Chapter 279: Low Temperature

Chen Ling watched the figure busy at the counter, sleeves rolled up, lost in thought.

Honestly, Ji Guang Jun felt completely different from what he had imagined. The first time he saw him at the base, even without opening his eyes, he emanated an inexplicable "divinity." Now that he was awake, "humanity" seemed to have taken over his body.

Although he still exuded Ji Guang Jun's unique aura with every gesture, the two qualities were cleverly combined; "divinity" and "humanity" coexisted perfectly.

Ji Guang Jun turned around. "What would you like to drink?"

"...A latte is fine," Chen Ling replied, his expression odd.

"Alright."

"..." Chen Ling hesitated for a moment, then couldn't help but ask, "Ji... Dr. Yang, do the people at the Aurora Base know you left?"

"No, but they should know by now."

Hearing this, Chen Ling could already imagine the chaos at the base. Ji Guang Jun's sudden disappearance would have driven both the base and the Enforcers' headquarters into a frenzy searching for him. But who would have thought he'd be leisurely making coffee for a "world-ending" calamity here?

"Why did you leave the base?"

"No reason," Ji Guang Jun said after a moment of silence, his gaze fixed on the frosted window outside. "I... just wanted to go out for a walk."

As Chen Ling was about to ask more, Ji Guang Jun's face suddenly changed!

"Cough, cough, cough, cough—"

He abruptly put down the grinder and started coughing violently. His old lungs rattled like a broken bellows, producing hoarse and weak coughs that echoed through the deserted coffee shop.

At this moment, though Ji Guang Jun's face still looked like that of a twenty-something young man, his voice sounded like someone in their eighties or nineties.

Chen Ling immediately got up and saw Ji Guang Jun's white hair disheveled over his shoulders. With his violent coughing, trickles of dull, dark blood flowed from between his fingers, dripping onto the ground...

In the courtyard, a bonfire blazed, its fierce flames dispelling some of the cold and adding a touch of red to the frosty white surroundings.

Chu Muyun sat by the bonfire, holding a few pieces of firewood, tossing them into the flames periodically, creating crackling sounds.

As a figure swept over the courtyard wall, the burning flames suddenly swirled with the wind. Chu Muyun seemed to sense something and turned to one side, seeing Bai Ye and Jian Changsheng standing there, having arrived at some unknown time.

Chu Muyun's eyes lit up slightly when he saw Jian Changsheng. "You're back? Where's Red Heart 6?"

Jian Changsheng's mouth twitched, his expression somewhat gloomy. "...I don't know."

"You don't know? Weren't you acting together?"

"That guy... he seems to have sold me out..."

Jian Changsheng explained the whole story, and Chu Muyun fell into thought.

"Red Heart 6 shouldn't be that kind of person... hmm... but it's hard to say," Chu Muyun sighed. "Anyway, you're still not sure if he got out of the base, are you?"

"Right."

"Do you need me to go take a look?" Bai Ye leaned against the wall and spoke slowly.

"...No need. That kid is quite capable; he should be fine. But if you went and alerted 'her,' none of us could beat her."

"The legendary Asura leader?" Bai Ye mused. "Indeed, very tricky."

Chu Muyun tossed the remaining firewood into the flames all at once, then slowly stood up and walked to the other side of the courtyard, plucking all the branches from the trees in the yard. The once beautiful trees immediately became bare poles.

"By the way, why are you starting to burn your own trees?"

"Science has regressed; the heating system in Aurora City has failed. If we want to stay warm, we have to find our own ways... Now, the outside is chaotic with people buying coal. Anyway, we can't take anything from this courtyard with us, so we might as well burn it all."

"Heating failed?" Jian Changsheng was startled. "Without heating in this cold weather, people will freeze to death..."

"Many people have already frozen to death, and the temperature is still dropping..."

Chu Muyun sighed, his gaze turning to the Aurora City outside the courtyard wall, which was completely covered in ice and snow, as if recalling something. "Another human purgatory is about to be born."

"The temperature drop came too suddenly, and the Aurora has clearly started to become unstable..." Bai Ye looked up at the sky, pulling the brim of his baseball cap down, his expression unreadable. "Time is almost up."

"Yes... it's time for it to end."

Jian Changsheng listened to their baffling conversation and couldn't help but ask, "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing. You'll know in due time."

Jian Changsheng scoffed and turned to walk out the gate.

"Where are you going?"

"Just going for a walk," Jian Changsheng said as he pushed the door open and left.

Bai Ye turned to Chu Muyun. "Is it appropriate for him to be running around outside at this time?"

"What's inappropriate about it?" Chu Muyun shrugged. "He's so hard to kill; it's not a big deal."

Bai Ye: ...

After Jian Changsheng stepped outside, a cold gust of wind hit him, making him shiver.

"So cold... people are really going to die," Jian Changsheng muttered, shrinking his neck, and walked in a certain direction.

He wasn't merely bored by going out into the cold; Aurora City was in disarray, and there were people he cared about in the city. He couldn't feel at ease without checking on them.

However, after only a few steps, he saw several figures stumbling and running towards him.

"Young man... young man!"

"Young man, do you have any charcoal left at home?"

"If you have any charcoal, please share some with me... my son is almost frozen to death!"

"Me too! Please give me some first! My husband is sick in bed, he can't go without something to keep warm..."

"Everything we could burn at home is gone... tables, chairs... apart from the clothes on our backs to keep warm, we really have nothing left..."

"Please, I'm begging you... whether it's charcoal or wood pieces... just give me anything! Young man, I'll kowtow to you..."

These were a group of elderly women. They grabbed Jian Changsheng's clothes and began to plead bitterly. The water droplets on their eyelashes had frozen into ice particles, and their faces were as pale as the snow beneath them.

Jian Changsheng was stunned. He saw one of the elderly women fall to her knees with a thud and immediately said:

"Don't... don't! I don't have what you need either... please look elsewhere."

Hearing this, expressions of despair appeared on the women's faces. They dazedly turned around and walked mechanically into the distance, seemingly without direction.

Thud.

One of the elderly women swayed and fell face down into the snow.