It was already August, and what Wen Qian was most worried about was the highland barley crop that would be harvested in a while.
She had finally found a place to live in Xia Province, and had finally cleared the fields for farming, but it was likely that there would be no more produce in the future.
This made her feel a bit uncomfortable, but then she thought that being able to keep this season's harvest was already very good.
Half a month later, the volcanic ash should have covered everything.
So Wen Qian decided to harvest her crops early, including the vegetables she had planted.
August was originally summer in the Northern Hemisphere, but now the volcanic eruption was gradually causing global cooling.
It was not yet obvious in the plateau, but in another month or two, everywhere would be about the same.
The volcano had been erupting continuously since August and showed no signs of stopping.
Rainfall was increasing globally, and open-field crops were being harvested as quickly as possible.
Things that were never thought to be in short supply before, people were now realizing might become very precious in the future.
Even though the country had stockpiled enough food for the next three years, if the volcanic winter lasted ten years or even longer, what would people eat when crops could no longer grow and be harvested normally?
Some people had also hoarded a large amount of canned food before the volcanic eruption, and many survivalists had stockpiled quite a bit. Wen Qian checked the forums from before, which were also full of knowledge about the volcanic winter, and she downloaded the knowledge she thought would be useful.
People in the country seem to have an innate prejudice against canned food, thinking that it contains preservatives, when in fact it doesn't. Its long shelf life is due to the manufacturing process.
Another reason is that people prefer to eat freshly cooked food over canned food.
In contrast, many people abroad eat canned food in their daily lives.
Among things that can last a long time without spoiling, canned food should be at the top of the list, so canned food from everywhere was cleared out.
Wen Qian's space was like a can, filled with all sorts of things that could be kept in the state they were put in.
She had only purchased a small amount of canned food to try it out, as canned food is quite expensive.
After the volcanic eruption, although she was worried, she still had things to do every day.
Since she didn't grow many crops, besides harvesting grains and vegetables, she spent most of her time chopping down trees.
There were quite a few forests at the foot of Mount Yu, and she knew that excessive logging was wrong. You can't shave all the wool off just one sheep, so she didn't stay in one patch of forest hacking away. Instead, she selectively logged along the foot of the mountain on both sides.
She knew that there was an open-pit coal mine in Xia Province, but unfortunately, the government had already taken action, and all coal mines were accelerating their mining operations.
Wen Qian had never dared to buy anything for zero yuan before, at least not until now, but who knows about the future.
All resources were being tightened, and the country's intention was to spend all resources on essential areas, meaning shutting down unnecessary production and mainly focusing on scientific research, weapons research and manufacturing, and food production.
With all countries lacking resources, would anyone attack other countries?
This was one of the first questions that occurred to Wen Qian, that Cactus Country might not be safe.
Sure enough, later there was news that the M Country military had occupied Cactus Country and was gradually pushing south.
If they were just looking for refuge at first, now they seemed to want to build a new country somewhere else.
Incidentally, M Country had already become history, because since the volcanic eruption, some states had declared independence.
The states farthest from Yellowstone were the first to declare independence. While ordinary civilians were fleeing south, their troops had already gone to occupy territories in Cactus Country.
They say might makes right. Initially, Cactus Country only thought they would allow refugees in and negotiate some conditions, but later found that others were coming over with weapons to seize territory.
Even if Cactus Country was unwilling, they had no choice. Although the states of M Country had each declared independence, their military power was still formidable.
Cactus Country could only sigh, as no other country would intervene at this point despite condemning the action.
When Wen Qian was watching international news, she also saw another piece of news that the country that had previously been divided into North and South, with the North having invaded and occupied the South now that M Country was in disarray.
A month later, the volcano was still erupting intermittently, and the whole world was plunged into darkness.
Many areas experienced heavy rainfall, and prolonged rainstorms caused even more disasters.
Some places even had summer snowfall and hail, with some hail severe enough to destroy buildings and kill people.
Not to mention crops and livestock, some places had total crop failure with no hope in sight.
In areas with severe acid rain, plants died directly.
In places that should have been lush with life in summer, all plant life began to wither at this time.
Extreme cold was coming.
The situation in the mainland of M Country was still plagued by multiple severe disasters such as wildfires, volcanic ash, and acid rain.
M Country had a lot of nuclear power plants, so many of them had to be shut down. However, two nuclear power plants exploded and leaked radiation due to the earthquakes, and no one was going to repair and maintain them at this point.
Nuclear radiation had also become a deadly hazard.
But nuclear radiation didn't just appear in M Country. Long before the J Archipelago was destroyed, the sea water had already been contaminated. With the circulation of ocean currents, nuclear radiation had affected the entire global ocean.
The technology developed by humans brought hope and convenience, but when that technology malfunctioned, the consequences were not something humans could resolve.
Most of the territory of M Country was covered in volcanic ash, and cities close by had become ruins.
Its historical name had ended here.
Many people entered underground shelters, as being outside would mean risking death from volcanic ash and acid rain alone.
Many civilians headed south, but many died from indiscriminate attacks along the way, as those who had mentally collapsed would open fire on crowds.
Some held guns to rob all kinds of supplies, while others armed themselves for self-defense. The volcanic eruption had caused them to lose their homes, but it was the killing by their own kind that caused the highest casualty rate among those fleeing.
And let's not forget the spread of the super virus among the migrating crowds, not to mention the medical environment.
All countries began to tighten energy usage, with electricity rationing implemented domestically to ensure power for critical industries like scientific research.
Non-essential uses of electricity were directly cut off, not to mention so-called entertainment - this was no longer a question of quality of life, but a matter of survival.
The country gathered the top technical talents from all industries to work together on technological breakthroughs, and also did not forget to recruit scientific research talents from around the world.
With the relatively stable social situation in the country, many talents from other countries were willing to come here.
In order to maintain social stability, the country could not let people idle around, so people from all industries were reassigned jobs, as many professions were no longer needed.
Many people being unemployed posed a significant security risk, so the unemployed were reassigned jobs by the country.
As long as people had something to do, they could be at peace and have hope for the future.
The virus had not been completely eliminated, so management had now been tightened at all levels, because later on centralized shelters might need to be built, and if just one person carrying the super virus entered, the consequences would be unimaginable.
In addition, the struggle for resources between countries had also begun, with geothermal and coal resources becoming the focus of contention.
The structure of civilized society began to collapse.
Winter arrived early, and global cooling set in.
The centralized heating system that had been envied for many years in the north would finally have to be implemented in the south as well.
At this time, heavy snow was falling in many places in the south, not to mention the north, where the temperature of around -10°C (-14°F) or lower continued to drop, causing conventional thermometers to malfunction in some areas.
Wen Qian was staying at home, burning the heater, when she noticed it was snowing outside.
