Chapter 35: Frozen Silence
The next morning arrived earlier than usual for Anshul. The sky outside the hotel window was still pale gray when he finished organizing the equipment he had purchased the previous day. Thick thermal clothing, insulated gloves, snow goggles, climbing rope, portable heat packs, emergency food, and a compact backpack filled with survival supplies. Everything had been carefully selected for a single purpose.
Extreme cold.
He checked everything one last time before placing most of the gear into his storage space. Carrying it physically would only slow him down once he entered the new world.
After a short breakfast, Anshul returned to his room and sat on the edge of the bed.
His phone screen lit up.
The familiar interface appeared.
He scrolled through several available worlds before stopping on the one he had already chosen.
The frozen disaster world.
He took a slow breath before activating the portal.
The room around him distorted for a brief moment.
Then everything changed.
The first thing Anshul felt was the cold.
It hit him like a wall.
A violent, biting cold that immediately cut through the air and into his lungs. Even with the thermal clothing he had prepared, the temperature was far lower than anything he had experienced before.
He quickly pulled on his gloves and snow goggles while adjusting the thick jacket around his body.
The world around him was white.
Completely white.
Snow covered everything as far as the eye could see. Tall buildings rose from the frozen landscape like silent monuments buried in ice. The streets below were completely abandoned, buried under layers of snow and frozen debris.
Anshul slowly stepped forward.
The sound of his boots crunching through the snow echoed faintly through the empty street.
This was once a city.
Now it was a graveyard of civilization.
The freezing winds moved through the empty buildings, creating low haunting sounds that carried through the silent streets.
Anshul remained alert as he began walking.
The environment itself was the greatest danger here. The temperature alone could kill someone unprepared within minutes. Fortunately, he had planned carefully before entering.
He moved cautiously through the frozen road while observing the surrounding structures.
Bank buildings.
Jewelry stores.
Luxury boutiques.
Most of them remained untouched beneath the ice.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Somewhere inside those buildings were items that still held enormous value.
Gold.
Diamonds.
Precious metals.
In this dead world they meant nothing.
But in another world they could build an empire.
Anshul approached the first large building he saw—a bank partially buried under snow. The glass entrance had shattered long ago, leaving the interior exposed to the cold winds.
Inside, the lobby was frozen solid.
Desks, chairs, computers—everything covered in ice.
He moved deeper into the building until he found the heavy vault door near the back.
The metal surface was cold enough to burn exposed skin.
"Let's see what's inside," he murmured quietly.
After several minutes of effort and a little assistance from tools he had prepared, the vault finally opened.
Rows of deposit boxes lined the walls.
Anshul exhaled slowly.
Jackpot.
He began working quickly, opening box after box.
Gold bars.
Jewelry.
Diamonds.
Bundles of cash that were now useless in this frozen world.
Everything valuable went directly into his storage space.
Time passed quickly as he worked.
Outside, the wind continued to howl through the empty city.
But inside the vault, Anshul continued collecting the forgotten wealth of a dead civilization.
This was only the first building.
And the frozen city around him stretched for miles.