Chapter 103: Chapter 102: The World Changed Overnight

"Wait, hold on. A brutal, freezing winter?"

Lin Chen latched onto that keyword.

The average winter temperature in Alaska was below negative twenty degrees Celsius. Compared to the winters he remembered, it was fair to call it brutal.

But winter in Toronto was about the same. During the coldest spells, the wind chill could even make it feel like negative forty.

He still remembered seeing the weather forecast back then and thinking he would freeze to death if he went outside. But when he actually went out, it wasn’t so bad.

Dressed in thermal underwear, a sweater, and a shell jacket, he could still go out just fine. The only part of him that felt the cold was his face; the wind was so sharp it felt like a knife slicing at his skin. Other than that, it was hard to believe it was actually negative forty degrees.

’Could Alaska be the same?’

’Or would the winter here feel even colder?’

The winters in the north were completely different from the winters in the south. One was a physical attack, the other a magical attack.

You could handle the physical attack with proper cold-proof and wind-proof gear, but the magical attack had built-in armor penetration and resistance-debuffing effects; it would seep through no matter how many layers you wore.

It was the same principle as someone from Africa getting a sunburn in the south of Great Xia. Someone from a southern climate might actually be more resistant to the cold in the north.

He couldn’t take that gamble. He couldn’t afford to.

’I don’t have enough firewood. I need more! Once the snow starts, the stove will probably need to run twenty-four hours a day.’

Under the scorching heat, the clay surface of the heated bed gradually dried out, its color lightening in many places.

’Looks like there aren’t any problems. I’ll just let it dry on its own. The smoke isn’t hot enough to cause any accidents.’

Lin Chen’s construction of the clay-heated bed over the past few days had been seen by all, and the novel design sparked a heated discussion among the viewers online.

The architectural and civil engineering students, in particular, were practically typing their keyboards to pieces.

"This is amazing! Damn, such a simple and practical heated bed. Why haven’t contestants on all those other survival shows used this before?"

"It doesn’t use a direct fire source. Instead, it channels the smoke from the stove into the hollow base of the clay bed, with a flue on the other side. It uses the temperature difference to create airflow, making full use of the smoke’s heat while eliminating the danger. The design is absolutely brilliant!"

"Isn’t this just a simplified ’kang’? They’re everywhere in northern Great Xia. My family’s been sleeping on these for generations. What’s all the fuss about?"

"You’ve got a point. The foreign contestants might be better at hunting and wilderness survival, but when it comes to construction, they really can’t compare to us."

"Just this one clay bed, once it’s dry, you put a layer of wooden planks on top to buffer the heat. It’ll be toasty all winter, even without a sleeping bag. If it’s not warm enough, just take the planks off. It’s absolutely perfect."

While a lively debate was unfolding in the chat of Lin Chen’s livestream, the production crew members watching behind the scenes had already quietly sprung into action.

Although they had all sorts of gear the contestants couldn’t use, they had always spent past winters huddled around a fire to get by.

They couldn’t have a fire indoors at night, and relying on sleeping bags alone was truly miserable.

They had already mentally prepared themselves to endure another freezing winter, but after seeing the new contraption Lin Chen had cobbled together over the past two days, along with the amazed reactions from the livestream audience, Daniel immediately realized they were onto something good.

Except for the four of them who had to be on standby at all times, the rest of the staff grabbed buckets and headed for the riverbank. Two others began chopping down nearby trees. The atmosphere around the cabin instantly became a hive of activity.

...

「Day Thirty-One」

Lin Chen sat up in his warm sleeping bag and gave a long, luxurious stretch.

"Haaaah~"

’I haven’t slept this comfortably in a long time.’

After drying for a full day, the heated clay bed’s insulation was even better than he had imagined. Even through a layer of fir needles and moss, waves of warmth still radiated upward.

He had originally wanted to try sleeping without his sleeping bag, but after careful consideration, he abandoned the risky idea.

If a heavy snow started to fall while he was asleep and the temperature plummeted, he would be totally screwed.

He had intentionally left a bucket of water indoors. He scooped up a handful and splashed it on his face.

The icy chill instantly woke him up. A few errant drops of water even trickled down his chin and into his collar.

’Today’s the scheduled supply drop. I hope that guy Robert doesn’t bring me the wrong seasonings again, does he?’

He was a little worried. It had happened more than once before, and since then, he hadn’t dared to ask his foreign friends to pick things up for him from the supermarket.

’Strange. I’m usually woken up by the sound of the helicopter’s engine. Why haven’t they come yet? Did they go to unload supplies first?’

That was a definite possibility. Juno, the capital of Alaska, was several hours away. A helicopter alone wouldn’t be enough; the production team probably had to truck the supplies to a nearby location and then use the helicopter for the final delivery.

The helicopter had a limited capacity, so who knew how many trips it would take before it was his turn.

’That guy Andre probably won’t come over until he hears the helicopter, right?’

With that in mind, he placed his left foot on an open-riser step, grabbed the edge of the second-floor landing, and pulled himself up.

The moment his hand touched the floorboards, a bone-chilling cold shot through him, followed by a wet, slippery sensation.

Before he could even react, his vision was filled with an expanse of white.

The entire area around the second-floor railing was completely covered in snow. Fine, powdery snow, blown by the cold wind, had already piled up near the top of the stairs.

Lin Chen sat stunned on the floor by the opening, his gaze traveling over the railing—now nearly half-buried in snow—and out into the distance.

The familiar world had vanished, replaced by a kingdom of ice and snow, draped in a thick blanket of white!

"It’s... it’s snowing?"

Now that the situation he had been worrying about had become a reality, Lin Chen didn’t feel the slightest bit of tension or urgency. Instead, he let out a long sigh of relief.

’It’s good that it’s snowing. It’s really good!’

Winter in the Alaskan region lasted for more than six months. Once it started snowing, the snow would almost never stop—or rather, it would never melt.

This meant he now had a virtually inexhaustible source of water and would no longer have to go through the trouble of hauling it all the way back from the distant river.

’Huh, I feel like I’ve forgotten something... what is it...’

He leaned quietly against the wooden railing, staring at the falling snowflakes and murmuring to himself.

’Water source, riverbank... river... wait a minute, damn it!’

’My gill net!!!’

He slapped his thigh, finally remembering what it was he had forgotten.

The gill net he had set three days ago!

He had never used a fishing net before and had completely forgotten about it.

’I hope the river hasn’t frozen too badly, or my gill net is going to be a huge problem.’

At that thought, he could no longer sit still. He hurried down to the first floor to grab his weapons and tools.

But when he opened the door, he ran into a problem.

Thick snow had piled up so high in the yard that there was almost nowhere to step. Judging from the level at the threshold, the snow was already about thirty centimeters deep—roughly the height of two iPhones stacked together.

’If this snow keeps up, it’ll be up to my knees by tomorrow.’