I am truly impressed with myself. In recent years, after getting promoted to the company’s management, I’ve earned quite a bit of money, so I started buying all sorts of things. Whenever I saw something interesting or potentially useful, I’d buy it.
If I remember correctly, I bought this solar charging device about a year and a half ago. At the time, I was thinking about getting an RV for road trips but was deterred by the lack of parking spaces. However, I had already bought a lot of survival gear for outdoor use.
“Sis, you’re amazing! I can’t believe you have something this useful!”
Lu Zhou was equally excited when he heard about it and quickly helped me unpack and set it up according to the instructions.
Half an hour later, just before the sun rose, we placed the solar charging panels on the bedroom bay window, drew the curtains, and dragged a freezer into the bedroom, filling the room with small fans.
The sun slowly rose, spreading golden light across the land, and the temperature climbed.
Lu Zhou glanced at me.
I nodded.
He decisively pressed the switch.
The sound of the appliances starting up and the hum of the small fans were like music to our ears.
When I bought the freezer, I wasn’t looking for deep freezing, so I chose a low-power model. If the solar charging panels were efficient, maintaining functionality shouldn’t be an issue.
The freezer was now filled with drinks and mineral water—some mine, some Lu Zhou had brought over from his place.
He said he was a game streamer and often didn’t leave home for ten days to two weeks, so he had stocked up on supplies.
We inventoried all the food.
The ice cream had completely melted, and since it was too difficult to handle, I just threw it out.
The freezer originally contained six chickens, three ducks, half a pig, about five pounds of steak, two fish, and a bag of shrimp.
These meats were difficult to preserve in such weather, so we decided to lay them out on the balcony floor and see if today’s high temperatures could dry them into jerky for easier storage.
The leafy vegetables had mostly spoiled after last night’s high temperatures, emitting an unpleasant odor. We didn’t dare eat them, fearing the consequences of food poisoning, so we sprinkled them with salt and put them on the balcony to dry, hoping to make preserved vegetables.
As for the eggs, I wrapped them in some clothes and placed them on the balcony rack, hoping they’d cook in the sun.
While sorting the snacks, I found two bags of chips that had burst from the heat and were now hard and crispy.
I collected all the crumbs in a bag and moved the remaining intact snacks, along with other treats, biscuits, and bread, into the bedroom. The canned goods and rice were still in the kitchen cabinets, so we left them for now.
Finally, there was a bag of apples. Since they were still fresh, we decided to eat them quickly. They’d be our food for the next couple of days.
“Sis, you’re amazing! I can’t believe you had so much food hidden at home.”
Lu Zhou exclaimed in admiration.
Ugh...
I got goosebumps.
“Don’t call me ‘sis.’ Just use my name.”
“Qing Qing jie.”
“Shut up, or I’ll kick you out.”
I left the bedroom and, since the temperature hadn’t risen too high yet, went to the study to grab a few books.
These books had been sitting unopened since I bought them. Now, with the disaster keeping us indoors with no power and no working phones, they’d finally come in handy.
Lu Zhou, sensing the situation, didn’t bother me again. He left and returned with a few books, then dragged a chair to a corner and sat down.
As time passed, the temperature steadily rose.
We cracked the freezer open just a little and positioned the fans to oscillate back and forth.
As the temperature increased further, we opened the freezer wider, trying to keep the room’s temperature within a tolerable range while constantly drinking water to replenish lost fluids.
Even with this makeshift cooling system, by afternoon, both of us were drenched in sweat just from sitting there. The books were getting damp from the moisture.
All that nonsense about “keeping calm and cool” was meaningless in the face of such extreme heat.
Thankfully, we made it through the day.
“The highest temperature today reached 58 degrees. The heatwave will continue…”
In the evening, we charged the phone and turned on the radio to listen, both of us a bit shaken.
If it weren’t for that lifesaving solar charging device, Lu Zhou and I wouldn’t know how to survive.
After nightfall, we used the phone’s flashlight to check the balcony and brought in the meat. I nearly slipped because the floor was covered in oil that had been rendered out by the heat.
The aroma of the meat was overwhelming, impossible to mask.
Initially, I worried it might attract unwanted attention. I spent the next few nights on high alert, barely able to sleep, but fortunately, no one came.
Lu Zhou went back to his place to sleep every night, returning during the day. From the second day on, he brought over a bunch of board games, which, along with the books we had, helped pass the time.
Every day, we ate the sun-dried meat, occasionally snacking on some chips, and washed it down with drinks from the freezer. After getting used to the heat, there were moments when life almost seemed peaceful.
But I knew this was an illusion.
Each night, there were fewer and fewer candlelights in the building across from us.
One night, about a week later, I was fast asleep, dreaming I was trading intelligence with people from a rival company. My opponent won, but I didn’t feel disappointed. I even clapped when they set off fireworks to celebrate.
Boom!
The sound of an explosion jolted me awake.
I sat up abruptly and looked out the window, realizing it wasn’t fireworks but an explosion in the building across the way, flames tearing through the night.
Lately, I’d been hearing explosions and seeing flashes of fire and smoke in the distance, but this was the closest one yet.
Boom!
Another loud explosion shook the glass.
I screamed and jumped out of bed, rushing out, only to realize I was clinging to Lu Zhou’s waist, trembling uncontrollably.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s in the building across from us. The fire won’t reach us.”
He awkwardly patted my hair.
I flinched and quickly pushed him away.
“Fang Qing…”
“Don’t come near me. I’m fine, I’m fine…”
I gritted my teeth, retreated back to the bedroom, and quickly shut the door.
The flames across the way had grown even larger. I could almost hear the crackling and the screams.
“Fang Qing, are you okay?”
Lu Zhou knocked on the door.
I crouched down, hugging my knees, covering my ears. The pounding on the door and Lu Zhou’s knocking blended together, assaulting my mind like raindrops.
“I’m fine! Go away.”
I screamed.
“Fang Qing, I’m right outside. Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to you. Just calm down.”
He seemed to say, and the knocking stopped.
I couldn’t hear him clearly, crouching there, staring at the ever-growing flames outside the window.
Someone was running out of the fire, like a bird without wings, plummeting straight down.
Someone appeared at the window, waving a flashlight desperately for help, while others poured water from the upper floors, but it was useless. The fire only grew larger.
It grew larger and larger,
Until it engulfed the entire building.
The flames shot up into the sky.
The irony was, while the building across from us had become a blazing inferno, the temperature here, just 100 meters away, hadn’t risen much.
God, if this is truly the end of the world, please let me be freed quickly.
I hugged my knees and stared blankly out the window until dawn.
The fire burned all night and hadn’t completely gone out by morning.
Knock, knock, knock.
There was a knock on the bedroom door.
I collapsed to the floor, realizing my legs had gone completely numb.
“Fang Qing, it’s me, Lu Zhou. Come see, is it raining outside?”
He said.