“Dad, Mom, stay in the car. I’ll get out and see what’s going on.”
Mo Fei geared up completely, then got out of the car carrying a sun umbrella and a handheld electric fan.
Unfortunately, in the 50-degree heat, the handheld fan only blew hot air.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was watching, Mo Fei tossed the useless little fan into her space and walked toward the front.
With the blazing sun overhead, after only a few steps, Mo Fei felt as though the soles of her shoes were about to melt. She struggled to climb to a higher spot and looked ahead.
Mo Fei suddenly discovered that whenever she focused intently on a particular place, she could clearly hear the sounds coming from that location.
For example, at that moment, the traffic police ahead were maintaining order at the scene while reporting the situation to their superiors.
Every single word reached Mo Fei’s ears without missing a thing.
Two large cargo trucks had collided from behind, with a small passenger car crushed between them.
Police cars and ambulances had already arrived, but judging by the situation, the people involved could no longer be saved.
It would take at least another ten hours or more to clear the accident scene.
These were the voices of the traffic police, along with those of some of the drivers trapped at the very front. They were loud and chaotic.
Does this count as clairvoyance or super hearing? Mo Fei could not help wondering.
Some drivers who could not get through had planned to take their families and continue into the city on foot, but after getting out of their cars, they immediately climbed back inside.
The scorching heat was so intense that describing it as molten lava falling from the sky would not have been an exaggeration. Without air conditioning, people would probably dry to death from the heat.
After figuring out the situation, Mo Fei did not linger. She hurried back to the car and told her family what she had learned.
Mo Jiayue’s crying filled the car.
“What about Big Brother?”
Hearing his little sister crying, the feverish Jianian instinctively raised a hand, trying to find where she was. But his arm weakly fell back down.
The fever medicine had done absolutely nothing for him.
Holding the two children, Song Yi and Mo Zhicheng’s expressions changed dramatically. At that moment, they completely believed everything Mo Fei had said about the coming natural disasters.
Just this kind of extreme weather alone was enough to claim the lives of many elderly people with underlying illnesses and young children.
Not to mention Mo Fei’s theory of survival of the fittest and the possibility of mutated creatures appearing…
At that moment, they were simply two helpless elderly people, as anxious as ants on a hot pan, yet completely powerless to do anything.
“I’m here. Don’t worry.” As Mo Fei spoke, she handed the insulated bottle containing the stream water to the back seat, telling them to let Mo Jianian drink some.
Mo Jianian’s eyes remained tightly shut, but as soon as his lips touched the stream water, he suddenly reacted and eagerly drank several mouthfuls in succession. The intense heat radiating from his body also seemed to lessen slightly.
Only then did the whole family breathe a sigh of relief. They hurriedly asked Mo Fei whether there was any more of this water.
“Yes.” Mo Fei took several bottles of what appeared to be bottled mineral water out of the car refrigerator. Naturally, she had already replaced the water inside with stream water. “Besides giving it to Jianian, all of you should drink some too. This water should help prevent heatstroke.”
At the same time, Mo Fei’s mind raced.
The hospitals were already packed with patients, and all kinds of infectious diseases were spreading together. Going to a hospital was absolutely out of the question. Besides, the hospitals might not even have as much medicine available now as she had stored in her space.
The road in front of them was the fastest way out of the city. Taking another route would require driving halfway around the city and would take at least three hours to reach the villa.
Normally, the navigation system would report traffic congestion ahead, but starting today, it had become as silent as a mute. They could only gamble on it.
Mo Fei stopped hesitating, made a U-turn, and sped away.
“Help me! Please help me!”
A middle-aged man standing beneath the shade of a tree shouted desperately at Mo Fei’s car.
Every part of his body that had come into contact with the ground was covered in blistering burns. The sight was horrifying.
The man had probably become delirious from the heat. He had crashed his car into a tree and then struggled to crawl out.
Mo Fei hesitated for a brief moment. As she drove past, she tossed an ordinary bottle of iced mineral water out the window and dialed 120 on his behalf.
She did it all in one fluid motion. Her foot never left the accelerator, and she did not slow down for even a second because of him.
Ever since growing up in the orphanage, she had known that kindness never brought material rewards.
Kindness meant giving to others without expecting anything in return, after ensuring that her own needs had already been met.
Later, through relentless hard work, she had gradually risen to become a head chef. Along the way, she had learned to be kind and forgiving, just like the people who had once shown her compassion.
But now, it felt as though she had returned to those days in the orphanage once again.
What was wrong with putting herself first?
Song Yi had always been softhearted. She could not help turning around to look at the suffering middle-aged man through the rear window.
But then she heard him screaming vicious curses at the top of his lungs.
Mo Zhicheng gently patted Song Yi on the shoulder and shook his head.
They could barely take care of themselves now. How could they possibly have the spare energy to worry about someone else?
A bottle of water and a phone call were already the only things they could do for him.
Song Yi naturally understood this. She forced herself to put the image of the man out of her mind and replaced the ice pack on Jianian’s forehead with a fresh one.
“Jianian, Jianian? Can you hear Mommy?” Mo Fei called toward the back seat as she drove.
“Mmm… Mommy…”
Jianian could not open his eyes at all. His eyelashes fluttered slightly as he let out an almost inaudible response.
The car’s fuel tank and battery were both nearly depleted.
“Feifei, how much longer?” Song Yi asked anxiously.
Mo Fei quickly changed the destination in the navigation system and drifted the car into the underground parking garage of Changchuan Hotel.
“Come on. We’ll stay at the hotel first.” After parking the car, Mo Fei told her family to put on their masks and sun-protective clothing before lifting her son into her arms.
The family took the emergency exit from the underground parking garage and entered the hotel lobby.
With every residential community now facing power restrictions, quite a few families had also come to stay at hotels.
“A suite.” Mo Fei immediately scanned the payment code and paid ¥2,888. “For one day.”
“You came at just the right time. There’s only one suite left. May I see your ID, please?” the receptionist said politely.
“Hey, wait!”
The sound of high heels approached.
“Hold on. I’ll pay ¥5,000. I want that room.”
A woman wearing a red spaghetti-strap dress hurried over, placing her designer handbag on the front desk.
The receptionist smiled awkwardly. “I’m sorry, ma’am. This guest arrived first.”
She pointed toward Mo Fei and her family.
The woman in the red dress looked Mo Fei up and down. Seeing that she was dressed from head to toe in sun-protective clothing with no recognizable brand, she arrogantly raised her voice.
“I said I want it. ¥100,000. I’ll book it for a week. I’m a VIP guest at your hotel.”
Looking at the hotel’s gold membership card the woman presented, the receptionist could only apologize to Mo Fei.
“I’m very sorry. This lady is one of our VIP guests. According to hotel policy, our available rooms must be given priority to…”
Mo Fei was speechless.
The woman smiled in satisfaction, picked up her room key card with her handbag, and walked away.
Mo Fei said nothing further. Pointless arguments would only waste her energy and saliva.
Feeling genuinely apologetic, the receptionist handed over several bottles of ice water and suggested that Mo Fei and her family rest in the hotel lobby for the time being.
The air conditioning was still running there, and if a room became available today, it would be given to Mo Fei first.
Mo Fei declined the suggestion and raised her car keys.
“My car is parked in your garage. Use the ¥2,888 I already paid to fill the gas tank. Keep the rest as your tip. Can you do that?”
“Absolutely!” the receptionist agreed happily. Filling a single tank of gas cost very little. She felt as though she had struck gold today.
“Once it’s full, park the car at the hotel entrance and give me a call.”
Just after Mo Fei finished explaining everything to the receptionist, she noticed that the elevator the woman in the red dress had just taken suddenly malfunctioned. Everyone inside had become trapped. The hotel immediately arranged for emergency repairs.
Only to discover that the entire hotel had lost power.
“…”
Mo Fei could not help thinking that perhaps this was exactly what people meant by, “A blessing in disguise.”
More and more people kept entering the hotel lobby to escape the heat, and arguments erupted nonstop. Mo Fei brought her family back to the relatively cooler underground parking garage, where they sat together in a secluded corner.
Mo Fei unbuttoned Jianian’s clothes and laid him flat on his back so he would be as comfortable as possible.
Several cooling patches were attached to Mo Jianian’s forehead, and ice packs had been placed around his hands and feet, yet his body still radiated heat like a blazing furnace.
“Miss, would you like me to call an ambulance for your family? Your child doesn’t seem to be in very good condition,” the receptionist, who had come downstairs to check on them, kindly offered.
Mo Fei shook her head.
“About 500 meters that way, there’s a pharmacy. Would you like to go there and buy some medicine?” the receptionist suggested again.
Helping guests solve their problems was part of her professional duty.
Mo Fei’s heart stirred. She had indeed not stockpiled much medicine. Since she still had to wait for the gas tank to be filled, there was no harm in taking a look.
After telling her family to wait for her there, Mo Fei left the hotel alone and headed toward the pharmacy the receptionist had mentioned.