Chapter 68: Extreme Heat 9
She remembered everything about renovating the basement; she couldn’t afford a screen worth hundreds or thousands, but she could afford cement and bricks.
Twenty minutes later,
Chu Yian returned home with a cart full of cement and bricks.
At 11 AM, the outdoor temperature had already reached 50 degrees Celsius!
She cleared out the items stored in the basement once more. Cement and bricks were brought in successively and piled in the middle of the basement.
Chu Yian had only gone out twice, but she was already on the verge of being scorched. Feeling signs of heatstroke, she quickly returned to the house and drank a bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi water.
Huoxiang Zhengqi water was cheap, but it tasted awful.
A small bottle went down, shooting straight to her head.
However, the effect was also very significant; the dizzying sensation quickly disappeared.
She seized the time to begin planning the division of the basement.
A bedroom and a storage area.
There must first be these two areas.
Chu Yian carefully divided the fifty-square-meter space and spent an entire afternoon successfully building a one-meter-high partition wall, with the cost coming down to only 200 yuan.
This work wasn’t difficult; once she got the hang of it, it was very easy.
Chu Yian felt that these bricks and cement might still be useful, so she planned to buy more from the construction workers.
To avoid the high temperatures, the workers’ afternoon shift was from 6:00 PM to 10:30 PM.
Chu Yian didn’t want to come back after dark, so she left at 5:40 PM, just before the shift started.
At this time, the outdoor temperature was 47 degrees Celsius.
Even the wind outside was hot.
Chu Yian sat in her car; there was no air conditioning, only a small fan spinning frantically. She was drenched in sweat, her head was very dizzy, and her vision momentarily went black.
After only one-third of the short twenty-minute drive, she didn’t dare to move anymore.
She parked the car in a shady spot on the side of the road and got out, gasping for air.
The car was like a steamer, so hot it could cook a person. The bottled water in the car was warm even after being opened for a sip.
The weather was getting hotter and hotter.
It was simply deadly!
The ground was scorching. Chu Yian, wanting to rest, poured two bottles of mineral water over herself and only dared to squat in the shade, planning to wait for the temperature to drop a little more before leaving.
Chu Yian squatted by the roadside, drenched in sweat. The sensation of blacking out and feeling dizzy and lightheaded confirmed that she had heatstroke.
However, for half an hour, she was the only one on this road, making it impossible to find anyone to ask for help.
If this continued, she would have to call the police!
Chu Yian took out her phone, ready to dial for help, when suddenly a black blur flashed across her vision, followed by a loud bang.
Less than five meters from her, a black commercial van crashed into a road sign.
Chu Yian was startled awake by the collision. She looked ahead and saw that the front of the commercial van was completely caved in. The two young people in the driver’s and passenger’s seats were already disfigured by the vehicle’s compression; their twisted forms made survival almost impossible.
Gasoline began dripping from the vehicle onto the ground. Chu Yian accidentally touched a metal part of the car, and the scorching temperature immediately gave her a bad feeling.
She quickly backed away, preparing to run to a safe place.
However, through the gap in the front, she saw there was still someone in the back seat!
Was he still alive?
Chu Yian jogged to her car, took out a steel bar, and smashed the rear window of the van, only to suddenly discover a familiar face inside—”Teacher Lu!”
It was such a small world; the person in the car accident was Lu Qingyuan.
She saw that his forehead was bleeding, his face was pale, and he had already lost consciousness.
The bigger problem was that black smoke was starting to rise from the front of the vehicle.
Chu Yian quickly opened the car door from the inside and dragged Lu Qingyuan out of the vehicle. Just as she dragged Lu Qingyuan three or four meters away from the car, the black commercial van instantly caught fire.
Within two seconds, flames engulfed the entire vehicle from the front.
Burning, exploding—
The heatwave from the explosion rolled towards them, and metal parts from the vehicle flew out. A piece of metal grazed Chu Yian’s eye, and blood instantly flowed out, turning her vision blood red.
Chu Yian didn’t know where she got the strength at that moment.
She not only moved Lu Qingyuan to a safe place but also moved her tricycle away from the explosion, and then finally managed to dial the emergency number.
“X City, Changyun Road Section 3 in the suburbs, there’s been a car accident here, two people are dead, and two more are waiting for rescue. Please hurry, I can’t hold on much longer.”
She truly couldn’t hold on anymore.
Heat, thirst, nausea, coughing.
Her brain ached intensely, as if it were about to explode.
After saying this, she gasped for air like a fish out of water, then her vision went black, and she didn’t hear the sound of the ambulance approaching from afar.
When she woke up again, she was already in the Hospital… in the corridor.
The Hospital was extremely crowded; every bed was full, and there were no available beds, so the remaining people were arranged in the corridor.
“Doctor, this one is awake.”
“Come, extend your arm for a check-up.”
“…”
A doctor and a nurse surrounded her, checking her physical condition. “She’s recovering quite well. She arrived at the Hospital early, so there are no major problems. Take some medicine, go home to rest, and prepare for discharge.”
The Hospital’s medical resources were so strained that they were starting to discharge patients.
Chu Yian was pulled up to vacate the bed, and as soon as she stood up, a new patient was laid down.
She remembered Teacher Lu, whom she had saved before losing consciousness, and looked around but didn’t see him. So she quickly grabbed the little nurse who was about to leave, “Excuse me, where is the person who was brought in with me?”
“He woke up before you and went towards the corridor.”
Chu Yian slowly followed the nurse’s directions, glancing at the date recorded above the door as she passed.
The first time playing the game, she ended up in the Hospital, but thankfully, only one night had passed.
She calmed down slightly, then saw Lu Qingyuan’s forehead wrapped in gauze. He was currently holding his phone, standing by the window, frowning deeply as he talked to someone on the phone.
“Mm, yes, I missed the last flight.”
“I got a minor injury, nothing serious.”
“I know.”
“You help me book a Hotel first; I’ll handle the rest of the problems…”
As he spoke, he caught sight of Chu Yian standing not far away, then hung up the phone. “Thank you very much for yesterday. My name is Lu Qingyuan.”
“My name is… Chu Yian.”
Teacher Lu didn’t recognize her again!
Chu Yian sighed silently in her heart, “You’re welcome. It was the right thing to do given the situation.”
“I’ve already paid the medical expenses. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving now.”
Lu Qingyuan took out a pre-written note with a name and phone number on it. “This is my assistant. If you ever have any difficulties and need help, you can contact him directly.”
Even though she saved him, Teacher Lu was as cold and distant as ever.
Chu Yian took the note. She was about to say something when the Hospital suddenly went dark—
The power went out.
And it was a city-wide power outage!
