For the next few days, the whole family stayed home and trained their physical strength.
The little monkey had already watched the part in Journey to the West where Tang Sanzang rescues Su Wukong from under the Five-Element Mountain.
Every day, people in the residents’ group chat talked about the extreme heat.
Perhaps because the display of wealth last time was too eye-catching, many other residents of Mingyue Huafu began copying the behavior.
As a result, the essential goods in the nearby stores started running short.
The government also ordered companies to give their employees high-temperature leave.
If leave wasn’t possible, they were to implement a night-shift schedule.
But this arrangement only lasted one day before chaos erupted.
Late at night, people working from home suddenly screamed.
The community group chat exploded with messages—everyone was complaining about one thing:
“Why did the power suddenly go out?!”
“It’s one in the damn morning and it’s still over 30°C!”
“How are we supposed to live without air-conditioning?”
“My wife is pregnant! What’s the property management doing?”
At that moment, the residents of Mingyue Huafu still thought the outage was only within their community.
Little did they know—the entire city had lost power.
Because the air conditioners stopped, room temperatures quickly rose.
Su Yu was a naturally light sleeper.
In the hot, stuffy air, she rubbed her bleary eyes.
The diesel generator she had prepared earlier was finally useful.
The 7-kilowatt generator was powerful enough to run the household air conditioners.
After confirming that all the lights in their home were turned off, Su Yu prepared to start the generator.
It was stored in a soundproof room on the 26th floor.
It sat on an anti-vibration stand, surrounded by noise-reducing screens.
And the walls of Mingyue Huafu were built with high-grade sound-insulation materials.
Even in the stillness of early dawn, the Su family could run the diesel generator without being heard.
Once the antifreeze and diesel flowed in, the generator started smoothly.
The air conditioner began running again, and Su Yu finally cooled down.
Everyone took a shower in their own rooms—only the little monkey slept straight through, unaffected by the temperature change.
Unable to sleep, Su Yu browsed the group chat.
Mingyue Huafu was a high-end community; most residents were high-income professionals or small business owners.
They preferred comfortable lifestyles, and very few homes had backup generators.
Most people could only cool off by taking cold showers.
Soon, the property management released a notice regarding the blackout:
“Dear residents, we apologize for the inconvenience. This outage is not caused by a fault in the community. The entire city has lost power due to a severe imbalance in electricity supply and demand caused by the extreme heat.”
In short—the heatwave overwhelmed the power grid.
The city government released no statement at all.
The sudden blackout left residents with no choice but to endure.
Su Mom tucked the light blanket around Su Yu.
Her daughter’s arm, exposed outside the blanket, was cold, so she adjusted the air-conditioning temperature a few degrees higher.
The cool, comfortable Su household stood in sharp contrast to the outside world.
Early risers didn’t wake up to restored power— they woke up to even higher temperatures.
Current temperature: 49°C.
Such extreme heat, combined with no air-conditioning, caused many people to experience:
All of which were early signs of heatstroke.
Within half an hour, Su Yu saw many ambulances arriving at Mingyue Huafu.
Even more people drove themselves to the hospital.
Major media outlets began posting guides on “How to treat heatstroke at home.”
And it wasn’t just Su Yu’s city— hospitals around the world were overwhelmed by heatstroke patients.
More severe cases escalated into heatstroke shock.
Some patients died before hospitals could even cool them down.
Hospital resources were clearly stretched thin.
Ambulances were constantly out picking up new patients.
With no city electricity, hospital power was also critically low.
People could only wait helplessly for the electricity that never came, watching their heat-stricken family members collapse with no way to help.
Long-term heat and drought left even the wind completely still.
This pushed cities reliant on hydropower and wind power into even worse conditions.
Under government emergency action, only public infrastructure regained basic lighting.
Cities began implementing zonal and scheduled power supply.
Air-conditioning became an impossible luxury.
Meanwhile at the Su home—
Su Dad and Su Mom sat reading magazines.
Su Yu lounged beside them, eating a mint popsicle while petting the golden monkey’s fur.
Thanks to their air-conditioners, the indoor temperature remained at 22°C.
Su Yu knew that from today onward, the world would gradually descend into chaos.
People would suffer terribly under worsening climate disasters.
But she was only Su Yu.
Her only goal in this life was to survive peacefully with her parents for the next few decades.
Even if she knew what the future held, it wouldn’t matter.
She couldn’t save the world— so she let go of the burden of trying.
Television news tried desperately to calm the public, but many people were convinced the apocalypse was coming.
Resource shortages would follow.
People started flooding supermarkets and wet markets to hoard supplies.
Under the scorching heat, every attempt at hoarding drained their physical strength drastically.
Su Yu looked down from her window.
People who went out earlier managed to buy a few packs of water.
By the afternoon, they could only buy a couple of bottles.
By evening, many came home carrying nothing but two cucumbers.
In the group chat, residents vented about the merciless sun.
Fortunately, the power returned to Mingyue Huafu’s sector later that afternoon, giving everyone a brief chance to enjoy air-conditioning.
“Thank God the power’s back. My phone battery was about to die.”
“All my money’s on my phone. We don’t keep cash. Without battery we can’t even buy vegetables.”
“No need to hoard groceries, it’s just heat.”
“Why is everyone stocking water? There’s no water outage.”
“In this heat, who dares go to work? If you don’t store water, what will you drink when shops close?”
Su Yu stretched lazily and went into the kitchen.
It was her turn to cook today.
Dinner was very light:
For dessert, she took out chilled watermelon from the freezer and made four cups of fresh watermelon juice.
Afterward, she turned off the unused air-conditioners and left only the central unit in the living room running.
The extra electricity allowed Su Dad to run the dishwasher.
The fully charged robot vacuum also cleaned the entire 26th floor.
When everything was done, Su Yu took out the trash.
To avoid exposing that they lived in Building Ten, she always went down to the underground parking lot first, then took a detour outside.
But tonight, the basement was filled with people.