The Ice Age has begun.
In Haicheng, a southern city, heavy snow started falling early in the morning. People all over social media were talking about it, some complaining, some feeling relieved.
Some were upset by the sudden snowstorm, worried about how it might affect their daily routines.
Others, however, found beauty in the snow, even feeling a bit lucky.
But none of them knew that this snowstorm wasn't just a temporary thing—it would keep intensifying and last much longer.
In the end, it would bring a disaster that no one could handle.
Right now, however, Zhang was lounging on his cozy sofa at home, enjoying the warmth of his climate-controlled living room, sipping on a cold Budweiser, and feeling completely at ease.
Suddenly, his phone rang.
He checked the screen—there were messages flooding in from his chat groups.
There was his school group, his hobby group, and his neighborhood group.
"Oh my God, why is it snowing so heavily all of a sudden? The weather forecast didn't say anything about this!"
"I got woken up in the middle of the night—had to turn on the heat right away!"
"Our air conditioner sucks! It's been running for hours and it's still freezing!"
"Anyone know how long this cold front is gonna last? I still haven't bought my winter clothes!"
Everyone was talking at once, voicing their concerns.
But Zhang noticed that most people didn't seem to take the sudden temperature drop too seriously. In fact, some of them were kind of thrilled by it.
Zhang knew better. This was just the beginning.
He yawned and decided not to pay any more attention to the chat.
Turning off his phone, he rolled back into his warm bed, pulled the soft velvet blanket over him, and closed his eyes.
His bed was ridiculously comfortable, a luxury mattress he bought from a warehouse sale at Walmart.
Apparently, the mattress was some celebrity's model, worth 3 million yuan.
Outside, the snowstorm raged on, but inside, it was warm and cozy.
The fireplace crackled away, and the temperature was perfect.
In this kind of comfort, Zhang quickly drifted off to sleep.
…
The next morning, Zhang was woken up by the sound of his phone ringing.
He opened his eyes and saw that it was a call from Fang.
Zhang groggily grabbed the phone, annoyed at being disturbed so early.
"What's up? Why are you calling me this early?" he asked, his tone colder than usual.
On the other end, Fang was momentarily caught off guard by his frosty response.
But she quickly regained her composure and said, "Zhang, it's freezing outside! Did you know this cold front was coming? You stocked up on supplies, didn't you?"
Her voice trembled a little, clearly struggling with the cold.
Zhang couldn't help but smirk at her words.
Typical Fang—she never missed a chance to get something out of him.
He lazily replied, "I heard it from a friend, but I didn't think it would get this bad."
He tossed the blanket aside, feeling the warmth of the room.
It was so warm that he was starting to sweat.
He slipped on his slippers and walked toward the floor-to-ceiling window. When he looked outside, his eyes widened.
The entire city was buried under snow. The streets were completely hidden, and all that could be seen were the outlines of buildings.
Many houses had their first floors nearly submerged.
And the snow wasn't stopping—it was still coming down in thick, fluffy flakes, blanketing everything in sight.
Fang's voice continued from the phone. "No wonder you stocked up so much. Zhang, you really should've told me earlier. Now I'm freezing!"
Zhang furrowed his brow. He couldn't believe she was actually blaming him.
Without a word, he hung up the phone and tossed it aside.
Then he went into the bathroom and took a nice, hot shower.
Afterward, he pulled out some top-quality A5 wagyu from his supplies and cooked a steak, making himself a hearty breakfast of steak and pasta.
As he enjoyed his meal, he turned on the TV to check the news.
There had been no power outages yet, so the TV was still working fine.
Even if the power went out, Zhang was prepared—he had backup generators, plenty of fuel, and enough batteries to last him for decades.
He switched to the morning news channel.
Despite knowing exactly what was happening outside, Zhang still found it amusing to watch the news for entertainment.
On the screen, both hosts were wearing heavy down jackets.
That was unusual because TV stations always had top-notch air conditioning, and they were usually among the first to get power when there was an outage.
But even in a TV studio, the cold was too much for the AC to handle.
The female host, trying her best to sound calm, spoke into the camera:
"Last night, a massive cold front swept across the globe, causing dramatic temperature drops everywhere. Temperatures have plummeted by 70 to 100 degrees Celsius in many regions."
"The meteorological authorities are still investigating the cause of this extreme cold wave."
"In the coming days, please remember to stay warm and protect yourself from frostbite."
"Unless absolutely necessary, avoid going outside."
"The government is working on the issue and assures the public that there is no need to panic."
"Please do not spread rumors or engage in hoarding. The snowstorm will pass soon."
Zhang couldn't help but laugh derisively at the news.
In this Ice Age, survival would depend on your ability to take care of yourself. Sitting at home, waiting for the government to fix everything, would mean you wouldn't last long.
The temperature on the screen now showed that Haicheng had dropped to -65°C.
Just yesterday, the temperature had been a mild 15°C, meaning the temperature had plummeted by a staggering 80°C overnight.
Zhang shrugged. This was almost exactly like what had happened in his past life.
But for now, he was still in his pajamas, sipping red wine, eating steak and pasta—completely unfazed by the outside cold.
After all, this was his 8 million yuan "safe house," built with top-tier insulation and state-of-the-art temperature control. The inside temperature hardly fluctuated.
Just then, his phone buzzed again.
With some curiosity, Zhang picked it up, eager to see what the neighbors who had mocked him earlier were talking about.
The first message he saw was from Fang.
"Zhang, why did you suddenly hang up on me?"
"It's so cold outside, I can't even go out. Don't you have a lot of food? Could you spare some for me? I'll pay you back once the storm is over."
Zhang raised an eyebrow, a cold smile tugging at his lips.
Fang had finally realized that food would become incredibly scarce and expensive in the coming days.
She didn't want to brave the freezing temperatures and wanted to get food from Zhang instead.
But Zhang knew that this Ice Age wouldn't be over anytime soon, and he had no intention of helping Fang.
In his previous life, he had given her food out of sympathy, only for her to betray him later.
She'd even had him killed and used his bones for soup.
Zhang wasn't about to fall for her tricks again.
With a twisted grin, he typed a reply.
"You should've asked earlier. Most of my food is already gone. Just this morning, I made steak for breakfast!"
He even took a selfie of himself in his pajamas, with the steak and wine on the table, and sent it to her.