Survive the Heat Apocalypse! (1)

In the beginning, no one paid attention to this disaster. First, it was the scorching heat that lasted for dozens of days, with temperatures soaring above 45 degrees Celsius.

Then came the droughts, drying up fields and causing lakes to run dry.

By the time people realized the severity of the situation, the apocalypse had already arrived.

"It's so hot! Why is it so hot this year?"

"Yeah, it's been over 40 degrees for three days straight. It's enough to drive people crazy!"

On my way home from work, pedestrians hurried by, with hardly anyone lingering on the streets. Everyone was rushing into buildings to escape the heat as quickly as possible.

I stopped my car at a red light and glanced at my phone.

5:45 PM, 38 degrees.

Even though it was almost evening, the sun hadn't set yet. The blazing sun and relentless heat made it feel like it was still midday. Today's temperature was unusually high.

When the light turned green, I hesitated for a moment and decided not to go straight home. Instead, I turned left toward the city's largest supermarket to stock up on supplies.

Today was Friday, and tomorrow was the weekend. If the weather continued to exceed 40 degrees, I planned to request a few days off from work to stay home and avoid the heat. I had just signed off on a big project, so the company shouldn't refuse my leave.

I rushed into the supermarket and headed straight to the fresh produce section, buying a large quantity of daily essentials. Then, I went to the frozen food section and bought some steaks, frozen fish, and shrimp. Passing by the toiletries aisle, I noticed that the sanitary pads and tampons I usually used were on sale, so I grabbed two large bags. My shopping cart was quickly filled.

"Need any help?" a young male employee approached me, smiling shyly.

I nodded and handed him the cart. I grabbed another one and headed to the canned goods section, picking up two cans of each type. Then I moved to the snack aisle and filled my cart with sunflower seeds and chips.

"Would you like to buy some drinks? We're having a sale on large bottles of Coke and Sprite, only 9.9 yuan for a combo pack," the young employee suggested.

It made sense to me. Although I usually tried to be healthy and didn't drink much soda, chips just didn't feel right without Coke. So I went to the beverage section and grabbed five combo packs, totaling ten bottles. I also asked the employee to help me load two cases of bottled water, filling up a third shopping cart.

I thought I was done, but as I passed the rice and grain section, I suddenly remembered that my rice bin at home was almost empty. I asked the young employee for more help, and he carried two bags of rice for me. I also grabbed five packs of instant noodles to fill the gaps in my second cart.

With that, all three shopping carts were full.

At the checkout, the total was 1,321.8 yuan.

"Would you like us to deliver the goods to your home?" the young employee asked again.

I shook my head. "No need, just help me load them into my car."

"Are you sure? These things are heavy."

The young employee seemed eager to assist, but I declined again, only asking him to load everything into my spacious trunk.

As I closed the trunk, the young employee seemed to sigh, but I didn't pay much attention and drove home directly.

Five years ago, after divorcing my ex-husband, I traveled randomly for six months before settling in this slow-paced third-tier city, leaving behind everything I was familiar with.

Now, I lived alone in a high-end residential area in the suburbs, on the 16th floor, a middle level that wasn't too high or too low. There were only two apartments per floor, each with its own security door.

Perhaps because of different schedules or the excellent soundproofing, I had never seen my neighbor. The only sign of someone else living on the same floor was the occasional umbrella left by the elevator.

I parked my car in the garage and made three trips to carry all the groceries to the elevator. When I finally reached my apartment door, it took me another ten minutes to sort everything and put it into my large freezer and refrigerator.

Because our community had been locked down once during the pandemic, I had bought a large freezer, which was now eight-tenths full. One-third of the space was occupied by ice cream, and the rest was filled with frozen chicken, duck, offal, and half a pig.

These were all sent to me by my parents from my hometown. They had a mountain where they raised pigs, chickens, and ducks for fun. They often sent me frozen products, which kept piling up.

I put the steaks, frozen fish, and shrimp in the freezer, finally filling it to nine-tenths full. I thought to myself that even if there was another sudden lockdown, this meat would last me two months.

Ding...

As I was putting some drinks into the refrigerator, I received a text message on my phone.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that it was a red alert from the city's meteorological bureau, warning of high temperatures with a bold "41°C" prominently displayed.

"Tomorrow, the temperature in the city will reach a new high, exceeding 41 degrees. Residents are advised to avoid going out between 10 AM and 6 PM. If there are elderly or children at home..."

"41 degrees?" I couldn't help but curse. I immediately grabbed my phone and sent a message to my boss through our office app, requesting leave and notifying HR.

In such hot weather, I wasn't going to risk getting roasted outside. I figured I'd take as many days off as possible. After calculating the accumulated leave time from working on a big project over the past six months, I realized I could take about 20 days off in one go. Surely, the weather wouldn't still be this hot after 20 days, right?

My leave request was quickly approved. After I finished showering, I saw that the request had been granted. I also noticed two missed calls from my mom, so I called her back.

"Hello, Mom."

"Qingqing, it's really hot over there. Don't go out unless you have to. You're there alone, and if you get heatstroke, what will you do? Make sure you take time off from work, too. You were always running around in 39-degree heat when you were a kid..."

As soon as the call connected, my mom bombarded me with a series of concerned questions.

"I know, Mom. You and Dad should also take care to stay cool. Don't hesitate to use the air conditioner, okay?"

I reminded her.

"Air conditioner? Your dad and I are up in the mountains. The highest temperature today was only 35 degrees, and we're still using blankets at night. You should worry about yourself instead. If you'd stayed here, you could've moved up to the mountains where it's nice and cool."

Mom started to nag.

I let her go on for a good ten minutes before I finally found an excuse to end the call.

This summer was indeed unusually hot.

I opened a box of ice cream and comfortably sat down on the couch, eating while turning on the TV.

"The recent heatwave has caused over a thousand deaths across Europe. In some parts of India, temperatures have exceeded 55 degrees. Experts say that such temperatures are no longer suitable for human habitation..."

The first thing on TV was news about the global heatwave. I was grateful to be living in China, where air conditioning was widely available.

At this moment, I had no idea that in just a few days, the relentless heat would soon show me what "uninhabitable for humans" truly meant.