Inside Barracks Nine, the heat collapsed with total speed.
It plummeted from forty degrees below zero straight to eighty-five below zero in two rapid heartbeats.
The dark rock flat stone slabs around the corner hearth shrieked under the violent ice-cold shock.
Long, jagged fissures webbed across the granite floor as moisture trapped in the stone veins flash-froze and swelled, spitting sharp stone chips into the dark.
The crawling cobalt corpse-mist poured from the ceiling grating like a river of liquid ice.
Xiao Lin and the four southern conscripts opened their mouths to scream.
No sound escaped their throats.
The instant the sub-zero vapor touched their lips, moisture in their breath, spit, and lung passages crystal-hardened into solid needles.
