Waking up the next afternoon, they found snow piled halfway up the window, dimming the room. The heater had died at some point, but the fireplace was still alight, albeit faintly. The warmth had dissipated, awakening the two men who lay close together on the floor.

Covered only by a blanket, the events of the previous night — a whirlwind of emotions and passion — had left them too spent to even fetch a quilt. Their combined body heat, however, made the cold bearable.

"The pipes are probably buried in snow. I'll check them out later," a mostly sobered-up Shao Qi surmised. He then hesitated, wondering if Zhou You remembered the previous night's events and if his actions had tarnished his reputation in Zhou You's eyes.

Zhou You, eyeing the strewn clothing and not wanting to wear them again, kicked Shao Qi lightly, "Less talk, more action. Fetch our clothes and relight the fireplace."

Shao Qi picked up a jacket and tied it around his waist, then rushed to get the suitcase, pulling out two sets of new clothes for both of them. He offered to help Zhou You put them on, but received a kick in response.

Once the room warmed up again, Zhou You tidied up the messy space. This wasn't their bedroom but a small living room they had previously cleaned up. It was seldom used and looked cleaner than other areas.

With the New Year's Day approaching, not only did they need to restore the heating, but they also had to tidy up the rooms and kitchen, inspect the walls, and check the electrical network. They had a lot to do. But both were eager to finish, and after tidying up inside, they went out to shovel snow. Halfway through, Shao Qi remembered they had an automated snow remover in the storage that could melt snow into water, making the process much faster than manual shoveling.

When they found the damaged pipes, Shao Qi quickly repaired them. He fixed what needed fixing and mended what needed mending. If Zhou You hadn't known better, he would have suspected Shao Qi to be a professional repairman; such was his expertise.

"What, impressed by your husband's skills?" Shao Qi said, wiping off the engine oil from his hands after fixing a motor. With this device, even if the power went out unexpectedly, they wouldn't have to worry about electricity.

Zhou You scooped up some snow and threw it at him, "Don't be so full of yourself. I'm hungry. You're cooking tonight. I'll cook tomorrow."

Shao Qi retaliated with a much larger snowball that hit Zhou You square in the face. Realizing he might've gone too far, he quickly turned to flee, shouting, "Alright, alright, I'll cook! As long as you can stomach it!"

As it turned out, Shao Qi's culinary skills were somewhat lacking. It wasn't that he couldn't cook; he just had a knack for making simple dishes taste peculiar. Even with Zhou You giving explicit instructions down to when and how much seasoning to add, the result remained oddly flavored.

Had Zhou You not watched the whole process, he would have suspected Shao Qi deliberately sabotaged the meal.

"Don't look at me like that. I tried my best. Maybe I just don't have the talent for cooking. No one's perfect, right? The good thing is, we complement each other. What I can't do, you can. Isn't that great?"

Zhou You didn't want to engage and just went to boil himself some noodles. As for the dishes Shao Qi prepared, he let Shao Qi deal with them, not wanting to waste food.

After dinner, they immersed themselves in more repairs. They not only enhanced the traps by the walls but also repositioned the main gate. Leaving from this door would quickly lead them to a stone forest they had previously visited. The secret chamber in the forest was still there, suggesting that those from the Zhu family who knew about it were likely all gone.

Their building had five floors, and they managed to clean a room on the top floor with a large terrace. Previously used for storage, by the time they had arranged everything inside and out, it was dark.

"Not bad," Shao Qi commented, pleased with their combined efforts. They couldn't move the bed, but they had a brand new compressed mattress. Laid on wooden planks, it transformed into a wide bed, accompanied by two comfortable massage chairs for playing holographic online games. They would have plenty of gaming time in the upcoming days.

Shao Qi quickly set up the gaming equipment, eager to dive into the online world with Zhou You. Upon entering the game lobby, they discovered a brawl between two groups.

"What's happening here?" Zhou You barely dodged a hammer swung at his head, pulled to safety by Shao Qi. They edged along the wall to the exit, noting a large crowd of spectators outside.

"Boss, over here!" Miao Miao and his crew were there too. They had received a notification as soon as they logged in and were waiting by the entrance.

Once regrouped, Zhou You gestured inside, "What happened?"

Miao Miao excitedly explained, "Remember the people who were exploiting the game for points? The system quickly introduced new rules. Firstly, players can't form permanent teams. So if you're in a team today, you must have different members tomorrow. Secondly, they've changed the scoring system. When a mutant beast is killed, points are distributed based on damage done. Even if I just trap a beast without attacking, I can get the majority of the points when it's defeated. This way, those trying to cheat the system can't easily exploit it. But many had already hired others and paid in advance. When told they couldn't form teams, they demanded refunds. Some agreed to refund, but others made excuses. This resulted in confrontations, and before we knew it, a full-blown brawl broke out. Who knew there was an organization making money by farming points for others?"

"This new rule was implemented today. Some of those rich players had already paid in advance to have their games played by others. When the system changed the rules, these players wanted their money back. While some got their refunds without fuss, others faced resistance. This led to a clash between these two factions. Can you believe we didn't even know there was an entire organization dedicated to earning in-game points for others? The result is the chaos we're seeing now."

"Aren't the NPCs intervening?"

"In the game, fights usually go unchecked. In fact, the NPCs probably enjoy watching more than we do. But I suspect there'll be administrative intervention soon. They can't let them fight indefinitely."