LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 34 - Snow Storm
Chapter 34 Snow Storm
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[You’d better wear protective gear.]
[I just heard that an experimental vaccine was lost in the contaminated area.]
[The situation isn’t great. A snowstorm that only happens once in a hundred years is heading towards Manhattan. We’ve also detected signals from rogue operators.]
[To prevent damage from the discovery of the base and the snowstorm, all transport will be carried out by stealth helicopter. This means that the base will be closed, and once you leave, you won’t be able to return by any means other than the helicopter.]
[You look ready. Let’s get started.]
.
[Warning: Helicopter destroyed and connection to base lost. Attempting to contact nearby operators….]
[Warning: Vital signs indicate suspected septic infection.]
[Warning: Time until treatment limit 02:15:33.]
[Warning: Countdown initiated.]
“Ha.”
It’s cold.
The weather is so crazy that you can see your breath even inside the building. Outside, a harsh snowstorm is raging, and my extremities are starting to go numb, making it difficult to move.
I don’t know how this game knows about this vaccine retrieval mission… specifically, this damn operation I actually performed in the past, but with the results staring me in the face, I have no choice but to accept it.
Back then, I thought I was going to freeze to death, but I never imagined this damn hardcore mode would affect even this place.
Harmony is… not here. She doesn’t seem to be in the same space. Does this mean I have to find her on my own? She’s probably in another nearby building, but for now, I need to focus on my own survival.
I carefully grabbed the doorknob.
───Whoooosh!
“Damn it!”
As soon as I opened the door and stepped outside, an overwhelming snowstorm made it almost impossible to keep my eyes open.
This damn reptilian body, which is extremely strong in summer but incredibly vulnerable in winter, can’t digest food and starts vomiting if the body temperature drops even a little.
I ignored my body starting to shiver after just a few seconds and checked the temperature displayed at the top of the UI.
[Endure: 1°C // Current Temp: 25°C]
Is it really minus 25 degrees out here? With this wind blowing? I can only endure up to minus 1 degree?
Then the perceived temperature would be around minus 35 to 40 degrees. To avoid freezing to death, I had to move quickly. Besides, my only weapons are a pistol and a tomahawk.
I quickly organized my thoughts.
The first thing I need to do is… just like when I first fell here, I need to find any place to enter and grab a bunch of clothes to put on.
Before I turn into a snake-shaped ice statue, I started moving.
[Warning: Body temperature dropping below normal levels.]
[Suggestion: Enter a nearby house and wear clothing to withstand the cold.]
I know that, you tin can gear.
The surroundings… a snowstorm was raging so fiercely that it was difficult to keep my eyes open, but fortunately, this place had many low-rise buildings clustered together.
It wasn’t completely dark, and since the power was on, lights were on in various parts of the buildings.
But…
“Damn, really…!”
It’s so cold!
Fortunately, there were makeshift campfires made from cut-open drums with logs inserted inside, and most of them still had fires burning.
The cold was so unbearable that I approached one of the drums, feeling like I wanted to hug it.
My whole body felt hot as the chill subsided, but it didn’t solve the fundamental problem. My tail, especially, felt like it would freeze from the tip.
I couldn’t stay here.
So, I quickly entered a nearby building. It looked like a kind of low-rise mansion that definitely seemed like people had lived there before.
The boxes and toolboxes scattered around began to glow faintly.
When I approached and opened them, the boxes contained food, and the toolboxes had several gun parts and magazines. I stuffed them into my backpack and entered the open house.
Inside… of course, there was no sign of anyone.
With the slightly warmer air, several texts appeared before my eyes again.
[Suggestion: Detected acquisition of firearm parts. Assemble the firearm in the safe house to increase your survival chances.]
[Suggestion: Detected acquisition of food. Consume provisions to alleviate hunger.]
So, they were explaining in great detail that if you’re hungry, you should eat, and to survive, you should make better weapons. This wasn’t the case when I was on the mission.
Anyway, as I went inside, I saw faintly glowing wardrobes and cabinets. When I opened them, scarves and quite thick clothes spilled out.
“Oh, I’m going to freeze to death like this….”
Gasping for breath, I took off the useless protective suit and changed clothes. Rather, it was closer to just putting on everything available.
The cold was somewhat blocked, but it was still far from enough.
I pulled a thick winter knit hat over my head, put on two layers of thick winter knits, and wore the only gloves available, which were ordinary finger gloves. I had no choice but to use them.
I wrapped a thick scarf around my neck and tightly bound it to cover my tail as much as possible.
[Endure: 8°C // Current Temp: 27°C]
“Now I can survive.”
However, the UI at the top right clearly showed that the outside temperature had dropped even further. If I went out like this, I would just freeze again. If that happened, I would die miserably of exposure on the street.
Taking a deep breath, I stood up. There were still many houses nearby to search.
I wasn’t going to freeze to death today.
“Everyone, please, just one person speak at a time! Why is there so much to do? I’m just one person, but there are 8,000 of you! Even if you each say one word, that’s 8,000 words!”
Meanwhile.
As Yoo Jin was evolving into a super chubby anaconda to avoid freezing to death, Harmony was struggling with an overwhelming amount of information that seemed to drive her crazy.
The UI only showed the goal of making a virus filter to enter the contaminated area, but there was no way the Dark Zone was that simple of a game.
Since Yoo Jin wasn’t there, Harmony immediately hit the hint bell, but she was on the verge of being buried under data before freezing to death.
I’ve organized it, so look at this when you’re unsure and play the game
“Company That Can’t Count to 3, thank you for the 1,000 won donation. Okay, I’ll check it out right away….”
At the same time, she carefully opened the image.
However, it was a bit misleading to call it a picture specifically, it was a kind of cheat sheet. It detailed the basic mechanisms of Survival mode.
Normally, Harmony would have skimmed through and dismissed it, but today was different. She was alone in a world of survival of the fittest, without Yoo Jin.
When she tapped the top part with her finger, it nicely zoomed in.
[Initial Goal: Make Virus Filter]
[Tasks: Mainly 4 things Find Clothes/Make Weapons/Make Skills/Find Consumables]
[Find Clothes: Since the outside temperature fluctuates around minus 30 degrees, search the map for clothes. There are clothes in wardrobes inside houses or in bags left outside.]
[Make Weapons: Enemies are roaming outside, and rogue operators are also wandering. You can’t hold out with just a pistol, so use materials from toolboxes to make weapons in the safe house.]
[Make Skills: There’s a workshop in the safe house where you can make skills and weapons. Check it out and make something useful.]
[Find Consumables: Here, you’ll die if you’re hungry or thirsty. Medical supplies near ambulances can slow the progression of infection.]
“Damn it, why is there so much to do!?”
It’s not designed to be beaten on the first try lol
You need to die a few times to get the hang of it
Betting on her dying from hypothermia, open the betting pool already!
One of the hardest modes out there, you’re just here for the teacher’s gap moe
Just let her be lol She’ll figure it out after dying a few times
Was it really that difficult? This?
A famous line flashed through her mind: There’s no paradise to escape to… of course, she didn’t come here to escape, but it wasn’t paradise either.
If anything, it was an ice hell. Or to sound sophisticated, Blizzard Hell, something like that.
In any case, she couldn’t waste any more time here. She didn’t know why, but the time indicated as the survival time was slowly decreasing, and she also needed to find Yoo Jin.
Harmony took a deep breath and opened the door to go outside.
Thinking that the snowy scene freshly pulled from hell looked like this, the next moment she witnessed the magnificent combination of the snowstorm and Manhattan.
“…I’m going to die as soon as I step out!”
Of course, she didn’t die immediately.
While everything outside was freezing, the chat was on fire, urging her to hurry out, so she finally started exploring the surroundings, pushed by the invisible force.
Unlike someone else, her total compensation was close to 100%, so she couldn’t feel the cold, but even Harmony couldn’t ignore her avatar’s body gradually stiffening.
Even a little walking made her extremities creak like a poorly lubricated machine.
[Warning: Core temperature dropping below normal.]
“Wow! What do I do! Where’s a house around here? It’s probably because it’s too cold, guys
!”
Harmony hurriedly moved around, looking busy. From the viewers’ perspective, it was a hilariously entertaining combination.
Anyway, by coincidence, she was following a similar process as Yoo Jin. First, she entered any nearby place, searched the wardrobes, and put on all the remaining clothes to secure enough warmth to walk outside.
The only difference was that, unlike Yoo Jin, who immediately started searching buildings, Harmony was….
───Bang! Bang!
“Oh, what the hell!?”
Dealing with enemies wandering outside in this cold weather, she was truly playing a stubborn and desperate game, fitting the term ‘playing with a sore butt.’
Fortunately, due to the extreme cold, the enemies’ rifles frequently malfunctioned, allowing Harmony to barely survive by exploiting that.
After the last enemy fell to the icy ground, she carefully reloaded her pistol and spoke.
“Haa, I’m not going to live through this… I mean, guys. How long has it been since we started? Have we been wandering around for about 10 minutes? I still can’t find Yoo Jin. Is this normal?”
You get notified through the intercom when you’re close enough to your team member
If you trigger the alarm in the safe house, it notifies all nearby players
Just don’t die lol
Uh oh, she’s going to freeze to death!
First, make an assault rifle or something
“Haa, damn it. I’m going to freeze to death in the middle of the street….”
So, she began wandering around some unknown neighborhood again.
Time was gradually passing. She put on clothes, opened gear boxes scattered around to wear body armor, and made extended magazines and scopes, and even guns, in the safe house according to the viewers’ advice.
Before she knew it, Harmony was transitioning from a civilian with a gun to an operator.
When she started to feel a bit overconfident, thinking she was adapting well───
[Notification: Detected friendly operator within a 50m radius.]
“Oh! Something popped up, guys! This is my team member, right? Please tell me it’s them!”
With the chat filled with affirmative responses, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
It had only been about fifteen minutes of separation, but for Harmony, a world without Yoo Jin was too harsh. Various thoughts crossed her mind, like meeting a long-lost friend.
Where have they been while I was gone, are they okay, is there any danger around them….
The signal gradually got closer, and it soon reached the point where they could recognize each other’s positions in real-time.
And how long did it take, the two of them approached a point where only a corner separated them.
In a matter of seconds, a figure suddenly emerged from that corner. Although the blizzard made it difficult to see beyond a silhouette, anyone could tell it was Yoo Jin by the thick tail.
In a voice full of joy, Harmony spoke up.
“Teacher! Where have you been all this time… teacher!?”
But it wasn’t Yoo Jin who was there.
In other words, what was there wasn’t the tactical figure that viewers and the streamer were expecting,
but a super chubby anaconda wrapped in every piece of clothing, covered in snow, looking like a moving snowman.
With a thick winter hat tightly pulled over their head, the small fur ball on the end swayed in the wind.
It was a shockingly comical sight.
Specifically, the image changed in an instant from a reliable teacher who seemed capable of anything to someone with a cute, penguin-like demeanor.
With a smile mixed with various emotions, Harmony began to fuss.
“T-T-Teacher! What is this, ha-ha, no, ha-ha-ha! Why did you put on all the clothes like that!?”
“…I told you, I’m sensitive to the cold.”
“Ha-ha-ha, wait a minute. Ha-ha-ha, this is too funny! Teacher, oh, ha-ha-ha, guys, I’m laughing so hard my stomach hurts!”
??????
LOL
Who is that LOL
Where’s Yoo Jin and why is there a gun-toting snowman here LOL
This is killing me LOL
So freaking cute LOL
It was utter chaos.
Everyone was having a happy time.
Except for one person.