“What’s the temperature today?”
Early on the 9th, Qin Sang had just woken up when she heard her mother asking her father in the living room about the temperature. Rubbing her face, she sat up, turned down the air conditioner, and then checked her phone to see how hot it was outside.
Yesterday, when the high-temperature apocalypse had arrived, the temperature had briefly spiked to over 100°C. After that, it had stayed around 70°C. It wasn’t until after 10 p.m., when the sun had set and the surface temperature had dropped to around 40°C, that people could go outside.
So last night, most people had only a few hours of activity. A few hours later, the sun would rise again, and everyone would have to hide once more.
Her phone screen showed that the real-time temperature in Huashan City was 75°C. At this temperature, the heat waves outside were visible to the naked eye. Almost no one was walking on the streets. Occasionally, workers in white protective suits could be seen cleaning up the carcasses of animals that had died on the roads. From last night until now, the cleanup was still unfinished.
Qin Sang could only sigh. Just from yesterday alone, no one knew how many people and animals had died. She had heard that places all over the world were still counting the death toll.
Just then, her phone rang. Qin Sang answered. “What’s up?”
Xu Lin, on the other end of the line, could tell from Qin Sang’s slightly hoarse voice that she had just woken up. So he lowered his voice and said, “Does the air conditioner at home need fixing? I found an HVAC technician.”
Qin Sang: “No need to fix it. Last night, we had someone in the village help replace the air conditioners in my room, my parents’ room, and the living room with new ones. We just took the old ones down and set them aside.”
The main issue was that she didn’t know when she’d find someone to repair them. So it was easier to just replace them with new ones. Otherwise, they’d have to hide in the basement again today. If possible, Qin Sang much preferred living above ground. Even though the sun was fierce, just seeing daylight made people feel more hopeful.
In an apocalypse, maintaining a sunny mindset was better for survival.
Hearing this reasoning, Xu Lin let out a low laugh. Sure enough, no matter the situation, Sang Sang always had a way of saying something particularly insightful.
“Alright then. No rush on my end.”
Qin Sang: “Right, no hurry. How are things on your side?”
“The air conditioner stopped for a moment yesterday. But the units here are specially customized. They started working again automatically pretty quickly.”
Hearing this, Qin Sang’s eyes lit up. Did that mean that the official agricultural and livestock farms hadn’t been badly affected?
“There were still impacts. With only one month to prepare, the production capacity for customized air conditioners was limited.” Speaking of the losses, even though Xu Lin didn’t work in that field, he had heard quite a bit. But thankfully, casualties were low. People were the most important. Everything else could be recreated.
“By the way, starting today, the survival app’s store will occasionally release batches of a new type of sun-protective clothing.”
Qin Sang had heard rumors about this too. The official personnel who appeared on the surface yesterday during the daytime were wearing sun-protective clothing that looked particularly high-tech. It reflected a bit of light under the sun and looked extremely cool.
“It would be good to have one piece at home, in case you need to go outside during the day. I transferred some points to you.”
Qin Sang didn’t refuse Xu Lin’s kindness. This kind of item would be useful, but with limited quantities, it would definitely be expensive. And she had very few points on hand.
After finishing the call with Xu Lin, Qin Sang got up, ate breakfast, and started scrolling through her phone.
Looking at news from around the world, she saw that more than a dozen small countries had gone offline after yesterday’s disaster. It was speculated that their communication equipment had been damaged. Additionally, wildfires had broken out in many places around the world. In this extreme heat, many countries had announced they were giving up on firefighting efforts. Only a few major nations were still sending people to fight the fires. Among them was Flower Country.
There were several thousand fire points across Flower Country. But thanks to the storage spaces, large amounts of sand were being used to extinguish the fires. So far, there had been no major losses due to fires.
There was also news about water, power, internet, and gas outages across the country. These were only happening in localized areas. Once the authorities had the time to repair the lines, these issues would be resolved.
After reading the news, Qin Sang opened the Huashan City local forum.
She mainly wanted to see if anyone was selling drainage pipes. The official store hadn’t listed them yet. Some people in the forum had posted listings, but the prices were outrageously expensive. Air conditioners were even more astronomical.
Qin Sang decided to wait a couple of days and see. Drainage pipes weren’t urgent anyway. Self-built houses could handle a little mess.
Nothing major seemed to be happening in the village either. Just people who had lost their livestock and poultry yesterday wailing about their losses in the group chat. Other than that, nothing much.
Qin Sang thought that the second day of the apocalypse seemed fairly uneventful.
But when night fell, the real danger began to emerge.
Of course, Qin Sang didn’t know that yet. Like everyone else, she stayed home with her parents and lived through an ordinary day. It wasn’t until after 10 p.m., when the temperature had dropped to around 40°C and it was suitable for people to go outside, that the family finally went out for a stroll.
While out, they naturally chatted with the neighbors. Everyone exchanged information about their day. Nothing new.
Then someone mentioned that the community center had free heatstroke relief tea. Anyone who wanted some could go. Quite a few people called out to head over. It wasn’t like they had anything else to do.
Qin Sang followed the group toward the community center. Along the way, she kept an eye on the surrounding greenery—it was all withered and dry. There were no mosquitoes or insects in the air. The air was scorching. The nearby pond had also dried up, leaving behind only dark, foul-smelling mud that looked somewhat eerie under the night lights.
“Walking this stretch used to be noisy with crickets and bullfrogs. I used to complain it was deafening. Now that it’s gone, it just feels empty.”
Second Aunt pointed at the pond and sighed.
Qin Sang’s mother: “Isn’t that the truth! This village pond was always a stinking pond, but now that it’s dried up, it’s just unsettling to look at.”
“Yeah! My old man said now the stinking pond is useless for fishing. Let’s see if I ever tease him about coming home empty-handed again!”
The elders each shared their memories of the stinking pond, quite moved.
Qin Sang didn’t feel as nostalgic. When she was little, this stinking pond had drowned a few kids her age. After that, children were forbidden from going near it. Later, a fence was built, completely cutting off access for kids.
But then, wait—something was off.
Qin Sang closed her eyes and opened them again, trying to confirm whether she was seeing things.
“Sang Sang, what’s wrong?”
Her mother was the first to notice her daughter’s strange expression and immediately asked.
Qin Sang shook her head, pulled out a high-power spotlight from her space, and shined it at the stinking pond, which now only held some foul-smelling mud.
She hadn’t been mistaken. The mud at the bottom of the pond was really moving.
With the spotlight, not only Qin Sang but everyone else noticed the movement too.
Someone shouted, “There are loaches moving in the pond mud!”
As soon as he said that, many people turned to look. Then, a few daring individuals picked up tree branches from somewhere and ran straight toward the pond.
“Those are the ones whose chickens and ducks all died,” Second Aunt recognized the people running ahead. One was a father with his son. Another was a young man charging in alone.
“They probably don’t have much meat left at home,” another aunt chimed in. “Their family doesn’t have anyone with a storage space. They were counting on eating their chickens and ducks. But then yesterday, all their poultry died.”
Qin Sang felt something was wrong and shouted toward the pond, “Uncles, brothers, don’t go near the pond!”
Hearing her, someone even turned around and said, “Don’t worry, there’s no water left. What’s there to be afraid of?”
“Dad, call them back. Don’t let them go over there. Second Aunt, you know them well—help call them back too. That pond is really not right.”
As she spoke, Qin Sang called Brother Fa.
Brother Fa knew Qin Sang wasn’t the type to cry wolf without reason, so he immediately rounded up a few guys and headed toward the pond.
But it was too late.
The sound of Brother Fa’s electric scooter had barely reached their ears when screams erupted from the bottom of the pond.
Many of the onlookers who had been waiting for the action shone their flashlights over.
That was when everyone saw what was happening at the bottom of the pond.
The father and son who had been at the front were no longer visible as people. Yes—they were completely covered in insects. If their eyes weren’t deceiving them, those were the common American cockroaches found in the south, known colloquially as just “cockroaches.”
At this sight, not only the people at the bottom of the pond screamed—the onlookers screamed too.
Those who had been planning to go into the pond turned and ran back. But since everyone had rushed down hoping to catch loaches, quite a few people were already in the pond. The mud was dry and uneven, making it hard to run.
Then, in the chaos of pushing and shoving, more than a dozen people fell into the pond. Another wave of screams rose one after another.
Qin Sang couldn’t do much. Running in to rescue them would almost certainly mean getting swarmed by cockroaches too.
She stopped Brother Fa, grabbed a loudspeaker, and shouted, “Aim all flashlights at the pond! These cockroaches are afraid of light!”
Then she shoved the loudspeaker into Brother Fa’s hands, telling him to keep shouting. She immediately pulled a one-meter-tall, half-meter-wide floor-standing high-power floodlight from her space.
This type of light often appeared in TV shows and movies—the kind the police would turn on to illuminate a villain.
Qin Sang switched the light on and aimed it at the pond.
Instantly, the one-acre pond was as bright as day.
The cockroaches that had been feeding on the people retreated like a tide, slithering off their bodies and hiding back in the mud.
The people left on the surface seemed still alive. But there wasn’t a single patch of intact skin left on their bodies.
Their clothes were tattered. Everywhere visible was a bloody, mangled mess.
Brother Fa stood there, breaking out in a cold sweat. It took him a while to find his voice.
“Little sister… Sang Sang. Those… those were cockroaches, right?”
Qin Sang nodded helplessly. “Yes, they were cockroaches.”
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