Snow Storm
"You should wear protective gear."
"I just heard that an experimental vaccine was lost in the contaminated zone."
"The situation isn't great. A once-in-a-century snowstorm is bearing down on Manhattan. We're also picking up signals from rogue operators."
"To prevent the base from being discovered and to avoid damage from the blizzard, all transport will be via stealth helicopters. That means the base will be closed, and once you leave, there's no way back except by helicopter."
"You look ready. Let's begin."
—
Helicopter destroyed. Connection to base severed.
Attempting to contact nearby operators…
Vitals indicate suspected septic infection.
Time until treatment deadline — 02:15:33
Countdown initiated.
"Haa…"
Cold.
It was so cold that his breath fogged even inside the building. Outside, a vicious snowstorm raged, and he could feel his extremities growing numb with every passing second.
This was a modified version of an operation his team had actually carried out in Hartford, northeastern United States — back then, the objective had been to kill fallen operators and recover or destroy a weapon codenamed Rabbit Foot. Here, it had been swapped for vaccine recovery. He had no idea how this game knew about it, but the result was right in front of him, and there was no denying it.
Back then, he'd been so cold he thought he'd die. But he'd never imagined this damn hardcore mode would affect him even in a place like this. At this rate, he'd turn into a rogue operator himself.
He missed the Christmas-tree-like winter gear the others had made for him…
Harmony wasn't around. She didn't seem to be in the same space. Was he supposed to find her on his own? She was probably in another building nearby, but for now, he needed to focus on his own survival.
He carefully gripped the doorknob.
───Whiiiing!
"Damn it, fuck—"
He opened the door and stepped outside into a blinding, monstrous snowstorm that made it impossible to keep his eyes open.
This damn reptile body — strong in summer but brutally fragile in winter — began digesting poorly and vomiting the moment his body temperature dropped even slightly.
Ignoring the way his body had already started trembling after just a few seconds, he checked the outside temperature displayed at the top of his UI.
> ENDURE: -1°C // CURRENT TEMP: -25°C
Current temperature at minus twenty-five degrees? In this wind? His endurance limit was only minus one degree.
That meant the wind chill was pushing past minus thirty-five to forty degrees. He had to move fast if he didn't want to freeze to death. And the only weapons he had were a pistol and a tomahawk.
He quickly organized his thoughts. First priority — just like when he'd first dropped into Brooklyn, he needed to find any building, get inside, and pile on as many layers of clothing as possible.
He started moving before he could turn into a snake-shaped ice statue.
WARNING: Body temperature dropping below normal levels.
SUGGESTION: Enter nearby buildings and wear cold-resistant clothing.
Like I needed you to spell it out, you tin can.
The surrounding environment was a blinding snowstorm, but fortunately, this area had a relatively dense cluster of low-rise buildings. It wasn't completely dark, and with power still active, lights glowed in various buildings.
But…
"Fuck, seriously—!"
It was too cold!
Thankfully, makeshift campfires — made from cut-open drums with firewood stuffed inside — were scattered around, and most of them still had flames burning.
The unbearable cold was relentless, so he approached one of the drums with the desperate urge to embrace it.
His whole body warmed and the chill subsided, but it wasn't a real solution. His tail alone was already sending signals of pain, as if the tips were freezing solid.
He couldn't stay here.
He quickly entered a nearby building — something that looked like a low-rise apartment. It clearly had people living here before.
Boxes and tool cases scattered around began to glow faintly. He approached and opened them. The boxes contained food, and the tool cases held — for some reason — gun parts and magazines. He stuffed them into his backpack and stepped inside the open house.
Inside, naturally, there was no sign of anyone.
Along with the warmer air, more text appeared before his eyes.
SUGGESTION: Gun parts detected. Assemble a firearm at your hideout to increase survival probability.
SUGGESTION: Food detected. Consume provisions to resolve hunger.
So it really does tell you to eat when you're hungry and make better weapons to survive. Very detailed, this place.
Back in Brooklyn and Hartford, they didn't have this.
Anyway, moving deeper inside, he spotted faintly glowing wardrobes and cabinets. Opening them, scarves and thick-looking clothes tumbled out.
"Ugh, I'm gonna freeze to death here…"
He panted, stripped off the useless protective suit, and changed clothes. Though he called it "changing," it was really just piling on everything he could find.
The cold was somewhat blocked, but it was still far from enough.
He pulled a fur hat down tight on his head, layered two thick winter sweaters, and put on ordinary finger gloves — it was something, at least. What else could he do?
He wrapped a fur scarf around his neck and tied it tightly enough to cover his tail as well.
> ENDURE: -8°C // CURRENT TEMP: -27°C
"Now I can actually survive."
But the UI in the upper right corner clearly showed that the outside temperature had dropped even further than before. At this rate, stepping outside would just freeze him solid again. He'd probably end up frozen to death on the street.
He took a deep breath and stood up. There were still plenty of houses around to scavenge.
He wasn't going to freeze to death today.
"Ugh, everyone! Please, just one of you say something! Why is there so much to do? There's only one of me, but you're eight thousand people! Even if each of you says one word, that's eight thousand words!?"
Meanwhile…
While Eugene was evolving into a Super ChonChon Anaconda to avoid freezing to death, Harmony was being overwhelmed by an absolutely crushing amount of information.
Her UI only showed the objective of creating a virus filter to enter the contaminated zone, but Dark Zone wasn't that simple a game.
With Eugene gone, Harmony had immediately started calling out hints, but she was on the verge of drowning in data before she could even freeze.
"Thank you, Can'tCountToThree, for the ₩1,000 donation. Yes, I'll check it right away…"
At the same time, she carefully pulled up the image.
Though it wasn't exactly a photo — more specifically, it was a kind of cheat sheet. It contained the basic mechanics of Survival mode.
Normally, Harmony would have scoffed at this and skimmed it carelessly, but today was different. She was the only one left in this law-of-the-jungle world without Eugene.
She tapped the top portion with her finger, and it zoomed in nicely.
Early Objective: Create a virus filter
What to do: Four main things — Find clothes / Make weapons / Make skills / Find consumables
Find clothes: Outside temperature fluctuates around -30°C, so search the map for clothes. They're in wardrobes inside houses or bags left outside.
Make weapons: Enemies and rogue operators roam outside. You can't survive with just a pistol, so use materials from tool cases to build guns at your hideout.
Make skills: Hideouts have crafting stations where you can make both skills and guns. Make whatever looks useful.
Find consumables: Here, you die if you're hungry and you die if you're thirsty. Medical supplies spawn near ambulances and can slow infection progression.
"F—uck, why is there so much to do!?"
That was the difficulty level? This?
Suddenly, a famous line flashed through her mind. There is no paradise in the place you flee to. Of course, she hadn't exactly fled here, but it certainly wasn't paradise.
If anything, it was an ice hell. Or, to sound fancy, a Blizzard Hell — something like that.
Anyway, she couldn't waste more time here. Something labeled "survival time" was slowly ticking down, and she needed to find Eugene.
Harmony took a deep breath and opened the door to go outside.
This must be what a snowfield just rescued from hell looks like, she thought, and the next moment she was confronted by the magnificent harmony of a towering snowstorm and Manhattan spread out before her.
"…I'm gonna die the moment I step out!?"
Of course, she didn't die immediately.
While everything outside was freezing solid, the chat window was turning into a blazing inferno urging her to get moving, so she was ultimately pushed forward by an invisible force and began exploring the area.
Unlike anyone else, her total correction was nearly 100%, so she couldn't feel the cold — but even Harmony couldn't ignore the fact that her avatar's body was gradually stiffening.
After just a short walk, her extremities began creaking like an under-oiled machine.
WARNING: Core body temperature dropping below normal levels.
"Wah! What do I do! Where's a house, a house! It's too cold here, everyone!"
Harmony scrambled around, frantically moving her feet. From the viewers' perspective, it was an absolutely hilarious combination.
Anyway, coincidentally, she was following a similar path to Eugene. She found a random building nearby, rummaged through the wardrobe, and piled on the remaining clothes to get enough warmth to venture outside.
The slight difference was that, unlike Eugene who started by searching buildings immediately, Harmony…
───Thump! Thump!
"Ugh, what are these!?"
She was encountering enemies roaming outside in this freezing weather, putting her through the kind of hardcore ass-kicking that truly lived up to the name.
If there was any silver lining, it was that the extreme cold was causing frequent malfunctions in the rifles the enemies carried, and Harmony managed to barely survive by exploiting that.
As the last enemy collapsed onto the freezing ground, she carefully reloaded her pistol and said:
"Phew, I'm gonna die before my time… Wait, but. Everyone. How long has it been since we started? I've been wandering for like ten minutes, right? I still haven't found Eugene. Is this normal?"
"Ugh, damn it. I'm really gonna freeze to death in the middle of the street…"
And so she continued wandering through some unknown neighborhood.
Time gradually passed. She piled on clothes, opened gear boxes scattered around and put on body armor, and following the viewers' hints, she visited a hideout and crafted extended magazines, a scope, and a knife.
Before she knew it, Harmony was transforming from a civilian with just a gun into someone taking on the appearance of an operator.
And just as she was starting to feel a smug satisfaction — "I'm adapting pretty well, aren't I?" —
NOTIFICATION: Allied operator detected within 50m radius.
"Oh! What just popped up, everyone! Is this a teammate? Please tell me it's a teammate!"
With the chat window filling with affirmative responses, she finally felt relief.
It had only been about fifteen minutes of separation, but a world without Eugene was far too harsh for Harmony. All sorts of thoughts came flooding back, like seeing a friend she hadn't met in a long time.
What had he been doing while she was gone? Was he okay? Were there any dangers around?
The signal gradually grew closer, and soon they could recognize each other's positions in real time.
And before long, the two of them were close enough that only one corner stood between them.
Within seconds, a figure suddenly burst out from there. Though the blizzard was so fierce that it was difficult to make out anything beyond a silhouette, that thick tail was unmistakably Eugene's.
With a voice full of joy, Harmony spoke.
"Teacher! Where on earth have you been, you just showed up— Teacher!?"
But it wasn't Eugene standing there.
In other words, instead of the tactical embodiment that the viewers and streamer had been expecting, there stood only a Super ChonChon Anaconda — piled on with whatever clothes he could find, covered in snow, looking like a moving, fat snowman.
On his head sat a fur hat pulled down snugly. A small pom-pom at the end fluttered in the wind.
It was a shocking visual in every way.
Specifically, the image of the reliable teacher who seemed like he could do anything well had instantly transformed into someone like a penguin with a cute side to them.
With a wide smile mixed with countless emotions on her face, Harmony started making a fuss.
"Tea, tea, teacher! What is that, hah— no, a-hahaha! Why are you wearing all your clothes piled on like that!?"
"…I'm sensitive to the cold, you know."
"Kah—hah, ha, ah, wait a sec. H-hehehe, that's so funny! Teacher, ah, a-hahaha, ah, everyone, I'm laughing so hard my stomach hurts!"
It was absolute chaos.
Everyone was having a wonderful time.
Everyone except one person.