Chapter 81.1: The Early Stage of the Dormant Phase
The snow blanketing the ground had disappeared, replaced by a thick, solid layer of ice. The falling snow had turned into powdery ice crystals, while fierce winds howled in every direction, sweeping them into the air until everything was shrouded in a dull gray haze. Not a trace of vibrant color remained.
The cold was so absolute that even people who couldn’t actually feel it still had the instinctive urge to bundle up.
Even in the middle of summer.
Beep—
Cheng Qisheng turned the air conditioner up a little.
The temperature went from 16°C to 18°C.
She was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, eating watermelon, while Aether perched on her left shoulder, completely absorbed in the TV drama.
Blue Sea Safe City’s next objective had already been set in stone: bring back every Dazzling Star citizen who had joined Blue Sea.
Then they would withdraw.
As for the transport they would use, how to allocate personnel, and how to divide the routes—that was all the Blue Sea government’s responsibility.
All Cheng Qisheng had to do was provide navigation.
So, for once, she had some free time and was spending the day off relaxing with Aether.
Beep!
Eighteen degrees clearly wasn’t enough to stand up to the blazing heat outside. Before long, Cheng Qisheng felt too warm and lowered the air conditioner back to 16°C.
Setting the remote aside, she opened her notebook titled Blue Star Dormancy Period Records and wrote down:
“Summer temperatures excessively high.”
It was only early June on Blue Star.
The city where Cheng Qisheng lived was called Yunjin City. In previous years, temperatures there during this time of year typically ranged from 26°C to 30°C (79°F to 86°F).
This year, however, it was only June 2, and the temperature had already soared to 38°C (100°F).
And that was just the official forecast.
The actual feels-like temperature was far higher.
Browsing any random post online, she found people complaining nonstop, insisting the heat index had to be at least 42 or 43°C (108–109°F), while grumbling that the weather forecast wasn’t accurate at all.
Unless someone was especially resistant to heat, just about every household with an air conditioner had it running. Otherwise, staying indoors felt like sitting inside a giant steamer.
As for this year’s abnormally high summer temperatures, the news blamed the usual suspects: global warming, disrupted atmospheric circulation, and the like.
Whether people believed those explanations or not, there wasn’t much they could do besides find ways to stay cool.
Households everywhere switched on their air conditioners earlier than usual. Office buildings kept their AC running around the clock, while shopping malls and other large buildings that were air-conditioned year-round started attracting people who wandered in carrying handheld fans, simply looking for somewhere to escape the heat.
Students had it the worst.
Schools without air conditioning offered no escape, and students had no say in the matter. Browsing through similar posts, Cheng Qisheng found that six out of every ten were students complaining about how stingy their schools were. What era is this? they grumbled. Why are they still refusing to install air conditioning? It’s so hot at night we can’t even sleep.
Although Cheng Qisheng was a Tier-3 Transcendent, that only meant she was stronger and physically tougher than ordinary people. She still sweated when it was hot and still needed extra layers when it was cold.
The good news, however, was that a Tier-3 Transcendent could endure far more than a normal person.
For example, someone who remained in a stifling hot environment for too long could easily suffer heatstroke, or even develop heat-related organ failure.
Cheng Qisheng wouldn’t.
Hot was still hot, but the heat itself wouldn’t actually harm her body.
If she were on Dazzling Star right now, with the physique of a Tier-3 Transcendent, she could survive for at least three hours in the open without a cold-weather suit or any protective equipment.
And if she killed a snow beast and sheltered inside its carcass, or dug herself a hole deep beneath the ice, she could last even longer.
That said, Cheng Qisheng wasn’t the sort of person who enjoyed making herself suffer.
Even if her body could withstand it, being roasted by the heat was still uncomfortable.
She might as well enjoy the air conditioning.
She took another bite of her chilled watermelon.
Cold, refreshing, and wonderfully effective at beating the heat.
Because of the extreme heat wave sweeping across the country, fruits and vegetables hadn’t gotten cheaper—they’d actually become more expensive.
The watermelon Cheng Qisheng was eating weighed about five jin—roughly 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds)—and had cost her 55 yuan.
In previous years, when watermelons were at their cheapest in Yunjin City, they usually sold for just 1 to 2 yuan per jin. Even during the expensive periods, prices rarely exceeded 3 or 4 yuan per jin. Seeing them skyrocket to 11 yuan per jin was a first.
That was why Cheng Qisheng had deliberately bought a seeded watermelon. Once she finished eating it, she planned to plant all the seeds and see if she could grow her own.
She was watching a tutorial on growing watermelons when the air conditioner, which had been steadily blowing cool air, the television playing an over-the-top dramatic scene, and even the ceiling light all went out at the same time.
The power had gone out.
Wails immediately erupted throughout the apartment complex.
It was eight o’clock in the evening, just when most office workers had gotten home from work. After trudging around outside in such scorching weather, who wouldn’t be drenched in sweat? All anyone wanted was to wash up, take a nice shower, and relax in an air-conditioned room.
Instead, the electricity was out.
Forget the air conditioner—even electric fans were useless now.
The neighborhood owners’ group chat exploded with messages as everyone demanded to know what had happened and when the power would be restored.
The residents who hadn’t made it home yet were on the verge of despair.
[The elevators are out too? Then how are we supposed to get home? I live on the twenty-third floor!]
[Climbing that many stairs in this weather is going to be torture!]
[The stairs aren’t even the worst part. The worst part is finally making it upstairs only to find there’s no air conditioning. At best, you can take a cold shower.]
[@Property Management, when’s the power coming back? Can you give us a straight answer?]
A few minutes later, the property management company tagged everyone in the group.
According to their announcement, there had been a malfunction in the electrical equipment, and the power company had already dispatched repair crews to fix the problem.
[Hello, residents. This power outage is due to a municipal power grid failure. It’s not just our community—nearby residential complexes have also lost power. Please don’t worry. The electric utility has already dispatched repair crews, but we’re unable to guarantee when electricity will be restored. During the outage, the elevators will remain out of service. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. (Bow) (Flowers)]
Faced with an announcement like that, there wasn’t much the residents could say.
Power outages were common during heat waves. Sometimes it was because every household had their air conditioners running, overloading the grid. Other times, the extreme temperatures damaged power lines or electrical equipment. It could even be a planned rolling blackout to stagger electricity usage across different districts.
All they could do now was hope the utility company finished the repairs as quickly as possible.
With the power out and Wi-Fi down, the neighborhood group chat became even livelier than usual.
[Guess I’ll just stay at the office and work a little longer.]
[I’d suggest sleeping at the office. You’ll save on electricity, and tomorrow you won’t even have to commute—you can just clock in.]
[Not a bad idea. I even have a folding cot I use for lunch breaks. But seriously, if it’s already this hot in June, what’s July and August going to be like?]
[Last year it was freezing. This year it’s scorching. When is this crazy weather ever going to get back to normal?]
[All I want to know is when vegetable prices are going to come back down. At this rate, our moderately prosperous lives are going to turn into barely-getting-by lives.]
A resident whose screen name was “Happy Every Day” posted several photos of vegetables.
[If you’ve got some free time, you can grow vegetables on your balcony. It’s healthy and saves money. Check out what I’ve grown. [Image][Image][Image]]
Under normal circumstances, only a handful of people would have chatted with Happy Every Day about home gardening.
But vegetable prices had risen so sharply lately—and showed no sign of stopping—that at least seven or eight people in the group immediately expressed interest in growing their own food on their balconies.
Cheng Qisheng slipped naturally into the conversation as well.
Seven Lives Eight Lives: [Can you grow watermelons yourself? Watermelons are so expensive right now.]
The profile picture of Happy Every Day belonged to a woman in her early fifties. She enthusiastically sent over a long string of voice messages.
[That depends on whether the watermelon you bought is a hybrid. Seeds from hybrid varieties tend to degenerate in the next generation, so the watermelons they produce are small and don’t taste very good. You want the old-fashioned seeded heirloom kind. They’re easy to grow. Let me tell you—you should first wash the watermelon seeds clean…]
Cheng Qisheng spent the next twenty-odd minutes learning cultivation techniques in the group chat.
In truth, Blue Sea had no shortage of agricultural experts who could teach her how to grow crops.
But she was deliberately maintaining the persona of someone who enjoyed growing vegetables at home. Asking others for gardening advice fit perfectly with that image.
Besides, Blue Sea didn’t have watermelons. Since they were native to Blue Star, it was far more convenient to simply follow Blue Star’s tried-and-tested methods.
After finishing her crash course in The Watermelon Manual, Cheng Qisheng began searching online for where to buy old-fashioned local watermelon varieties.
Just then, the wind outside suddenly grew much stronger.
As if knowing everyone hated being left in the dark, lightning thoughtfully illuminated the homes that had lost power.
BOOM!
A deafening clap of thunder echoed overhead, and rain came pouring down in sheets.
One look at the howling wind and constant lightning outside told Cheng Qisheng all she needed to know.
The electricity probably wasn’t coming back tonight.
Sure enough, the neighborhood group chat immediately filled with fresh complaints.
Blending right in, Cheng Qisheng chimed in with a few grumbles of her own.
This was only the early stage of the Dormant Phase, yet for ordinary people, it was already beginning to disrupt everyday life.
No one realized yet that this was only the beginning.
But it was easy to foresee that as disasters became more frequent, life would only grow harder.
And once people could no longer secure even the basic necessities of food and warmth, darker impulses would begin to surface.
Cheng Qisheng’s job was simply to hide herself well and never let the slightest clue slip.
Once the apocalypse had begun, no amount of human effort could stop it.
If it were something like a meteor impact, she might still be able to forcibly recall her psychic power and stop it.
But gradual changes in temperature—disasters that crept in like a frog being slowly boiled alive—were beyond Cheng Qisheng’s ability to prevent. She was living on this planet too.
The only solution was to upgrade Blue Sea Safe City into a complete planet before Blue Star entered the Extinction Phase—or even the Decay Phase.
Until then, she would remain just an ordinary person on Blue Star.
At least, in everyone else’s eyes.
Many thoughts crossed Cheng Qisheng’s mind, but her expression remained as calm and unhurried as ever.
She leisurely picked up her watermelon, her boba milk tea, and didn’t forget her little notebook. She had decided to spend the night by the artificial lake instead.
These “rooms,” which existed outside Blue Star’s geographical space, weren’t affected by the planet’s sweltering weather. They had no changing seasons, and the temperature remained perfectly constant year-round. They did, however, receive whatever light shone over the City Lord’s Mansion.
That made them especially convenient for farming.
And just as convenient for escaping the heat.
Cheng Qisheng pushed open the door to the artificial lake.
The moment she stepped inside, she felt instantly refreshed.
The heat vanished. The sticky, oppressive air was gone. The room was brightly lit, the grass a vibrant green. Clearly, the Weather Controller suspended above the City Lord’s Mansion was functioning steadily.
Earlier, she’d copied the Dazzling Star people’s example and made herself a simple tent. This was the perfect chance to see how comfortable it was to sleep in.
She pitched the tent first, then slowly wandered back to fetch her pillow and blanket.
She moved at her usual leisurely pace, and by the time everything was set up, it was already eleven o’clock.
The perfect time to go to bed.
Lying down on her pillow, Cheng Qisheng said,
“Aether, switch the Weather Controller above the City Lord’s Mansion to nighttime mode.”
The jellyfish-like AI, which had been following her around all day, imitated her by “lying down” beside her pillow.
“Certainly, City Lord. The Weather Controller has been switched to Night Mode.”
The artificial lake room, which had been brightly illuminated only moments before, immediately darkened.
As Cheng Qisheng mentally went over tomorrow’s work schedule for the planting area, her thoughts gradually drifted away, and she slowly fell asleep.
…
The people of Blue Sea were still on the move.
At the current temperature, Tier-1 cold-weather suits were no longer effective. Even if someone put one on, it would fail in less than five minutes.
Even Tier-2 cold-weather suits could only last about five hours now.
As a result, apart from the Blue Sea residents serving as “Dazzling Star transporters,” everyone else had already withdrawn to the safety of Blue Sea Safe City.
The number of Safe Cities remaining on this planet was dwindling as well.
Along the way, another seven Safe Cities had gone dark, all destroyed by overwhelming beast tides.
Eleven cities that knew they weren’t strong enough had been among the first to evacuate.
Those that remained were gambling on the saying, fortune favors the bold. The beast tides were certainly dangerous, but as the snow beasts within them grew stronger, the drop rate for item cards skyrocketed as well. Better yet, they were high-tier item cards—tempting enough to make the risk worthwhile.
