"Can you imagine what it feels like to have cold water poured over your body in minus seventy degrees Celsius weather?"
Zhang Ye held a large hose and sprayed it directly at the thugs outside his door.
There was a temperature difference of nearly a hundred degrees between inside and outside.
So when the water first came out, it steamed, but the moment it hit their bodies, it froze almost instantly!
In this bone-chilling weather, everyone was bundled up in down jackets and sweaters.
But once the freezing water soaked them completely, it felt like they'd been thrown into an ice cellar.
"Holy crap! It's freezing! I'm gonna die from the cold!"
"Aaah! Stop spraying! Stop it!"
At this point, they would rather be beaten up than endure this kind of icy torture.
Their lips turned purple from the cold, and some even fainted from the extreme temperature.
Driven purely by instinct, they scrambled to run away from Zhang Ye's front door.
But even in just those few seconds, they were completely drenched from head to toe.
Some didn't even have time to take the elevator and escape—their soaked clothes had already frozen solid.
Seeing that they had all run off, Zhang Ye finally turned off the faucet.
He had originally planned to punish them with his hand crossbow.
But reloading it was too slow, and there was a risk of them firing back through the shooting holes.
Using a full-on water attack turned out to be much more effective.
After getting drenched to the bone, those thugs were shivering with purple lips.
They rushed back to Chen Zhenghao's apartment.
When Chen Zhenghao saw them return in such a pathetic state, he was furious.
"Where's that little bastard? Did you catch him or not?!"
But his underlings were too busy scrambling for blankets and sheets to stay warm.
Their clothes were soaked and frozen stiff like ice blocks.
A dozen of them fought over the limited supply of blankets and clothing.
And since there wasn't enough to go around, some had no choice but to strip and huddle together for warmth.
The scene looked... more than a little awkward.
Chen Zhenghao was livid, slamming the table and shouting, "Someone better explain to me what the hell happened!"
Once a few of them had warmed up a bit, they shivered as they explained the whole story.
"That Zhang Ye is too cunning—he sprayed us with a water hose. We couldn't take it at all!"
"The door to his place is insanely thick. We bashed at it for ages and only managed to scrape off some paint!"
After hearing that, Chen Zhenghao furrowed his brows deeply.
He had personally tried pounding on the door and indeed remembered it was abnormally sturdy.
It seemed like a forced entry wasn't going to work.
But soon he sneered.
"No problem. Even if his home is like a turtle shell made of iron, there's always a weak point somewhere."
"And I don't believe he can stay holed up inside forever!"
"I want a few of you to stay nearby. The moment he steps outside, beat him to death!"
Chen Zhenghao barked his orders viciously.
His underlings—basically a bunch of thugs—shivered as they nodded with forced grins.
Though frozen to the bone, they still tried to act tough.
What none of them knew was: Zhang Ye had absolutely no intention of going outside.
Outside was hell; his room was paradise.
Why leave paradise to step into hell?
…
After dealing with Chen Zhenghao and his gang, Zhang Ye went back to playing his game.
He knew they wouldn't give up easily, but they also had no way of getting into his apartment.
As for going out?
Heh. Zhang Ye would never choose that, not even if the risk was one in ten thousand.
Why leave the comfort of his home when he could just bunker down?
Not long after, Zhang Ye walked to the floor-to-ceiling window to check on the scene outside.
Sure enough, someone was out there shoveling snow.
He seemed to spot Uncle You, the warm-hearted, upright retired soldier who always rushed to help when trouble came.
Downstairs were a dozen or so young people—friendly folks from the building's chat group.
But there was no sign of Lin Dama and the other community committee members.
Facing the two-to-three-meter-tall snow piles, they dug with great effort.
But Zhang Ye knew this was completely futile.
Even just trying to carve out a path from their building to the main gate would take all day.
And even if they managed it, then what?
The roads outside were also completely buried.
This kind of snow required professional, heavy-duty snowplows to even begin clearing.
And this was the South—such vehicles didn't even exist here.
Going outside had become an impossible task.
What's more, in minus seventy degrees, no one could last long.
Without proper thermal gear, and with ordinary bodies, people just couldn't survive that kind of exposure.
Stay out for just half an hour, and you risk frostbite.
Zhang Ye shook his head.
These well-meaning people were indeed pitiful.
But it was their choice, and Zhang Ye wasn't about to comment on it.
At this point, none of it concerned him anymore—he just wanted to survive.
By afternoon, Zhang Ye started to feel hungry.
So he took out a grand meal from his dimensional space.
It was a simple spread: an Australian lobster, a Wellington steak, two Huangshan sesame cakes, and a bottle of cola.
He had plenty of food like this stocked in his space.
Now that he stayed home every day, Zhang Ye's schedule had become totally free.
Basically: sleep when tired, eat when hungry—no need to differentiate day from night.
The snow outside continued falling nonstop.
Zhang Ye took a moment to glance down at the area below the apartment building.
The people who were shoveling had gone back inside.
The small patch of snow they'd worked so hard to clear had already been covered again.
They probably realized that, with their limited strength, they were no match for Mother Nature.
Zhang Ye lounged on the sofa in his thermal underwear. The room was a cozy 27°C.
He turned on the TV and started watching some programs.
By now, many TV stations across the country had stopped broadcasting. Only some provincial channels and CCTV were still active.
The programs were mostly official announcements and motivational slogans.
"At this very moment, our eyes turn to Shengjing. The authorities are commanding the final counteroffensive against the snow disaster!"
"According to reports, due to poor disaster control, over 200 million people have been affected in the United States, and tens of millions have died!"
"Our country has maintained control of the snow disaster. Everything is progressing positively."
"Please stay calm and trust in the strength of the government!"
Zhang Ye shook his head.
The scale and terror of this snow disaster were beyond human comprehension.
Even though the government was doing its best to respond, human power was simply too small in the face of nature.