Rebirth in the Apocalypse: My Ex-Girlfriend's Guide to Winning Me Over

After planning everything, He Heze, along with Ren Shasha and her sister, Liang Jingyu, and Li Wenli, packed some fire-starting materials and portable food and set off.

The moment he opened the door, He Heze felt as if every pore of his exposed skin was filled with ice daggers, and his entire mind was frozen numb.

This extreme cold is unsuitable for human habitation; the air we breathe feels frigid, with very little usable oxygen.

With a burst of energy, He Heze forced himself to step out of his house. They hurried across the snow-covered streets and headed straight for the deep mountains behind the house.

The snow at the foot of the mountain was piled up in layers, so high that only the pointed tops of the trees could be seen.

The snow piled up on top of the snow, and the bottom layer was as hard as a rock. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn't reach the original yellow soil.

The moisture in the tree branches had all frozen, and layers of ice wrapped around them, accumulating like blocks of ice stones.

“If we go a little further in, there aren’t any suitable trees here, and the charcoal we’ll be burning will produce a lot of smoke, making us too conspicuous. We’re too close to the residential area and we’ll be easily spotted.”

He Heze's voice came out muffledly from under the scarf.

"How can we get inside? The snow could trap us all inside."

Ren Shasha couldn't help but ask, "The weather is so cold it's bone-chilling. As a woman, I'm naturally afraid of the cold, and I can even hear my teeth chattering."

“I’ll use my earth-based abilities to dig a tunnel, and we can go underneath,” Liang Jingyu suggested.

“No, that would be too wasteful of our abilities. We still have a lot to do. We can’t let our abilities run out here,” He Heze stopped them.

"Try getting over the tree branches." He Heze took the lead, using the ice to jump onto the tree trunk, and then using the momentum to jump onto the tree next to him.

You won't get stuck in the ice. You can walk through the icy bushes, but be careful of the leaves turning into icy chunks that might hit your head.

It took the group more than half an hour to run from the bottom of the mountain to a valley. The valley was about 30 meters deep, and the surrounding hills blocked most of the cold wave.

Although there was snow, it wasn't thick, so He Heze decided this was the place.

"Liang Jingyu, dig a pit about 2.5 meters deep here, and about 30 meters long and wide. Don't waste the soil you dig out; use it for the roof of the cave dwelling. Make sure the curvature is a bit large." He Heze gestured the size at the bottom of the valley.

Liang Jingyu nodded and began to dig a cave dwelling using his special ability. He had recently broken through to the third level of his earth-type ability; otherwise, with his previous second-level ability, he wouldn't have been able to dig such a large area of ​​earth and build the curved surface of the cave dwelling. This work was too delicate and very challenging.

At this point, almost an hour had passed since they left the base, and they needed to hurry.

“Sasa, build a water wall 3 meters outside the Jingyu pit. Xiaosa, Wenli and I will go and cut down trees first. We can start from both ends at the same time to save time.”

"Okay." Everyone nodded in unison.

They felled trees directly on the mountaintops surrounding the valley. He Heze's enhanced strength came in very handy at this time; he could knock down a tree that one person could encircle with one punch.

The tree was kicked down the slope from the top to the bottom of the valley, following the curve of the valley. Two girls at the bottom of the valley were responsible for cutting off the branches and leaves from the trunk and breaking the wood into sections.

One step led to another, and finally, in the fourth hour, they had cut down a sufficient amount of timber.

Liang Jingyu had also completed the construction of the cave dwelling; his earth-based supernatural ability made the cave surface formed by the earth layers exceptionally sturdy. He Heze tapped the surface, quite satisfied.

Ren Shasha also built an ice wall to prevent freezing, which has both a certain warming effect and a certain defensive effect.

They carried the tree trunks inside piece by piece. They laid small twigs underneath to ignite them, and then placed the stakes in a crisscross pattern to ensure they burned more completely.

After finally finishing all that, the three of them discovered that the most difficult thing was starting a fire. The outside temperature was too low, and the fire wouldn't ignite, even though they had poured out all the gasoline they had brought.

"It won't light up! It won't light up! We've spent so much time and effort, and it's all for nothing." Ren Xiaosha stomped her foot in anger; her patience wasn't that good.

He Heze was deep in thought. He couldn't give up. If they failed this time, their team might disappear this winter, which was something he didn't want to see.

How to do how to do.

"Why don't we go find a fire-type ability user? Find Lin Ling. An ability user's fire can definitely start a fire. At worst, we can make charcoal and give them some as a reward," Ren Shasha suggested.

“No.” He Heze refused decisively. He didn’t want to ask her for help in this matter, as it would make him seem useless as a team leader, unable to even handle such a small task.

He Heze's mind raced. He had an idea! Since it couldn't be ignited, if there was enough ignition material, it would eventually catch fire. He could win by sheer quantity.

He recalled the trees he had seen along the way, and there was a patch that should be pine trees. The long pine needles caused the icicles to be long as well, and he couldn't be mistaken.

Pine trees contain a lot of oil, which can help with combustion!

He went back and retrieved many pine needles, knocked off the thick ice shell covering them, and had Ren Shasha use her water-based abilities to absorb the moisture inside, leaving only the dry pine needles. He then stuffed the pine needles into the gaps between the tree stumps.

If the quality is poor, they will win by sheer quantity.

Finally, it caught fire. Watching the flames rise little by little, the burning tree stump and the water collided, producing a hissing sound.

"Great! This is definitely going to work!" Ren Xiaosha jumped up happily.

The others watched from the sidelines, and although they weren't as overtly pleased, the corners of their mouths never left in a smile.

The wood would take a long time to burn, the flames slowly licking at the ground, and thick black smoke rose high from the cave entrance, clearly visible.

He Heze knew this was dangerous, like the ancient beacon fires, which would be like a target in a world where almost everything was still.

"Let's heat up the food we brought by the cave dwelling. We might have a tough battle to fight later. We need to conserve our energy. After we finish eating, we'll take turns resting."

The five people sat cross-legged on the edge of the cave dwelling, feeling the precious warmth emanating from beneath them, and finally felt a little relieved.

They had been out for more than six hours. In the extreme cold, without sunlight, darkness fell very quickly. They could only rely on the light from the fire in the kiln to illuminate the snow and observe their surroundings.

He Heze surveyed the surroundings and set up a few hidden traps. He then returned to the cave entrance to observe the degree of charcoal production. He estimated that it would take about four more hours of burning. Once the wood was about 70-80% burned, the cave entrance could be closed.