Among the "Ten Great Oddities of Shan Province" is one called "griddle cakes like pot lids," which refers to *guokui*.

It’s known for being "dry, crisp, white, and fragrant." While there are many ways to eat it, it’s also delicious when boiled.

When it was time to eat, Li Xiang took out three *guokui* and cut them into small pieces. You could also tear them by hand, depending on your preference.

He brought a pot of water to a boil and added pre-soaked wood ear mushrooms and dried lily flowers, cooking them until tender. Then, he added the cut *guokui*, cracked in two eggs, sprinkled in some pepper, salt, and chopped scallions, and let it simmer for a few more moments.

While Li Xiang was making the boiled *guokui*, his grandmother used a pair of tongs to hold another one over the charcoal fire in the stove. She roasted it slowly, turning it over and over. The sesame seeds on its surface sizzled as they released their oil, filling the air with a rich aroma.

His grandmother knew Li Xiang was boiling the *guokui* to suit her tastes, but she was sure her grandson would prefer it roasted.

"Grandma, the boiled *guokui* is ready." Li Xiang ladled a bowl for his grandmother and brought it to her.

His grandmother smiled. "And your roasted *guokui* is ready, too!"

"Thanks, Grandma." Li Xiang took the roasted *guokui* and fetched a small dish of chili sauce. He tore off a piece of the steaming, fragrant flatbread and dipped it into the sauce. The combination of crispy, spicy, and savory was absolutely divine.

’If I have time, I should learn how to make *guokui* myself,’ Li Xiang thought. After all, it wasn’t easy to get to the market from the village. In the coming Apocalypse, this kind of flatbread would be much easier to get than compressed biscuits.

Compressed biscuits were mass-produced on assembly lines. During the Apocalypse, industry would collapse, leaving few factories operational. Besides, factories required far more energy, making them much less cost-effective than *guokui*.

Deciding that just dipping wasn’t enough, Li Xiang poured the rest of the chili sauce directly onto the *guokui* and used a small piece of the bread to spread it evenly. Suddenly, a gust of north wind blew in, carrying a distinct chill. Li Xiang glanced up at the overcast sky.

A distant memory surfaced in his mind. "In about twenty days, there’s going to be a snowstorm like we’ve never seen before," he murmured to himself.

At the time, everyone had thought the massive snowstorm was a freak occurrence, since heavy snow was rare in the south. But who could have known that from that point on, it would only get colder year after year, with extreme weather events becoming more and more frequent?

’Thinking back on it now, "the heavens" had sent a warning ten years before the Apocalypse even began,’ he thought. ’It’s just that no one took it seriously.’

Even those who grew concerned simply believed it was a recurrence of the Little Ice Age from the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty had survived the Little Ice Age; why would modern society have anything to fear?

Modern society could even endure a major ice age.

Only Li Xiang knew the truth. It wasn’t a little ice age, nor a major one. It was... the sky falling. A true, unprecedented collapse. Endless darkness, extreme cold, plants unable to photosynthesize... and hordes of vicious Mutated Creatures.

It wasn’t the simple polar night of the North and South Poles, but a "frigid, endless night" meant to "exterminate all ordinary life."

Fortunately, "the heavens" showed a sliver of mercy. The Great Dao is fifty, but the heavens only manifest forty-nine, leaving the "one that escapes" as a chance for survival.

As the saying goes, when God closes a door, he opens a window. Humanity still had nuclear power, electricity, and "fire."

The energy in the universe is conserved. Though the Sun had "gone out"—becoming a less massive red giant shrouded by an endless black fog—part of its heat arrived on Earth in another form, brought by the powerful Demon Fiends...

Recalling his past life, Li Xiang couldn’t help but shudder. Even with that "one that escaped," it was still an incredibly cruel world.

Thankfully, he still had a full ten years to prepare.

Li Xiang shook his head, pulled himself together, and returned to the present.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Living each day to the fullest was what mattered most right now. Many things simply couldn’t be rushed, because rushing was pointless. He couldn’t fight the great power of Nature on his own.

After finishing his roasted *guokui*, Li Xiang decided his first task was to build a cellar to store the sweet potatoes. Once the heavy snow arrived, they would likely freeze and be ruined.

The house also needed to be reinforced. He glanced at the simple bamboo kitchen he had built earlier. It was only suitable for spring, summer, and fall; in the winter, it would be drafty. He decided he would rebuild a warm and Solid kitchen before the snows came.

Now that he had money, building a new kitchen wouldn’t take more than a few days.

A cellar wouldn’t just be for sweet potatoes; he could also use it to store other produce like potatoes, taro, and corn.

Li Xiang hadn’t dug a cellar in this life, but in his previous one, as a survivor of the Apocalypse, he had become an expert at "digging." During the Apocalypse, the surface was brutally cold, so the human survivors had naturally moved underground.

Li Xiang was an old hand at building underground Shelters and had even served as a technical advisor for several bases.

He mulled it over for a moment. Since he was building a cellar anyway, why not put it right under the kitchen? That would make it much more convenient to grab food.

’Looks like it’s time for some proper design work,’ he thought. ’My old "digging" expertise from my past life is back!’

Li Xiang went back to his bedroom and gathered some blank paper, a pencil, an eraser, and a set square. He then went out to the pavilion in the backyard, bent over the table, and began to seriously draft his plans.