"The leaves have withered, the temperature is dropping, and an unprecedented crisis is looming."
"This winter will be harsher than any we've faced before, and it will come earlier... the time left for us to prepare is rapidly dwindling."
"From this moment forward, we must seize every minute, every second! We must be ready for the coming cold snap before the situation spirals out of control!"
"The mission panel has been updated. It now lists the essential supplies, the necessary facilities, and the corresponding rewards."
"Remember, only by uniting can we overcome these trials!"
"The long winter approaches."
"This is the test of fate for us all!"
The words echoed in the shelter's assembly hall, stirring the hearts of the people.
As the players' determined gazes met his own, Chu Guang delivered an impassioned speech, marking the official opening of the game's first expansion—"The Long Winter Approaches."
With the new chapter unfolding, the atmosphere at the 404 shelter's forward base mirrored that of the official game website, beginning to shift into something unprecedented.
It wasn't just the players.
Even Chu Guang himself could feel the creeping urgency in the chilling air.
The shelter's supplies had always been limited, and now, with the population soaring from 6 to 30, the pressure on the forward base's resources had multiplied fivefold.
While the surge in population brought more labor, it also escalated the strain on their dwindling supplies.
Over the past few days, Chu Guang had been working tirelessly, almost from dawn till dusk, hunting with Ye Shi, who had the perception gene sequence, to stockpile as much food as possible.
The entire Linghu Wetland Park had been thrown into chaos by their hunting.
But despite the chaos, the results were truly rewarding.
In just three days, Chu Guang had killed over ten mutated hyenas, and had caught countless wild rabbits and squirrels with traps.
Though all were mutated creatures, they were still edible.
Meanwhile, Ye Shi, responsible for reconnaissance and vigilance, had successfully leveled up from lv0 to lv1, and Chu Guang felt he was on the verge of his own breakthrough.
However, the manager gene sequence was too unique for Chu Guang to discern the path to upgrading, so he had to rely on medical devices to confirm that his gene development had shown a slight improvement.
Elsewhere, the other players were also performing admirably, their resourcefulness on full display.
Old Bai and Fang Chang used charcoal as a reducing agent and through calcination, extracted a small amount of iron slag from rusty steel bars, car parts, and other ferrous scrap, which they then mixed with crushed limestone and clay to produce more reliable cement clinker.
This was no easy task.
Operating the blower by hand and transporting stones with a repaired wheelbarrow was physically demanding work.
But because of this, Old Bai leveled up again, advancing his strength gene sequence from lv1 to lv2, with a corresponding increase in his strength attribute.
Fang Chang, who had been working alongside him, also finally broke through, leveling up from lv0 to lv1.
However, his increased attribute was agility, not strength.
It seemed that while the development of gene sequences followed the "use it or lose it" principle, the attribute growth was another matter entirely.
As for Kuangfeng, he was arguably the most unfortunate player.
So far, among the four early access players, he was the only one still stuck at gene sequence level 0.
Despite catching plenty of fish with his improved traps, he was still just short of the "experience points" needed to level up to lv1.
Experience gained from capturing mutated species via traps didn't seem to compare to the points earned by directly defeating them in combat.
Kuangfeng was puzzled, but so far, no viable solution had presented itself.
Apart from the original four early access players, the two new players were just as enthusiastic, constantly occupied with tasks.
For instance, "WC Zhen You Mosquito" was not in a hurry to level up. He still focused on woodworking, occasionally helping Old Bai and Fang Chang or fixing the traps that Kuangfeng had broken.
Aside from those tasks, he was working on his own project.
According to Mosquito, he planned to build a simple wooden hut to serve as a chemistry lab and storage facility.
Over the past few days, while transporting stones from the construction site, he had collected various bottles and jars, which he placed beside the hut.
Although Chu Guang had doubts about the safety of the hut, he decided not to interfere with the players' choices, as Mosquito seemed genuinely content with his project.
In contrast to Mosquito's leisurely pace, "Tomato Scrambled Eggs" was the epitome of a workaholic.
As the shelter's chef, he was responsible not only for cooking but also for processing the game's spoils—bloodletting, skinning, deboning, cutting meat, and, most importantly, curing it.
Since the shelter had no luxury of salt for curing, Tomato used the most primitive method: he hung the meat on a steel frame, placed it in a kiln made of clay and mud bricks, and smoked it over charcoal, slowly drying the moisture out of the meat, sealing the opening with pine branches and leaves.
This method produced dried meat, akin to jerky, which could be preserved for a while even without salt and didn't require any fancy additions like tobacco leaves.
By next month, or mid-month at the latest, winter would arrive. The meat could be wrapped in plastic bags or tree bark and buried in the snow until spring, with no risk of spoilage.
However, the taste and flavor of this jerky left much to be desired.
Additionally, Tomato didn't waste the skins from the mutated hyenas but instead collected them to make leather.
Leather crafting was a complicated and tedious process, far more troublesome than making jerky.
Yet, the shelter didn't need fine, soft furs, only warm materials to protect against the cold. The quality of the leather didn't matter much.
Many unnecessary steps could be skipped.
When Old Bai had been making wood ash earlier, he had saved the potassium alkali water in a plastic barrel.
Tomato used this potassium alkali water as a tanning solution to soak the cleaned hides, allowing the leather to cure and harden.
Once the leather had been fully tanned, it was hung to dry on a makeshift rack, resulting in a leather of satisfactory quality.
"...Respected Manager, I must report that I am truly overwhelmed. I could really use some help, even just one person!"
Tomato, having taken the freshly hunted game from Chu Guang, found his gaze unconsciously drifting to Ye Shi, who appeared to have little to do.
Perhaps...
He could lend him a hand.
Ye Shi quickly caught onto Tomato's intentions and waved his hand, saying, "Don't look at me, I'm busy."
He wasn't about to waste this opportunity to level up by practicing cooking with Tomato!
Seeing Ye Shi's refusal, Tomato rolled his eyes in his mind, muttering to himself, "You're busy with what, exactly?"
Looking at the complaining Tomato, Chu Guang spoke in a calm tone.
"Ye Shi needs to help me scout and hunt, and his ability to sense danger is crucial. I can't spare him to help you. But I promise, your problem will soon be resolved. Our reinforcements are on their way and will reach the surface shortly."
"Alright, thank you... if that's the case, that would be wonderful."
Tomato sighed in relief, then paused before continuing.
"Another thing... While I've tried tanning leather, I can only do basic processing. As for turning it into clothing... I can't manage that."
Chu Guang smiled.
"Don't worry about that. We have people among the reinforcements who specialize in that. I'll leave the leatherworking and making of warm clothing to them."
Not just seamstresses.
Among the 24 new players he had selected, there were talents from various fields.
Although they weren't all experts in their respective industries, some of them were students, they could still contribute within their capabilities.
Moreover, they had the internet as a tool.
Chu Guang was confident in these energetic, eager players. As long as they worked hard, one day they would move into the big house.
It was going to be a steady, successful journey!