Day 14 of the game, 2:36 p.m.
The outdoor temperature had already soared to 57°C.
On this hottest day, thirst, heatstroke, and heat exhaustion ran rampant among the crowd.
Most surviving players and NPCs hid in dark, stuffy corners, drinking murky water with a strange smell. Their lips cracked, skin reddened and peeled, infected by all sorts of bizarre illnesses, spirits waning, barely alive.
Meanwhile, in the small building's basement, Chu Yian and Lu Qingyuan enjoyed hotpot with the air conditioning on.
The chicken was stewed to perfection—meat slid off the bones easily; the rabbit was tender and fragrant with no off-flavors; the beef and lamb slices only needed a quick dip in the broth.
Eating meat and washing it down with a sip of soda felt utterly luxurious!
Fully stuffed, Chu Yian burped. Overeating made her brain a bit oxygen-starved, and sleepiness quickly crept in. She climbed into bed to nap, while Lu Qingyuan began cleaning the dishes on the table.
This time she slept in the right spot.
She slept until the afternoon, awakened by her phone alarm. Hearing the ringtone, she immediately woke up.
It was 5 p.m., temperature about 50°C. The sun hung low but still blazed like midday.
Stepping out of the basement felt like entering a furnace.
Though the heat was unbearable, she had to get up.
Wearing a straw hat, Chu Yian dragged the last bit of cement left outside into the house. Lu Qingyuan grabbed a bucket and went out under the blazing sun to fetch water.
After a while, he returned with half a bucket and some bad news.
"The well is dry."
Even the dozens-of-meters-deep well hadn't escaped drying up; the last water drawn was murky.
Luckily, Teacher Lu had been foresighted—besides bottled water, they had stockpiled several tons of well water too.
Chu Yian stirred the last two bags of cement, then used a scraper to apply a thin coat over the wooden boards covering the well.
The fresh cement looked very different from the old one—color contrast was obvious at a glance.
But she had no choice and hoped that if someone broke in, they'd be too blind to notice.
"Teacher Lu, actually we could use something to block this place off."
Looking at the basement, Chu Yian suddenly had an idea.
Lock the doors, close the windows, then disguise the stairwell as a storage room—pile various things in front of the basement entrance to hide it.
As for themselves, they could hide elsewhere in the yard at night.
"Sounds good."
Lu Qingyuan nodded in agreement.
"Better make the inside look abandoned."
"I'll go prepare downstairs first."
Chu Yian went down and started packing.
You can't put all your eggs in one basket, so of course not all their essentials would stay in the basement.
Chu Yian took three cases of bottled water, a case of compressed biscuits, and all the huoxiang zhengqi water into her treasure box.
Meanwhile, Lu Qingyuan started tidying up the rooms.
Seeing Chu Yian come up empty-handed, he said, "Bring up two cases of bottled water and two barrels of diesel."
Upon hearing this, Chu Yian obediently went down again.
After placing everything aside, they began setting up the stairwell—messy but not careless, making it look like no one wanted to bother searching there.
They stacked various farm tools inside, turning it into a makeshift warehouse.
Then they messed up the rooms upstairs and downstairs to create the impression the occupants had fled.
Everything was arranged perfectly, but Chu Yian suddenly felt something was missing—until she saw the lock on the main door and realized,
"Teacher Lu, did anyone lock the door from inside after leaving?"
No.
Big problem!
Luckily, Chu Yian caught it in time, or their act would have been exposed before it even started.
Lu Qingyuan had taken the ladder outside.
He locked and bolted the main door from the outside, then climbed over the wall using the ladder.
"Teacher Lu, be careful!"
Chu Yian looked at the glass shards on the walls—she never imagined the first person to be stopped by their glass wall trap would be Teacher Lu himself.
Though Lu Qingyuan carefully avoided the glass, his ankle and palm were accidentally scratched. The wounds weren't deep but bled quite a bit.
Chu Yian quickly rinsed the wounds with water, but with limited supplies, they had to wait for them to heal naturally.
"Don't worry, first find a hiding spot."
Everything was nearly ready, and dusk was falling.
If anyone else wanted to escape the city, the timing was probably about right for them to arrive here.
Where to hide now was still a problem.
"Teacher Lu, what about those two big trees?"
Chu Yian pointed to two large trees beside the house—one about ten meters tall with many branches, leaves yellowing and hanging loosely.
Lu Qingyuan kicked the trunk with his long legs; the tree shivered, and leaves fell.
"No."
Without hesitation, Lu Qingyuan said.
Hiding in the tree would be risky; even a small movement could expose them.
"Then where should we hide?"
Inside the house, if someone came, they'd be easy to find.
Lu Qingyuan scanned the surroundings and said,
"Follow me."
Ten minutes later, Chu Yian climbed onto the roof.
The roof had baked all day and was scorching hot.
She lay on it, feeling like a piece of pork belly in a barbecue shop. She flipped over when the heat became unbearable.
Though hot, it was undeniably a good place.
The flat roof had half-meter-high railings all around.
From here, they could see the main road and the surroundings clearly—a wide view, easy to stay unnoticed.
Lu Qingyuan had struggled hard to get himself up here too.
"Connect the water and diesel."
Lu Qingyuan's voice came from below.
Chu Yian climbed over and caught the supplies, then placed them up top.
Lu Qingyuan then jumped onto the railing, grabbed the eaves, and climbed to the rooftop.
The two lay quietly on the roof, waiting.
8:00 p.m., temperature 53°C.
To be honest, lying here was very hot.
In just one hour, they had already drunk four bottles of huoxiang zhengqi water.
Chu Yian pulled out her pink little pig electric fan from her backpack and turned it toward Lu Qingyuan.
The tiny fan whirred, blowing a bit of wind—not much, and still warm.
Chu Yian had set it to the highest speed; this was all it could do.
After finishing, she looked up and saw Teacher Lu watching her.
"It's a little gadget won from the treasure box lottery. It barely blows anything, but it's better than nothing."
Chu Yian thought Lu Qingyuan was complaining about the fan's weak effect, but actually, he just thought she was standing too close.
After her explanation, Lu Qingyuan said nothing more and returned his gaze to the main road ahead.
At 8:51 p.m., car headlights appeared from a distance. On this road, the refugees reappeared once again...