Chapter 319: The Great Cold Snap

That night, the sky was freezing and the earth was locked in ice; the Tianmayu camp's population had doubled, adding nearly thirty more people, forcing them to assign two people per boiler and add extra patrols.

Several chimneys in the camp belched smoke into the night, the heating furnaces burning zombie corpses and firewood fiercely, hot water surging repeatedly through the pipes to provide cozy warmth to everyone in the camp.

The night passed quickly; the next day was cloudless and windless, yet the cold remained just as severe.

Zhang Su woke up, and the first thing he did upon opening his eyes was check his energy gauge.

He first focused on the backup energy slot—delighted to see the first bar was full, and the second was already at over eighty percent, meaning the backup energy slot had recovered 150% overnight.

This speed eased his mind greatly; if sleep could restore energy this fast, the cooldown period was essentially one day—completely acceptable.

But when he shifted his attention to his own energy slot, he immediately frowned.

Before sleeping, he clearly remembered it was at 89%; now, after waking, it was 93%—so he'd only recovered 4% after a full night's sleep?

Zhang Su was baffled: he hadn't done any strenuous activity before bed, hadn't had any terrifying nightmares, and had slept comfortably under a warm blanket—how could his body's energy have recovered only 4%?

Impossible to understand…

As he thought while packing, something even more incomprehensible came.

"Last night, Xiao Xue measured the temperature and found that after the first sharp drop, it didn't stabilize—it kept slowly dropping. The overnight low reached minus thirty degrees, surpassing Qincheng's historical record."

Zhong Xiaoshanyi walked in from outside, bringing a thick chill with her, speaking gravely: "These clothes aren't enough—you need a real hat…"

She reached into the wardrobe and pulled out a thick cotton cap, handing it to Zhang Su.

Minus thirty degrees wasn't much in northeastern China, where temperatures could hit minus fifty, but for Qincheng, it was an extreme cold disaster—the houses had never been designed for such lows, and their insulation would now start failing.

With many facilities now paralyzed, human survival was being tested even further!

The only silver lining was that it was dry cold—no snow—if it had snowed, the situation would have been ten times worse…

They didn't know: it wasn't just Qincheng that was this cold. The entire planet was undergoing the same climate shift—under this extreme weather wave, besides the already frigid North and South Poles, every other region had entered a rapid-freeze mode…

People in high-latitude areas accustomed to cold fared better—though hardship increased, they weren't likely to die from it. But those from regions where temperatures normally stayed above zero, including tropical zones, lacked even basic knowledge of surviving cold—and many in this freeze wave were permanently frozen in place.

Comfortable camps like Tianmayu weren't nonexistent—but globally, they were exceedingly rare. If more survivors learned that just twenty kilometers north of Qincheng lay such a safe camp, many would risk everything to come and investigate.

"This damn weather."

Zhang Su frowned, unable to comprehend what had happened to this world. Just as they'd begun to make progress against the zombie threat, a cold wave followed—like some force feared humans might enjoy a few good days, and pushed them relentlessly toward death.

"Husband, I think… we need to haul back more zombie corpses from the Qinglong Battalion!"

Zheng Xinyu was also dressing; she was going out to work again today.

"Yes!" Zhang Su nodded seriously: "Absolutely necessary!"

The camp's primary heating fuel was zombie corpses. Previously, with milder temperatures, one furnace burned one corpse per night, plus maybe ten more pounds of coal—sufficient. But with this record-breaking cold, heat loss in the pipes surged drastically; they'd need to ramp up the fire—likely burning two corpses per furnace per night.

Once energy ran short, cold would kill faster than hunger. In ancient winters, how many people went to sleep and never woke up? At minus thirty degrees, "freezing to death" was no longer just a complaint—it was reality.

Tianmayu's zombie corpse stockpile wasn't large, but the barracks had piles upon piles—only their transport capacity was lacking.

"All vehicles deploy today. Let's go eat first!"

Zhang Su decided: today, besides retrieving the remaining weapons and food from the barracks, they'd haul back as many zombie corpses as possible—each was precious fuel, burning longer than coal by equal weight.

The small fortune restaurant could no longer accommodate everyone for meals; since relocation to other villages was imminent, there was no need to build a new dining hall. The newcomers from yesterday waited quietly for their second meal—no complaints, yet many felt uneasy about eating without working.

"Everyone."

Zhang Su didn't leave after eating. When the second group entered the dining hall, he spoke loudly. Seeing all eyes turn to him, he continued: "Do you know why the Qinglong Battalion attracted a hundred-thousand-strong zombie horde?"

???

A strange question—everyone fell into thought. Most followed Zhang Su's line of reasoning, while Ma Changshou, Pan Guoliang, and others felt a jolt—could the architect of this event be the man speaking?

"Because…"

"Because zombies can sense humans."

Zhang Su was about to announce the answer, but Xie Yan also spoke—he smiled, gesturing: "Mr. Xie, please go ahead."

"Then I'll risk embarrassment…"

Xie Yan, whose blurred figure Zhang Su could just make out, nodded apologetically, then stood: "Zombies appear to have evolved the ability to sense human magnetic fields. Everyone knows zombies slowly gather; once they reach a certain scale, this sensing ability triggers, causing them to move toward survivor camps and draw in zombies along the way."

"We conducted many experiments and luckily determined the critical threshold: one hundred and one. You may wonder about this number—we did too. We analyzed extensively, but ultimately only learned it's an ordinary prime number. The only oddity? It's the first three-digit prime. That's all."

"When the zombie count hits one hundred and one, sensing triggers—but not always immediately. The fastest case triggered in under half a day; the slowest took over ten days—until the horde arrived, no trigger occurred. There must still be secrets we haven't uncovered!"

Xie Yan spoke calmly.

Most present were utterly bewildered; many didn't even know what a prime number was—but they listened, feeling impressed.

Zhang Su listened intently. He hadn't expected the Qinglong Battalion's science team had researched so deeply. Though knowing the threshold didn't change anything, it was still valuable understanding…

"What about human numbers? Mr. Xie, how many people must gather to attract zombies? Any data?"

"I'm sorry… we tested up to twenty people and never triggered attraction. We stopped human experiments because we deduced the phenomenon operates on a macro scale, requiring long periods to form—not something immediate. The only definite conclusion: human population size correlates positively with the scale of attracted zombie hordes."

"That's all I have to say."

Xie Yan concluded formally, then sat down—as if speaking at an academic symposium.

After hearing Xie Yan, everyone exchanged glances—especially the villagers from Xida Camp. Most had never considered this issue; a few had noticed something odd but couldn't make sense of it. Hearing such a structured summary, they were astonished.

No one spoke. Everyone remained reserved, sensing Zhang Su hadn't finished.

"I have a question."

Zhang Su frowned: "If human numbers yielded no conclusion, how did you determine the trigger occurs at one hundred and one zombies?"

"Oh, right—I forgot to mention!" Xie Yan stood again: "We used a sealed experimental environment. Below one hundred and one, zombies were scattered and didn't form groups. But when we introduced the one hundred and first zombie into the warehouse, the horde changed—they began clustering, entering a sensing and waiting phase—you could call it collective sensing. Once sensing ended, they moved in one direction!"

"We thought the horde would head toward the barracks' most densely populated dormitory. But after observation, we found no pattern. We tested further—still couldn't attract them. I mean, using special magnetic fields, not sound. Please don't misunderstand. That's all."

Xie Yan sat back down, impeccably composed.

"So that's how it is."

Zhang Su nodded thoughtfully, then said: "Mr. Xie's research aligns with our attraction theory—the more people, the larger the horde attracted. Originally, I planned to relocate some people to Madian Village after spring thaw. But with Tianmayu now overcrowded, I'm accelerating the satellite village plan!"

After learning that more people attracted larger hordes, everyone nodded in agreement with Zhang Su's plan.

Zhang Su pointed at Ma Changshou: "Village Chief Ma, today…"

"No village chief! Boss Zhang, just call me Lao Ma—it's an honor. Village chief? I couldn't dare!"

Ma Changshou bluntly interrupted Zhang Su—but his tone won immediate goodwill.

(End of Chapter)