Chapter 89
The sudden drop in temperature caught Xia Weishuang off guard. She rubbed her cold hands and feet and got up.
She turned on the flashlight and saw a layer of mist on the glass window. Sang Lu’s tentacles were still hanging on the ceiling and walls, and her quiet state indicated that she had not woken up.
Xia Weishuang dragged another quilt from the cabinet. Two layers stacked together should be warm enough. Unfortunately, the air conditioner could not be turned on now, and the electric blanket could not be used. She could only rely on her own body heat.
Xia Weishuang got back into bed and continued to sleep, but suddenly she opened her eyes again.
Crap, the vegetables on the rooftop!
Xia Weishuang quickly lifted the quilt and fumbled in the dark to put on more clothes.
The weather during the day was normal, not cold and not hot. Xia Weishuang’s clothes were all single-layered. There was no choice but to wear two more layers.
She went out with a flashlight and unceremoniously woke up Wei Yunlang, who was frozen in a ball. Mi Lele, like Xia Weishuang, had also been woken up by the cold.
They put on their clothes and went to call Bai Qian. Bai Qian was sleeping much more comfortably than them. It was cold, but she had a cat!
Fluffy, soft, and warm, it was like a small stove surrounding Bai Qian. Coal Ball had even turned bigger and had circled its owner in its arms, letting Bai Qian sleep warmly.
When Xia Weishuang pushed the door open, a series of snores could be heard from inside. It was a wonder that Bai Qian could sleep.
“Why is it so cold?” After coming out of the pile of cats, Bai Qian rubbed her arms and realized that something was wrong.
“The temperature has dropped. You should put on more clothes first. Let’s hurry up and move the vegetables on the rooftop down, or they’ll freeze to death.”
“Okay.”
The vegetables were moved back in batches and placed in an empty room. There was a thin layer of frost on the vegetable leaves. Most of these were small seedlings that had not yet grown up. She didn’t know if they would be frozen to death.
The few novices stared at each other, not knowing what to do. The room was only a little better than the outside, and it was still cold.
“Let’s find a way to raise the temperature first.”
So they surrounded the vegetables with newspapers and blankets. Wei Yunlang brought over the simple small stove he usually used to boil water and cook, and fumbled with burning coal.
The chimney of the small stove was very short and straight. Usually, it was directly opened to the window. Besides being a little choking, there was no other problem.
But now it was so cold outside. If they still opened the window, the stove would be useless.
“It’s okay. Let Coal Ball do it.”
Coal Ball stretched out its sharp claws and made a piercing sound on the glass, cutting out a round piece of glass, which was just right for the chimney of the small stove to fit in.
Xia Weishuang was wiping the frost from the vegetable seedlings with a towel. “This should be fine.”
“But it’s so cold,” Mi Lele stamped her feet. “I can’t sleep.”
“It’s simply evil,” Wei Yunlang said. “In previous years, it would never be like this year. The temperature dropped so early, and so severely.”
Xia Weishuang stood up straight and said, “It never rains but it pours. Some years are just full of disasters. No one can say for sure. But Wei Yunlang, didn’t you notice the recent drop in temperature?”
Wei Yunlang gave a wry smile. “I just saw that the weather has been very good these past few days, so I was lazy.”
Being lazy is the happiest thing in the world.
Bai Qian smiled. “Alright, the most important thing now is what we should do. It’s only mid-October, and it’s already this cold. I’m afraid this winter will be very difficult to get through. No heating, no air conditioning, no electric blankets. All the heating methods that require electricity are not an option.”
Wei Yunlang said, “I’ll go and find a proper stove tomorrow during the day. Our ancestors have survived for thousands of years. I don’t believe we’ll freeze to death. Achoo!”
This small stove was just something that Wei Yunlang had modified from an iron barrel. He usually only used it to boil water and cook. This night was destined to be cold. For safety, they could not spend the night in the vegetable growing room.
So they all went back to their respective rooms. Bai Qian had a cat to hug for warmth, and the others could only add more quilts.
After Xia Weishuang returned to her room, she first went to check on Sang Lu. Sang Lu was sleeping very seriously. She didn’t know if she had noticed that the weather had turned cold.
Xia Weishuang reached out to pull her tentacle that was stuck to the window. It was cold to the touch, as if she were touching an ice pop.
She tried to pull it down a little. As soon as she pulled it down, the tentacle stuck back under Sang Lu’s will.
There was no choice. She deserved to be frozen. Xia Weishuang couldn’t be bothered with her anymore. She took a quilt and covered her with it, then shrank into her own quilt and went to sleep.
When the day came and the sun rose, the cold was dispelled a little, but only a little.
“I looked at the indoor thermometer on the first floor. It’s only about ten degrees today. It’s even colder at night,” Wei Yunlang said.
They had already put on their clothes and were about to go out to find a stove, but they didn’t have much hope.
The equipment in the hotel’s boiler room was not suitable and could not be used. And now, most of the people in the city used central heating. Stoves were still used more in the countryside. She didn’t know if they could find one.
Their destination was a hardware store, and at the same time, they were also preparing to find some thick autumn and winter clothes to bring back.
Sang Lu was still sleeping and could not go out with everyone. Xia Weishuang and the others considered for a moment and left Xia Weishuang and Mi Lele to watch the house.
Wei Yunlang and Bai Qian had Coal Ball with them, and their combat power was by no means low. Just as they were about to get in the car and leave, a few newcomers from the annex building ran out, shrinking their shoulders, and asked if they could go with them.
“Okay. You can drive behind us.”
With Xia Weishuang’s ability to predict danger, and with Coal Ball by their side, Wei Yunlang was not afraid of this trip.
But he could not 100% guarantee that this group of people would also be safe. So he said, “Be careful. I won’t sacrifice myself to save you if you’re in danger.”
After they had left, Xia Weishuang took Mi Lele to check the rooms on the 6th floor.
She remembered that there were different types of themed suites on the sixth floor, and one of them was a European-style one with a fireplace. Unfortunately, after checking, she found that the fireplace was just a decoration and could not be used.
“Sister, how about this room?”
“Okay,” Xia Weishuang looked at it and nodded.
Room 612 was under the indoor swimming pool on the 7th floor, and was connected to a small terrace. This was a family suite, with a very large and spacious children’s themed living room.
If the weather was cold and the temperature dropped severely, and the heating facilities were limited, it was best for the few of them to stay in one room to save fuel resources.
Xia Weishuang ran up and down the stairs, extended the water pipe that was connected to the swimming pool, and then cleaned the room with Mi Lele.
This suite had two bedrooms and a living room. Xia Weishuang used an iron wire to thread the curtains to make a bed curtain, and then moved the vertical cabinet over to partition off a small single room. When Wei Yunlang and the others came back, they could go next door and drag over a single bed and put it here.
This was not all. Xia Weishuang continued to go upstairs and move a few thick quilts over. Mi Lele also got a few cat nests and put them in the master bedroom.
Xia Weishuang went to the utility room to get some cleaning tools and thoroughly cleaned 612.
After doing all this, most of the day had already passed.
Xia Weishuang went upstairs to check on the vegetable seedlings and found that some of them were withered, but most of them were fine. She watered them a little, added a few more pieces of coal to the small stove, and began to boil hot water with the stove.
When the water was boiling, Wei Yunlang and his group returned.
Wei Yunlang, Bai Qian, and Coal Ball each brought something up. Coal Ball’s was the largest and heaviest. When Xia Weishuang heard the sound and went to meet them, she asked in astonishment, “This stove, why does it look like…”
“A sweet potato roasting oven,” Wei Yunlang said with a grin. “There’s no choice. We looked in three hardware stores and didn’t see any of those traditional coal stoves. I think this is also pretty good. We can also roast sweet potatoes to eat, so I brought it back!”
On the street, one could occasionally see an old man pushing a large square oven and selling roasted sweet potatoes. The one that Wei Yunlang had brought back was this, with a number of round drawers on it.
“Wait a minute. I’ll modify it. It’ll be just as good.”
They not only brought back the stove and chimney, but also many other things, such as a few boxes of batteries and small battery-powered table lamps, flashlights, as well as radiators and pipes, and even a small solar generator.
The tool cat’s claws were the best sharp weapon. Under Wei Yunlang’s command, Coal Ball made a round hole in the top of the stove and hammered down a circle. It also cut two more round, thick iron plates and iron rings. After a lot of work, Wei Yunlang had modified the top of the sweet potato roasting oven into a stove top that could be used to boil water and put a pot on.
The chimney was hung up and passed through the tightly sealed hole in the glass window, which was just right.
It was already dark now. Xia Weishuang asked, “You brought those radiators back. Are you planning to install heating yourself?”
Wei Yunlang said, “Yes. The place I used to live in had its own heating. It’s just that this stove is a bit difficult to modify.”
“This requires electric welding, right? This probably won’t work.”
“So I’m planning to go out again tomorrow,” Wei Yunlang said. “I’ve got my eye on a gasoline generator. The car was full today and I couldn’t pull it. I’ll go again tomorrow.”
Wei Yunlang was quite enthusiastic about these things, so Xia Weishuang did not pour cold water on him. Anyway, she was not the one who was busy.
“It’s late today. Let’s eat something and rest first. We’ll continue tomorrow.”
They used this sweet potato roasting oven to burn coal for heating. Although the effect was limited, the room was still much warmer than without a stove.
With a flashlight, they went next door and dragged over two single beds. One was placed in the small partitioned room in the living room, and the other was placed in the second bedroom. The master bedroom had a large double bed, and the space was not abundant. The second bedroom was a small single bed, and it could be squeezed in.
Wei Yunlang, as the only male present, was duty-bound to live in the small partitioned room in the living room. Bai Qian, on the other hand, took Coal Ball and Mi Lele to live in the master bedroom. After a while, it was filled with furry things.
Diandian, who was nominally Xia Weishuang’s pet, could finally sleep with its owner in peace. Because that terrifying monster was still sleeping upstairs and had not come down.
Unfortunately, she had only slept for a little while when Diandian’s fur stood on end, and it weakly and pitifully drilled into the depths of the quilt.
Xia Weishuang was getting colder and colder as she slept. She was covered with two layers of quilts, but she was still woken up by the cold.
She rubbed her arms, thinking that the temperature had dropped again. But this time, she rubbed against something soft, cold, and icy.
Xia Weishuang shivered and subconsciously pulled out the knife that was pressed under her pillow and stabbed back with a backhand.
With a clang, the knife seemed to have stabbed something hard, and it was tightly entangled. Xia Weishuang pulled back but couldn’t move it.
She woke up in a daze, relaxed her grip, and said irritably, “Sang Lu?!”
The cold creature that was wrapped around her then slowly wriggled and let go of the knife, and made a faint sound behind her.
Xia Weishuang was so cold that she was shivering. She put down the knife, went to pull Sang Lu’s tentacles, and said angrily, “What are you doing? Let me go!”
Even though she said that, Sang Lu was still not very willing to let her go, and was slow. Xia Weishuang sneezed and simply climbed out of the quilt and forcibly pulled Sang Lu off her.
Diandian meowed and drilled out of the quilt and into the bottom of the bed.
Sang Lu was curled up in the quilt that had been warmed by Xia Weishuang, wrapped in a thick quilt, peaceful and serene, with sleepy eyes.
