Apocalyptic Disaster: I Hoard Billions in Supplies and Kill the Saint

55: Chapter 55 The Unexpected WinterAt 2:00 AM, heating equipment in many cities began to fail frequently. Water pipes in many older residential communities froze and burst, leading to water outages, power cuts, and icy roads. A series of extreme weather effects began to manifest, but people still assumed this was just a sudden, extreme cold wave.

”Why did the temperature drop so sharply all of a sudden?”

”The meteorological bureau didn’t say anything! This is too abnormal!”

”Is there some other extreme weather? The climate has been warming these past two years, so sudden hot and cold spells are normal...”

On the snow-covered streets, streetlights illuminated a vast expanse of white. Occasionally, one could see sanitation workers and road maintenance crews shoveling snow, but compared to the past, there were far fewer people on the streets.

Many people chose to huddle at home, opening their phones to scroll through news and social media.

However, there was no anomalous information in the news.

There were no warnings from the meteorological bureau, no analysis of the causes of the extreme cold, and no official reports regarding this blizzard.

It was as if everyone had collectively lost their voices.

3:00 AM, Emergency Room.

”Doctor! Please save my grandfather! He just... he passed away while sleeping!”

”My dad is the same. He was fine yesterday, but I can’t wake him up this morning!”

”Doctor, my grandmother’s fingers are completely frozen stiff and turned purple! Is there still any hope?!”

In the hospital, doctors and nurses stayed awake all night. One after another, the patients being brought in had almost all suffered sudden death due to the extreme cold.

In just a few short hours, the emergency rooms of major hospitals across China were packed with countless elderly people who had died from the cold.

The doctors were on the verge of collapse. The ”beep” of electrocardiogram monitors was incessant. Death certificates were being hurriedly filled out, and the refrigeration units were already insufficient; some people even began requisitioning cold storage warehouses to store bodies.

Throughout the night, the sirens of ambulances never ceased.

Tianlang Mountain Base, Observation Tower.

The cold wind howled, and the snow-filled sky felt like countless white blades, fiercely scouring the world.

Ye Nanxing stood on the observation tower, her military trench coat flapping loudly in the wind. She narrowed her eyes slightly, gazing toward the distant mountains and roads covered in thick snow.

”Something’s not right...”

Her intuition seemed to be sounding an alarm frantically, causing an indescribable sense of crisis to well up in her heart.

—This cold wave had come too suddenly.

Last night, the temperature was still 8 degrees Celsius above zero. Overnight, it plummeted to 20 degrees below zero, a drop of nearly 30 degrees. Even for extreme weather, this was far too abnormal.

More importantly, the government had no reaction at all.

In the past, whenever there was a major meteorological disaster, the meteorological bureau would issue warnings and might even deploy urban defense measures in advance. But now, whether it was the news, the internet, or official announcements, there was absolutely no information. Even the meteorological bureau had not provided a reasonable explanation.

This was not normal.

Ye Nanxing took a deep breath of cold air. The freezing wind drilled into her nostrils, bringing with it a bone-chilling cold that made her instantly and completely clear-headed.

”We must act immediately.”

She turned and walked quickly toward the command center.

”Nanxing, what’s wrong?”

Shen Qingyan rubbed her sleepy eyes, her face still showing lingering fatigue. Behind her, Han Yiran looked at Ye Nanxing with an equally puzzled expression.

”Something big has happened.”

Ye Nanxing said in a firm tone, her gaze cold and sharp.

”Get the personnel ready; we are leaving immediately.”

”Where to?”

Han Yiran frowned.

”Gas stations, coal storage yards, and every stockpiling point.”

”All supplies must be collected today.”

Shen Qingyan was stunned, her sleepiness vanishing instantly.

Her heart rate accelerated suddenly, and she asked subconsciously, ”Do you mean... the Apocalypse has arrived early?”

Ye Nanxing did not answer directly.

She looked down at her watch; the time was 03:12, and there were three hours until dawn.

”There isn’t much time left,” she said in a low voice. ”If we don’t act before dawn, once everyone realizes what’s happening, it will be too late to collect supplies.”

Han Yiran gasped, his expression turning serious immediately.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen Ye Nanxing’s calm and decisive side before, but this time, her sense of crisis was unprecedentedly strong, making him involuntarily alert as well.

”...Alright, I’ll take people to the garage and assemble the team immediately,” Han Yiran nodded.

Shen Qingyan took a deep breath, a flash of resolution in her eyes: ”I’ll go mobilize the transport vehicles.”

Ye Nanxing nodded slightly and said in a low voice, ”Move quickly. We must transport all supplies back to the base before anyone else realizes what’s happening.”

The outside world was already a silvery white; the snow was over ten centimeters thick, crunching underfoot.

Thirty heavy-duty trucks lined up neatly, their engines emitting a low roar.

The security team did not bring guns. After all, the temperature had just dropped, social order was still very stable, and carrying guns would instead cause a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Ye Nanxing, dressed in a black tactical uniform, stood in front of the convoy. Her gaze was sharp as she surveyed everyone and said in a low voice.

”The first squad will come with me to the gas station, and the second squad will go with Shen Qingyan to the coal storage yard.”

”Remember, our goal is to take as many supplies as possible, leaving no usable resources behind.”

”During the operation, if you encounter obstacles, prioritize solving the problems; do not engage in unnecessary conflicts.”

Everyone nodded, their expressions grave.

”Move out!”

Following Ye Nanxing’s command, the convoy roared into the wind and snow, driving toward the outskirts of the city.

Energy is always the most important thing.

She had previously stored a large amount of diesel and gasoline at several nearby gas stations, but hadn’t had the chance to transfer it all. Now, the whole world was about to fall into extreme cold and chaos; whoever controlled the fuel would be able to survive.

”Move out!”

With Ye Nanxing’s order, the convoy slowly started and sped away along the snow-covered roads.

Ye Nanxing sat in the front vehicle, looking out at the streets through the window.

The sky had begun to turn pale. People were already active on the streets. Although most people were not yet fully awake, some early-rising sanitation workers, milk delivery workers, and office workers had already begun to bustle about in the cold wind.

The snow on the road was not thick, and the road administration department was deploying snowplows to clear the roads; traffic was still operating normally.

But what concerned Ye Nanxing the most was—the sound of ambulance sirens.

Ambulance after ambulance sped through the streets, their red warning lights piercing through the wind and snow. The people on board were almost all elderly individuals who had died suddenly from the cold.

She saw that under many residential buildings, bodies draped in white cloth were already being carried onto vehicles by medical personnel.

Han Yiran glanced out the window and frowned.

”It seems quite a few people froze to death last night.”

Shen Qingyan’s face was a bit pale. She said in a low voice, ”If even the hospitals can’t keep up, that means... the situation is even worse than we imagined.”

Ye Nanxing’s eyes were calm as she said in a low voice, ”This is only the beginning.”

Her intuition told her that the collapse of this world was about to begin.