08

I walked out of the bedroom, taking advantage of the still bearable temperature to move some books from the study.

These books had been bought but never opened. Now that we were stuck inside due to the disaster and couldn’t play on the phone, they were perfect for reading.

Victor sensibly didn’t bother me anymore. He went out and came back with some books, then pulled a chair to a corner and sat down to read.

As time passed, the temperature gradually increased.

We opened the freezer a crack and placed small fans on either side to blow the air.

When the temperature rose further, we opened the freezer more to maintain a bearable indoor temperature, then drank mineral water to replenish the body’s lost fluids.

Even with this makeshift cooling setup, by the afternoon, we were both drenched in sweat just sitting there, and our books were soaked.

The idea of staying calm and cool was impossible in such extreme heat.

Fortunately, we managed to get through it.

“Today’s highest temperature is 58 degrees. The high-temperature weather will continue…”

In the evening, we charged our phones and turned on the radio for a bit, feeling a bit uneasy.

If it weren’t for that lifesaving solar charging device, Victor and I wouldn’t have known how to get through this.

After dark, we used the phone’s flashlight for illumination and brought all the meat from the balcony back inside.

I almost slipped on the way out because the floor was covered in grease sun-dried out of the meat.

The smell of meat was overwhelming, and we couldn’t cover it up.

I was still worried it might attract people with ill intentions, staying cautious for a few days and unable to sleep soundly at night. Fortunately, no one appeared.

Victor went back to sleep at his place every night, coming over during the day.

From the second day, he brought over a bunch of board games, which, along with our book supply, helped pass the time.

We ate the sun-dried meat every day, occasionally opening a bag of snacks, accompanied by beverages we had stored.

After getting used to the high temperature, there was a moment when it felt like a peaceful life.

But I knew it was an illusion.

Because every night, the candle lights in the buildings across the street grew fewer.

A week later, I was asleep, dreaming about competing with someone from a rival company for information.

The opponent won, but I didn’t feel regretful. Seeing them set off fireworks to celebrate, I even clapped along.

Boom!

An explosion woke me up.

I sat up abruptly and looked out the window, realizing it wasn’t fireworks but an explosion in the building across the street, splitting the night with firelight.

Recently, there had been frequent explosions and firelight in the distance, but this one was the closest.

Boom!

Another loud bang, making the glass shake.

I screamed and rushed out of bed, instinctively grabbing Victor’s waist and trembling.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s in the building across the street. The fire won’t reach us.”

He awkwardly patted my head.

I trembled and pushed him away.

“Monica…”

“Don’t come near me. I’m fine, I’m fine…”

I gritted my teeth and retreated to my bedroom, closing the door quickly.

The fire in the building across had fully ignited, with crackling sounds and screams.

“Monica, are you okay?”

Victor knocked on the door.

I crouched down, hugging my knees and covering my ears, my mind filled with the relentless knocking and Victor’s knocking, all blending together like raindrops assaulting me.

“Ah! I’m fine, go away!”

I screamed.

“Monica, I’m right outside. Don’t worry, nothing will happen. Just calm down.”

Victor seemed to be saying, as the knocking stopped.

I could barely hear him, just crouching there, watching the growing firelight from the window.

People rushed out of the flames, falling like birds without wings.

People appeared at the windows, waving flashlights frantically for help, while others poured water from high floors, but to no avail, as the fire grew larger.

Larger and larger,

Until it engulfed the entire building.

The fire reached the sky.

Ironically, while the building across turned into a fiery hell, the temperature here, less than 100 meters away, barely rose.

God, if this really is the end of the world, please let me find peace soon.

Hugging my knees, I stayed awake until dawn.

The fire burned all night and hadn’t completely extinguished by morning.

Knock, knock, knock.

The door to the bedroom was knocked on.

I fell to the ground, realizing my legs had gone numb.

“Monica, it’s me, Victor. Look outside, is it raining?”

He said.

09

It was called rain, but it was just a few drops of water, barely noticeable as rain because they evaporated almost immediately.

Half an hour later, looking down from the balcony, the ground was still golden.

The sun was out, and the temperature rose as usual.

“It’s artificial rainfall from the neighboring city. We caught a bit of it.”

Victor stood behind me with his cell phone.

Although such a small amount of rainwater was useless, the presence of artificial rainfall indicated that the higher-ups hadn’t given up. As long as we persisted, we would eventually see cooler days.

We couldn’t lose faith in survival.

“I brought over two more cases of mineral water. The high temperature won’t last much longer; it should be over soon.”

Victor said, moving the water to the bedroom door. Seeing no objections from me, he brought it in.

His cautious gaze was evident.

I must have scared him last night.

Several spots in the building across continued to reignite, with thick smoke covering part of the sky.

Sunlight shone through the black smoke, casting a blood-red pinprick surrounded by a ring of orange light, full of murderous intent.

Faced with such a scene, both of us were somewhat distracted, forgetting the game we were playing and eventually giving up, each picking up a book to read.

During this time, I went to the bathroom and found the bathtub water for flushing almost depleted, with the basins and buckets all empty.

To save water these days, we had a tacit agreement to only flush for number two and use wet towels to clean ourselves, but time and high temperatures led to quick evaporation.

“The toilet water is running low. Let’s flush once a day from now on.”

I suggested to Victor as I walked out of the bathroom.

Victor smiled bitterly but didn’t refuse.

We both knew it was our only option.

Fortunately, three days later, in the middle of the night, we finally welcomed artificial rainfall.

It was also artificial rainfall, but this time it fell over our city, with substantial rain in the suburbs.

The sound of rain hitting the window woke me up, and Victor came knocking, his excitement palpable.

We put everything that could catch rainwater on the balcony, trying to save as much as possible, and grabbed towels to quickly wash ourselves.

Victor took off his shirt, revealing his young body, muscles still even though a bit thin, cheering in the rain.

I ignored modesty, turned my back to Victor, and washed away the stickiness with the rainwater, feeling the rain hit my face, a refreshing sensation.

I heard laughter from upstairs and downstairs, clearly indicating that many were still holding on in this building.

Half an hour later, the rain stopped.

It came and went quickly, filling the bucket to less than a third, but bringing enough coolness and hope.

Victor and I celebrated with two cans of canned yellow peaches as a reward.

There was still plenty of food. The heat naturally affected appetite, and we hadn’t touched the sun-dried half pig, only eating a few chickens and ducks.

We never lacked drinking water and beverages; I still hadn’t finished the beverages I had stocked up from the supermarket before the disaster.

Just a little longer, and we’ll make it!

Ring, ring, ring…

After changing into clean clothes, another good news arrived—cell phone signal was restored! A flood of text messages came in immediately.

To not miss any external news, even without a signal, we had a mutual understanding to fully charge our phones daily.

I picked up my phone and glanced at the text messages, mostly safety reminders and high-temperature notices, along with some shelter information from the authorities.

“Hello, Mom…”

Victor was already on the phone with his family.

Ah, I’m such an unfilial daughter, lagging behind.

I quickly dialed my mom’s number, only to get a power-off message.

No battery?

I dialed the home phone.

Beep, beep, beep…

A rapid busy signal.

How could this be?

I dialed my dad’s cell number, still no answer. I tried my eldest uncle and third uncle, going through all my relatives’ numbers…

“I’m fine here, really. We have enough water and food. Just make sure you take care of yourselves and don’t…”

Victor was talking on the phone, then paused as he turned to me.

“Mom, just stay put until the temperature drops. Listen to the authorities, and I’ll come back to see you when things are normal. My friend needs the phone to call their family, so I’ll hang up now.”

He said a few more words and hung up, handing the phone to me.

“Try mine.”

I didn’t refuse, taking it and first dialing my mom’s number… still off.

Off.

Still off.

“Maybe their area lost power.”

Seeing me dialing one number after another with no connection, Victor comforted me.

“They’re… over sixty years old.”

Clutching both phones, I continued dialing, finally reaching a cousin I hadn’t contacted in years.

“Hello.”

“Hello, this is Monica.”

“Who?”

“Cousin, it’s Monica, your third aunt’s daughter. Do you know how my mom is? I’m alone in another city and can’t reach them.”

I tried to keep calm.

“Oh, it’s you. I don’t know. Maybe you should call the shelter and ask.”

This cousin was somewhat helpful, immediately sending me a list of local shelter numbers.

I called but found no trace of my parents in three shelters. Just as I was about to call another, a standard female voice came through the phone.

“Hello, the number you have dialed is not in service, please try again later…”

Sensing something was wrong, I tried the next number, receiving the same message. Looking at the signal, it had dropped to zero bars.

The signal was out.

10

“Hey… hey, don’t cry!”

Victor awkwardly handed me a tissue, and I realized I was already in tears.

“I can’t reach them. They’re old, how will they manage in this heat…”

Although the mountains would be cooler than the city, such high temperatures would still affect the mountains as well.

There was no way to avoid it. With the power outage and signal loss, I was really afraid something had happened to them.

“It’s okay, they will be fine. My parents are fine. They are in a shelter, with constant-temperature air conditioner, food, and water, much more comfortable than we are,” Victor said, handing me several tissues.

I took them and buried my face in the tissues, crying uncontrollably.

I didn’t cry during the many days of hardship. I didn’t cry when the big fire in the building opposite scared me.

But when I found out I couldn’t contact my parents thousands of miles away, I couldn’t help but cry.

I regretted being so willful, running off to live so far away, only going back to see them once a year.

If I could do it over, I would stay by their side and never leave.

A pair of slightly stiff but warm arms gently hugged me from the side.

I flinched slightly, my body trembling.

“Don’t be afraid, it’s me. Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.”

“Your parents must be in a place where the signal hasn’t been restored yet. They must be anxiously trying to contact you.”

“If the cell signal came back once, it will come back again. We need to be patient and wait a bit longer, okay?”

Although his hug was clumsy and his words of comfort were nothing new, I still gradually calmed down in his voice.

“Okay, we’ll wait a bit longer.”

However, in the following days, there was no good news.

Because the temperature quickly rose again, higher than before the artificial rainfall.

Hot.

I looked at the calendar on the wall.

From the first day of my adjustment leave, 23 days had passed.

The temperature had been almost continuously rising, only dropping slightly on the day of the artificial rainfall, but then it quickly climbed above 60 degrees.

That’s right, the Earth was about to explode.

Or rather, humans could no longer survive on the surface.

Some people might be right; humans are like viruses on the surface of the Earth, and now the Earth is running a fever to kill the virus.

This is the end of humanity.

“What are you thinking about? Help me out, it’s about to fall.”

Victor was carrying two boxes of mineral water, the bottles distorted by the high temperature. One bottle was about to fall out of the plastic bag, and I quickly supported it.

I wondered how he had so much mineral water at home. Over the past few days, he had moved at least a dozen boxes.

“I was wondering if the temperature will keep rising.”

I helped him move the mineral water into the bedroom, placing each bottle in the freezer.

During the hottest days, I wished I could crawl into the freezer.

“Think positive. Think about whether the temperature might drop today. Yesterday it dropped by half a degree,” Victor pursed his lips, his lips slightly cracked.

No matter how much water we drank, it couldn’t withstand such heat. My lips were no better off.

“Actually, there’s a possibility we might be about to evolve from the heat. Haven’t you noticed we haven’t had heatstroke yet?”

He closed the freezer door to a small gap, grabbed his shirt, and fanned himself vigorously, his face bright red and sweating profusely.

I realized he was quite a gentleman. Except for the day it rained and he took a bath, he never went shirtless when I was around, no matter how hot it got.

“I don’t have the heatstroke gene. I used to work in the fields with my mom in 40-degree weather when I was a kid,” I spread my hands.

Victor laughed and turned to look at me, grinning like a fool.

“You call that a heatstroke gene? Funny, my family doesn’t have the heatstroke gene either. I’ve never had heatstroke in my life.

The highest I’ve played basketball in was 39 degrees, and I sent three opponents and two teammates to the hospital with heatstroke. I was the one who called the ambulance for them.”

“Wow, impressive. Cheers to that.”

I took out a bottle of beverage and handed one to him.

Our beverages were running low. Drinking one meant one less, but life must go on, right?

“Cheers, cheers, cheers.”

Victor took it, and we happily opened the bottles and took a big gulp.

“Ah, refreshing…”

He sighed in relief and lay down on the floor.

The drink had been in the freezer overnight, so of course, it felt good.

In the high temperature, we needed the cold air from the freezer to cool down.

Since it couldn’t be fully sealed and its power was insufficient, the ice inside had long melted, now only as cold as the fresh-keeping layer.

It only got slightly cooler at night. If we didn’t drink it soon, the cold air would dissipate.

I lay down on the floor, imitating him, and looked at the glass chandelier on the ceiling.

I had just replaced this chandelier before the disaster, so it was still very new. With a little light, it could be dazzlingly bright.

Suddenly, I seemed to see the chandelier swaying.

Was I seeing things?

I rubbed my eyes, but the chandelier swayed even more.

“It’s an earthquake!”

Victor jumped up, grabbed my arm, and almost dragged me off the floor, throwing me into the bathroom next to the bedroom. He rushed in, looking around in panic.

The bathroom smelled bad because we hadn’t flushed the toilet, but it couldn’t compare to the fear brought by the earthquake.

The earthquake came without warning and was strong!

They say prolonged droughts cause earthquakes. I had only seen that online and never researched it. After so many days of high temperatures, our brains fried by the heat, we hadn’t thought of it.

Caught off guard.

The building tilted, then returned to normal, tilted again, and then shook up and down, like a giant snake passing underground.

I screamed and hugged the only person I could.

Victor was much taller than me, bending down to shield me in his arms. We staggered in the earthquake, occasionally bumping into the walls and almost falling into the bathtub.

When the earthquake finally stopped, all I could hear was the rapid beating of our hearts and our ragged breathing.

Like a windstorm.

The building hadn’t collapsed, but the bathroom door was crooked.

I collapsed to the floor.

Victor leaned against the wall and walked out, cursing.

This was the definition of a desperate situation.