When Lin Chu opened the door, she saw a girl standing outside, about the same height as herself.

The girl still had a youthful look on her face, and her height was already nearly the same as Lin Chu’s.

Lin Chu estimated that she was probably around 16-18 years old.

The girl was holding a cup of water, with steam rising from the hot liquid inside.

“What were you doing inside? You locked the door and took so long to open it,” the girl said, tilting her head to peek inside through the crack of the door.

Aside from the blanket on the bed that was spread out, clearly someone had lain there, everything else was neatly arranged.

The girl’s expression softened a bit after seeing that.

“My mom said you’re my cousin, is that true?” she asked.

Lin Chu thought for a moment, about to respond, but the girl spoke first, “Don’t wait for an answer. My mom went out to supervise my dad, so no one will speak up for you.”

“Your mom probably mistook me for someone else,” Lin Chu replied.

The girl was momentarily stunned by Lin Chu’s honesty, as she had expected this “cousin” to insist on lying.

She had planned to expose the lie and kick her out.

But hearing the truth from Lin Chu made her frown deeply.

“You’re really annoying. Here, drink this hot water quickly. Although your head will hurt after drinking it, the symptoms will gradually ease, and you should recover in two or three days.”

The cup was a handle mug. The girl pushed past Lin Chu, entering the room and placing the cup on the table.

“This room belongs to my brother. Don’t touch anything inside. After you recover, leave as soon as possible.”

Seeing that Lin Chu didn’t respond, the girl stomped her foot in frustration, “Did you hear me?”

Lin Chu gazed out the window at the snow.

The snow was now heavier than when she had first arrived, and the world outside was a vast expanse of white, with a bleak, desolate air in the atmosphere.

“When will the snow stop?” Lin Chu asked.

The girl instinctively replied, “I’m not a weather forecaster, how would I know? Anyway, the last two times, it stopped after a day or two.”

After speaking, the girl realized that Lin Chu hadn’t responded to her question. She pouted and was about to remind her again when she heard footsteps coming upstairs.

The girl’s expression changed, and she quickly stepped out of the bedroom.

“Drink the hot water quickly, don’t let my mom find out.”

As she closed the bedroom door behind Lin Chu, the girl paused, biting her lip, and stared at Lin Chu seriously, “Listen to me, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

With that, she closed the door to Lin Chu’s room.

Lin Chu finally lowered the hand she had been hiding behind her back, and the rusty fruit knife she had been carrying was returned to her space.

Even with the Crisis Awareness skill, she didn’t dare let her guard down.

Outside the door, the girl ran back to her own room and quickly slammed the door.

The sound of her door closing coincided with the sound of the front door opening.

“Ugh, what’s that annoying girl doing now?”

Her aunt had changed into her slippers and went to knock on the door.

“Stubborn girl, your dad just came back all soaked in snow. Hurry up, stop dawdling. I’m doing this for your own good. After getting soaked once, you’ll no longer be afraid of the cold.”

She knocked twice but got no response. Behind her, a weak voice came, “Old Wu, don’t worry about the child. My head hurts so much…”

“Alright, alright, I’ll help you back to bed,” came the reply.

Footsteps sounded again, walking into the bedroom next to Lin Chu’s.

The aunt glanced at the cup of hot water on the table, now losing steam, and put both the cup and the water into her space. She then used a tissue to wipe the water ring left on the table.

Afterward, she pulled the blanket off the bed and lay down on it.

The blanket must have been taken out of the cupboard and hadn’t been slept on yet, as it still had the smell of mothballs.

She had barely lain down when there was a knock at the door.

Lin Chu sat up and ruffled her hair.

Although she had just washed her hair and it hadn’t dried yet, she had also been caught in the snow earlier, and the slightly damp hair was just the right cover.

Before she could get up to open the door, the doorknob was turned.

The door that the girl had closed earlier hadn’t been locked, and it opened with a twist.

The door was cracked open, and a brownish-red curly-haired head peeked through the gap.

When their eyes met, her lips stretched into a broad smile.

“Big niece, did your cousin just come and bother you?”

After saying that, her gaze shifted to the desk.

Other than her son’s books, there was nothing on the desk.

“Your cousin said she had never seen me, so she came to take a look at what I looked like.”

Lin Chu pressed her head, leaning back against the bed. Her voice was slow and soft, sounding a little weak.

She didn’t hide the fact that the girl had been there.

After all, the girl had coincidentally run into her aunt opening the door to enter when she left. There was no need to lie about it.

Hearing that Lin Chu was telling the truth, the aunt’s smile deepened.

“Your cousin… sigh…” The aunt sighed.

“Recently, the weather suddenly turned this cold. Everyone’s saying the apocalypse is coming, and the authorities aren’t taking care of us anymore. A while ago, even the water supply stopped.”

“Your cousin, she… heard people online saying the end is near and got all scared. She’s been acting paranoid, so just ignore her, alright?”

“In my opinion, the so-called apocalypse is just nature selecting the people who are fit to survive.”

“Survival of the fittest. We’ve been soaked in snow, so we can withstand the cold. We’re the ones chosen by nature. All that talk about the apocalypse is nonsense. The authorities aren’t even in chaos yet. The power supply still comes back on sometimes.”

Lin Chu quickly processed the information in her mind while responding to her aunt:

“Your cousin is young, just at that age where she wants to be different, I understand.”

The aunt nodded in satisfaction, “Good, good, good, you’re definitely my big niece. Remember, don’t drink hot water these next couple of days.”

After Lin Chu agreed, she winced, holding her head, “Aunt, my head still hurts, I want to lie down first…”

“Ah, look at me, almost forgot, I’ve been talking too much. Big niece, you should rest well.”

“Your cousin will understand soon enough. After all, we are family…”

The curly-haired aunt stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her with care.

Lin Chu’s feigned weakness slowly faded.

From their conversation, she gathered several pieces of information:

1. The apocalypse had only just begun.
2. The authorities had stopped the water supply.

And… that girl seemed different from her parents. She didn’t believe that getting soaked in snow could help someone resist the cold.

But… if the authorities had stopped the water supply, then what had the girl used to make that hot water?

Lin Chu knew that in an A-level extreme cold world, it couldn’t just be regular extreme cold.

So… what was the information she might have missed from her daily task activation?