Chapter 140: Drastic Temperature Drop, Blizzard

Chapter 140: Chapter 140: Drastic Temperature Drop, Blizzard

In the dead of night, Seraphina Sullivan was jolted from her sleep by an intense, bone-chilling cold.

It felt like she had been plunged into an ice pit!

"HSSS—What’s going on?! Why is it so cold all of a sudden?!" She shot up in bed, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.

The temperature in the room felt like it had dropped twenty degrees in an instant. Her breath turned into a white mist.

Seraphina Sullivan quickly threw on some thick clothes, turned on the light in confusion, and walked to the window to see what was happening outside.

However, when she saw the scene outside her window, she froze solid.

Her pupils contracted in shock.

Outside, the muddy, chaotic world left behind by the torrential rain was gone. In its place was a dead silent, boundless expanse of pure white!

Huge snowflakes poured madly from the pitch-black night sky, and in just a short amount of time, had already blanketed everything under a thick layer of snow.

The outlines of distant buildings grew blurry, and the entire world plunged into an eerie, frozen silence.

After the downpour and a brief sunny spell, the weather had plunged directly into a deadly, extreme blizzard!

"What... what on earth is happening?!" A strong sense of unease washed over Seraphina as she stared out at the frozen world.

This snow had come too suddenly, too unnaturally, as if it were a harbinger of an even greater disaster.

Seraphina was far from the only one awakened by the bone-chilling cold.

More and more people were waking up in alarm, horrified to find their homes abnormally cold.

What was even more terrifying was that many of the elderly, children, and even some adults with weaker constitutions were falling ill from the sudden, extreme cold. They developed high fevers that wouldn’t break, and some even lapsed into comas!

Although they lived in the north and were used to having heating in the winter, it was nowhere near the time of year for the official city-wide heating to be turned on.

This terrifying and sudden temperature drop was unbearable for residents without the protection of heating. The cold walls and air mercilessly sapped them of their warmth.

"HSSS—This damn weather! How did it get so cold all of a sudden?! We’re gonna freeze to death!" Countless families shivered in the darkness, rummaging through their belongings for any clothing that could offer warmth.

But even that was not enough to ward off the all-pervading chill.

Seraphina’s heart grew heavy as she watched the frost quickly form and thicken on the windowpane.

Clearly, the temperature hadn’t hit its low point yet; it was still dropping, and fast!

She didn’t dare to delay.

She immediately rummaged through the Space of her [Scavenger’s Farm] and pulled out a batch of thermal gear she had previously crafted with special materials using her [Tailor] Profession.

[Heating Vest and Pants]!

The special Effect of this clothing allowed it to continuously emit a gentle warmth, making it a powerful tool for dealing with extreme environments.

She quickly put on one set and immediately tossed another to Sean Chandler.

After they both put on the special thermal clothing, their nearly-frozen bodies quickly warmed up, and they finally recovered from the deadly cold.

"Whew... I’m alive..." Seraphina let out a long breath, but her brow remained furrowed.

"The country just barely managed to solve the downpours and floods by using the ’Child of Weather,’ and now, not even that long after, a new and even more troublesome problem has appeared... Is this apocalyptic era on Azure Star really not going to give anyone a chance to survive?"

"I wonder if the Child of Weather has any Effect on this sudden drop in temperature."

Seraphina didn’t know that the situation in Arkadia, where she lived, was already considered relatively "good."

In many other countries and regions around the world, the problem of torrential rain had yet to be resolved, and floods were still raging.

Now, with the sudden onset of extreme cold, the frigid rainwater froze instantly upon contact with any surface, forming something even more terrifying and deadly: freezing rain!

Trees, power lines, roads, vehicles... everything was encased in a thick, smooth, and heavy layer of ice.

Power outages, complete traffic paralysis, buildings collapsing under the unbearable weight of the ice... The casualties were far more severe than in Arkadia!

A true global ice age crisis seemed to be cruelly raising its curtain.

At first, Seraphina held on to a sliver of hope, thinking the government would once again send out the "Child of Weather" to solve this deadly temperature drop, just as they had to dispel the torrential rains.

However, Seraphina quickly realized she had overestimated that Player’s Ability.

The government also issued a statement, explaining that they could not resolve the severe temperature drop anytime soon.

Clearly, even an individual’s Power, no matter how special, had its limits.

Stopping a nationwide downpour was likely the absolute limit of the "Child of Weather’s" Ability, and may have even come at a great cost.

Faced with this kind of sweeping, global, and more profound climate shift, she was now clearly powerless.

This sudden, severe cold was something everyone had to endure on their own.

Seraphina herself was lucky; she had the [Heating Vest and Pants] made by her [Tailor] Profession to keep her warm.

Even without them, she could use her [Scorching Hand] Skill for warmth, so her survival was not an issue.

’Sigh... I wonder how everyone else is going to get through this,’ she mused, gazing at the snow-white world outside.

’The power grid must have collapsed by now. Even if people have space heaters or electric blankets, they’re useless. Fuel is probably in extremely short supply, too...’

Although she had these thoughts, Seraphina would never be foolish enough to tell anyone she wasn’t afraid of the cold.

In a time of such extreme scarcity, revealing her special abilities would be like painting a target on her back.

She held out her hands and, with a flicker of thought, quietly activated her [Scorching Hand] Skill.

A gentle, continuous warmth radiated from her palms, quickly dispelling the chill in the small area around her.

This Skill, originally meant for combat, had been cleverly repurposed by Seraphina for fermenting dough, starting fires for cooking, and now, for providing warmth.

She picked up her phone, wanting to check on the situation.

As expected, the community group chat and local news feeds were already being flooded with messages of anguish and despair.

[I can’t take it anymore, it’s so cold! I feel like I’m going to freeze to death! I’ve piled on all the blankets, but I’m still shivering!]

[Does anyone have any extra thick blankets? I’m willing to trade food for them! I really can’t take this anymore!]

[My kid has a fever and won’t stop crying, what do I do?! We’re out of medicine too!]

[The power is completely out! My phone is about to die too! How are we supposed to live like this?!]

[Where’s the government? The government needs to do something! A lot of people are going to die if this keeps up!]

[The snow outside is almost thigh-deep! There’s no way to get out!]

Every line was filled with a cold and desperate Aura.

For people who had just endured raging floods and were already facing shortages, this extreme cold snap was more than just adding insult to injury—it was a fatal blow.

Seraphina watched in silence, the sense of crisis in her heart growing heavier.

She knew that when survival itself was directly threatened, the darker side of human nature often revealed itself all the more quickly.

The days ahead would likely be even harder to endure than what had come before.

Seraphina read the messages, fell silent for a moment, and then put her phone aside.

There was little she could do for them. For now, the most important thing was ensuring she herself made it through this crisis safely.