The temperature of minus 53 degrees Celsius would be considered extreme cold (below minus 40 degrees Celsius) on the original Earth.
Zhang Chen had experienced the coldest temperature of just over minus thirty degrees, which was truly bone-chilling.
At least if there was a bit of wind, it could pierce the protection of a down jacket in minutes.
The moment you breathed outside, your exhalations would freeze into ice on your face.
And the iron railings would become very sweet, as those who licked them said.
"I observed that there is a commercial building next to us, and it has a three-story underground parking lot beneath it."
"And the parking lot doors have insulation curtains. As long as we are fast enough, we can hide on the third basement level, and then use blankets and heavy objects to seal all entrances and exits. We should be able to withstand it!"
Xu Ruina said with a grave expression.
In fact, infected bodies were not afraid of the cold.
Xu Ruina herself had no body temperature.
When the outside temperature was too low, she would naturally be frozen stiff in place.
As long as she was attacked by external force and damaged, she could be revived when the temperature returned to normal.
However, Zhang Chen, Xiao Bai, and the others could not. Humans are warm-blooded animals, and they would die immediately if their body temperature dropped too low.
Xu Ruina was now concerned about the safety of Zhang Chen, Xiao Bai, and the others.
"Don't worry, I have a better solution!"
Zhang Chen smiled slightly, then led everyone to an open space and put the manor back into his ring.
Afterward, he took out a design blueprint: [Rare · Self-Generating Underground Palace]: Requires [Quicksand Spray]*10, [Giant Carapace]*300, [Intact Mutated Insect Wings]*500, [Energy Gathering Crystal Core]*100. It can complete an underground palace with an area of about 1000 square meters according to your design, equipped with a complete power system and an energy grid defense system to prevent mutated creatures and zombie-like monsters from approaching.
In fact, Zhang Chen had long had enough of these materials.
Especially in the interface city, when the infected bodies had wiped out almost all the camp members.
Zhang Chen obtained a large number of materials from them.
However, he was reluctant to part with the 100 [Energy Gathering Crystal Cores], and since he had the manor to live in, he hadn't manufactured it.
Now was the time.
Begin manufacturing!
Soon, a manufacturing progress bar appeared before Zhang Chen, requiring 5 minutes.
There were still 15 minutes left before the dark red blizzard arrived, so there was plenty of time.
"Oh, it's so cool, so cool!"
Xiao Bai stood by the lake, laughing heartily in the cool breeze.
Er Pang was also very happy.
It was not afraid of the cold, but it was afraid of the heat.
With a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, coupled with its firm and heavy fur,
it naturally possessed extremely high resistance to the cold.
It was obvious that they were very satisfied with the current temperature.
While the palace was being built, Zhang Chen turned his attention to the surrounding environment.
Soon, groups of temperature information were displayed.
[Lake water temperature 18 degrees...]
[Lakeside grass temperature 15 degrees...]
[Commercial building sunlit side temperature 20 degrees, shaded side temperature 12 degrees...]
And these numbers were continuously decreasing.
After one minute, except for the lake water temperature which hardly changed, the temperatures of all other scenery dropped by 3-7 degrees.
And the temperature was still dropping rapidly.
Time ticked by second by second.
At this moment, layers of water vapor began to appear on the surface of the lake.
It wasn't that the lake water was too hot, but that the air temperature was too low.
Water had a large specific heat capacity, and its cooling rate was much slower than the surrounding environment, which caused this peculiar phenomenon.
At this moment, a layer of white frost had already appeared on the grass blades.
The temperature had dropped to zero degrees.
Er Pang was still very happy, but Xiao Bai felt a little cold and obediently ran back to the clones.
Huddling among the crowd for warmth.
"It's so cold. I remember the last time such a sudden blizzard froze an entire camp into ice sculptures!"
"This blizzard will draw energy from the survivors' bodies. When their energy is depleted, no matter how strong the survivor is, they will eventually die."
Shirley murmured to herself.
However, she knew very well that this level of weather was not even in the same league as the perverted extreme weather in the later stages of the apocalypse.
"Alright!"
Zhang Chen's eyes lit up.
A prototype crystal sphere appeared in his hand.
"Now it's its turn!"
Zhang Chen threw the crystal sphere in his hand onto the ground.
Instantly, it turned into a pool of liquid and began to seep down into the ground continuously...
"Wow, what's that over there, it's so beautiful!"
Xiao Bai pointed at the lake in the distance.
Shirley followed the direction Xiao Bai pointed.
She saw that the lake surface was no longer emitting steam.
Instead, the water vapor in the air had frozen into snowflakes and was slowly falling.
There was a layer of white crystals on the lake surface.
"It's ice, the lake water is starting to freeze!"
Shirley said in horror.
The ice crystals were spreading towards the Third Research Institute on the lake at a visible speed.
Soon, the entire research institute was enveloped, and the cold continued to move forward.
The lake surface also slowly froze into ice...
Before long, bursts of cracking sounds could be faintly heard from within the research institute.
Water expands when it freezes.
It was estimated that the containers filled with liquid had exploded due to the ice.
The reagents inside were probably all ruined.
"Done!"
Zhang Chen said.
At this moment, a large door opened from the ground, revealing a long staircase.
Zhang Chen directed Xiao Bai, Shirley, and the clone army to go in first.
Finally, he patted Xu Ruina and said,
"Let's go in too!"
However, Xu Ruina did not respond.
It was only then that Zhang Chen discovered that a wisp of frost had formed on Xu Ruina's hair.
Her entire body was frozen stiff. Her skin, which was originally cool but elastic, had become stiff and stone-like.
Zhang Chen had no choice but to pick her up and walk down the stairs.
As soon as the large door closed behind them,
the cold air immediately enveloped them, sealing the outside of the door with a faint layer of frost.
At the same time, the survivors who had just escaped from the lake island, having narrowly escaped death.
They did not flee back to their own safe houses.
Instead, they began a new round of fighting.
Because they suddenly realized a problem: the strongest individuals in the city had all died under Zhang Chen's attack just now.
The city's power structure had changed again. They could start fighting each other, re-dividing territories, competing for supplies, and fighting over women.
No one paid any attention to the dark red cloud in the distance...
More than ten minutes later, when the survivors realized that something was wrong, it was already too late.
The storm raged.
Gusts of wind carrying energy-absorbing snowflakes fiercely blew towards the survivors on the ground.
Puff!
Clang...
The survivors' bodies were split in two by the wind blades, but before their blood could flow out, it had already frozen into ice.
Their falling upper bodies were gradually frozen solid during their descent, crashing heavily onto the ground...
The nightmare had begun!