lei on the cheek, watched her retreating figure, and smiled a smile hard to describe.

In the dim light, Lei Youliang's eyes flickered, his tone softening: "Soon—tomorrow. We'll bring Xiao Ya back tomorrow. If you're so worried, why not come with us to pick her up?"

Su Lei frowned, shook off his hand, and said, "Stop trying to take advantage. We'll talk after Xiao Ya returns—that was the agreement. I'm going back to rest."

Zheng Xinyu quickly closed the window; inside, the heating kept the temperature above fifteen degrees, comfortable—unaware that the outside air was growing colder.

Zhang Su shut the window quickly, startled.

In a guest room at Tianma Island, Zheng Xinyu, freshly dressed, walked to the windowsill as usual, opened the window, and was met by a gust of cold wind—she sneezed, her nose red and tingling.

Su Lei nodded firmly, then turned to leave.

"Achoo!"

"It's cooling down."

Zhong Xiaoshanjian pushed open the door, wearing a woolen hat and a thick scarf.

She had risen early and checked on several injured patients; with Qiu Nao's assistance, their recovery was swift. Aside from Yang Wenjie, who still suffered psychological trauma despite physical recovery, everyone else had returned to normal.

"I heard Zhao Xue say the temperature dropped suddenly last night—probably a cold front. At two a. ., when she started her shift, it was minus three degrees. By four, when she went to the bathroom, it felt bitterly cold—she checked and it was minus fifteen. Just now, Teacher Yu checked again—it's minus twenty-two."

Zhang Su scrambled back under the covers, pulling on his clothes as he said, "Twenty degrees down in a few hours? Fine—with zombies as the baseline, nothing's strange anymore!"

"Whoa, minus twenty-two? That's nearly a forty-degree difference between indoors and out—awesome! Xiaoshan, is this a new low for Qincheng?"

Zheng Xinyu pulled out the thickest down jacket from her closet, showing no anxiety over the cold.

Zhong Xiaoshanjian shrugged. "Probably about this level."

"Damn, it's so cold the car won't even start!" Zhang Su pulled on his coat and suddenly asked, "By the way, does the temperature drop affect zombies?"

"Huh?"

"Didn't notice..."

Both women froze, not connecting the temperature drop to the zombies.

"You two go on. I'll go check."

Zhang Su was deeply concerned—he still needed to reach the Green Dragon Battalion. If the zombies were frozen solid, he had to act quickly—once the zombie threat disappeared, the survivors would begin to fend for themselves, making them harder to recruit.

Stepping outside, even standing just behind the door in the hallway, he felt the chill bite through—he tightened his down jacket and rubbed his cheeks.

"Mr. Zhang, luckily the camp's supplies are ample—otherwise, this massive temperature drop would've trapped many people inside their rooms!"

Yu Wen was doing morning exercises, wearing a blue down jacket that made him look years younger—perhaps the freezing cold had shrunk his skin. Seeing Zhang Su emerge from Xiao Xingyun, he said cheerfully.

"The cold affects us too much—are the vegetable greenhouses, fish ponds, and pipelines still okay?"

Zhang Su pulled out a cigarette and offered one to Yu Wen as he asked.

"After hearing about the drop last night, Master Jia, Xiao Guo, and Xiao Tan worked until two a. ., inspecting every critical spot—they're ready for the current conditions. I and Wang Longzhong, with some villagers from the United Village, lit stoves in the greenhouses and activated heating for the fish ponds—all small animals are fine."

Yu Wen spoke calmly, then added with concern: "But the reservoir won't hold out much longer—this low temperature won't be prevented by flow alone."

Though Tianma Island was small, with barely forty residents, its projects were numerous—and keeping them running smoothly required attention to countless details.

Yu Wen didn't tell Zhang Su that they'd previously ignored the temperature in the pig and sheep pens—by the time they remembered, the pigs and sheep were huddled together shivering; if they'd waited until morning, they'd be eating meat for weeks.

"The weather's abnormal—keep everyone alert. Do we still have enough zombie fuel?"

Zhang Su watched his comrades, bundled like balls, working, worried about heating.

"Plenty—the zombie corpses fill the firewood shed. By volume, zombies burn better than coal!"

People heating themselves with zombie corpses—this was the new ecology of the post-apocalypse.

"Freezing cold—wonder if zombies are affected. Feel like checking it out?"

Zhang Su extended the invitation.

"My pleasure."

Yu Wen crushed his cigarette butt and followed Zhang Su.

For some time now, Tianma Island had never stopped capturing various zombies—not only bringing back many petrified-skin zombies, but also ordinary ones, including those wandering into camp.

Previously, zombies wandering into camp were killed immediately and used as fuel—but now Fu Weijun needed them for experiments, so they were captured alive and locked with the petrified-skin zombies.

Over fifty zombies of various types were now confined in the temple courtyard.

No one knew which Buddha Tianma Island worshipped or which incense they burned—this temple was just built here by the tourist site to collect offerings.

To avoid wasting manpower to guard the temple courtyard, Liu Tianji moved the ticket booth's camera to a new position, allowing easy monitoring of the courtyard.

It proved that, in a sealed space with no living humans nearby, zombies wouldn't go berserk randomly. Only when new zombies were thrown in did the confined ones react—but once people left for a few minutes, the zombies would fall silent again.

(End of Chapter)