Hearing Xu An's answer, Zhou Haimei didn't press further, instead continuing to play with Gou Dan.
As Xu An drove on, she gradually noticed her visible range increasing. This time, without Zhou Haimei needing to remind her, Xu An herself realized the mist seemed to be gradually receding.
"An'an, the mist really is decreasing!"
"I noticed too."
Xu An looked at the sky, which was slowly revealing itself, tinged with white.
They hadn't seen the sky for a long time.
"Do you think the mist is finally passing?"
Zhou Haimei's voice held a hint of excitement. She had lived through months of such blinding fog.
She dreamt of seeing the sun.
But Xu An wasn't as optimistic or excited as Zhou Haimei.
She knew that after the mist period, the entire world would enter the true extreme cold period.
Just as the extreme heat period could kill people with its high temperatures, the extreme cold period would also freeze countless people to death.
Snowfall would bury the entire world, obscuring any original colors.
People would struggle to move through the ice and snow.
Blizzards would destroy human farmland. Compared to the disorienting thick fog, the extreme cold period was a more ruthless killer that would claim human lives.
Seeing Xu An fall silent, Zhou Haimei also withdrew from her excitement.
"An'an, why do you look so grim? What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," Xu An said, though she knew in her heart that natural disasters and man-made calamities were unalterable facts for humanity.
What difference did it make that she had been reborn? She could only ensure her own survival and that of those around her.
She recalled the early days of the extreme cold period, during a blizzard, when her small base lacked sufficient cold-weather measures.
Less than two-thirds of the base's inhabitants survived.
Eventually, with no blankets and everyone freezing, they had to pull clothes off the bodies of those already frozen to death and wear them.
Even so, many people starved to death during that extreme cold period after barely surviving the winter, never to wake up again.
While driving, Xu An took the opportunity to get out of the car, find a secluded spot, and enter her personal space to inventory the cold-weather gear.
Her mother was on the lighthouse, so she wasn't worried about her.
She was only concerned about how her father and Zhou Haimei would fare.
Xu An then took out some heat packs and two blankets, placing them in her backpack.
Xu An also prepared two sets of cold-weather suits. Although the protective suits they were wearing already offered some insulation, Xu An prepared these as an extra precaution.
Xu An also found the custom-made cold-weather clothing for Gou Dan from her space.
But she placed these at the bottom of her backpack, just in case.
Then she thought, if it really started snowing, perhaps Gou Dan could pull a sled for them.
She remembered seeing Siberian huskies with awakened bloodlines before the apocalypse, majestically pulling sleds through the snow, the biting wind ruffling their black and white fur.
The thought made Xu An excited.
She turned and saw Gou Dan lying in Zhou Haimei's arms, acting spoiled and nuzzling her.
Xu An: ...This is all an illusion, I must be seeing things.
Before long, they continued on their way.
Along the journey, the two took turns driving, heading towards the South Sea.
On this journey, Xu An and Zhou Haimei had learned their lesson and no longer dared to light fires to cook.
Many animals in the apocalypse were mutated, and they weren't always lucky enough to escape.
The one who was probably the most unhappy was Gou Dan.
The drastic decrease in its food made Gou Dan look listless.
But Xu An didn't indulge it.
She fed Gou Dan whatever she and Zhou Haimei ate.
Zhou Haimei, on the other hand, looked heartbroken.
Finally, under the insistent pleas of both the human and the dog, Xu An couldn't help but give Gou Dan a treat of dried meat and dog food.
Having achieved its goal, Gou Dan shoveled the food into its mouth with immense satisfaction, leaning into Zhou Haimei's arms as it ate happily.
Xu An couldn't fathom how a dog heavier than herself could put on such a spoiled expression.
In the past few days, the greatest feeling for the two was the growing cold.
Contrary to Zhou Haimei's expectations, as the dense fog receded, it wasn't followed by warm sunlight.
Instead, the sky became a cloudless azure blue.
With the societal shutdown over the past few years, and the absence of industrial and environmental pollution, the human world's sky had become a sapphire blue never before seen by humankind.
But this was immediately followed by a sharp drop in temperature.
In these days, Xu An had taken out blankets and heat packs for Zhou Haimei and even put the prepared cold-weather suit on Gou Dan.
Zhou Haimei didn't question Xu An producing these items.
After all, everyone had their secrets.
She only needed to be clear on one point: Xu An had risked her life to save her.
Knowing this, Zhou Haimei felt she wouldn't doubt anything Xu An might do.
Finally, one morning, Xu An, who was on guard outside, felt a cold sensation on her face.
Before she could even reach up to touch it, snowflakes began to fall from the sky.
Like goose feathers, they drifted down.
They gently landed on Xu An's eyelashes, trembled slightly, and then melted into water droplets.
These then trickled down her eyelids.
The next moment, Zhou Haimei's voice came from the car: "An'an, it looks like it's snowing!"
Her voice carried an almost irrepressible excitement.
As a girl from the south, this was Zhou Haimei's first time seeing such heavy snowfall.
But Xu An couldn't feel any joy. She knew that behind this pristine white snow, countless lives would be buried.
Since the incident with the wolf king, Xu An and Zhou Haimei had been taking turns sleeping.
Xu An slept the first half of the night, and Zhou Haimei the latter half.
Seeing Zhou Haimei, who was only wearing a thin cold-weather suit, sticking her head out, Xu An frowned.
With clear disapproval, she pushed Zhou Haimei's head back into the car and then followed her in.
It was daylight now, so there was no need for night watch.
"It's so cold, put on your clothes. Be careful not to catch a cold."
Xu An did have cold medicine in her space.
But in the current situation, falling sick would certainly have consequences.
"The weather is getting colder and colder," Xu An said, peeling off the now-cool heat pack and replacing it with a new one.
She also replaced Zhou Haimei's and urged her to put on her clothes.
Xu An had intended to put a heat pack on Gou Dan as well, but Gou Dan impatiently shook it off.
It was then that she remembered Gou Dan was a sled dog breed, naturally resilient to the cold and sensitive to heat.
Xu An couldn't stop it in time. Gou Dan nudged the slightly open car door, pushing it wide open, and then bolted out, disappearing in a flash.
Looking at the empty leash in her hand, Xu An understood for the first time what "letting go" meant.