Chapter 427: Chapter 427: Cold Air 2
A thought struck Evelyn. She emerged from her space and walked over to Wendy. Taking her hand, she tried to bring her into the space, but it didn’t work.
Evelyn tried with the others but failed again. It seemed no one except her and Ronan Kendrick could enter the space.
Evelyn rekindled the fire and took out a battery pack and a desk lamp. The cave was instantly as bright as day.
Evelyn checked on everyone. Their conditions were all similar to Ronan Kendrick’s: their heartbeats and pulses were abnormal, their faces were flushed, and they were showing signs of hypothermia.
Evelyn took a few straw mats from her space and laid electric blankets on top of them. She moved everyone onto the mats, then took out a generator and started it up. Once the electric blankets were connected to the power, Evelyn turned them to the highest setting. Then, she removed the helmets from Wendy, Zoe, and Wyatt Vaughn.
While she worked, Evelyn checked on her space. Ronan Kendrick was still unconscious. Worried about leaving him in the space alone, she moved him out and placed him on the straw mat next to Quincy.
The sound of the generator drowned out the crackling of the burning wood in the cave. When Evelyn had finished everything, she collapsed wearily onto a nearby rock and watched over everyone.
’Why am I the only one who’s conscious? What I don’t get is, given Ronan Kendrick’s physique, why does he seem to be in the worst condition?’
Evelyn’s brow furrowed. She took out her pocket watch to check the time. Surprisingly, only two hours had passed since the cold air had swept in.
’It took me an hour to get everyone settled, so I was only unconscious for an hour?’
Evelyn had no time to let her mind wander. She took out a few packets of herbs and an herb pot from her space and began to brew a medicinal concoction. The rainwater she had collected before was no longer drinkable, so she brought out a bucket of water from her space. After glancing at everyone, she took out several more cotton quilts and covered them.
Time ticked by. An hour later, Evelyn administered the brewed herbal medicine to everyone. She then sat beside Ronan Kendrick, watching him with a worried expression.
"Ronan Kendrick, how am I supposed to save you all?"
An idea came to Evelyn. She took a box of emergency medication out of her space. There wasn’t much left, and she didn’t even know if it would work. If their body temperatures returned to normal but they still didn’t wake up, her only choice would be to give each of them a dose.
Evelyn waited for another two hours. Everyone’s bodies had warmed up, but no one had woken up yet. She quickly gave them the emergency medication. When it was Ronan Kendrick’s turn, Evelyn gave him two extra doses and even bit her own finger, dripping her blood into his mouth.
Evelyn stared at the fire. Another half hour passed, and still, there was no response from anyone. Her hands began to tremble. ’My medical skills seem like a joke right now. I don’t know how to save them. I can’t save them.’
Evelyn held one of Ronan Kendrick’s hands. Before she knew it, tears were streaming down her face.
"Don’t cry." The hoarse voice made Evelyn freeze. She turned to look at Ronan Kendrick and found him watching her with a gentle smile.
"Don’t cry. I’m awake." Evelyn stared blankly for a few seconds before throwing herself into his arms, her words choked with sobs.
"Ronan Kendrick, you scared me to death! Do you have any idea how terrified I was that you wouldn’t wake up? Why did it take you so long?"
Ronan Kendrick coughed a few times and raised a hand to wipe the tears from Evelyn’s face.
"Sorry. I must have been too exhausted to wake up sooner. Does your head still hurt?"
"How can you be worried about my head at a time like this?" Evelyn felt a mix of exasperation and heartache.
Evelyn hastily wiped away her tears and poured Ronan Kendrick a cup of hot water. Ronan glanced at the others, immediately understanding the situation.
"How are they?"
"They were all hypothermic. Luckily, I woke up in time and put them on electric blankets. Their temperatures have come back up, but they just won’t wake up. I gave them the emergency medication and the herbal medicine, but it doesn’t seem to have had any effect."
Ronan Kendrick drank the hot water, and some color returned to his lips. He sat up on the straw mat and stared at Quincy, who was lying beside him, for a long time.
"I’ve heard stories about people who go missing in an avalanche and get buried under the ice and snow. Many years later, when the ice suddenly melts, the people buried beneath come back to life."
Evelyn looked at Ronan Kendrick. "Where did you read that?"
"In one of the books you gave me."
Evelyn was silent for a moment. "But they weren’t completely hypothermic, and they’re all still breathing. Maybe they’ll wake up in a couple of days."
Ronan Kendrick shook his head. "I have a feeling they’ve entered a state of hibernation. They might not wake up until the sun comes out."
Evelyn scratched her head. "Then what do we do?"
"Does this mean we can enter the space now?" Ronan Kendrick suddenly changed the subject.
"Yes. I tried earlier. My whole body can go in now. I just don’t know for how long."
"Let’s test it." With that, Ronan Kendrick took Evelyn’s hand and pulled her directly into the space. Evelyn took out her pocket watch. They were in the planting area, where time passed naturally, the same as outside.
Seeing the two of them, all the animals went into a frenzy, trying to rush over. Unfortunately for them, a boundary separated the livestock area from the planting area. They could see the couple, but they couldn’t reach them.
Evelyn was still worried about the situation outside, so she left the pocket watch with Ronan Kendrick, letting him run a test inside while she went back out to check on the others.
An hour later, however, Ronan Kendrick came out.
"I can only stay inside for an hour. As soon as the time was up, I was forced out."
Evelyn tapped her chin. "If there’s an emergency, we won’t have to panic anymore; we can just hide in the space. Still, you can’t get much work done in only an hour."
Evelyn always felt that her space wasn’t fully developed and had a lot of bugs. Others couldn’t enter, so she had no choice but to leave them lying in the cave. But when three days passed and they still hadn’t woken up, Evelyn started to panic.
"It really looks like they’re in hibernation. Ronan Kendrick, I want to go check on the situation outside."
"I’ll go. You stay here." After three days of rest, Ronan Kendrick had fully recovered. He put on a coat and hat, moved aside the rock blocking the entrance, removed the log braced against the door, and then opened it and stepped outside.
It wasn’t raining or snowing outside, but the entire forest was frozen solid, as if it had been placed under a seal.
Ronan Kendrick took a few pictures and recorded a short video before returning to the cave.
Evelyn fell silent as she watched the video Ronan had brought back.
"The destructive power of this cold air is even more terrifying than an earthquake. And it came from the Northwest. Do you think... the people in Tarr City, in Tarr Base... are any of them still alive?"
"If they have underground living quarters, some might still be alive." Ronan Kendrick pressed the bridge of his nose. "But the refugees who were out in the open... they likely didn’t survive."
Every disaster is a massacre.
It’s equally cruel to humans, animals, plants, and the entire natural environment.
Evelyn took a deep breath. "Maybe... maybe the people outside are just hibernating, too. When the sun comes out, they’ll wake up. Right?"
Ronan Kendrick took Evelyn’s hand. "Yes. They’ll definitely wake up."
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