Leo accepted the Red Packet. In his system space, a new iron sword and an iron helmet appeared. The helmet covered his entire head and neck, and the one-meter-long sword gleamed with a sharp, cold light.
Although Leo didn't know much about weapon craftsmanship, just one look told him the boss's gifts were of incredible quality.
[Starving Platform]: "Thanks, boss. I feel a lot safer now."
[Freezing Cold]: "Thank you, boss. I really love the chair—it's the perfect height."
Molly had already placed the wooden slab beside her stove, sitting by the fire while reading the group chat.
[Super Block Man] sent a Red Packet to "Boiling Alive."
[Super Block Man]: "@Boiling Alive, Felix, I sent you a few cups of water. Check your receipt."
Ian had just used his Transmutation Tablet to generate a cubic meter of ice from smaller ice cubes. He placed two blocks of ice on his newly built wooden platform, surrounded them with wooden slabs, then broke them—creating an infinite water source.
Originally, he wanted to fill a few iron buckets with water to send, but curiosity struck. He wondered if he could repair damaged cups using the tablet. Sure enough, it worked. That little discovery opened up a world of possibilities for him.
[Super Block Man]: "By the way, Molly, I remember you've been in the group for quite a while and must've transmigrated earlier than us. Can you tell us what it's like on your side?"
[Freezing Cold]: "Sure thing, boss."
Molly curled up in a small room inside a modified underground storage facility. The fire in the furnace crackled, stretching her shadow long across the concrete wall.
She tightened her thick down jacket and looked around at the supplies stacked neatly around her—boxes of compressed biscuits, freeze-dried vegetables, and other rations all sealed tight with waterproof tape.
Looking at them, she couldn't help but recall the hectic months that had passed.
It had been several months since Molly transmigrated into a world of eternal frost—the Frozen Apocalypse. The moment she arrived, she was added to the Transmigrator Group Chat. At first, she'd been thrilled. She thought she'd hit the jackpot—reborn in a new world with a group chat? A bright future awaited!
But her excitement didn't last. The group had only two people, and the other never replied. Back then, she hadn't thought much of it, but now… maybe that person hadn't survived.
Still, the chat wasn't useless. It identified her world as the Frozen Apocalypse. That warning gave her, a girl who had just inherited her deceased parents' estate, time to prepare.
After searching survival guides online, she managed to rent this warehouse—three stories underground and one above—in the central region.
Why not move to the warmer south? For several reasons. First, during an ice age, there wasn't much difference between the central and southern regions anyway. Whether it was -60°C or -80°C, both could freeze a person solid.
Unless she fled abroad to a country near the equator, things wouldn't improve—but she'd never left the country and knew nothing about that, so she dropped the idea.
Besides, while people liked to joke that the south had "magical cold" and the north had "physical cold," the truth was simple: northern buildings were built for insulation. That made surviving the freeze much easier there.
After renting the warehouse, she hired workers to divide off a small room on the lowest floor.
She modified it for warmth, installing a small coal boiler for heat, adding ventilation, and reinforcing the exhaust pipes so they wouldn't collapse under snow or wind.
Then she began stocking up—household goods, survival tools, medicine, and massive amounts of food.
Following a job ad she saw on the street, she contacted a small-time supervisor at a coal mine and, after slipping him a Red Packet, managed to buy coal in bulk through his cousin's supply line—dirt cheap.
Some went inside the warehouse; the rest she piled up outside, covered under waterproof tarps. That used up nearly all her money.
Soon after, the news reported an upcoming temperature collapse, warning everyone to "stay warm." That was when Molly knew—the end of her world had arrived.
She'd tried to warn others, spreading messages online and urging people to prepare, but most dismissed her as a clickbait influencer chasing fame. Only a few took her seriously and stocked up a little food.
Some even reached out later, asking her to promote their "apocalypse rations." She had no idea if the food was any good—but the prices sure weren't cheap.
Once the temperature began to plummet for real, she took out multiple loans and hired workers to dig several large pits in her courtyard, turning them into makeshift cellars filled with supplies.
She also bought expensive tools and machines, thinking that maybe—just maybe—if the world ever thawed again, she could make use of them.
Most likely, they'd never see the light of day. But it didn't matter. She had enough food to last a lifetime—maybe several, if she could somehow live that long.
As for drinking water, she hadn't stored much. In a Frozen Apocalypse, snow and ice were everywhere—how could she ever run out?
Her preparations were airtight. She'd been careful to keep everything secret, buying food through multiple middlemen and covering her tracks. Not out of selfishness—but because in the end times, if anyone learned she had this much food, she wouldn't live long enough to eat it.
With everything set, Molly spent her days quietly warning others while waiting for the inevitable.
Then one day, the global weather system went berserk. Hurricanes tore across continents, and temperatures dropped by dozens of degrees overnight.
And just like that, the planet fell into a new Ice Age. The Frozen Apocalypse had begun.