Chapter 197

Aunt Wang pressed her palm against the manganese crystal support of the sunshade, and immediately recoiled as if burned—

The heat-resistant coating on the surface of the bracket was no longer effective, and a burning pain shot through her fingertips. She looked down and saw that the skin on her palms was red, and even the calluses were wrinkled from the heat.

The air under the shed felt like it had been boiled. Her little grandson in her arms had long since stopped crying. His lips were cracked and bleeding. The cooling patch on his forehead had dried out half an hour ago and was now like a piece of cardboard that would fall off with a single tear.

"Why isn't it dark yet?" Aunt Liu suddenly muttered, fanning herself rapidly with her tattered palm-leaf fan, the air she was blowing was hot. "At this time usually the sun would have already set, why is it still hanging in the sky today?"

She took out her communicator, and the time on the screen showed "18:30"—according to the previous pattern, it should be dusk by now, but looking up at the gap in the roof, the sunlight outside was still very bright, and even the shadows hadn't grown much longer, but were even more intense.

Aunt Wang quickly pulled out her communicator, and as soon as the screen lit up, a red warning popped up with large, blinding text: [Polar Day Officially Begins: The sun continues to shine, with no day-night cycle. The current real-time temperature is 62℃, breaking historical records. Exposure to the sun for more than 5 minutes will cause skin burns, and heatstroke may occur within 10 minutes.]

Her heart skipped a beat. She swiped her finger across the screen, trying to see if "Number One Store Under Heaven" had any new heat-resistant supplies, but found that "Heat-resistant Medicine" and "Cooling Patches" were all marked as "Inventory Shortage". Only "Heat-resistant Gel" had a small amount left, and the price had risen to 2 Tier 1 Demon Cores per tube, twice as expensive as yesterday.

"Water...I want some water..." The little grandson in her arms suddenly groaned weakly. Aunt Wang quickly took out a small water bottle from her bosom, unscrewed the cap, and poured some water.

The moment the water touched her lips, the child frowned and pulled away, "Hot..." She then realized that the kettle had been warmed up in her arms for a long time, and the water had long since become hot. She poured some into her palm and tested it; it was indeed scalding hot and completely undrinkable.

"There's only half a bucket of cool water left in the shed!" Old Zhou, who was in charge of the water, suddenly shouted. He was guarding the water storage bucket in the corner of the shed; the bucket was covered with a heat-resistant tarpaulin, but the inside of the bucket was still hot.

"I tested the water temperature when I was scooping it up just now, and it was already 40℃. If no new water comes, we won't have anything to drink tomorrow!"

The people inside the shed panicked instantly. Someone stood up and tried to leave: "I'll go check the nearby abandoned well! Maybe there's still water left!"

"Don't go!" Aunt Wang quickly grabbed him—it was Old Zheng, the small-time investor who had been sheltering from the acid rain with her before. His heat-resistant clothing had a big hole in it, and his exposed arms were already sunburned and red. "The temperature outside is over 60 degrees Celsius. If you go out and take a few steps, your skin will blister!"

Old Zheng broke free from her hand, stamping his feet anxiously: "Aren't we just going to go out and wait to die? The child is dying of thirst!" He had just lifted a corner of the curtain when a wave of heat rushed in, like opening the lid of a steamer. Old Zheng's hand had just touched the metal buckle on the edge of the curtain when he cried out "Ah!" and pulled it back. A blister had already formed on his fingertip, glistening with a bright light.

"Look!" Aunt Wang held up his hand. "It's only been touched and it's already like this. What will happen when we go out?"

Old Zheng looked at his blisters, his eyes instantly breaking down. He squatted on the ground, covering his face, his voice trembling with tears: "What can we do? We can't just watch the child die of thirst and heat, can we?"

The atmosphere in the shed instantly turned somber. Some people took out their communicators and repeatedly refreshed the page for "Number One Store in the World." Others stared blankly at the abnormally bright sky, muttering, "Why doesn't the sun set?" Still others tore their only heat-resistant clothing into small pieces and gave them to the children around them to wrap around their arms.

Aunt Liu suddenly pointed to the group chat on the communicator: "Look! A message from Chen Yang's base said that someone went out to find supplies, but after only three minutes, the skin on his back was sunburned and peeled, and he fainted when he came back!"

She brought the screen closer, which also showed a photo—a man lying under a shed, his heat-resistant clothing torn on the back, revealing skin that was reddish-purple with blood seeping from the edges, a sight that sent chills down one's spine.

Someone in the group also posted a message: "My thermometer exploded! It just showed 65℃ and then it burst!" "'The World's Number One Store's' cooling devices are back in stock! They were sold out as soon as they were put on the shelves! Did anyone manage to snag one?"

Aunt Wang's communicator vibrated as well. It was a system notification from "Number One Store Under Heaven": [Urgent Restock: 50 bottles of heat-resistant medicine (10ml) and 30 tubes of cooling gel remaining. Available in 10 minutes. Limited to 1 item per person.] She quickly gripped the communicator tightly, her fingers trembling with tension—

There's only half a demon core left at home, which I got by exchanging manganese crystal fragments. It can only be exchanged for one tube of gel, but both the child and I need it.

"Look! The sheet metal outside is smoking!" someone shouted from the edge of the shed. Aunt Wang peered through the crack—the shell of an abandoned car in the distance was gleaming white, and it looked as if there was heat floating on its surface. Occasionally, a breeze would blow by, but instead of bringing coolness, it brought even hotter air, which felt like sandpaper rubbing against her face.

A rat, appearing out of nowhere, scurried across the sheet metal in a panic. After only two steps, it stopped moving and quickly curled up into a ball, clearly having been scalded to death.

"I'm dizzy..." A woman wearing tattered heat-resistant clothing suddenly collapsed to the ground. The child in her arms cried loudly in fright. The woman tried to sit up, but she was too weak. Her face was pale, her lips were purple, and sweat dripped from her forehead like broken beads, disappearing as soon as it touched the ground.

"I...I think I have heatstroke..." Aunt Liu quickly took out the last half tube of cooling gel and squeezed it on her temples. "Hang in there! We'll help you grab the 'God of Wealth's' medicine when it's back on the shelves!"

The baby in Aunt Wang's arms also started to get restless, its little hands grabbing wildly in her arms, its skin pressed against her clothes like a heater. She quickly put the only damp towel she had (soaked in cold water in the morning, and now almost dry) on the baby's neck, praying that the communicator would quickly refresh the restock message.

But before long, the child suddenly started crying, his voice hoarse: "Mom...it hurts..."

Aunt Wang lifted the child's sleeve, and the skin on his arm was already sunburned and red, with several small blisters—it was because the curtain hadn't been closed properly, letting in some sunlight.

A new system notification suddenly popped up on the communicator, the red text particularly glaring: [Polar day heatwave continues to escalate: Temperatures may exceed 70°C in the next 12 hours, leading to a surge in the consumption of heat-resistant materials. "The World's Number One Store" will be restocking once per hour. Please pay close attention to inventory.]

Everyone in the shed stared at their communicators; no one spoke, only the cries of children and the hum of the fans. The heat in the air grew increasingly intense, making even breathing painful. Aunt Wang, watching the relentless sun outside, felt a growing sense of unease.

If the sun doesn't set, their heat-resistant supplies won't last more than a few days, and they might be the next ones to collapse.

At this moment, Old Zheng suddenly stood up, clutching an empty kettle in his hand: "I still have to go to the well and see, even if there's only a little water, it can save the child!"

This time, no one stopped him. Everyone in the shed was watching him, their eyes filled with worry and expectation. Old Zheng lifted the shed curtain, but as soon as he took a step, he stumbled and quickly retreated. His trouser leg brushed against the metal support outside the shed, instantly burning a hole in it, leaving a large red patch on his exposed calf.

"No... I can't walk at all..." He slumped to the ground, the empty water bottle falling to the ground with a loud clatter, which sounded particularly jarring in the stuffy shed.

Aunt Wang looked down at the reddened arm of the child in her arms, then glanced at the "Restock in 10 minutes" message on the communicator. Her fingers gripped the half-eaten demon core tightly—she knew this was their only chance. If they couldn't get the supplies, the child's blisters might burst, and she might not make it through the night.

The sun was still high in the sky, its dazzling light shining through the gaps in the roof and casting tiny patches of light on the ground.