Phoenix had emptied the entire warehouse of Walmart's Warehouse! Tens of billions of dollars worth of supplies, all of which had entered his alien space. He even pretended not to know anything and reported to Walmart's top management at the first opportunity. Soon, the news spread throughout the entire Walmart's South China region's top management.
A large group of leaders were shocked and rushed to the scene, calling the police to deal with the matter. Phoenix wasn't worried about being exposed at all. After all, in just two hours, an entire warehouse of tens of billions of dollars' worth of supplies had disappeared, which was too unbelievable to comprehend. Even with thorough police investigations, it was unlikely they would find anything in a short period of time.
He still pretended to be nervous and scared and cooperated with the police investigation. After a night of interrogation, Phoenix was released. On the police side, skepticism abounded regarding the incident. They reviewed videos inside and outside the warehouse, and while the internal videos were off, there were no traces of any vehicles passing by that could account for the disappearance of the supplies.
That meant tens of billions of supplies either vanished into thin air or it was a case of supervised theft by Walmart itself. The latter seemed more logical unless one were to believe in supernatural occurrences. As for Phoenix, while he had aroused some suspicion, there was no logical explanation for how the supplies vanished. Thus, he was ordered not to leave Solstice City for a short period of time and to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
Phoenix was very cooperative and was then released back home. On December 8, with only 4 days before the predicted ice age, he planned to stay home and not go anywhere, secure in the thought of the tens of billions of dollars' worth of supplies safely stored in his alien space.
After coordinating with the investigation and the strenuous night, Phoenix was tired and lay down to rest...
...
In the following days, Phoenix remained at home, aware that the time left for the world as he knew it was dwindling. For safety, he wouldn't leave his safe house. Even as acquaintances reached out over messages, Phoenix gave them vague responses.
Finally, December 12 arrived. The gamma rays brushed past Earth at two in the morning, a brief flash, but with devastating effects. Phoenix had sealed his room in advance and stoked the fire in his fireplace, anticipating the loss of modern heating. As the light outside briefly turned dusk to bright daylight, Phoenix, aware of the impending change, felt a chill run down his spine.
The snow began to fall, at first tiny, then quickly growing into a blizzard. The wind howled, and the city was buried in snow within minutes. Phoenix, observing from his safe house, felt nervous yet prepared. His home was warm, even hot, as the snow outside continued to accumulate.
Checking his phone, he saw the online uproar about the sudden winter onset, with people unprepared for the early and intense cold. Some rejoiced at the snow day, while others from warmer regions marveled at the snowfall.
Phoenix knew this was only the start. The snow would keep falling, and the temperature would drop further. The joy of the snow would soon turn to distress as the reality of the ice age set in.
In his safe house, with a stockpile of supplies and a secure shelter, Phoenix waited for the rest of the world to realize the severity of the situation. As the city turned into a winter landscape, Phoenix remained a silent observer, preparing for the long winter ahead.