Chapter 79: Extreme Heat 20
Game Day 14, 2:36 PM.
The outdoor temperature had already reached 57 degrees Celsius.
On this day, with the highest temperatures, thirst, heatstroke, and heat exhaustion ravaged the population. Most surviving players and NPCs hid in dark, stuffy corners, drinking turbid, foul-smelling water. Their lips were chapped, skin red and peeling, afflicted with all sorts of strange illnesses, spirits low and on the verge of death.
Meanwhile, in the basement of the small building, Chu Yian and Lu Qingyuan were enjoying hotpot with the air conditioning on. The chicken was stewed to perfection, the meat falling off the bone with a slurp; the rabbit was tender, fresh, and without any gamey odor; the beef and lamb slices just needed a quick blanch.
Eating meat and then having a sip of soda—it was simply too luxurious!
Full and satisfied, Chu Yian burped. Overeating led to oxygen deprivation in her brain, and drowsiness immediately set in. She climbed back onto the bed to sleep, leaving Lu Qingyuan to tidy the dishes on the table.
This time, she didn’t sleep in the wrong place.
She slept until the afternoon, woken by her phone’s alarm. Hearing the ringtone, she instantly became alert.
It was 5 PM, with the temperature around 50 degrees Celsius. The sun hung low in the sky, its rays as strong as midday. Coming out of the basement felt like stepping into an oven.
Although it was deadly hot, they still had to get up.
Chu Yian, wearing a straw hat, dragged the last bit of cement from outside into the house. Lu Qingyuan, meanwhile, picked up a bucket and braved the scorching sun to fetch water.
After a while, he returned with half a bucket of water, plus some bad news.
“The well is dry.”
Even this dozens-of-meters-deep well couldn’t escape the fate of drying up; the last water drawn was turbid.
Fortunately, Teacher Lu had foresight. Besides mineral water, they had also hoarded several tons of well water.
Chu Yian mixed the last two bags of cement and then thinly spread it over the surface of the wooden boards with a scraper. The newly applied cement and the old cement had a stark color difference, immediately noticeable.
But she had no other choice; she could only hope that if anyone broke in, they would be blind enough not to notice.
“Teacher Lu, actually, we could also block this place with things.”
Chu Yian looked at the basement and suddenly had this idea.
Lock the door, close the windows, then disguise the staircase as a storage room, piling various items at the basement entrance to conceal it.
As for them, they could hide elsewhere in the yard at night.
“That works.”
Lu Qingyuan nodded in agreement, “It’s best to make the interior of the house look abandoned.”
“Then I’ll go down and prepare first.”
Chu Yian went downstairs and started packing things.
As the saying goes, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. The things they relied on for survival certainly couldn’t all be kept in the basement.
After going downstairs, Chu Yian directly moved three boxes of mineral water, one box of compressed biscuits, and all the Huoxiang Zhengqi water. All these items were stored in her treasure box.
At this moment, Lu Qingyuan had already started arranging the room. He glanced at Chu Yian, who came up empty-handed, “Bring up two boxes of mineral water and two barrels of diesel.”
Chu Yian obediently went down again after hearing him.
After placing the items aside, they began to set up the stairwell. It had to be messy yet unintentional, giving the impression that no one would want to search through it.
They piled various large and small farm tools inside, turning it into a dedicated storage room. After doing this, the two began to mess up the rooms upstairs and downstairs, giving the impression that the occupants had already fled.
Everything was arranged perfectly. Chu Yian felt it was flawless, yet also felt something was missed, until she saw the lock on the main door and realized, “Teacher Lu, do people lock the main door from the inside when they leave home?”
No.
A major bug!
Fortunately, Chu Yian discovered it in advance, otherwise they would have been exposed before even starting their act.
Lu Qingyuan went out with a wooden ladder.
He latched and locked the main door from the outside, then used the ladder against the wall to climb over and get back in.
“Teacher Lu, be careful!”
Chu Yian looked at the sharp glass on the wall, never expecting that the first person to be defended against by their painstakingly built glass wall yesterday would be Lu Qingyuan.
Even though Lu Qingyuan carefully avoided the glass on the wall, his ankles and palms were still accidentally scratched. The wounds weren’t deep, but a lot of blood flowed.
Chu Yian quickly used water to rinse his wounds. With their limited conditions, they could only wait for his injuries to heal on their own.
“It’s fine, let’s find a place first.”
Everything was almost ready, and the sky was gradually darkening.
If anyone else was escaping from the city, by their estimation, they should be arriving here soon.
Where to hide was still a problem.
“Teacher Lu, what do you think of these two big trees?”
Chu Yian pointed to the two large trees on either side of the house. One was about ten meters tall with many branches, its leaves yellowing and hanging from the boughs. Lu Qingyuan’s long legs kicked the tree trunk, and the tree trembled slightly, leaves rustling down.
“No.”
Lu Qingyuan looked at the situation and said without hesitation.
If they really hid in the trees, even a small movement could expose them.
“Then where do we hide?”
If someone came inside the house, they would easily be found.
Lu Qingyuan’s gaze swept around, then he said, “Follow me.”
Ten minutes later, Chu Yian was on the rooftop.
The rooftop had been baking in the sun all day and was incredibly hot. She lay on it, feeling like a slice of pork belly in a barbecue restaurant. She was originally lying face down, but it was so hot she couldn’t stand it and flipped over to ‘fry’ her back.
Although it was very hot, there was no denying it was a good spot.
The rooftop was flat, with half-meter-high railings on all four sides. From above, they could see the main road and the surroundings of the house, offering an open view and making them hard to detect. Lu Qingyuan had also put in a lot of effort to get himself up there.
“Catch the water and diesel.”
Lu Qingyuan’s voice came from below. Chu Yian crawled over, caught the items, and brought them up. Immediately after, Lu Qingyuan stepped onto the railing, leaped up, grabbed the eaves, and climbed to the top floor.
The two lay on the rooftop, waiting quietly.
8:00 PM, temperature 53 degrees Celsius.
Honestly, lying here was incredibly hot.
In this short hour, they had already drunk four bottles of Huoxiang Zhengqi water. Chu Yian pulled out her pink pig electric fan from her backpack and leaned towards Lu Qingyuan.
The small electric fan whirred, providing some wind, though not much, and it was hot.
Chu Yian had already turned the small fan to its maximum setting, and this was all it could do. After she finished with the small fan, she looked up and saw Teacher Lu next to her looking at her. “It’s a small item from a (treasure box) prize draw. It’s barely enough to blow some air; just make do with it.”
Chu Yian thought Lu Qingyuan was complaining about the fan’s weak effect, but in reality, he felt she was too close. After hearing her explanation, Lu Qingyuan said nothing more, his gaze returning to the main road ahead.
8:51 PM. Car headlights shone from afar. On this road, the refugees appeared again…
