As the temperature continued to fall and the snow outside grew heavier and thicker, the number of faint figures on the street dwindled swiftly until there was nothing but snow at this particular time.

Following the increase in the snowfall intensity, was a sharp decrease in the clarity of visibility. With an environment that only allowed one to barely see up to five meters ahead, the group could hardly see any other people in the vicinity.

Moments later, as the group gazed towards the barely lit street amid snow, a notification came like a reminder.

[4 hours left to survive]

[Updating current players]

[Players still in the game - 56,490]

Alan could only sigh when he saw the notification showing the remaining players.

Considering the last remaining number of players, there were over 10,000 players who died in the last three hours. Despite appearing cold-hearted, ten thousand was actually quite an acceptable number considering as many as 30,000 people died in the first 15 minutes of the game.

Unfortunately, the situation would only continue to go downhill for the players from now on. The cold would only get worse, especially on it's final hour.

Alan recalled that only a little over 10,000 players survived this round the last time he played it.

Paused by the sudden notification, Alan and the others quickly continued walking until they finally reached the New York Public Library once again.

When they stepped inside the massive building, their eyes were immediately welcomed by the sight of one hundred civilians huddling together in groups. Their lips were chapped while their bodies seemed to be shivering, even with the blankets and the burning fireplace.

The three players who chose to stay in the library were also in the same perilous situation. Hence when they noticed Alan's group return, a hopeful look instantly made its way to their faces.

Seeing these people being tormented by terrible pain, Laura turned her attention back to Alan and said, "So how are we going to save these people?"

The cold level would only continue rising from now while being inside the building only gave these people one level of resistance. However, the game mechanic forced any fireplace created by the NPC to not give any heat buff even if it burned for an eternity.

One of the ways and also the most simple to obtain the Heat buff was to burn some marked items and throw them into the fireplace. However, utilizing precious marked items in such a method was extremely wasteful. Thankfully, Alan had prepared something better.

"Alright, grab me toilet rolls, some books, and two large bowls."

Hearing Alan's words, the three other players swiftly tried to make themselves helpful. They shook their shivering bodies and got into action, searching for the things requested. While they were gone, he prepared the other things he needed.

Laura kept herself close to Alan as he took out ten [Canned Meat] and asked her to take all the alcohol they collected from the lab in the hospital. Under the gazes of everyone, he then poured all the alcohol into a large bowl that one of the three players found.

Toilet papers, books, canned meat, and then bowl. Laura was getting increasingly confused by what Alan was trying to make, but at the same time, she was also enthralled seeing what the man was doing.

Afterwards, Alan took out all five pieces of [Shirt] they had looted. Using his recently-obtained [Hunting Knife], he cut all five of them into long pieces of fabric. Moments later, a pile of long strips of cloth lay before everyone's eyes.

He then put the clothes strips into the bowls of alcohol. After making sure each strip was completely submerged, he let them sit for a minute before laying them one at a time on a nearby table to dry.

When the second large bowl arrived with all the toilet rolls and books, Alan opened one of the canned meat, started to take out all the meat inside the canister, and poured it into the bowl after cleaning it with tissue paper.

He then filled the empty canister with tissue paper and poured the leftover alcohol into it, soaking the paper in it. The next moment, Alan used his [Lighter] to light the paper inside.

When all the tissue paper started to burn away, Alan tore the pages of the books apart and threw them into the can to keep the fire burning. As a result, the canister itself was smoldering hot several moments later.

[Your (Science - novice) allows you to successfully create a common item]

[Name: Small Fire Barrel]

[Type: Miscellaneous]

[Rarity: Common]

[Attributes: None]

[Effects: Heat]

[Able To Bring Outside The Game: No]

[Remarks: A handmade fireplace for kids to play with]

Everyone was shocked when they saw what Alan had just created. Instead of burning marked items as a source of heat, he used the [Canned Meat] canisters – a worthless marked item after the meat was taken out – as a furnace and utilized unmarked toilet papers and books as the fuel instead.

Alan waited for a few seconds before he opened the second canned meat canister and did the same thing. The second [Small Fire Barrel] was quickly made, then the third and finally the fourth.

The cold air in the hall began to lessen as the heat radiated from the items spread throughout the place. Finally, everyone received a notification simultaneously when the eighth [Small Fire Barrel] was made.

[You Have Received Status: Heat level one]

Everyone was elated to see their cold status drop by another level. The hall of the New York Public Library now provides two-level resistance to cold status, which should be sufficient to keep everyone inside through the end of the round.

Seeing what Alan had done, Luis was impressed and said, "Man.. this is amazing… You are like that science dude in the movies... Mc... McDonald's…!"

Not the right name, but Alan couldn't care less. Ignoring the remarks, he told Luis, who said to be a cook, to do something with the meat. Hearing the order, Luis saluted excitedly.

"Right on it!"

On the other hand, Laura still had a confused expression on her face. Pointing her finger at the first bowl, she opened her mouth.

"What about all those cut-out clothes? What are you going to do with them?"