Saving System: Calm Down, My Fleeing Host!

Chapter 284 - 276: Snowboards

The people of this world trying to move around on a surface tens of degrees below zero have a very low survival rate. The warmth measures here are too much like picking up scraps. As for cotton, it’s not that there isn’t any, but the yield is low and the price is high. It doesn’t reach the common folk, and if there is any, it’s only one or two pieces, either dowries or relics left by the elderly.

The cotton clothes in their team were also purchased and collected along the way. Although her warehouse stored quite a bit, it was only enough to keep the members of the 132th Regiment from freezing.

When disaster strikes, the big forces and the rich have ample resources and surely have ways to protect themselves. Experts with Inner Strength have robust constitutions and are not so easily frozen to death. The majority of those hit hard by the disaster are still ordinary people.

Should she save them, but if she does, what can she do?

Whether or not to sprout beans is a small matter. It seems building an Underground City is an urgent matter. Whether she can save others later or not, she first needs to ensure that the people around her are all well.

Leaving aside the task, she doesn’t want to wait until this extreme cold passes, with only the rich and Martial Arts experts left in the country. By then, wouldn’t they ordinary folks become the objects of exploitation and bullying?

Shaking her head, that’s too frightening. By then, she fears her secret wouldn’t be kept.

She might even be captured and treated like a hen that lays eggs.

Spit, spit, spit!

What is she thinking? How can she think of herself as a hen? She’s really lost her mind.

No way, she must not only find a way to quickly establish an Underground City but also recruit talents, expand her troops, and train her own army. Otherwise, nothing will be protected.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt forming an army was imperative.

Just as she was lost in thought, a sudden sound interrupted her.

"Sister, Sister." Cheng Jia, having finished his morning studies, ran in with great haste.

"What’s up?"

"Sister, why haven’t I seen Xiao Li these past two days?"

"Xiao Li is naturally looking for food. Now it snows every day, almost covering all vegetation; he probably went into the deep mountains and forests to find food." In fact, Cheng Xiaoxiao didn’t say that one simply couldn’t find tender leaves outside now; Xiao Li had gone back to his nest to hibernate.

"Ah, is that so? I promised my friends to show them Xiao Li." Cheng Jia looked disappointed.

"You can play something else with your friends."

"How can I do that?"

Cheng Jia’s quick response seemed off to Cheng Xiaoxiao, making her ask patiently, "Tell me, why can’t you?"

"What is it that Brother Jia can’t tell his sisters?" Cheng Xiaoyuan deliberately scolded.

"Has someone bullied you, Brother Jia? Come on, Sister Yalan will teach them a lesson." Yalan said as she tried to drag Cheng Jia, but couldn’t move him.

"No one bullied me, just..."

"Just what?" Yalan was curious; Brother Jia wasn’t usually like this, what happened today?

Cheng Jia hesitated for a long time before saying, "I promised my friends that as long as they finished their studies, I’d let them play with Xiao Li."

Cheng Xiaoxiao slightly raised an eyebrow. So that’s how it is, "So is that wrong?"

Cheng Jia hung his head low, softly responding, "I realized my mistake."

"It’s just that you can’t play with Xiao Li; it’s no big deal. You can play next time when Xiao Li returns." Cheng Zhiqing comforted the little guy.

Cheng Jia kept his head down in silence. After the sisters comforted him one by one, the little guy remained sulky, prompting them to persuade Cheng Xiaoxiao again.

After a while, Cheng Xiaoxiao finally spoke, "Do you know where you went wrong?"

Cheng Jia nodded honestly.

"Tell me."

"Don’t judge a speech by its speaker, don’t deceive with one’s words, I shouldn’t have used Xiao Li as a reward, making promises to my friends, making promises without confirmation and failing to fulfill them, thereby losing trust."

Cheng Xiaoxiao nodded, "Acknowledging your mistakes and correcting them is of great merit. In the future, you should act within your means, and think thrice before acting."

Nowadays, many rebellious children gradually develop bad habits from small things. When mistakes arise at the beginning, parents only indulge, and even if children know they’re wrong, due to parents’ inaction, they take it for granted. Once it becomes a norm, it’s the beginning of a distorted character.

"Brother Jia acknowledged his mistake."

"Hmm, alright then, as punishment, copy the three times."

"Understood, sister!"

Seeing the pitiful little brother, Cheng Xiaoxiao decided to deal a blow, then offer a sweet reward.

"As your sister, I also have responsibility for not educating you well. How about this, sister will teach you a new play, guaranteed to make all your friends want to learn it, all buzzing around you."

Upon hearing there’s a novel play, Cheng Jia’s eyes lit up at once, "Sister, what is it?"

"Sister will teach you skiing today."

Cheng Jia was surprised, they had already played enough with the snow along the way, wasn’t it building snowmen or throwing snowballs at each other?

"Skiing." Cheng Jia scratched his head, unsure what skiing meant; was it not just standing high and rolling down the mountain?

Seeing her brother’s lack of interest, Cheng Xiaoxiao became intrigued.

Growing up in Qingshan Village, the children had never seen snow. It didn’t snow during winter there, nor was it this cold.

This escape was the first time they played with snow.

Yalan got interested, "Sister Xiaoxiao, you’re not saying skiing is sliding down from a slope, are you? We’ve tried that, and people just roll down roundly."

Cheng Xiaoxiao shook her finger, "Today I’ll teach everyone a novel play. Skiing requires tools."

She turned and pointed at the heads one by one, "Not only Brother Jia, but you all have to learn."

The ice and snow period would last several more months; learning to ski would help them flee swiftly in danger.

The sisters were curious what play everyone had to learn?

Soon Cheng Xiaoxiao found Uncle Genzi and temporarily drew designs for skis and sleds.

The skis come in a children’s version for kids to play, and an adult version for everyone to learn. The sled is for pulling things, saving time and effort. It would be even better if there were a few sled dogs.

The woodworking skills in the production department, under Cheng Xiaoxiao’s guidance, improved rapidly, creating many pieces of furniture similar to modern foldable tables, chairs, and benches. Their recent research focused on wheeled cars.

Now they had to make skiing tools. Upon hearing it was the captain’s order, several technical backbones gathered to study, discussing it enthusiastically. Whenever the captain asked for something to be made, it seldom was ordinary, and never failed to refresh their view. Although challenging, the sense of achievement was enormous, and their team had grown increasingly adventurous, showing more interest in difficult tasks.

Soon, the theoretical foundation of these two items was cracked, and real object production began.

The news spread quickly, attracting more people. Not only were the kids curious, but even the men in the team came over to watch.

The word spread rapidly.

"What? The 132th Regiment is making tools to quickly traverse snowy ground?"

"Really? Let’s go and see!"

"What’s a ski for?"

"I haven’t seen it either, just go have a look."

People were buzzing with discussions, and more and more onlookers gathered, forming layers inside and outside.