Chapter 79: The Scorching Heat Arrives

When it came to her Hummer, An Nan nodded honestly.

“I really like it. The design is bold and rugged—just my style.”

For women, aside from performance, the most important thing about a car is its looks. An Nan was a typical appearance-first person. She firmly believed that any car that looked this imposing couldn’t possibly have bad performance.

Take, for example, her Knight XV in her storage space.

Just the exterior told you it was no ordinary vehicle. And the performance? Absolutely top-notch! A real apocalypse war machine.

It was several times better than this Hummer.

Gu Zhiyu noticed that look on her beautiful face again—the same expression a kitten gets when it sees a fish.

He couldn’t help but chuckle.

This woman must be thinking about some car she likes again.

The car soon pulled up in front of the Maple Forest Serenity residential complex. An Nan thanked him and got out eagerly.

If she’d known the person she’d been gossiping about was actually in the car, she would’ve just walked home on her own two legs and spared herself all that awkwardness.

She really needed to stop running her mouth so carelessly in the future.

“Take care, you two! Safe travels!”

She politely said her goodbyes, closed the door, and was about to leave.

But suddenly, the back window rolled down. Gu Zhiyu leaned over, his phoenix eyes locking onto hers.

He said slowly,

“Just to clarify, I’m not incapable.”

Then the window rolled back up, and the Hummer sped off.

Leaving An Nan standing there, full of question marks.

…Not incapable of what?

She thought for a moment, then suddenly realized, her cheeks flushing red.

That petty man!

As she walked home, she couldn’t help but smack her own mouth for talking nonsense.

What kind of wild, reckless things had she even said!

…

When she got home, Fugui, as usual, pounced on her the moment she walked in, wagging his little tail in delight to welcome his owner back.

He circled An Nan a few times, all excited, then suddenly stopped. He sniffed her carefully with his little nose, tail going still.

This scent…

Fugui looked at her in disbelief.

You went to see my handsome big brother?!

And you didn’t take me?!

An Nan saw him freeze and look at her accusingly, and immediately understood.

“You little lovestruck dog, your nose is way too sharp!”

“Awwooo!”

Fugui immediately turned into a grumpy little warlord, grumbling and complaining at his owner.

An Nan gave him a light bop on the head. “How dare you! Scolding me over a man?”

Fugui instantly looked aggrieved, whining pitifully.

Suddenly, scenes from melodramatic TV dramas flashed through An Nan’s mind.

She clutched her chest in mock heartbreak. “A daughter grown can’t be kept at home. For a blond guy on a scooter, you’d turn against your own family!”

Fugui didn’t understand a word, but his owner seemed mad?

He tentatively shuffled over and pawed at her foot.

But An Nan was fully in drama mode, continuing her accusations: “He didn’t even cook you a bowl of porridge, you’ve only met him once, and now you don’t want your mom or your home anymore?”

Fugui: …

What on earth are you talking about?

But whatever his owner was saying, she did seem genuinely upset, so he quickly tried to make up for it, nuzzling her and acting cute.

An Nan couldn’t help but laugh at his adorable antics, scooping him up.

“Alright, you little traitor, I forgive you.”

Fugui breathed a sigh of relief, snuggling up and acting even cuter, though he felt a little wronged inside.

What’s going on? Clearly it was my owner who secretly went to see my handsome big brother, so why am I the one apologizing?

He lay in An Nan’s arms, completely baffled.

But her scent made him feel safe and content.

Oh well, next time I’ll just go out with her.

That way, she can’t sneak off for treats while I’m stuck at home waiting.

After doting on Fugui for a while, An Nan rolled up her sleeves and hauled out the solar generator from her storage space.

She used to think this thing wasn’t as handy as the fuel generator, but during periods of extreme heat, with the sun blazing down, the gap between them would shrink considerably.

Especially since diesel and gasoline were now non-renewable resources. She had a lot stored up, but they were still consumables—definitely not as cost-effective as milking the sun for energy.

She set up the solar panels on the balcony, letting them share the load with the fuel generator to power the air conditioner and other appliances.

Once everything was ready, An Nan changed into comfortable loungewear and headed into the kitchen to cook.

After walking for over an hour today, she decided to slack off, canceling all other workout plans, and just planned to cuddle her dog, grill some skewers, and watch a show.

She was halfway through skewering the beef and lamb when a wave of stifling heat suddenly swept through the previously cool room.

Fugui, who had been napping at her feet, suddenly opened his eyes, tongue lolling, and stood up.

An Nan wiped her hands and checked the thermometer: exactly 35 degrees.

The extreme heat disaster was about to begin—just like in her previous life.

But this time, she was prepared. No matter how harsh the environment got, it wouldn’t affect her and Fugui’s cozy life.

An Nan soothed her dog, calmly turned on the air conditioner, closed the windows, and went back to skewering meat.

Fugui, feeling the room return to a comfortable temperature, relaxed and lay back down.

Unlike the peace and comfort inside her home, chaos was erupting outside.

In the two days since the floodwaters receded, many people preferred to stay outdoors.

Even though there was mud, trash, and rotting corpses everywhere, people still wanted to get out and walk around.

As the saying goes: people need to be somewhere without a roof over their heads.

After being cooped up at home for so long, anyone would get depressed.

Especially in the past four months, with the whole city turned into a waterworld, those who couldn’t swim barely left their homes except to scavenge for supplies.

Even the good swimmers only ventured out to look for survival necessities, often ending up in fights with others.

It had been ages since people could just go out for a stroll or bask in the sun.

Now, with the floodwaters gone and the disaster seemingly over, many gathered in the neighborhood to chat and catch up.

A few retired old men even speculated about the government’s post-disaster reconstruction plans and new policies.

But just as everyone was enjoying themselves, the temperature suddenly shot up, leaving everyone drenched in sweat in an instant.

Their first reaction was: is there a fire nearby? An explosion?

But looking around, nothing seemed out of the ordinary—except for the sun, which was blindingly bright.

Standing in the sunlight felt like stepping into a sauna—hot and stifling.

Everyone hurriedly stripped off their jackets.

A few young men, full of energy, even took off their shirts, sweating and grumbling,

“What’s going on? It’s November! It was weird enough that it wasn’t getting cold, but now the temperature’s suddenly rising?!”"