At 4 a.m. on August 8th, Qin Sang’s family got up.
They had gone to bed quite late the night before because the neighborhood had been lively all evening—it had a bit of a pre-apocalyptic celebration vibe. Many people were out and about, some even setting up stalls and using grain as currency. Similar scenes were playing out all across the country.
Qin Sang’s family didn’t join the festivities, but seeing the excitement still made them happy.
“Sang Sang, your mom and I are going to check the windows in every room and close the curtains. Wait for us in the basement,” Qin’s father said as he came out of his room, putting on his sun-protective clothing.
Qin Sang nodded. “Dad, Da Linzi is at work. I’ll go check on his place.”
Xu Lin was the head of the maintenance team for the survival app in Huashan City. The position might have sounded small, but the workload was anything but. With the disaster set to strike today, he had already gone to his workplace the night before to be on standby.
Her father nodded in agreement. “Alright, just don’t waste any time. Our local sunrise is predicted for 5:45 a.m. Better early than late. If it gets too late, just come back through the basement.”
The basements of the two houses had been connected during their renovations.
Afraid of running out of time, Qin Sang hurried.
Her mother then said, “I just sent a message to Qu Meijing upstairs to remind her.”
Qin Sang nodded, thinking that since Qu Meijing was so concerned about her own safety, she would definitely go to the basement.
The authorities had notified everyone the day before that it would be best to take shelter in basements before sunrise on the 8th, pending further instructions.
The reason was that no one knew what would happen after the sun rose that day.
Basements could significantly block the harm caused by ultraviolet rays and high temperatures.
As a tenant living upstairs, Qu Meijing didn’t have a basement of her own. Since Qin Sang was unwilling to let her use their family’s basement, she would have to go to the communal basement dug by the village collective.
Most of the people heading to that communal basement were those without their own. Someone in the village group chat had already gone the night before to claim a spot.
—
At 4:15 a.m., Qin Sang went next door to Xu Lin’s house as planned, while her parents finished checking the doors and windows at home before heading upstairs.
As she descended the stairs, Qin Sang could hear Qu Meijing’s deliberately muffled breathing. Clearly, she was about to leave as well.
Shaking her head, Qin Sang opened the front door.
Outside, it was pitch black. Even the streetlights seemed dull, as if they knew the apocalypse was coming. After a night of cooling, the temperature was still over 40°C.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Qin Sang walked straight to Xu Lin’s house.
His place was a three-story building that had never been rented out. It used to house Xu Lin, his grandparents, and himself. After the elderly couple passed away, Xu Lin lived there alone.
The layout of the Xu family’s basement was similar to her own, both having been built at the same time.
Qin Sang started from the third floor and worked her way down, checking all the doors and windows. Following the official instructions, she locked every window, drew the curtains, closed the room doors, and blocked out any light as much as possible.
By the time she finished all this, it was 5 a.m.
Outside, the noise level was rising. Everyone was making their final preparations according to the official guidelines.
Thinking it over, Qin Sang decided to return through the basement.
She had already locked both front doors anyway.
The basement was indeed much cooler, and stepping into it instantly made her feel more alert.
Qin Sang gave the basement a thorough check as well, making sure the ventilation fan was working properly. There wasn’t much else to do—it was too hot to worry about dampness.
The layouts of the two basements were similar. After walking through and finding nothing unusual, she opened the door leading to her own home.
Beyond that door was another one—one that belonged to her family and needed to be opened by her parents from the other side.
Qin Sang sent her mother a message. Soon, the door on their side was opened.
“All done, right?”
Qin Sang nodded, stepped inside, and locked the door behind her. “All done. The light-blocking is taken care of.”
Her mother said, “I still don’t know why we need to block the light. Good thing we bought all those blackout curtains.”
Qin Sang didn’t know the reason either, but she figured the authorities had their logic.
“Has Qu Meijing left yet?”
Mom nodded. “She left. You went out, and she left right after you. I’ve locked both the yard gate and the stairwell door.”
“Good. Don’t worry about her then. If something comes up, she’ll message us,” Qin Sang said.
Only then did Qin Sang have time to check her phone.
She looked at the village group chat first.
Most messages were about the village company’s basement. The basement was dug large but had no partitions. Everyone set up camp like they were on a group trip—each family marking out a square, each family with a tent.
Most people were still excited, thinking this kind of communal life was something special.
Other messages were about trading supplies. Finding it uninteresting, Qin Sang opened the survival app instead. The homepage was already filled with international news.
This high-temperature apocalypse started at sunrise. The earliest place on Blue Planet to see the sunrise was a small country in Oceania.
Right now, that country was experiencing its rising sun. In the live news footage, the sunlight was brilliantly golden.
Many people in the comments were saying it didn’t look like an apocalypse at all.
Blue sky, white clouds, ocean, golden sunlight—the scene was so beautiful it could be a tourism ad.
But when the camera zoomed in on the residential areas, the broken billboards, sagging street-side trash cans, shattered drainpipes, and completely melted asphalt roads all showed just how high the temperature really was.
The tone of the comments had completely flipped. Many people were asking what the actual temperature was.
Then the authorities released a notice.
The instantaneous temperature at sunrise exceeded 100°C. Although it quickly dropped to 70°C, that initial 100°C heat was absolutely terrifying.
And it wasn’t just that small country.
As Blue Planet rotated, the sun ravaged other countries. Similar scenes began playing out across many nations.
Some countries were prepared—the streets were empty. Others weren’t so ready—quite a few homeless people on the streets. When the sun hit them, their skin instantly turned red, their whole bodies glowing like cooked shrimp.
The image flashed by without sound, but everyone could see him screaming.
Mom grabbed Qin Sang’s arm nervously. “Sang Sang, this… this is so terrifying.”
Qin Sang nodded. Exactly. The moment a person was hit by that instantaneous heat over 100°C, they really did look like they were being cooked.
Humans weren’t the only ones affected—animals and plants suffered immensely too.
Trees turned from green to yellow the moment light hit them. In countries already experiencing autumn, the sun sparked wildfires.
Most of the animals visible were stray cats and dogs in cities.
Unlike wild animals in the mountains, which could hide in caves, these animals usually took shelter in parks or green belts within the city.
Now, under the violent sunlight, they died in droves.
Qin Sang closed her eyes and took a deep breath. For the first time, she felt their village was pretty good. The patrol teams had caught the stray cats and dogs and taken them to the village office. It wasn’t a basement, but at least there was a roof over their heads.
Just then, a sharp, piercing air-raid siren blared without warning. Everyone knew—the apocalypse had truly arrived!
—
“Hurry, hurry, turn on the monitors…”
Mom urged Dad to turn on the computer and check the security cameras installed around the house.
The siren was still blaring when it began to get light outside. The moment the first ray of sunlight appeared at their doorstep, the aloe plant that had tenaciously survived by the door instantly turned from green to yellow to dry.
The entire transformation took less than thirty seconds.
Watching this, Qin Sang couldn’t help but bite her lip nervously.
This was terrifyingly destructive.
The indoor temperature was also spiking from 30°C to 60°C. The air conditioner stopped working.
Feeling the temperature change, Qin Sang immediately pulled out a stainless steel basin from her space. She threw in a lot of ice cubes. Then she took a rechargeable fan, placed it by the basin of ice, and aimed it toward them.
“The air conditioner just stopped working!”
Mom wiped the sweat that had just formed on her forehead and said nervously.
Qin Sang hadn’t expected this either. If people weren’t hiding in basements right now, many would likely be half-dead from that instantaneous heat.
Just then, her phone started buzzing repeatedly.
When Qin Sang checked, the village group chat had exploded. Many people were cursing about the air conditioner not working.
Da Linzi also sent a message, asking how things were on their end.
Qin Sang replied, “We’re fine. It’s just that the air conditioner stopped working.”
Xu Lin: “The instantaneous temperature is too high. The air conditioner might have malfunctioned. Keep an eye on things—there could be a power outage or signal interruption.”
Qin Sang immediately realized something.
“Did the high-voltage wires and cables melt?”
Some of those lines were exposed to the open air, made of various metals wrapped in polyethylene.
Metal could withstand the high temperature, since it was only instantaneous. But polyethylene was another story. Its melting point was over 100°C, but cutting corners in modern industry was all too common.
Xu Lin: “The lines have been specially treated, but it’s hard to say if they’ll be affected.”
Qin Sang looked at the monitor, thinking: please don’t let the power go out. At this temperature, a power outage would definitely kill many people.
But of course, whatever she feared came to pass.
Soon, on the survival app’s forum, people started posting that their power was out.
Someone else reported that the mountain near their home was on fire.
Another person said their neighbor’s air conditioner had exploded.
In short, the high temperatures triggered all kinds of secondary disasters. One or two incidents would have been manageable, but countless outbreaks happened simultaneously. The whole world was in chaos.
Qin Sang’s family sat on the basement sofa, listening to the growing sound of fire trucks outside, feeling deeply anxious.
Even though the outdoor temperature had dropped to over 70°C, fighting fires at that heat was essentially risking their lives.
“May the ancestors bless—please don’t let anyone die!”
Mom took Dad by the hand and walked to the altar, pressing her palms together to pray.
They didn’t know these firefighters personally, but they hoped the heroes rushing to the front lines would make it home safely.
Qin Sang’s eyes grew moist too. She knew that the apocalypse meant death.
And those who died first were often the heroes protecting the country.
She fought back the sudden wave of emotion and scoured the internet for news on this front.
The next moment, she felt a huge sense of relief.
On the screen was a residential building engulfed in flames. Nearby, several firefighters in black thermal protective suits raised their hands—and then, a massive amount of sand and mud rained down from above like a sudden storm, directly smothering the fire.
“Dad, Mom! Come here quick!”
Her parents, who had been praying with their eyes closed, rushed over at their daughter’s call.
When they saw the almost magical firefighting method on the screen, they both burst into laughter.
“That’s wonderful! That’s wonderful!”
Qin Sang smiled too.
Yes, it was wonderful.
Everyone’s personal storage space was proving to be this useful.
A space wasn’t just for storing and preserving things. Used wisely, it could have unexpected effects.
That thrilling footage was pinned to the top of the survival app forum.
Many despondent people became excited again.
That day passed in a mix of chaos and hope.
At 10 p.m., the piercing siren blared again.
This time, it signaled that the immediate danger had passed. Everyone was allowed to go outside and see what the world looked like after the disaster.
The community began pushing various notifications, including instructions to check the condition of their homes, electrical appliances, and wiring.
Residents were also asked to report any deaths. The injured and those still savable had already been taken away for rescue during the day by officials who risked their own lives.
Qin Sang opened the village group chat. The village chief was compiling the situation of everyone in the village, asking each head of household to report their numbers.
The format was: head of household + number. The number was how many people lived in the household. A lower number meant someone had died.
As she watched everyone report one by one, Qin Sang breathed a sigh of relief. At least no one had died.
Not everyone in the village was good, but there were no truly evil people either. If a bunch of people had died right as the apocalypse began, it would have plunged many into despair.
Hope is what people need to live better lives.
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