Chapter 326 - 229: Saint Tier Little Golden Tiger, a Meteor from the Heavens
Chapter 326: Chapter 229: Saint Tier Little Golden Tiger, a Meteor from the Heavens
Lei Jiaming was tempted, but ultimately he shook his head. "I should stick to my main duties."
After all, compared to hunting wild boars, the company’s livestreaming sales business was the real priority. Shipping services couldn’t be suspended forever; they would likely resume as soon as the weather improved even slightly.
Even if the shipping companies couldn’t come for pickups, he could still deliver the packages to them himself.
Besides security, this was his main responsibility. ’Can’t let my sister and a bunch of young girls do this kind of work, can I?’
Li Xiang nodded, quite satisfied. But he added, "As long as it doesn’t interfere with your work, you can still try to climb the leaderboard. I can lend you my man-portable active phased-array radar. Just make sure the area around the village is secure before you head out to more distant places."
In truth, even if Lei Jiaming and his men left, with so many Spirit Pets around, there was no way a few wild boars could ever pose a threat to Li Family Village.
Seeing Lei Jiaming hesitate, Li Xiang added, "You could form a team under the banner of the Dark Saint Realm or Eternal Night Media. Think of it as free advertising for the company. Plus, leading everyone on hunts is a good way to build up experience ahead of time."
During the Apocalypse, with Demon Beasts running rampant, people will need to go out on hunts or sweep the mountains to ensure the safety of the areas surrounding their bases.
Hearing this put Jiaming’s mind at ease. He immediately promised to give it his all, as long as it didn’t interfere with his primary duties.
Lei Family Gully had always maintained a martial tradition and had a stock of Fine Steel Spearheads. After a quick session with a Sharpening Stone and being mounted on Vine Sticks, they would become deadly weapons.
With Lei Jiaming’s current skill, he could easily kill even a thousand-pound wild boar with a single spear thrust.
The snow that had fallen for days finally stopped. Li Xiang organized the security team to help the villagers clear it away.
There was no need to clear the snow in the scenic area. No tourists would be visiting in such foul weather.
The treacherous roads were one thing, but for southerners, this "extreme cold" was something they were simply not used to.
While Sichuan Province wasn’t as far south as Yunnan Province or Guangdong Province, it was still considered part of the south. Past winters had been cold, but never as "extreme" as this.
The temperature wasn’t just dropping to over ten degrees below zero Celsius—at night, it even plunged past negative twenty. The real problem, however, was the wind.
A vicious wind howled, its chill piercing straight to the bone like a knife. Who could possibly endure that?
To southerners, this was no ordinary wind; it felt unnatural. Skinnier people could barely keep their balance while walking outside. If you went out without a hat, the encroaching cold felt like it was trying to slice your scalp right off.
Some southerners wondered aloud, "My god, how on earth did people in the ancient north ever survive this?"
After all, the north was this cold every year.
Of course, the north was even colder this year. It was said that tigers from Siberia, which typically only ventured as far as the Northeast (hence the name Northeast Tiger), had been spotted elsewhere. This year, a wild Northeast Tiger was found within the borders of Hebei.
The tiger had wandered into a village and injured a resident before being captured by the forestry department. It only went down after being shot with three tranquilizer darts.
The forestry department then released the tiger back into the mountains. Unfortunately, it didn’t head back north as expected. Instead, it continued its journey south, and the department was now tracking it closely.
It had been fitted with a tracking device during its capture, so they could immediately apprehend it if it caused any trouble.
Some experts worried that letting the tiger continue south could, for one, threaten public safety, and for two, cause it to miss its chance to reproduce.
All the other Northeast Tigers were up north; it was the only one heading south. If it traveled too far, how would it find a mate and produce cubs?
The forestry department announced they wouldn’t let it get too far. After a few days of observation, they planned to tranquilize it again and transport it to a suitable tiger sanctuary.
A convoy from the forestry department operated drones that circled near the tiger. The drones were equipped with tranquilizer guns, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.
Regardless, it was a clear sign that the north was getting colder—so cold that even tigers were fleeing south.
Meanwhile, Sichuan Province had reached a level of cold typical of northern regions in past years.
"This kind of harsh weather is probably nothing new for the north," a Sichuanese person lamented, feeling sorry for the ancients. "In the old days, the poor had no proper winter clothes—forget about down jackets—and no money for firewood. They must have frozen to death."
People in rural areas could probably chop some firewood, but city dwellers had to buy firewood or charcoal to stay warm. If they couldn’t afford it, they had no choice but to tough it out, right? Besides, anyone who couldn’t even afford firewood was definitely not eating well or dressing warmly, which meant their resistance to the cold would be even lower.
The saying "the roads are lined with frozen bones" wasn’t just a figure of speech.
In ancient times, "firewood" was the very first of the "seven necessities of life": firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea. The mountains near any settlement would have been stripped bare, with not even a weed left behind.
Otherwise, you wouldn’t have stories like "The Old Charcoal Seller," about a man who made charcoal but couldn’t bear to use any himself to stay warm.
It was a stark contrast to the present, where the mountains surrounding Li Family Village were so dense and lush that one could hardly find a path leading up them.
It was only after Li Xiang’s return that a few mountain paths had been laboriously carved out.
Everyone was worried. If this extreme weather persisted for several more years, more than half the local flora would likely die off. These plants had always grown in the south and weren’t adapted to such severe cold.
Snow fell outside, and every so often, a loud CRACK echoed through the air as tree branches, weighed down by snow or frozen brittle, snapped and broke.
There was no need to worry about the trees in Li Xiang’s backyard, however. Every day, Little Fox and Er Huang would go out and shake them to knock off the accumulated snow. On top of that, precautions against the frost had been taken well in advance.
Their bases had been fertilized, their trunks painted white, and they were wrapped in plastic film and straw ropes.
The unripe persimmons hanging on the branches weren’t as red as in previous years, but they were still exceptionally alluring, adding a splash of vibrant life to the silver-draped world.