Rewriting My Fate in the Apocalypse-Chapter 364: Death By Heatstroke
By the fourth night of the extreme heat, the city no longer belonged to humans during the day.
Only after the sun dipped below the horizon did the ruins left behind by the meteorites breathe again.
The temperature dropped from a murderous inferno to a tolerable thirty degrees, and shadows stretched long across cracked roads and collapsed buildings.
Steam still rose from the ground in some places, carrying a sour stench that mixed decay, rot, and something metallic that refused to disperse.
Humans had to learn to live with this stench that was worse than that of zombies.
Leng Pan tightened the straps of her gear and looked around the dimly lit living room to see if she had taken everything she would need in her mission that night.
Lu Zhen looked at her and chuckled.
"You are taking this way too seriously." He said before leaning towards his wife and planting a kiss on her forehead.
"I can’t help it. We aren’t going out alone. Those inexperienced teammates will be a burden for a while. So, we have to be prepared." Leng Pan sighed as she explained.
She wasn’t complaining, but it would have been nice if everyone was as experienced as those who came from the ancient earth with them.
"Alright, let’s go take a look if everyone else is ready. We have to leave soon." Lu Zhen didn’t argue. He had learned a long time ago that his wife was always right.
As soon as they walked into the corridor, they found it crowded with their teammates waiting for them.
"How’s everyone’s preparations?" Leng Pan asked.
"Everything is ready. I have modified a few weapons including both hot and cold weapons." Ouyang Jin said as he showed Leng Pan a spear that seemed to be coated with something shiny.
There were also guns that appeared normal, but Leng Pan knew better than to believe that.
"That’s great." She praised even though she knew Ouyang Jin didn’t need it.
"My mapping range has also increased by ten meters." Janna raised a hand and said shyly but proudly.
"That’s great, Janna. Keep working hard. Soon, you’ll be able to locate zombies hiding hundreds of meters away." Leng Pan praised again.
This time, Janna really needed that encouragement.
This was their first night operation since the heat disaster officially began, and since the underground creatures revealed themselves.
They didn’t know if those things would surface at night, but it was better to be careful.
The team chose a supermarket they had noticed when they went out looking for supplies when things were submerged in ice.
It was actually a miracle that the supermarket hadn’t been completely emptied before the extreme cold started.
They could only say that they had good fortune.
Before they left, Leng Pan reminded them again, "We have to stick together and not split up.
Also, don’t change anything underground no matter what.
If you see danger you can’t fight, retreat."
She didn’t want to lose teammates just because they acted like heroes.
She wanted living teammates, not dead heroes.
"Yes, Commander." They all replied in unison.
The streets were unrecognizable.
What had once been flooded was now dry, but the ground was warped and cracked like broken pottery. Dead fish, bloated and blackened, lay scattered everywhere. The smell alone was enough to make ordinary people vomit.
Leng Pan wondered why she hadn’t noticed the fish before.
But thinking that everything had been frozen until a few days ago, she understood.
Here and there, corpses lay in unnatural positions.
Some were curled, while others seemed to have been overwhelmed by the heat and fallen face first to the ground.
"This should have been caused by heat stroke.
Some people left their houses during the day." Sonny, who had disappeared for a while suddenly showed up as silently as he disappeared.
Hearing his voice, everyone turned to look at him in shock.
No one had noticed him rejoining the team. It was as if he was a ghost that came and went without a trace.
"Welcome back." Leng Pan said with a shallow smile.
"Thank you, Commander Leng." Sonny replied and pushed up his ever present glasses on his nose.
As they walked forward, Leng Pan didn’t entirely depend on Lu Tao and Janna to scout.
She extended her water ability underground to check those creatures and actually found some movement.
Those creatures seemed active but they didn’t seem to have any intention of surfacing.
This was good news because today wasn’t about fighting those night crawlers but looking for supplies.
The supermarket appeared ahead, its glass facade shattered, probably from being frozen. The metal shutters half-melted and warped from the heat in the last few days.
A section of the roof had collapsed inward, most likely from the meteorites that had caused devastation of structures and infrastructure around that world.
But luckily, the main structure still stood.
The team hastened their steps as if afraid that the supermarket would disappear.
Inside, the air was stale but cooler. Shelves were toppled, goods scattered everywhere. Most perishables had rotted into unrecognizable sludge, but sealed items still remained intact.
It was difficult to tell if the water had created the mess or the place had been raided before.
With the glass window broken, it was possible that water had caused the mess and also carried away some of the supplies strewing them on the streets.
"Sister-in-law, there is movement from different directions. It looks like zombies have started to hunt again.
Those things underground are also moving." Lu Tao walked closer to Leng Pan and whispered to her.
"Alright. Understood." She replied before turning to everyone.
"You have ten minutes to pick what you need. No more. Start moving." She said as she also walked to a corner where a crate had collapsed with canned food spread on the floor.
Canned food, electrolyte drinks, medical supplies, batteries, anything useful was gathered and packed away.
Momo worked double as her hands moved with practiced speed to pick what she deemed useful while at the same time expending her superpowers to cover their presence there.
