Chapter 74: Extreme Heat 15
Game Day 10.
The water reservoir was completed.
Measuring 2.5 meters long, 1.6 meters wide, and 1 meter deep, this volume is enough to hold several tons of water, but that will have to wait until the reservoir dries.
The basement underwent major modifications, and because it needed to dry, their living area was temporarily moved from the basement to upstairs.
Chu Yian took the opportunity to open her treasure box again while showering, using the skill of ‘Creation from Nothing’.
[‘A soft and fluffy bath scrub’]
[‘Note: To be retrieved after this round of the game.’]
[‘Item’s Inner Voice: A bath scrub that can create rich, dense foam with various shower gels and soaps. A true bathhouse Artifact, beloved by bathers. Love bathing, and your skin will be good!’]
This round of the game really is… the treasure box’s ‘Creation from Nothing’ skill hasn’t yielded a single useful item.
When Chu Yian finished her shower, Lu Qingyuan was not in the room. He was outside, checking on the vehicle.
“Teacher Lu, are we going out again today?”
“Yes.”
Lu Qingyuan was currently inspecting various parts of the car.
The parts were fine, but the gasoline was insufficient due to the past few days’ use. “After the sun sets, we’ll go to the city to buy some more gasoline.”
“Okay.”
Chu Yian turned and went back to the room, found a backpack, and packed money, mineral water, and a few chocolate bars. She also took two self-defense items and placed them in the car’s trunk.
It’s impossible not to use the air conditioner in this weather.
Otherwise, they would surely die from the heat, which is precisely why the already scarce gasoline was consumed even faster.
20 minutes later, they arrived at a gas station.
The gas station had no cars, no people, and no gas.
The gas station they frequently visited was now empty. The gas pumps were dark, completely without power.
If this gas station didn’t have any, they’d try another.
There were several gas stations in the city, so Lu Qingyuan drove directly towards the largest one in the city.
Because of the power outage, the road was completely dark. When they arrived at the second gas station, they were utterly shocked.
There was no gas station left; only a pile of ruins.
Burned vehicles were piled on the road, and the gas station was reduced to unburnable concrete walls. Their nostrils were filled with the stench of gasoline, plastic, and some kind of burnt flesh. More people appeared on the roadside; most of them were kneeling, dressed in mourning clothes, burning paper money.
“Uncle, was there a fire here?”
Chu Yian stopped a middle-aged man who was about to leave and asked.
“It started burning in the early hours of yesterday morning.”
At that time, flames ignited from the gas pump, and a massive fire instantly engulfed the gas station. None of the staff or customers inside escaped, and many vehicles parked nearby also suffered the same fate.
The weather was dry and hot.
Vehicles would explode at the slightest spark.
Even when firefighters arrived later, it was of no avail; the fire was completely out of control, and they could only watch as the blaze completely swallowed the gas station.
Most of the people on the roadside now were relatives of those who perished in the disaster.
“You have a car, why aren’t you running?”
The man glanced at their car and whispered, lowering his voice.
With prolonged power outages, new energy vehicles in the city were directly scrapped. The 50-degree Celsius+ high temperatures over the past three days caused at least 30% of the remaining vehicles to malfunction and 30% to lack gasoline, making usable cars a scarce commodity.
From the passersby, they learned some information about the city.
If vehicles were scarce now, then gasoline would be even harder to come by. Although they were mentally prepared, being disappointed again still left them a little regretful.
“Teacher Lu, the situation at the remaining two gas stations should be the same.”
It was highly probable that they wouldn’t find gasoline at a gas station.
Just as they were losing hope, they found a turning point at a fourth, small gas station.
This gas station was also completely dark, without gasoline.
Just as Lu Qingyuan and Chu Yian were about to leave, someone suddenly ran from outside and called out to them, “Excuse me, are you looking to buy gasoline?”
The person waved to them, looking mysterious and furtive.
Lu Qingyuan left Chu Yian in the car, “Watch your surroundings. Don’t open the door until I come back.”
With that, he got out of the car and walked towards the person.
“You have gasoline?”
“Yes.” The person nodded, “I still have some bulk gasoline I can sell.”
“How much?”
“Gasoline now is comparable to gold.” The person looked at Lu Qingyuan, his voice carrying an implication of extortion, “800 yuan per liter of gasoline.”
Normally, 1 liter of gasoline at 10 yuan would be exasperating.
But now, being able to buy gasoline at all was considered good.
“Okay.”
Lu Qingyuan nodded, “How much do you have?”
“I have twenty liters.”
Lu Qingyuan: “I’ll take it all.”
So extravagant?
Hearing Lu Qingyuan’s decisive decision, the man felt he had asked for too little. “If you want it all, it’ll be 20,000, plus ten bottles of mineral water or some food.”
800 per liter for gasoline was extortion, but now 20,000 for 20 liters, plus food and water, that was truly being greedy.
Lu Qingyuan’s face darkened, and he looked at the man coldly, speaking in a calm, unruffled tone, “Secretly selling gasoline here, you probably don’t have any companions?”
“The gasoline is hidden nearby, isn’t it?”
He pulled out a wad of bright red banknotes, “Do you want money or your life? You choose.”
The oil seller’s face stiffened, his expression a little unnatural.
Not everyone is a desperado; he was actually a gas station employee who had secretly taken a few barrels of gasoline home after the gas station closed due to the high temperatures.
For the past few days, with high temperatures and everything shut down, he had no food, no drink, and no money at home, so he thought about selling the gasoline. Upon learning that gasoline was now a rare commodity, comparable to gold, he naturally wanted to sell it for as much money as possible.
But he was also worried about the goods being stolen.
He had waited in the woods all night before encountering this buyer. “Don’t be impulsive, it’s just 20,000 yuan, I’m selling it to you at a loss.”
Lu Qingyuan only gave him 16,000, then returned with two barrels of gasoline.
The gasoline was poured into the tank, and the indicator light returned to normal. He got into the passenger seat, then drove the vehicle directly towards the city center.
A few days ago, in the early morning, the night market was extremely lively.
People walked in groups of three or five on the streets to cool off, and some shops even used generators to do business. However, today the road was particularly quiet.
The streets and alleys were empty.
Where did everyone go?
Most of the city’s residents were by the largest Yuting River, not to cool off, but to fetch water.
The city’s water supply was cut off, and all the small streams and rivers had dried up from the sun. Without tap water, other areas also had no flow, and only the deep basin in this river still had a water source.
During the day, people could only hide in subway stations, underground street warehouses, underground parking lots, and air-raid shelters, daring not to go out. Only at night did they dare to come out to find water.
