Chapter 62: Extreme Heat 3
The weather was too hot; by the time she reached the city, her clothes were already soaked, and the two remaining bottles of mineral water were completely finished.
Even so, she felt her head spinning.
She might be suffering from heatstroke.
Realizing this, Chu Yian quickly found a nearby shop. “Boss, do you have Huoxiang Zhengqi Water?”
“Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid?”
The boss casually pulled out a box of exquisitely packaged oral liquid in a glass container.
Chu Yian recognized it at a glance: the “Huoxiang Zhengqi Assassin,” ten yuan a box.
“Boss, Huoxiang Zhengqi Water is fine.”
She weakly stated again.
Both had the same formula; the only difference was that the oral liquid had a slightly sweet excipient, while the Zhengqi Water had ethanol as an excipient. Although it tasted bad, it only cost four yuan!
The money for two boxes of Huoxiang Zhengqi Oral Liquid could buy five boxes of 10-count Huoxiang Zhengqi Water!
Chu Yian carried a bag of medicine and took a sip before leaving.
The taste was indeed terrible, enough to make one gag. She forced the medicine down, couldn’t help but roll her eyes, and ran to a nearby convenience store to buy a bottle of ice water to rinse her mouth.
Next was buying lights.
She had already inspected the basement; besides the wire overhead, there was no other place to install a light. She told the boss about this, and soon he brought out several independent light bulbs.
“How about these battery-powered ones? They’re very bright, use D-cell batteries, and one battery can last about a month.”
That’s it!
Chu Yian estimated the size of the basement and bought three lights and four dry cell batteries, even shamelessly asking for two extra batteries for free.
Besides batteries, there was also the watermelon she couldn’t stop thinking about!
Since she was buying fruit anyway, just buying a watermelon wasn’t enough, so she bought four large watermelons, five pineapples, twenty apples, thirty coconuts, two pomelos, and ten pears.
Her purchasing habits clearly showed her preferences.
Besides these, there were also drinks.
In such hot weather, she wanted to fill the refrigerator’s fresh-keeping compartment and the well with various chilled drinks! Heaven knew how much she had wanted a sip of ice-cold Sprite on the way there. This obsession led her to buy thirty bottles of different flavored sodas.
Returning home with so many things, she was truly laden with spoils.
On the way, she met the construction workers who hadn’t finished work yet. Although it was just a brief encounter, everyone exchanged greetings.
As soon as she got home, Chu Yian filled a large bucket with water to chill the large watermelons.
Then, she installed the lights in the basement.
When she turned on the lights, the basement instantly brightened and felt especially spacious!
Chu Yian looked at the empty basement and began to seriously plan its division. Air conditioning definitely needed to be installed; it could be placed on the ground with the outdoor unit upstairs. It would be used when the heat became unbearable and she needed to escape to the coolness below.
A bed… she couldn’t manage to get one down with her strength, but a mattress was doable.
A mat was a must; that’s what made sleeping cool and comfortable.
For such a large space, Chu Yian hadn’t yet figured out what to do with the other areas. She went to the kitchen to make a bowl of noodles, ate, rested for a bit, and was just about to go down to continue planning when the house suddenly went dark.
The power went out.
Chu Yian hadn’t anticipated this, but her newly bought dry cell battery lights came in handy.
She brought the three lights upstairs and hung them in the bedroom where she slept.
Without air conditioning for cooling, the house began to heat up.
Her phone received a power outage notification—
“Dear electricity user: A sudden fault on August 17, 3022, at 22:36 caused a power outage. Repairs are underway. The affected areas are XXX, XXX, XX. Power is expected to be restored by August 18, 3022, at 05:00.”
A fault and repairs were underway.
Chu Yian saw the power restoration time and thought that the meat she had frozen in the refrigerator would probably be fine.
Wait, what if power outages became frequent later on?
This thought flashed through Chu Yian’s mind, making her sit up abruptly.
In hot weather, a power outage was a terrifying thing. No air conditioning, no lighting, and most crucially, the food in the refrigerator would spoil if the power was out for a long time!
Chu Yian instantly felt that only storing everyday food was a very foolish approach. Instant noodles, compressed biscuits, and other fast-acting filling foods could not only be eaten during an escape but should also be stored for staying at home.
Thinking this, she immediately used her phone to record these points.
Besides food, there was also electricity!
These battery-powered lights weren’t expensive; she could buy two more, and dry cell batteries also needed to be stocked up.
What should she do about the refrigerator and air conditioner if the power went out? Chu Yian was already preparing for the worst, thinking about problems that hadn’t even happened yet.
Buy a generator.
A household diesel generator.
Chu Yian remembered seeing them in shops before and searched online. Such generators cost around a thousand yuan.
Excellent, that’s the one.
Chu Yian planned her shopping targets for tomorrow, then lay back down on the bed… It was so hot!
She had just showered but was already sweating again.
She got out of bed, preparing to take another cold shower to cool down. Suddenly, she remembered that she had brought back a watermelon chilling in spring water?!
Thinking this, Chu Yian’s speed in getting out of bed increased.
Watermelon, a big watermelon!
She took the watermelon out of the ice water, cut it in half, put one half in the refrigerator, and ate the other half with a spoon.
The icy watermelon, with its refreshing sweetness, brought a continuous stream of coolness towards her.
After showering and eating the watermelon, it wasn’t as hot anymore.
She lay back down on the bed, closed her eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.
Game Day Three, 5 AM
Her phone woke her up. The sky outside was still dim, and there was a hint of coolness in the air.
The power had returned. Chu Yian ate a simple breakfast and set off on her shopping trip again. Her first stop was to buy a generator. The boss enthusiastically pushed various flashy products on her, but Chu Yian was determined to buy a diesel generator.
After all, when she decided to buy one last night, she had done her research. A diesel generator was the most suitable for her hypothetical situation. Storage batteries were too impractical, and while solar panels were good, they required on-site installation, were troublesome to maintain, and expensive.
“Then how about this three-kilowatt household small generator?”
Seeing that he couldn’t sway her, the boss finally brought out the model she wanted to buy. “It can hold ten catties of diesel, and its power output can simultaneously supply three 1.5-horsepower air conditioners. Occasionally using other electrical appliances is also not a problem.”
Listening to the boss’s introduction, Chu Yian couldn’t help but nod. “Yes, that’s exactly what I want to buy!”
