Chapter 90 - 88: Extreme Cold

Niu Niu’s temperature shot up alarmingly. When they took her temperature with a thermometer, her underarm reading had already reached 40 degrees Celsius, a high fever.

Jiang Si took out children’s Motrin from the first-aid kit. Before she could give it to Niu Niu, Niu Niu’s eyes rolled back, her body convulsed, and she suddenly had a seizure.

Febrile seizures in children are very dangerous. During an episode, you can’t feed them anything, to prevent it from going into the trachea and causing choking.

Jiang Si hurriedly asked Lu Zhifeng, "Does she have a history of febrile seizures?"

Lu Zhifeng nodded quickly. "She had one once when she was little."

Jiang Si turned Niu Niu’s head to the right, undid her collar to keep her airway clear, and made sure her mouth and nose were clean to prevent respiratory blockage.

"With a history of seizures, a high fever can trigger another one at any time. We need to wait for her to regain consciousness before giving her medicine to bring the fever down."

"Okay."

Niu Niu’s seizure lasted for over two minutes. Thankfully, it didn’t exceed five, or it would have been dangerous.

After giving her the Motrin, Niu Niu’s fever didn’t break for half an hour, so Shen Baoying gave her a suppository.

When Niu Niu’s fever dropped to a low grade, Lu Zhifeng could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Jiang Si said, "Her temperature hasn’t stabilized yet, we need to keep a close watch on her. With her history of seizures, she must take fever-reducing medicine anytime her temperature goes above thirty-eight degrees." After speaking, Jiang Si took out a box of antelope horn oral solution from her clothes. "This can help prevent seizures. Give it to Niu Niu in a little while."

Lu Zhifeng thanked her three times in a row. Jiang Linhai said, "You focus on taking care of Niu Niu. She needs someone with her right now. Leave the other things to us. Getting her healthy is the most important thing."

Lu Zhifeng’s eyes were red-rimmed. He didn’t stand on ceremony. "Mm, okay."

Only when Niu Niu was better could he do his best to help everyone else.

Everyone went back and forth, moving the insulation panels, but they had only managed to cover less than a tenth of the entire yacht.

In any area they hadn’t covered, the condensed frost was harder than diamond, and the temperature was extremely low.

Going back and forth between the heat and cold, it wasn’t just the child who couldn’t take it; even Jiang Si let out several sneezes.

The moment she felt herself coming down with something, Jiang Si quickly drank a large bowl of brown sugar and ginger water to warm up and ward off the chill.

She had to stay sharp at all times to get her family through this catastrophe.

The snow had been falling continuously, but it suddenly became incredibly heavy. The snowflakes were as big as goose feathers; even though Qin Shen was standing right in front of Jiang Si, she could only see a blurry shadow.

Not only was it snowing, but the wind was also blowing, making it impossible for anyone to stay on their feet.

Jiang Linhai wanted to go move more insulation panels, but Jiang Si decisively stopped him. "The snow’s too heavy. One wrong step and you could fall into the sea. Let’s stop moving them. The panels we just brought in are enough to add another layer of sealing to our own rooms."

"We’ll see what to do after the snow stops."

Nothing was more important than safety. Jiang Linhai decisively agreed with Jiang Si’s suggestion and hurriedly dragged the insulation panels on deck into the cabin.

If they didn’t drag them in now, the blizzard would cover them, making it even more time-consuming and difficult to deal with later.

Qin Shen was as strong as ten men. He hoisted the insulation panels, moving as swiftly and easily as if he were walking on flat ground.

By the time Jiang Si decided to give up on moving the panels, he had already carried hundreds of pounds of them into the cabin.

The blizzard was fierce. The instant they struggled to close the door, the entrance was blocked by accumulated snow.

Jiang Linhai, afraid the blizzard would bury them, quickly asked Jiang Si, "The snow is piling up so fast. Will the boat get too heavy and sink to the bottom of the sea?"

Jiang Si froze. ’That’s actually a real possibility. With no one outside clearing the snow, if it piles up on deck, it could become an iceberg.’

But she quickly calmed down. "We have de-icing salt, it should be fine." Her fear was that if the snow didn’t stop, they wouldn’t even get a chance to use it.

The snow was this heavy, the temperature outside was this low, and people couldn’t even stand steadily. It was impossible to go out right now.

Jiang Linhai was much more relieved after Jiang Si mentioned the de-icing salt.

Turning to look at the insulation panels covering the floor, he couldn’t stay idle and got busy again.

The yacht was too big; covering it completely was impossible.

Everyone laid down the panels in the areas they frequented, and covered supplies that needed to be kept dry with moisture-proof tarps as a simple measure.

They worked until evening, and the heavy snow still hadn’t stopped. With a sharp "CLICK," the power went out again.

Qin Shen said, "The temperature’s too low. The fuel tank froze again."

With the power out and no heating system, the indoor temperature would soon start to drop again.

Fortunately, Jiang Si had a generator. With electric heaters running in the main hall and their rooms, the temperature could still be maintained.

In the rooms without electric heaters, even with the insulation panels, the temperature had reached around minus ten degrees Celsius. All the bottled water they had brought down was frozen solid.

Shen Baoying wanted to stew a pot of chicken soup to help everyone replenish their energy, but she found the water was frozen. She had no choice but to cut open the water bottles with scissors and melt the ice in a pot.

Jiang Si came in and saw Shen Baoying struggling. She took a water purifier out of her space. "Use this. The water won’t freeze."

Shen Baoying was quite happy. "That’s great! Does that mean we can put snow in it and it will work?"

Jiang Si nodded. "Yes, it can melt and process snow."

"Then we don’t have to worry about water! We don’t know how long we’ll be drifting at sea, and your space can’t hold that much water, right? We should figure out a way to store the snow and recycle it."

Jiang Si pointed outside. "Once the snow in the yacht’s swimming pool melts, we can pump it into the yacht’s water storage tanks. We don’t have to worry too much for now."

"That’s good. As long as we have a sufficient water source on the yacht, we’ll be fine even if we don’t go ashore," Shen Baoying said optimistically.

Jiang Si thought so too. ’As long as the sea holds no dangers,’ she added mentally.

Besides the stewed chicken, Shen Baoying also made fish-fragrant shredded pork, braised small yellow croaker, pickled cabbage with rabbit meat, cold-dressed asparagus, and garlic shrimp—all dishes everyone loved.

To take care of Niu Niu, she also specially made a pot of nutritious vegetable congee.

The yacht’s food pantry had all sorts of vegetables, some of which were vacuum-sealed and hadn’t spoiled in the extreme cold. This gave Shen Baoying the perfect excuse to take the freshest ingredients out of Jiang Si’s space and cook with them openly.

With a table full of food, everyone ate to their heart’s content.

After the bowls and chopsticks were cleared away, Shen Baoying took out steaming hot roasted sweet potatoes from the oven and shared them with everyone.

Ignoring the blizzard outside, everyone stayed indoors, eating the soft, sweet potatoes and watching the high-tech VR television. It was as lively as if they were celebrating the New Year.

It was already two in the morning when Jiang Si returned to her room.

Her stomach was full and round, and her body felt sticky. She wanted to take a shower, but the hot water pipe in her room wasn’t working, so she simply entered her space and soaked comfortably in its bathtub.

Before she even had a chance to dry her hair, Jiang Si’s vision suddenly went black. A sharp pain stabbed her in the chest, and she nearly passed out.

’If I faint in the space, no one will ever find me. I’ll just die here.’

Jiang Si clenched her teeth. Without even taking the time to put on thermal clothes, she hastily wrapped an outer coat around herself and quickly exited her space.

The pain in Jiang Si’s chest sent her entire body into spasms. She was drenched in sweat, and inside her space, the energy stone was glowing intensely.

Without a second thought, Jiang Si pushed open her door and knocked on Qin Shen’s.