Cave Refuge

Option one: People at the Refuge Center take the risk of venturing out into the bone-chilling temperatures of negative seventy or eighty degrees outside to reach other resettlement areas, as marked out on the map.

Although not far on the map, or just a few bus stops away in the past.

However, given the current outside situation, departure from the Refuge Center to the outside world would result in freezing into an icicle within half an hour.

You might wonder how those delivering supplies manage to move around outside.

Thanks to Pengcheng, a city with distinct four seasons and centralized heating in winter, there even exist cold-resistant clothing in the special strategic material reserve.

But because it is a southern city, the quantity of cold-resistant clothing sustained is not plentiful, so apart from necessary outgoing personnel, others still have to stay obediently inside the underground Refuge Center.

Stepping out of Refuge Center at this point would be akin to courting death.

The second choice is to use the mining tools that were delivered, continue digging downwards according to the map location, and dig out areas connected to the subway.

Once dug through, not only could supplies be delivered directly through the subway channel, they can also choose to depart and resettle elsewhere.

The final choice is inaction, relying on the last batch of delivered supplies, holding out in hope for Officials to intervene for rescue, but the duration of such wait is undeterminable.

After the liaison left, the street's person in charge revealed the three options. Anyone discerning can see these seem to be three choices, but there's only one for those wishing to take fate into their own hands.

Despite a tiny fraction of opposition, the street personnel arranged for the young and robust men to begin taking turns with the digging.

To survive, those not involved in digging only ate once a day, while the digging operation continued endlessly, 24 hours a day.

Who could have guessed, a journey that took less than an hour on foot in the past, they've prolonged for almost ten days underground.

The moment the subway tunnel aligned with the other tunnels, their previously despairing eyes filled with hope once more.

The temperatures outside continued to drop, but those who were still alive in Pengcheng had already adapted to underground life.

Following the borough's technological personnel's repairs and modifications, some of the guarantee-type equipment can just manage to operate.

Days began to get better one after the other.

But just as the vast majority had gradually adapted to underground life, the outside temperatures began to slowly rise.

No one expected that along with the increasing temperatures, the snow that covered the city above began to quickly melt.

Plus the incessant downpours, a flood followed the severe cold.

The flood gradually began to engulf the original underground Refuge Center. Although the Officials appeared on time with arrangements, the variety of supplies stored within the underground Refuge Center suffered heavy loss.

Fortunately, the direction of the flood was from rainfall, not an unforeseen surge of floodwater, allowing the people enough time to repurpose the city's original skyscrapers into new Refuge Centers.

When the weather started to clear up, everyone was relieved the disasters had passed when temperatures began to rise rapidly and everyone had to retreat into the moldy underground Refuge Center once more.

Dong Tianyu painfully recollected the series of disasters that he went through before his death. Now, he got a second chance and made a fortune, but it didn't seem like he had gotten a chance to enjoy it.

He wasn't sure whether it was a blessing or a curse. Dong Tianyu and their group helped each other through each disaster, and even used leftover food to find partners for the unmarried members of the group.

Just like the age-old saying, "back when I married your grandmother, all it took was a few pounds of grain."

Reflecting on all his past experiences, and taking in the sunlight streaming through the windows into the room, Dong Tianyu felt sentimental. It had been so long since he had seen such a scene.

Composing himself, Dong Tianyu started to recall exactly how he had come back.

However, the more he thought about it, the stranger his expression became.

"Apparently, I have died and returned."

As the murmuring left his lips, memories started to resurface.

The sweltering temperature was gradually dropping, it seemed like the period of intense heat was over.

As the sun started to set, the outside temperature grew more bearable, and people slowly emerged from the underground shelter.

Having experienced two prior instances, everyone was speculating about the next disaster that would hit.

Perhaps even the gods felt sorry for the humans for the excessive suffering they had been through, and decided to show mercy. After several days of guarded alertness, humans found no new disasters had sprung forth.

However, just as everyone started to relax and consider the rebuilding of civilization, the sun never rose as usual the next day.

Moreover, not only did the sun not rise as per usual, the world outside also gradually turned darker.

Previously, even on a cloudy evening, one could still see a few meters around. Now, once outside of the Refuge Center, all one could see was darkness swallowing all the light.

The eternal night had fallen.

In the beginning, people did not see the eternal night as terrifying. Compared with the freezing cold that could kill, the disease-bringing floods, and the intolerable heat.

The darkness perhaps would not bring about any danger.

Many people naively believed that the eternal night posed no threat. But after three disasters, the Officials had depleted most of their supplies.

Only then did people realize that the easily accessible light had slowly become unreachable.

But the dangers that surfaced were not just limited to darkness.

Upon this thought, Dong Tianyu subconsciously touched his neck where a tight grip had almost choked him to death in his previous life, unsure if the culprit was a monster or...?

Trying to steady his mind, he picked up the mobile phone on the bedside table and took a glance, the pandemic era of 2018 has not yet arrived, though it was near.

Getting up from bed, looking at the bustling streets outside the window, Dong Tianyu yearned for this moment of peace.

The following few days, rather than urgently making all sorts of plans, Dong Tianyu decided to give himself a break.

Was relaxing everywhere in the day, and dining at home with his parents in the evening.

A few days later, after dinner, Mr. Thompson pulled Dong Tianyu aside and bluntly asked him, "What on earth is bothering you, son?"

"Nothing!"

Mr. Thompson meticulously studied Dong Tianyu's face, and only after assuring himself that Dong Tianyu wasn't faking his nonchalance, did a sigh of relief escape him: "If nothing's wrong, then don't disturb us. Why don't you find yourself a girlfriend and spend the night with her?"

Even though they all lived in Pengcheng, Dong Tianyu had moved out to rent his own place after having worked for some time. Although it was said to be to help Dong Tianyu become more independent, those who are often together understood the actual situation.

Therefore, hearing Mr. Thompson say that, Dong Tianyu immediately replied, "Alright, alright, looks like I'm disrupting the peace of you two. I'll leave right away, just tell mom I won't be coming back tonight."

Seeing Dong Tianyu's departure didn't lead to any abnormal reaction, Mr. Thompson was finally able to relax.

Early the next day, Dong Tianyu's phone suddenly rang. Looking at the note on mobile, Dong Tianyu seemed to remember something.

"Brother Dong, what's up with you? Why didn't you turn up for the shift today? If you were occupied, you should have informed me earlier, so I could prepare."