บท 24: Heatwave Strikes
After two days, it seemed that people had quieted down, and their voices were no longer heard throughout the building. The weather was getting better, and the flood was slowly receding. The water level now only reached up to the calves.
There was no need for inflatable boats to go out anymore. The elderly and children all mobilized to search for supplies. Just as life was slowly improving, someone noticed that the daily temperatures were rising.
"I just found out that the temperature is rising every day. It was 23 degrees the day before yesterday, 25 degrees yesterday, and 28 degrees today. It's expected to reach 30 degrees tomorrow."
"No wonder I feel it's getting hotter. At first, I thought it was just my imagination."
"The climate here is already hot, and this morning I woke up to find it's already 35 degrees."
"Is there a meteorologist coming out to explain what's happening? Why has the weather been abnormal for the past few months?"
"It's heavy rain again, followed by high temperatures. I just want to know if I can still have a normal life."
"Let's observe for a while and hope things return to normal soon."
But contrary to their hopes, the temperature continued to rise. The only silver lining was that the flood had completely evaporated, and the property management quickly sent people to repair the neighborhood's circuit.
The family changed into short-sleeved shirts and shorts, and the air conditioner couldn't be turned off.
"Oh no, I forgot about my onions, ginger, and garlic," Blanche was about to sit down and enjoy some chilled sweet soup when she suddenly remembered that she hadn't brought in the vegetables she planted.
She hurriedly went out, and Atticus immediately stopped her, "It's too hot outside, and you'll be sweating a lot. I'll go get them for you."
As the balcony glass door opened, a wave of heat rolled in. The sun scorched the earth, just as Atticus had said. After moving a few flower pots, his clothes were soaked with sweat.
Atticus quickly closed the balcony door and spent a considerable amount of time in the air-conditioned room before recovering. "It's really uncomfortable. I need to take a shower."
"How did it suddenly get so hot?" Arnold lowered the temperature of the air conditioner.
"The extreme heat is coming," Alice said.
Ever since Arnold, who believed in apocalyptic prophecies, watched end-of-the-world movies, he naturally knew what extreme heat meant.
"The temperature reached 36 degrees today. If it continues to rise, the whole earth will be baked dry."
Alice remained silent. In the original text, the extreme heat also arrived at this time, with the highest temperature reaching 56 degrees. The current temperature was considered "cool" compared to that.
Compared to suddenly soaring to sixty degrees, there was at least an adaptation process now.
In the evening, the temperature dropped slightly, but still remained around 30 degrees. Alice and Arnold planned to go and get the car, taking advantage of these days when they could still go out, to quickly gather more supplies.
They arrived at the parking lot, which had not been flooded, and found the car intact. They refueled with the gasoline they had taken earlier and drove around the vicinity.
There were quite a few private cars and electric scooters on the road. Alice also noticed many people standing on the roadside, staring greedily at passing vehicles.
Seeing this, Alice frowned. Those people were clearly plotting something, and there might be traps on the road.
As this thought crossed her mind, a loud 'bang' came from a few dozen meters ahead.
It was the sound of a tire bursting. The owner of the private car yelled, "Who's so despicable to put nails on the road."
At that moment, the people on the roadside rushed towards the private car, grabbing everything from the car.
"Get away from me, please, I beg you to go rob someone else..."
Those people ignored the pleading of the car owner and ran off with the stolen items. If they didn't run, they would be robbed by others again. Witnessing this scene, the vehicles behind didn't dare to stop and swiftly drove away.
Alice drove less than two hundred meters ahead and keenly noticed something shining on the ground not far away. Fixing her gaze, she saw several iron nails.
She glanced at the group of people under the trees. Whether a car had a flat tire and was forced to stop or if someone got out to clear the nails, as long as a car stopped, they would swarm up.
The people under the tree, who had been eagerly watching, had their eyes light up, preparing to sprint. However, the next second, they were dumbfounded as Alice's car passed by unscathed.
Arnold's car followed Alice, also quickly passing through.
Watching the dust settle from the departing cars, the group of people walked out from under the tree. Picking up the nails, they realized the sharp ends had been flattened.
Back at Maple Grove, just as Alice and Arnold were about to take the elevator upstairs, the elevator door suddenly opened, and seven or eight people carrying white bags walked out. A foul smell simultaneously permeated the air.
Passersby pinched their noses, unable to resist complaining, "Why take the elevator? It smells like a corpse inside."
"Who's in those bags?" someone asked curiously.
"Who else could it be? It's the Zhang family who tried to extort us before. No one knows when or how it happened, but with the high temperatures these days, the stench finally revealed the truth."
"I remember a few days ago; he was knocking on doors asking for food. Suddenly, one day, he went silent. It was probably at that time."
"I guess he had a falling out with someone; otherwise, who would harm him for no reason."
"It serves him right. He was so selfish before, using his inflatable boat to extort half of our supplies. Finally, someone did justice for us."
Alice stood in the corner, listening to their conversation while waiting for the elevator to come back down. At this moment, someone else said, "Those who commit many wrongs will eventually bring destruction upon themselves. Just wait and see; that family won't be smug for long. Someone will deal with them sooner or later."
After saying this, the person realized the silence around and no one echoing her words. She looked around in confusion and coincidentally met Alice's indifferent gaze. Startled, she took two steps back, accidentally stepping on someone's foot and sitting down on the ground in a panic.
Alice walked over step by step, and people standing behind that woman quickly avoided, distancing themselves as if trying to disassociate from her.
"You... you... don't come closer." The woman trembled, scared out of her wits, regretting her words and wishing she could slap herself.
Alice quickened her pace. Just when everyone thought the woman was in trouble, Alice turned and walked into the elevator.
Arnold followed suit, and after waiting for a few seconds without anyone else entering, they pressed the close button.
"It seems we've become devils in the eyes of others," Arnold chuckled.
"I usually mind my own business. As long as they don't provoke me, I won't do anything to them," Alice replied. The people she had dealt with were the ones who attacked first. Why should she be expected to show mercy?
"That works too. We can save ourselves a lot of trouble," Arnold said.
Back at home, Blanche had already prepared dinner. "It's hot today, so we'll have cold dishes for dinner."
Atticus whispered sarcastically on the side, "The truth is, your mother doesn't know how to cook anything else. She just runs the vegetables through hot water, adds some seasoning, and calls it a cold dish."
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