Chapter 7: High-Temperature Murder

"June 25, 2024, exactly 3:08 AM, disaster descended. The firewood and straw in the fields just caught fire; the temperature wasn't even that high, so how did it ignite?"

June 25, 2024, 04:26:16 AM, external power supply ceased, suspected cause is wire damage, no idea if there will ever be a day it gets fixed. The wires ignited many homes, there are fires everywhere.

June 25, 2024, exactly 05:05 AM, local surface temperature (recycling station area) rose to 107.8 degrees Celsius, some dry items began to burn, visible ones include: packaging paper, foam fast-food containers, writing paper, common tissues, etc., though it was likely sparks drifting from somewhere that ignited them. The discarded steel left behind turned red; can it really turn red at just over a hundred degrees?

June 25, 2024, 07:00 AM, external temperature rose to 158 degrees Celsius, the surface should be completely uninhabitable now.

There is fire everywhere, the Burning has begun. Observable phenomena include: living grass and trees catching fire (suspected to be ignited by other burning materials), water boiling and rapidly evaporating, etc.

……

June 25, 2024, 1:00 PM, external temperature 223 degrees Celsius, the Burning has become comprehensive, can hear several explosions. The types of burning materials are increasing, the scope and variety cannot be calculated, the fifty-plus types of materials I collected are almost burned up. The explosions outside should be coming from various canned fuels, luckily I moved all of mine. External network signal has completely disappeared, suspected that fiber optics, base stations, and other infrastructure have been destroyed. It's over, can't even scroll through short videos anymore.

……

June 25, 2024, 9:00 PM, night has not arrived, unfortunately, some of my equipment was damaged by the Burning, what "withstands 800°C high temperature," black-hearted profiteers. External temperature 256 degrees Celsius, the upward trend has slowed, some image data is missing (equipment damage). Hope it doesn't rise anymore, Earth is so big, can it please cool down?

……

June 26, 2024, 00:00 AM, the second "Giant Sun" has fallen, location is roughly in the east of Haicheng, hope not too many people die. External temperature rose to 678 degrees Celsius because of the "Giant Sun." Damn it, if it keeps rising, even the rocks will melt.

Once again, hope not too many people are victims. Heard explosions from gas stations, cars, gas canisters, etc., this time it's likely all of them exploded.

The temperature inside the constant-temperature room rose to 41 degrees Celsius, the air enters after passing through three freezer rooms, still 63 degrees Celsius, now activating the underground cooling circulation system. One hour later the temperature dropped to 34 degrees Celsius.

……

June 26, 2023, 6:00 AM, fortunately, the temperature is dropping, not significantly, but it has already dropped 5 degrees Celsius from the peak temperature of 685°C, hope Mother Earth holds on, and blesses her children. Also hope all Survivors protect themselves well, must keep going!! (Liu Mu has gone to rest, recorded by Xu Xiaofeng and Zhang Xiaoyong). Also hope we can live until the disaster ends, Heavens, what on earth has happened?"

After reading Liu Mu's records, Xu Xiaofeng completely understood what was happening outside.

Zhang Xiaoyong looked at the scenes of fire everywhere on the surveillance screen in panic, feeling the terror of the apocalypse for the first time in his young heart, "Big sister, our home is gone."

With his small finger pointing at the house that had already burned away on the screen, Zhang Xiaoyong wanted to cry, but didn't dare to, his little face flushed red from holding it in.

"Mm, it's gone." Xu Xiaofeng stopped flipping through the records, did not comfort her younger brother, just turned slightly to look at the small child, "Xiao Yong, from now on we must live even harder!"

Zhang Xiaoyong finally wiped his tears and asked uncertainly, "Harder than after Mom and Dad were gone?"

"Yes, harder than after Mom and Dad left, only by working hard can we survive." Xu Xiaofeng herself was only a twenty-six-year-old girl, she had been worried for a whole day and night, scared to death, but she hadn't forgotten she was the big sister, the only reliance for her younger brother, "From now on we must listen well to Liu Mu, help her do things, and protect her just as we protect each other, from now on she is our only family!"

"Okay! Big Sister Liu Mu saved us, I will listen to her!" Zhang Xiaoyong nodded fiercely, although he didn't understand what exactly had happened, a powerful Seed of connection had already been buried in his young heart.

For these siblings, how much harder could living get? The despair of the sky collapsing had already been tasted the moment their parents died, from now on only strength and even more strength remained!

Liu Mu had only slept for six hours, just as she woke up, Xu Xiaofeng brought over some food, it was the dishes prepared earlier, the rice should have been freshly cooked.

"Liu Mu, eat first. The records were done as you said, now twenty-seven cameras outside are broken, ten detectors are broken, more than half were burned away by the fire."

Liu Mu nodded, eating in silence, seeing Xu Xiaofeng not leaving, she asked, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with you, there is basic medicine in the cabinet."

"No," Xu Xiaofeng shook her head, adding some ice water for Niu Boyi, "Liu Mu, you don't think it will keep burning like this, do you? The houses are all burned up, the trees are gone, the crops in the fields must all be burned away too, what will everyone eat in the future? If the temperature keeps rising, won't it burn the land and rocks?"

Liu Mu glanced at the computer date, June 26, 11:00 AM, and offered comfort, "No, these will eventually go out, what we need to do now is exercise well, and go out once the fire is out. Besides, it's impossible for there to be such high temperatures everywhere, the Earth is so big, it's already cooling down."

Upon hearing this, Xu Xiaofeng relaxed, her round face still a bit pale, but her eyes had regained their spirit, "Okay, we will all listen to you. We'll wait, I'll take turns with Xiao Yong to lead Niu Boyi in exercising, by the way, I also have to make him finish today's homework."

"Mm, the floor needs to be swept, and dusted, Liu Mu, change out of your sweat-soaked clothes in a bit, I'll hand-wash them as soon as I get them!"

Liu Mu truly didn't expect Xu Xiaofeng to have such strong acceptance, knowing that in her past life, she had hidden in the cellar of the recycling station, also despairing, thinking she was going to die.

"Okay! From now on the household matters depend on you, I will take Xiao Yong to exercise and study!"

Eating the same food, Liu Mu suddenly felt it had some flavor again.

Wearing only a tank top and shorts, Luo Sanlin stood near the entrance, his parents were in the very back, the space was large, the temperature there was at least ten degrees lower than here, and there was still water and food, no need to worry for now.

But his thick black sword-like brows still squeezed into furrows, all around were people with varying degrees of burns, the screaming and calls for help hadn't stopped all day.

Many people had originally thought it was an earthquake and didn't follow the early warning information, instead running to open ground to take shelter. As a result, the fiery red giant "Sun" approached rapidly, burning many people to death.

Being able to run in alive was already a stroke of luck, but also a misfortune.

Without enough medicine and doctors, medical conditions were almost non-existent, several people had already died due to extensive burns, or even having their hands and feet burned off.

"Officer Luo, save my husband, aren't you a policeman? Now is the time for you to serve the people, how can you just watch my husband in such pain?"

A woman who had lost her mind shouted at Luo Sanlin.

That was a resident from the third floor of the same building as Luo Sanlin, usually the woman and her child wouldn't even greet his family when they saw them, and more than once she had mocked Luo Sanlin behind his back, "Hmph, isn't he just a small policeman from a rural Police Station? Let me tell you, that's the most hopeless unit, if his family had any money or connections, they should have pulled strings to keep him in the city. Tsk tsk, look at my younger brother, he passed the civil service exam last year, my husband used his connections to send him to the xx unit, now the benefits are good, he can show his face in front of the leaders, and he's getting a promotion at the end of the year..."

That beaming woman had long since vanished, the current her had her long curly hair burned down to the scalp, her face was a mess of red and black, her red nails were either fallen off or broken, only that attitude hadn't changed at all.

"That's right, Little Luo, we all watched you grow up, you are government personnel after all, you can't just ignore us, hurry and think of a way!"

The old lady on the seventh floor who usually only knew how to hoard every little thing for her own home was now also in a disheveled state, her husband had just breathed his last an hour ago, yet she hadn't shed a single tear.

"What are you all saying, who knew this would happen? When Brother Luo came downstairs, he told you all not to run outside, to follow the government's requirements and go to the garage, did any of you listen? How can you be so shameless, now that something has happened, you come looking for him."

The family living across from Luo Sanlin's home had been called down by him, at this moment the daughter of that family handed over half a bottle of mineral water and a piece of bread.

"Brother Luo, eat something first, guarding here, they won't thank you anyway. How is the injury on your arm? Let me disinfect it for you."

Before the fire started, Luo Sanlin had gone out a few times, besides going to the neighborhood convenience store to buy two backpacks of water and food, he had also saved people several times.

His arm had been scorched by fire from a falling tree branch, his tank top was also burned black in one spot, it stung with a burning pain.

He only regretted now not listening to his old classmate Liu Mu earlier, if he had prepared an hour earlier, perhaps everyone wouldn't be suffering so much now.

However, if Liu Mu could have told him a few days in advance, would the situation be better?

Did that girl know something all along? Luo Sanlin frowned as he thought, not even noticing that the wound on his arm had already been disinfected and coated with burn ointment, instantly a cooling sensation spread, feeling much better.

Compared to Luo Sanlin, the situation in Xu Xiaoxia's home was a bit better.

Deep in the factory's Air Raid Shelter, their family didn't have any public spirit to help anyone, they hid all the supplies they brought, if anyone came over they would cry that they had nothing, and even ask others for some.

On this point, her glamorous stepmother did an excellent job, besides complaining about Liu Mu, she didn't suffer much.

Xu Xiaoxia even brought her own newly purchased car refrigerator, and thanks to the performance bonus from Liu Mu's generous car purchase, the car she bought last week was also driven by her deep into the Air Raid Shelter early on.

Xu Xiaoxia was even sharper than Luo Sanlin, when she sensed something was wrong, she dragged her stepmother up and down the stairs several times, stuffing the car full of things.

The paper mill hadn't been doing well in recent years, plus the family quarters were very old, there weren't as many employees as before, and a portion had already bought new homes and moved away, so the Air Raid Shelter wasn't crowded at all.

In the current situation, no one was in the mood to go deep inside, it was in disrepair and had no lights.

However, Xu Xiaoxia still had a serious talk with Director Xu:

"Dad, and you too, I'll say the ugly things first: if you want to stay alive, you must listen to me from now on!"

"Once this disaster is over, we will go find Liu Mu; she has quite a lot of good things in her hands!"

Director Xu had a piece of ice in his mouth and mumbled, "Go, of course we're going. A big tycoon like her, shouldn't she help us out?"

"Exactly, buying so much in one breath, mm..."

Xu Xiaoxia clamped her hand over her stepmother's mouth and hissed fiercely, "I told you not to run your mouth! Are you a blabbermouth? If you keep it up, don't come with us!"

The woman was scared too; someone had just shouted that the factory area was on fire, so there would certainly be no work in the future, and if this father and daughter really didn't take her along...

"Let go! Old Xu, look at her, I didn't even say anything."

Director Xu pretended to greet a colleague, ignoring his new wife for the first time.

He might like beautiful women, but with a great disaster at hand, he still trusted his daughter more; besides... this wife didn't even help him carry his medicine while fleeing!

It was just that, like Luo Sanlin, they did not expect that the high temperatures would continue to kill for the next few days!