Unless a disaster struck or extraordinary circumstances arose, the skies over the wasteland remained astonishingly clear. The sun dutifully crested the horizon at six o'clock every morning, beating down on the ocean. For six grueling hours, the heat steadily intensified until noon, when the ambient temperature over the water soared to a suffocating thirty-six degrees Celsius. Under such scorching conditions, the ocean offered virtually zero shelter from the blinding rays, save for the rare, fleeting shade of a passing cloud. Even migratory birds crossing the sea often flew dozens of kilometers, squawking from the unbearable heat, unable to find a single place to rest.
But today, this flock of migratory birds was in luck!
