Thus, they safely weathered the first night of the extreme heat outbreak.
Xu An lay idly in the living room, scrolling through her phone, when she suddenly felt hungry.
She took out the shredded chicken cold noodles and sour and spicy chicken feet her mother had prepared yesterday from the refrigerator.
Just as she put a chicken foot into her mouth, she saw a group of people online leaving their "last words."
"Comrades, this is the first time I've realized that dying of heat isn't an exaggeration, but a statement of fact. I might be going first."
Unlike the previous post about the apocalypse that was met with ridicule, this time, only a few people replied.
Xu An knew that perhaps the person who posted was truly at their limit. In the final moments of their life, they were archiving their existence on this chaotic internet.
At least, someone would know they had existed.
Those who could still stay lucid now might escape disaster. The most frightening thing was to be silently roasted to death in their sleep by the heat.
The shredded chicken cold noodles were a bit clumpy, but with ice added, they were still refreshing.
Xu Yan was already asleep. She sat by the window, gnawing on a chicken foot while watching the cruel sky that seemed intent on wiping out all of humanity.
She crunched on the bones in her mouth, as if vowing to fight to the bitter end.
With nothing else to do, she inventoried her space again. Sleepiness crept up on her, and she drifted off into slumber in the gentle breeze.
...
"Wake up, Nannan, wake up... Nannan..."
Xu Yan panicked, seeing Xu An's little face flushed red. When she woke up at noon, she found her daughter sleeping beside her. At first, she didn't think much of it.
But after washing up, she noticed Xu An still had a chicken foot in her mouth and realized something was wrong.
Xu An wasn't just asleep; she had fainted.
She shook her vigorously, but Xu An remained still.
She immediately panicked, afraid something might happen to her daughter.
Xu An felt a sob near her ear. She didn't know who was crying, but her whole body felt as if it had been run over by a bulldozer.
Accompanied by the crying, she slowly opened her eyes.
"Mom?"
Seeing Xu An wake up, her mother hugged her tightly, her body still trembling slightly.
"Mom thought you wouldn't wake up!"
"Wasn't I just sleeping?"
"Who sleeps with a chicken foot in their mouth? You wouldn't wake up no matter how much I called you, and your forehead was so hot, I thought you had a fever."
Xu An was also surprised upon hearing this. She felt exhausted, as if drained of all energy.
"Mom, I'm going to take a shower. I'm hungry."
"Okay, go ahead then. Mom will make you something to eat."
After showering, Xu An finally became fully alert. She remembered that before she lost consciousness, she had gone into her space.
Thinking this, she explored the space with her consciousness again.
However, this time the feeling was different from before.
She didn't see the familiar pure white room in her mind.
Instead, she found herself!
She was standing within the vast space.
She looked at her hands and gazed around in amazement. Almost all her hoarded goods were neatly arranged on shelves.
She walked up to a row of shelves and found that she could directly pick up items.
"I can directly interact with these things?"
She was shocked. In her previous life, her space had never evolved the ability to allow living people inside, even until the day she died.
"This doesn't seem to be an ability evolved by the space."
Curiously, she wandered around the space. After only a few steps, she found a green plant on the ground.
"A green plant? Has the spiritual soil area evolved so early?"
Xu An ran over quickly, only to discover it wasn't the spiritual soil area, but just a seedling of a green plant. From the looks of it, it had just sprouted.
Unbeknownst to Xu An, this seedling had always been in her space.
However, in her previous life, she was constantly struggling with hunger, and the seedling couldn't absorb nutrients from its host, so it had never sprouted.
But in this life, Xu An had been eating heartily every day since her rebirth. With sufficient nutrients, this small seedling finally broke through the soil.
This was also why her appetite had been so terrifyingly large after her rebirth.
After confirming that the seedling had no adverse effects on the space.
She exited the space. Although she was puzzled by the changes in the space, she could only put the matter aside for now.
She didn't know what was going on with this seedling; she would just let nature take its course.
After coming out of the bathroom, she sat at the dining table and turned on the radio.
Although last night's high temperatures had claimed some lives, a significant number of survivors remained.
"Urgent news bulletin: Due to volcanic eruption hazards, temperatures soared last night, resulting in a large number of deaths from heatstroke. Please check on your housemates promptly and ensure they are alive. Avoid going out unless absolutely necessary. The country is actively organizing rescue efforts. Please trust your motherland and your country... Repeating the announcement..."
This news gave the survivors a glimmer of hope. Though it was faint, they knew their country had not abandoned them.
This minor interruption did not affect them. Xu Yan prepared chilled watermelon pudding and cold noodles, adding two soft-boiled eggs, accompanied by refreshing cucumber strips and kimchi.
It was a mouthwatering sight.
They all knew that such peaceful days would not last long.
As expected, in the afternoon, all electronic devices in the house simultaneously lost power.
Xu Yan asked in a panic, "Nannan, did the power go out?"
After the air conditioner stopped working, the indoor temperature began to rise again.
"It probably did. I'll go turn on the solar panels."
Saying this, she walked to the window and pressed a switch. A few minutes later, the appliances began to operate again.
Xu An had initially thought their use of solar panels would be conspicuous and had enclosed the area outside.
However, looking out the window, she saw that many houses had installed solar battery systems, and they were all in operation.
Xu An thought to herself that there were quite a few people with a sense of foreboding.
As she was thinking, she heard her mother call her and returned to the living room.
"Nannan, look, someone in our owners' group posted a message saying that water supply will be shut off starting at 6 PM today."
Xu An took her phone to check.
The fact that people were still active in the owners' group indicated that there were quite a few survivors in their complex.
She continued to read the group chat:
"Water shutoff? That's so sudden! I don't have any water storage equipment at home. The power is already out, are they trying to force us to die by shutting off the water too?"
"When will the water supply resume?"
But no one replied.
"Does anyone have any easily preserved instant food they can sell me? My family is really running out."
"I want to buy too..."
"I'll pay double!"
"......"
Xu An turned off her phone. The water shutoff had no impact on them; their stored water supply would last them for decades.
As for the families willing to buy food at a high price, Xu An scoffed.
Those who survived last night, to some extent, knew their current situation. The television and radio were constantly broadcasting rescue advertisements.
Fools would know the current predicament. Before receiving any national rescue, no one would dare to act rashly.
So why would they easily trade their supplies?
Xu Yan looked at her phone, feeling a pang of sympathy, but she still turned off the phone.
Xu An watched her mother hesitate, until she turned and walked away.
The worry in her heart finally subsided.
She had been worrying about what she would do if Xu Yan tried to persuade her to trade their supplies.
She hadn't expected her mother to say nothing.
Xu An picked up the watermelon pudding and took a mouthful. The icy sensation directly stimulated her taste buds.
Happy, she squinted her eyes.
Gou Dan was also wagging his tail beside her, his expression seeming to say, "I want some too, I want some too."
Call her selfish, call her indifferent.
In this life, she only prayed for her family's safety and well-being.