The holographic screen just floated silently in the middle of the bedroom, barely thirty centimeters from her nose—absurd beyond words.
[Detected no operation for a long time. Close control panel?]
The mechanical voice sounded again in her mind without warning, with a cold metallic friction like glass scraping.
She clenched her fist and silently answered "Yes." The pale blue light faded visibly, becoming transparent from the edges and vanishing cleanly in under a second.
Lin Mo stared at the empty air, dazed, until a sting in her palm brought her back—she'd unknowingly dug her nails deep into her palm.
"Pain... not a dream..."
After her parents died in a car accident, she had endured many things alone. Lin Mo didn't dwell on the shock for long; her brain gradually resumed functioning.
Calmly, she asked mentally, "Who are you?" The system gave no response.
"What is Snow Erosion?" She asked again, still no answer.
The system seemed somewhat intelligent, yet not that intelligent. Lin Mo paused, then said aloud, "Open control panel."
This time, the system reacted quickly. The pale blue translucent screen appeared abruptly before her again. Lin Mo stretched out a finger, tapping the screen repeatedly, trying to uncover more functions and secrets.
Countless thoughts surged in her mind: "Train Conductor? Doomsday? Global extreme low-temperature disaster?" If this sudden system wasn't lying, she had to quickly figure out how to deal with this extreme cold crisis.
In S City, winters were always humid and cold, but in previous years, a thin down jacket sufficed; the lowest was around -5°C. But this time was different—since it was called an "extreme low-temperature disaster, Snow Erosion," with the word "extreme," it could mean a temperature drop of over a dozen degrees.
A city this big would definitely shut down. Ordinary people would surely lack clothes and food. Heavy snow blocking roads, difficulty transporting grain—it would probably be worse than the two-month lockdown during the pandemic.
"Doomsday Train Safe-House System," "Join the Extreme Cold Train House Survival." Lin Mo chewed on these keywords, her heart sinking like lead.
When paired with survival keywords like doomsday, nothing good happens.
Unable to get more info from the system, she simply closed the control panel with her mind. Suddenly, an idea struck: "Go to Hainan! Even if the temperature drops twenty degrees, it's warmer than S City. Plus, Hainan is less densely populated, making government rescue and control easier."
She quickly opened an app and bought a noon flight, then dragged a suitcase from under the bed and packed efficiently.
Ever since her relatives fell out over her inheritance as the only child, Lin Mo had become truly alone.
But—
Two hours later, Lin Mo sat in a corner of a dessert shop on the street, dragging a half-tall suitcase, looking lost. The warm yellow light highlighted the exhaustion on her face.
She had discovered that she seemed bound by an invisible chain to this area. Whenever she tried to cross some unseen boundary, something would go wrong—taking a taxi, subway, or walking, all failed!
Absurd. Recalling her ordeal, Lin Mo irritably took a big gulp of her iced drink. She didn't need to guess—this was definitely caused by that morning system.
"Train Carriage Deployed..." The electronic voice from the morning echoed in her mind. Lin Mo's heart stirred. "I can't leave this area... Could it be because I can't get too far from the bound train?"
Where was the train? Maybe in her rental apartment? But it was invisible because it wasn't unlocked yet.
No use dwelling on it now. Better to finish the beginner mission first and figure out the system.
She canceled the flight ticket, looked up at the various pretty pastries in the shop, then tapped on her phone to order decisively.
If she had to stockpile 100kg of food and water, she might as well start now.
"10 cakes? 10 boxes of butter rice cakes?" The clerk in the striped apron leaned out, the aroma of baking wafting from the kitchen, thinking the customer had made a mistake.