After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 863

Chapter 863: Extreme Heat (Part 1)
The weddings had to be deferred though, because the event they dreaded had finally happened.

A heat wave blanketed the entire world. Temperature soared, and the air was thick, heavy, and oppressive. Even the winds felt like hot breaths of a furnace, as if someone was pushing their faces close to the fire.

Overnight, a drought spread out the entire continent and shallow water sources immediately dried out. The soil cracked in dryness and plants wilted under the brutal heat.

The heat distorted the sights outside, with stones shimmering in the waves of heat and radiating warmth and adding to people’s suffering.

The only bright side of this was that there were no monsters attacking at all during this time, but that wouldn’t have mattered because most people wouldn’t have been able to move anyway.

The heat drained energy, causing widespread lethargy akin to death. People would sweat, but if they were in open air, it would dry out almost immediately, and they wouldn’t even enjoy the only advantage of sweating.

The air was just painful to the skin if one stayed outside for too long, and they could even be burned under the direct sun.

Cases of Heat Stress and Heatstroke were abound. Pretty much everywhere in the territory, there was not just heavy sweating, weakness, and dizziness. There were plenty of those suffering from nausea, headache, and even fainting.

Alterra was lucky because they were next to water sources and there were still some water available. They prepared the best they could, so they were fine and not dying—unlike many others outside—but it didn’t mean it still wasn’t hell.

“AHHH… sooo hot…” Ansel mumbled as he laid down on the floor with buckets of ice surrounding them. There were fans behind them, powered by solar panels placed above their roofs. (Not every home had one now, of course, as they didn’t have time to mass produce them)

“Like a child,” Winona said, throwing a face towel that had been soaked in ice water.

Winona had effectively moved in since the engagement, but she did promise to support her grandmother and keep the other house.

However, she did threaten if they did anything to ruin her peace, then she’d take away all that was hers.

Since then, her life had been quiet, and those people would avoid her when they saw her.

As always, money could fix everything…

“Ohh! That’s nice~” Ansel said, grinning, as he wiped his face with the iced towel. “Thanks, wife.”

Winona flushed and pinched his cheek. “Stop being cheesy!”

Althea giggled and smiled when her husband wiped her sweat off. Similarly, she also wiped a cool towel on the babies who were very weak from the heat.

They were whimpering in discomfort, and it was heartbreaking to watch.

“Mhmnnhmm…”

“Googmmgma… wuuu…”

The two babies were wearing minimal clothing already. They sqirmed in position, sleeping with legs and arms open to feel more of the air. Their cheeks were red as apples, which would’ve been cute normally, but they knew the children were suffering.

Her heart clenched and she sighed, knowing there wasn’t much they could do but cool them down more.

Garan fanned his family and refused when Althea wanted to switch. He had much stronger arms, he said, her arms were so small, it’d be tired quickly.

Plus, he had his ice ability, so the air he produced with the fan was cool.

“How long is this going to last?”

“I heard it lasts at least a week, but more often longer than that.”

Everyone groaned a bit, but not too loud. They needed to conserve energy after all.

Everyone was wearing very thin and comfortable clothing at this time, but it still felt sweltering. They could only imagine how bad it was outside the territory.

Harold and the others were in the other villa. They didn’t hang around in the same area. Too much body heat was too much heat.

The dogs were with them though and they pretty much slept next to the ice buckets. The poor things were just lying there without much energy, as if conserving energy not to overheat.

Ansel turned to look at them. When they realized that it was happening, he almost shaved them. After all, if one thought about it, wouldn’t they be too hot under all that fur?

He almost got his head bitten inside their mouths when he was stopped by his wife kicking him.

Winona had a dog growing up. She stopped him because both dogs apparently had a double coat that functioned as insulation for both heat and cold. Shaving them could interfere with these functions and was actually counter-productive.

Tsk.

He still thought they’d be shaved though, and he turned to stare at them again.

The two canines caught his stare and stared badly at him, apparently remembering his attempts.

“WOOF!”

(Translation: Ugly!)

Snow howled.

(Translation: I’ll eat you later)

Ansel sneered at them. “Impertinent brats,” he said. “See if I take away your good food—”

Winona rolled her eyes and just patted herself with her towel. It was just that the water and sweat made her shirt stick to her skin and curves and Ansel’s eyes darkened a bit at the sight of it.

This earned him a smack on the face by a towel.

“Ohh…” Ansel mumbled as if he was in pain, and Winona just rolled her eyes.

Althea shook her head, amazed at their seemingly endless energy to argue with each other.

She looked at their group and felt pity for the unproductive day and days to come.

They actually converted the basements to have some comfortable sleeping spaces. But it was small and not comfortable for more than 4 people.

It was also not good for the children to stay in such enclosed space for so long. If it was going to be used, it was probably going to be used by a few people a few hours at a time and nothing else.

Fortunately, they had already had some small electric appliances that allowed some comfort. These fans were completed just in time, though not enough time or raw materials were prepared to make it commercially available.

Anyway, it was the best they could do. Hopefully, their bodies adjust soon enough.