Chapter 110: Extreme Heat

An Nan said, “Look on the bright side—at least we won’t have to deal with mutant rats anymore.”

After all, snakes are natural predators of rats.

Chu Peipei pulled a wry face. “I’d rather live with rats than dance with snakes!”

An Nan was amused by her expression. “Go home and get some rest.”

Chu Peipei nodded. “After I wake up, I’ll come get you. You can come over to my place for acupuncture.”

They had already agreed that Chu Peipei would help An Nan with her health and treat Hu Cuilan’s mania.

The reason for choosing her own place was simple: she knew that An Nan and Zhao Ping’an’s homes were well-stocked with supplies. Even though everyone got along well now, friends still needed boundaries. To avoid any awkwardness, she wouldn’t go snooping around their homes.

But her own place was different. All her supplies had been painstakingly gathered together with them during the disasters—they knew exactly what she had. So, having the acupuncture sessions at her place was the most appropriate choice.

An Nan replied, “Sure. But if you’re tired, you can take a few days off. I’m not in a hurry.”

Chu Peipei shook her head. “I’m not tired. Come over tonight.”

She had always been hardworking and tireless.

By now, Chu Peipei could already perform acupuncture based on pulse diagnosis. Helping them with acupuncture also improved her own skills—after all, book knowledge was just theory without hands-on practice.

The longer she studied acupuncture, the more she realized how invaluable it was in the apocalypse. With medicine in short supply—both Western and Chinese—getting any was nearly impossible. As a surgeon, she knew all too well how terrifying it was to be without medical equipment or drugs.

But acupuncture was different. With just a few silver needles, she could still treat illnesses. As long as she mastered the technique, she could protect herself and her friends, and even make a living from it.

After agreeing on a time, the two said their goodbyes and went home to rest.

Around noon, An Nan was sleeping soundly when a wave of heat suddenly swept over her.

She woke up on high alert, feeling a panic-inducing heat. Half-awake, she almost thought she was back in her previous life.

Fugui, her dog, also got up, panting and anxiously looking around.

She heard exclamations from the neighbors.

“Oh my god! Look outside—the snakes are cooked!”

“Jeez, the ground temperature must be at least 90 degrees!”

An Nan got up and looked outside. There were many dead snakes on the ground—apparently, they hadn’t made it into the building in time and had their insides roasted by the scorching pavement. Some snakes, though injured on their bellies, were still struggling to crawl inside.

Although the temperature inside the building wasn’t much cooler, the ground temperature was much lower.

An Nan checked—the outdoor temperature was now 62 degrees Celsius.

That was almost the limit of what the human body could endure. After all, no one could stay in a sauna for long.

She examined her air conditioner, which had stopped working, and found that the high temperature had triggered its thermal protection—the outdoor unit had shut down.

An Nan quickly put a temperature-regulating suit on Fugui. The dog had grown fast, but luckily she’d made the suit a bit big and the fabric was stretchy, so it still fit.

This time, Fugui didn’t resist, obediently letting her put the suit on and then sighing in relief.

An Nan put on her own temperature-regulating suit as well.

But this time, she could clearly feel that the suit wasn’t as perfectly comfortable as before. Previously, as soon as she put it on, the heat would disappear. Now, though, she could still feel the heat swirling around her.

She thought to herself that the suit probably had a limit to how much heat it could block. In extreme temperatures, it couldn’t keep everything out. Still, it was much better than not wearing it.

After getting dressed, she opened the window, sprayed some water on the outdoor unit to cool it down, and set up a sunshade.

Once the unit had cooled off a bit, she turned the air conditioner back on. This time, she set it to just above 30 degrees, to avoid another shutdown.

With the air conditioner running and the temperature-regulating suit on, both she and Fugui immediately felt comfortable again.

After finishing up, An Nan checked on Laifu, her other pet. Fortunately, it wasn’t as sensitive to heat as dogs, and was still doing fine in the 30-degree room.

An Nan didn’t forget her experiment—she took some spring water from her storage space and gave it to Laifu to quench its thirst.

Fugui sniffed the air and immediately ran over, wanting some too.

An Nan poured a bowl for Fugui as well, then went back to bed to continue her nap.

Outside, the sounds of crying and shouting continued.

It was so hot that everyone had their windows open, which let the snakes crawl inside.

If it was a non-venomous snake, it was scary but at least not deadly. But if a venomous one got in, there was little hope of survival.

Some people died from sudden heatstroke or dengue fever, others from snakebites, and still others were bitten by agitated mutant rats.

A day that should have been quiet and restful was instead filled with chaos.

The cries and screams came from all directions.

An Nan ignored it all, put on some soothing music, and hugged her dog as she went back to sleep.

In her previous life, she had been one of those people. Bitten by a snake, not knowing if it was venomous, she could only suck the blood from the wound herself and leave the rest to fate.

If you were unlucky, you died. She’d been lucky and survived, only to face disaster after disaster.

No one could save anyone else. You could only save yourself.

No one had helped her in her last life, and she wouldn’t help anyone this time either.

In the face of disaster, everyone had their own fate.

As night fell and the temperature finally dropped a bit—down to 50 degrees—those who survived began to come out again.

An Nan was chatting with Chu Peipei at her place when a loud bang suddenly echoed from the hallway.

“Bang!”

Startled, she exchanged a grave look with Chu Peipei.

Was that... a gunshot?"