Chapter 54: Natural Disaster with Increased Difficulty

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Natural Disaster with Increased Difficulty

Late at night, most players went to sleep after checking their reserves.

Having survived the extreme heat disaster, the players understood that the beginning of a disaster was the best time to rest and recharge. At this stage, they didn’t need to consume any resources. They could simply rely on the sleep they naturally needed to get themselves into optimal condition, better preparing them to face the disaster ahead.

Many players went straight to sleep wearing their temperature-regulating suits.

After all, during the extreme heat disaster, the temperature had increased by one degree every hour. If the extreme cold disaster decreased the temperature by one degree per hour, it would only be a few degrees above freezing by the time they woke up in the morning. If they caught a cold in the middle of the night, the loss would far outweigh the gain!

Compared to the previous extreme heat disaster, the players were able to sleep peacefully this time.

As for Rowan Rhodes, she had already prepared her Equipment, ready to be listed precisely at 7 a.m. tomorrow. Of course, before going to sleep, she placed a piece of temperature control equipment in her own room, and similarly, she placed one in the Seagull Family’s room.

Rowan had divided the living quarters on the third floor into two rooms. One was for Father Gull and Mother Gull, and the other was for Seabird One, Seabird Two, and Seabird Three.

Seeing Rowan arrive, Seabird One happily sidled up to her.

"It’s going to snow tomorrow, so I prepared some temperature control equipment for you all. It’s an upgraded electric version," Rowan explained in a gentle tone as she rubbed Seabird One’s head.

Listening to her, Seabird One rubbed affectionately against Rowan. It felt that its master was truly too kind.

Seabird Two and Seabird Three saw this and also came over to nuzzle against her.

Rowan pet them one by one before finally taking her leave. "Alright! Good night."

Following the stairs back to her own room, Rowan slowly drifted off to sleep while feeling the warmth of the space.

In the dead of night, as time ticked by, the temperature above the sea surface grew colder and colder. Before anyone realized, rain began to fall from the sky. With the arrival of the rain, the Speed at which the temperature dropped became even faster.

By 6 a.m., the rain had long since turned into snow. Many people were awakened by the cold.

"Holy crap, it’s snowing!"

"The temperature dropped to 1 degree, so isn’t it perfectly normal for it to snow!"

"It’s not dropping by 1 degree per hour, but 1.5 degrees."

"Damn it! The difficulty of the second disaster is already this intense."

"Who knows what the third disaster will be."

"Let’s figure out how to survive the extreme cold first!"

"The bug-skin clothes have a bit of a temperature-regulating Effect, but the dropping Speed is so fast!"

"I’m freezing to death! I’ve already brought a campfire into my room. Now that it’s burning, I feel a bit less cold."

"God! It’s already this cold at 1 degree, and there are still three days left. How are we going to survive this!"

"Exactly. I thought I had prepared enough, but looking at it now, it’s not nearly enough."

"I’m a little worried that the sea will freeze over."

"The sea freezing over? That’s impossible, right?"

"Why would it be impossible! During the extreme heat disaster, didn’t the seawater boil?"

"..."

The originally confident players immediately suffered a blow from reality after a night’s rest. Even with preparations, when the disaster truly struck, they still felt lost and terrified about the days to come.

"Celia Lynch: Everyone, hurry up and hook resources while the sea hasn’t frozen yet! If it really freezes later, the resources might get trapped in the ice."

"Holy crap, I almost forgot about that."

"If things really freeze over later, won’t we have no way to replenish our resources?"

"I thought it would be the same difficulty as the extreme heat disaster."

"I feel like a lot of people are going to die again!"

"Top players, please hurry up and produce warm Equipment and warm food!"

"Right, everyone needs to get ready and fish for resources. Don’t end up unable to afford the Equipment when it’s finally available."

"Will the Sea Survival Shop be supplying large quantities in the next few days?"

"I don’t know! So far, the quantities have been very small. It makes me panic."

"My biggest fear right now is having resources but nowhere to spend them."

"..."

Realizing the severity of the situation, many players stopped wailing in the world channel and joined in on salvaging supplies early in the morning.

By the time Rowan woke up, the messages in the world channel were refreshing very slowly. Reading the messages, she stepped outside.

Leaving the range of the temperature control equipment, Rowan immediately felt the chill. However, because her raft was currently in a sealed state, the temperature was still bearable.

She went straight to the planting area by the door and harvested the potatoes, sweet potatoes, and Watermelons. During the harvest, she didn’t forget to use her C-level Collection Skill. With the Skill’s boost, all yields were directly multiplied by five. After harvesting, Rowan replanted the seeds and placed a piece of temperature control equipment in this space.

Next, she went to the planting area on the first floor and repeated the same process.

Finally, she arrived on the third floor. A layer of white frost had already formed on the floorboards. The trees and vegetables she had planted last night had successfully borne fruit.

After Rowan finished her Collection, a window popped up.

[The current temperature is too low and may affect crop growth. Please provide warmth for the crops.]

Looking at the window, Rowan placed temperature control equipment in both planting areas on this floor as well. However, she didn’t turn the entire third floor into a sealed cabin like she did on the first floor, because after this harvest, she had directly replanted the third-floor planting areas with potatoes and sweet potatoes.

After all, these two crops possessed natural cold-resistant properties. With the added boost from the temperature control equipment, it was enough for them to survive the extreme cold weather. As for the harvested potatoes and sweet potatoes, she planned to have Skye Schuyler process them into cold-resistant food.

While Rowan was busy, the Seagull Family had also woken up. When they came out of their room and felt the chill on the floor, they couldn’t help but shake their legs before hopping right back inside. They found it absolutely freezing.

Rowan noticed their actions and smiled instinctively.

"If you want to move around, go stay on the first floor!" she suggested straightforwardly.

She had placed several temperature control devices on the first floor precisely to maintain a comfortable temperature at all times. When she was first reborn, she had needed to tough it out. But after these past few days of accumulation, she no longer needed to shortchange herself materially. Compared to the other players, she had already entered the next stage, especially when coupled with the protective power of the raft.

With a few SQUAWKs, the Seagull Family flew from the third floor down to the first floor. They were well aware that this kind of special weather was best suited for huddling in one place without moving. They decided to wait until this period passed before helping Rowan search for islands and sunken ships on the seabed.

Watching the seagulls fly away, Rowan made her way to the pasture she had built.

The pasture was divided into three compartments: one for the Pet Egg, one for the hen, and one for the goat. They each had their own little shed. Yesterday, when they were in the pasture, they had been pacing back and forth in their respective territories. But right now, they were huddled motionless inside their sheds.

Rowan checked the status of all three.

[Pet Egg: Currently in an incubation state. Cold weather will affect its incubation process.]

[Hen: So cold. Doesn’t want to lay eggs anymore.]

[Goat: So cold. Doesn’t want to shed wool or produce milk anymore.]

Reading this, Rowan couldn’t help but pause. She wondered, "Is this a... threat?"

The next moment, Rowan took out three pieces of temperature control equipment and placed them in their sheds. The moment they were placed, the status of the Pet Egg, hen, and goat immediately changed. With that, Rowan finally felt at ease.

Having completed her rounds, the entire raft was practically covered in temperature control equipment. Checking the current temperature of the raft again, it had directly jumped from 1 degree to 10 degrees. This was the overall average temperature of the raft.

Seeing that the temperature control equipment was working, Rowan thought, "Just as I expected."

During the extreme heat disaster, she had planted trees and Grassland to lower the temperature, and now she had directly applied the same method to the raft. This method was probably something only she could afford to pull off.

By the time Rowan returned to the first floor, it was approaching 7 a.m. Her Sea Survival Shop was about to list today’s batch of Equipment.