Chapter 128: Sharp Contrast
The entire city-state is slowly waking up. More and more people are on the streets, and many people are just coming out to take a look.
The residents who had gotten up early were still very worried. After all, it was so windy and snowy outside that no one knew how low the temperature would drop. But seeing people walking on the streets, everyone felt relieved and ventured out.
The sounds of children playing and laughing can be heard in the street.
"This is the first time I've ever seen snow." Doomsday is a typical Southern kid.
"Let's build a snowman."
"Pile the snowman next to it. It cannot be placed in the middle of the road to block others from walking." This was a very sensible thing for a child to say.
Parents fear that their children will freeze, so they wrap them up in blankets like little glutinous rice balls.
The adults just smiled when they saw the children playing. Now that there are no human traffickers in the city-state, the adults can rest assured knowing that children are able to play freely. Additionally, there are patrolling non-player characters (NPCs) in the city. They can stop anyone who attempts to snatch the children and run away.
Not to mention that there are photo stones in all public areas in the city-state.
The photo stones in the jewelry store are all sold out, and almost everyone has one since they were put on the shelves. In a game world that has completely lost law and order, this is the best prop to preserve evidence.
The child who made a snowman, a girl with two little wombats, is very cute, and other children love to play around with her.
The little girl has a necklace hanging around her neck, featuring a beautiful butterfly. Children often play with her and are curious about what she's wearing.
"Nan Nan, what are you?" The child looked at the butterfly pendant on her necklace and thought it was very pretty.
Nan Nan grabbed the butterfly pendant on her necklace, "This is a butterfly pendant. My mother bought it for me. It is very useful. If you encounter a bad guy and immediately think of danger, this will make the bad guy pass on the appearance of the city lord."
The children immediately knew what it was, "I have one too, my dad bought it for me, and when I meet bad people, I want to use this to write down their appearance."
"Yes, my parents say it's just like their old mobile phone."
"Ah... I want a mobile phone, but my mother said that all mobile phones and TVs are gone."
This child is also a child, and now they are the baby of each family, and their safety is even more nerve-wracking.
The children's conversation quickly turned to the ornaments adorning their necklaces.
"But mine is a cute smiling face."
"Mine is a pony."
...
Lu Jiu and the others passed by a few children who were holding necklaces and sharing them with their friends. They couldn't help but smile.
Photo stones are very cheap, but they play a very important role, and everyone will not be stingy with just a few copper coins.
In addition, as long as the residents of Xuantian City seize the opportunity, they will become wealthy.
On the first day of winter, Xuantian City was filled with warmth and joy.
*
In Longjiao City in Jinghe District, however, things are not as relaxed and happy. Winter is coming, and many people have been woken up by the cold in the middle of the night.
They saved some firewood and did not burn much firewood last night; however, they were awakened by the bleak cold air before dawn.
The protective cover of the second-level city-state can't adjust the temperature. What's the temperature outside the city now, and what's the temperature inside the city-state? If you don't burn firewood or haystacks for heating indoors, you can't live normally at all.
Many people in the hall got up and shivered and set up a stove in the bedroom. Now that they have the most haystacks on them, I'll put this one on first.
People let out a sigh and groan as they place their frozen hands near the warm stove.
There is a family of three squeezed into the bedroom - a pair of middle-aged parents and a son in his early twenties. All are ordinary residents who have been living in the dormitory for some time.
The young son was still trembling, "Dad, why don't you burn firewood, the haystack will be gone in ten minutes."
The middle-aged man looked serious, and said in a deep voice, "This is only the first day of winter, and we still have some leftovers. You just burned all the firewood. What will you do when there's no more firewood left? And now you can't even go outside."
The young son is depressed, and they are a well-off family who were once wealthy before the end. The old house is about to be demolished, so they feel that they can only live as renters in the town. He thought that the highlight of his life was coming, but he didn't expect the end to come.
Now the whole family is shivering in such a small place.
"Mom, I'm so hungry."
The middle-aged woman was helpless; she could only keep warm in the bedroom. The living room and the kitchen were too cold. "Let's buy some rice balls from the mall today," she said, "and let's get used to winter first."
Qian bought a few rice balls in the mall and handed one to each of his parents, "We should leave here in the fall. I saw someone on the same provincial channel saying that the protective cover of the third-level city-state can adjust the temperature. If we are in a third-level city-state, then if there is a cold door, you won't be able to get out."
The middle-aged couple also regretted, "No one will come out at that time, who dares to be the first bird, we can't deal with those professionals, we must follow the group action, if someone leaves together this winter, let's keep up."
The young man nodded seriously, "Yes, we have to leave here, it's not a place for people to stay, even the ice cave is warmer than this house."
At this time, someone spoke again on the dialogue channel.
[From the same province as me] (Guan Xiao): I tried it, put three pieces of firewood at the mouth of the fire, and it could burn all night. I put in an extra piece last night, and it hasn't finished burning yet, but it's good to get up in the bedroom in the morning warm.
[Channel from the same province] (Ruan Fanyao): Our city-state was upgraded to level three yesterday. The city owner heard that the protective cover could adjust the temperature, so he upgraded it. Now it's not too cold to go outside on the streets.
[Same Province Channel] (Guan Xiao): Our city-state is still at the second level, and it's very cold outside. It's important to wear clothing with high thermal insulation properties. If the temperature drops any further, we may not be able to leave our homes.
[City Channel] (Shen Li): The lodging house we live in also has a fire gate, the whole room is so warm.
When the young man saw this conversation, he was extremely envious. These people can still burn firewood, "Dad, what is a fire crossing?"
The middle-aged couple knew this, "It means that the room has a mezzanine, commonly known as a firewall, and it can burn firewood for warmth. The crossing is where the firewood is placed."
The young man wanted to swear, other cities would have firewalls in their buildings, but they didn't have them here, so they had to take out a big stove and light a fire inside to keep warm.
The entire family looked at one another in silence, only sighing.
The middle-aged man said, "I have a hunch that there will be people who won't be able to survive the winter, so it might be better to leave now."
Longjiao City didn't have much to offer besides the small shops and stores within the city-state itself, and they even had to buy their own supplies.
They did not go out to collect winter supplies for half of this autumn. If they had not made sufficient preparations beforehand, some people would have a hard time.
"I was looking forward to it. Fortunately, we bought a few more sets of warm clothes at that time. If we hadn't saved that money, it would have been difficult to say." The middle-aged woman said, looking at the thick clothes in the backpack.
They bought it before the chaos broke out in the city-state, so there weren't many of them, but they were lucky and managed to snap up a few sets.
The young man gazed at the dimly lit room, contemplating how one day he might escape it and live like a human being.