Magic Space: Struggling to Survive in the Apocalypse-Chapter 48: High Temperature, Staying Home

High temperatures and water shortages had become the most severe problems. After the torrential rains and floods, water sources were destroyed, and water and air pollution worsened.

The high temperatures began in June, causing riverbeds to gradually dry up. The Clearwater River, which ran through the center of Corinth, had gone from overflowing and breaking its levees to completely drying out. Now, only shallow flats and mud bogs remained. The dry riverbanks were littered with corpses, and riots constantly broke out over a single handful of filthy water.

Officer Graham cut a piece of cactus for Evelyn Ford. He had brought it back during a supply run. The cactus was already withered and shrunken, but he was incredibly excited, as if he’d found a priceless treasure. Grateful for Officer Graham’s kindness, Evelyn took out a pound of fresh soil from her space as a gift in return. Officer Graham just assumed it was leftover potting soil from Evelyn’s home and, in turn, shared a bowl of the filthy water he had fought for at the riverbank.

Evelyn Ford returned to her apartment with the cactus and immediately took out a flowerpot and some soil to transplant it. Cacti were heat-resistant plants; in a situation with no food or water, they could be eaten to survive. Not a blade of grass grew in Corinth anymore. The trees by the roadside had been chopped down by residents for firewood during the floods. Otherwise, eating leaves and chewing on bark would have been another way to fill one’s stomach.

After prolonged starvation, the human body entered one of two states: extreme emaciation or bloating. And after long-term dehydration and salt deficiency, besides dizziness, trembling, weakness, and fatigue, people would also experience their teeth and hair falling out.

There were still many people who braved the high temperatures to search for food. Officer Graham mentioned that many snake-hunting teams had also appeared outside.

Staying home during the day and going out at night had become the survivors’ way of life. The temperature remained high at night, but without the direct, intense sunlight, people didn’t have to worry about getting heatstroke or dying suddenly from exposure.

The downside was that it was easy to get robbed. Even a tall, strong man like Officer Graham always came back covered in injuries.

After she had stayed home for three days, Officer Graham returned with news. The government had established a base in Wyrmrest, thirty kilometers outside of Corinth. The people who had gone to the shelters before were all taken by the government to the Wyrmrest Base. It was said to be huge, capable of holding a million people. The military was in control there, with strict discipline, and personal safety could be guaranteed.

As long as you went there with your ID card, you could enter Wyrmrest Base without having to hand over any supplies.

Officer Graham was trying to gauge Evelyn Ford’s thoughts. Unconsciously, he no longer saw her as a nineteen-year-old girl, but as a quick-witted, decisive, and resourceful adult.

Evelyn Ford wasn’t going to the base. ’But at least you wouldn’t starve to death there,’ she thought. ’For most people, it’s the best option.’

In her past life, Evelyn Ford hadn’t gone to the base either, but she knew a fair amount about it.

Although it was established by the government and controlled by the military, there were internal factional struggles. To vie for control of the base, the powerful families had banded together, creating a three-way standoff with the government and the military, with each side keeping the others in check.

Even in the apocalypse, these wealthy, powerful families still held the best resources.

This was just one of the negative aspects. Everything has two sides. From a positive perspective, the base was at least a safe haven. And as long as you were willing to work, you could survive there.

After entering the base, as long as you followed the arrangements and did the work, you would not only receive food and a bed but also clothes and medicine.

"I’m not going," Evelyn Ford told him without hiding her intentions.

Hearing Evelyn Ford’s answer, Officer Graham made up his mind. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

’The base is a miniature society,’ he thought. ’Although there are rules, it’s a mix of all sorts of people. If I take Wendy there, I’m afraid we’ll just run into even greater dangers and trouble.’

"Wendy and I don’t plan on going either. I heard that men and women are housed separately there. If Wendy and I were separated... I can’t imagine the consequences."

Ever since her traumatic experience, Wendy had become somewhat withdrawn. Although her loss of voice was temporary, her condition was indeed unsuitable for the base.

Two days later, Officer Graham returned from fetching water and told Evelyn Ford that many people had left over the past few days. The three women from Building E had also gone to the base, abandoning the two children, who they saw as a burden.

That night, Evelyn Ford saw Officer Graham take the two children out to get water. They only returned close to dawn, limping.

Evelyn Ford hadn’t left her apartment for many days. The cactus transplant was a success. ’I never thought I’d have a talent for farming,’ she mused. ’When I get the chance, I could find a suitable place, fence off a piece of land, build a house, grow some fruits and vegetables, and raise some chickens, ducks, and geese. Being self-sufficient like that wouldn’t be so bad.’

Another two days passed. The two children from Building E moved into Building D, right on the twelfth floor.

Through Officer Graham’s introductions, Evelyn Ford learned their names and ages.

Roy Henderson, ten years old.

Owen Chapman, eleven years old.

It no longer mattered why they had fallen into those women’s hands or what they had experienced.

Evelyn Ford neither opposed nor supported Officer Graham’s actions. She rarely left her apartment and seldom ran into the two boys. They were very well-behaved, even deliberately quieting their footsteps when they passed her door on their way up or down the stairs.

The temperature rose to 49°C, making it impossible to go out even at night. The heat waves felt searing against the skin. People who set out for the base would collapse from exhaustion and heatstroke after just half an hour or an hour. Once they fell, they never got back up.

The vast, white sky had changed color. Massive red clouds drifted and gathered, turning the sky so dark a red it looked like it was about to drip blood.

Evelyn Ford stood on her balcony, the iced water in her hand unable to quell the agitation in her heart. Below, a small snake that had just emerged was scorched to death on the scalding ground in a matter of seconds.

Every evening, Roy Henderson and Owen Chapman would go out to collect the snakes that had died from the heat. They didn’t dare leave the residential complex, so they just searched around the few apartment buildings.

To prevent the snake meat from spoiling, they made it into Dried Meat after collecting them.

In mid-August, two heat blisters formed on Evelyn Ford’s lips. She hadn’t eaten any meat for half a month, surviving only on boiled cabbage. She was surprised to still feel so feverish and inflamed.

She brewed a pot of cooling herbal tea and drank it for two days, but the inflammation didn’t subside. Instead, she started getting nosebleeds.

The others weren’t faring any better. Heatstroke, nosebleeds, heat blisters, vomiting, convulsions, and cold hands and feet—they experienced them all in turn.

There were only five people left in the building now. Evelyn Ford wasn’t the type to watch someone die without lifting a finger. By the end of the day, the hand she used for acupuncture was trembling.

Fortunately, everyone pulled through. The near-death experience was agonizing. It was as if a pair of hands was forcibly tearing your soul from your body, and you were fighting back against it like a game of tug-of-war. If you lost, it meant absolute death.

Spontaneous combustion caused by the high temperatures occurred frequently. Thick smoke billowed from a high-rise building not far away, and the acrid smell of burning could be detected from several streets over. After a chemical furnace in a factory exploded, black smoke filled the air, and the sky returned to its hazy, gray state.