Evelyn Ford looked at the blazing white sun, a strange panic stirring within her. She remembered from her past life that Corinth had never gotten this hot.
Back home, Evelyn once again took stock of the supplies in her space. Over the past few days, she had added two hundred sets of basic skincare products, face masks, lip balm, and moisturizer. She knew that after the heatwaves began, skin would start to peel and crack, becoming unbearably painful and itchy.
She had only managed to fill ten of her water storage barrels so far. Whenever she was home, Evelyn would run the tap to fill them, but this method was too slow and could attract unwanted attention. Instead, she went directly to Green Mountain Reservoir to pump water. After two nights of work, all her storage barrels were full.
Thinking of the major reservoirs that supplied Corinth's tens of millions of residents, a persistent gloom and fear settled over Evelyn.
'When the reservoirs burst, Corinth's flooding went from bad to worse. Of Corinth's thirty million people, how many died in the torrential rains and floods? And how many were trapped in their homes, slowly starving or freezing to death?'
Evelyn had no time to let her mind wander. She traveled to several neighboring cities and began a new round of hoarding.
In addition to food, Evelyn acquired hundreds of cotton quilts, sets of thermal clothing, four-piece bedding sets, folding cots, folding chairs, and camping tents. She even bought coco coir bricks for planting, Pine Torches for kindling, an old-fashioned sewing machine, spools of thread, and sewing kits.
When she returned from the neighboring cities, it was already early March.
The temperature in Corinth showed no signs of dropping. Abroad, many people had died from the extreme heat, and there were even several volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and earthquakes.
Aside from continuing to restock her supplies, Evelyn spent her time cooking, filling the tens of thousands of plastic meal containers she had purchased.
Evelyn also bought plenty of cell phones, tablets, power banks, and books. She gathered texts on every subject imaginable, spanning all eras and cultures. 'Books are the embers of civilization.'
Nutritional supplements like milk, powdered milk for adults, chocolate, and vitamins were also essential and couldn't be overlooked.
Thinking about the days to come, she added twenty air conditioners and twenty fans to her hoard.
As time ticked by, Evelyn's anxiety grew. She began to suffer from insomnia and found herself caught in a terrible dilemma.
'Should I reveal what I know?'
Of course, she wasn't an idiot. She couldn't just run around screaming that the end of the world was nigh. She'd either be dismissed as a lunatic or thrown in jail for inciting panic.
Evelyn didn't consider herself a good person, but when it came to her own people, she couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
In the days that followed, Evelyn continued her frantic shopping spree. In addition to online orders, she went to various malls and supermarkets, clearing shelves and buying anything she wanted without a moment's hesitation.
Plagued by insomnia, Evelyn decided to drive into the mountains to dig up soil. She knew that after the acid rain came, the earth would be contaminated and plants would die. With so many seeds in her space, the soil would surely be useful one day. For several nights, she worked with a hoe, not stopping until she had filled all twenty of her planting boxes.
Evelyn was out from dawn till dusk, and though no one knew what she was up to, plenty of gossip spread through the apartment building. She paid it no mind and remained focused on her procurement efforts.
The supplies in her space were now incredibly comprehensive. Evelyn felt she had stockpiled more than she could use in two lifetimes. She'd bought plenty of chainsaws for felling trees. From items as small as nails, trash bags, pens, ink, paper, inkstones, and calendars for the next fifty years, to items as large as agricultural tools—Evelyn had overlooked nothing.
The sets of custom cast-iron cookware she'd ordered from a blacksmith were finally ready. After bringing them home, Evelyn took stock of her supplies once more.
As time went on, her anxiety intensified.
She felt like a prisoner on death row, one who knew exactly when the blade would fall and how much it would hurt. The waiting, however, was the most torturous part of all.
Twenty days left.
Evelyn bought a burner SIM card from a shop in Peach Blossom Alley and anonymously posted a warning online.
She had no desire to save the world. She was afraid of being caught, afraid of anyone discovering that she was different.
But the people around her were her own. They shared the same roots. Evelyn couldn't just turn a blind eye.
After hitting 'send,' she ejected the SIM card, snapped it in half, and tossed it into a sewer drain along with the phone.
She didn't check the news online again. Instead, she resumed her shopping. With millions still left on her card, she continued her online purchasing spree: frozen foods, hot pot bases, high-calorie chocolates, compressed biscuits, honey, waterproof tarps, insecticides, electronic scales, thermal clothing, sodas, milk tea, coffee, tea, canned meat...
Finally, Evelyn used the last of her money to purchase a Unimog, five bicycles, five tricycles, twenty sets of acupuncture Silver Needles, and twenty surgical tool kits.
Between the recent natural disasters erupting worldwide and her anonymous warning, many wilderness survival bloggers stayed up all night creating emergency preparedness guides to cash in on the hype.
Evelyn continued to go out every day to procure supplies. When she got home, she would either lock herself in the kitchen, cooking up a storm, or exercise in the living room, or sharpen knives on a whetstone in the bathroom.
Evelyn had always been in decent shape, and after two and a half months of hard training, she'd actually managed to get toned abs.
On March 20th, the weather forecast issued a high-temperature warning.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK... Evelyn stared at her security door. After a moment's hesitation, she got up and opened it. Seeing the building's security guard standing outside, she felt a flicker of confusion.
"Ford, Mr. Grant from 101 passed away this morning at Mercy Hospital. His family is holding a memorial service for him tomorrow at ten a.m. at Sunset Hills Funeral Home. Are you going?"
Evelyn froze for a couple of seconds, then nodded gently. "I'll be there."
The security guard jotted her name down. After he left, Evelyn closed the door and returned inside, unable to shake the news. In her frantic rush to procure supplies since being reborn, she had completely forgotten about Mr. Grant's death.
At ten o'clock the next morning, Evelyn arrived promptly at Sunset Hills Funeral Home. Besides her, the only other person from their entire apartment building was Lauren Keller from 902.
Mr. Grant had been a calligraphy teacher before he retired. As children, both Lauren and Evelyn had learned the basics from him at his home. 'Once a teacher, always a teacher.' Looking at the kind, smiling face in his memorial photo, Evelyn's eyes grew red.
'It made her think of her parents again.'
On March 25th, Evelyn returned the key to her warehouse and sent a message to Jill Lynch, urging her to return to Aeridor as soon as possible and stock up on supplies.
On the way back, she found a spot with no surveillance cameras and stored the car in her space.
On the 28th, Evelyn felt the temperature drop. A gust of wind blew past, cold enough to give her goosebumps. By evening, the sky was filled with vast, fiery clouds—a truly spectacular sight.