Apocaly Utopi apocaly utop

Chapter 2 steak

What's the difference in temperature between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m.?

Ordinarily, hardly anyone could tell.

But tonight was clearly different. The sun had long disappeared, yet the scorching heat in the air seemed to be gradually intensifying with every passing minute. What's worse, there hadn't been a wisp of wind for days. What was floating outside the window wasn't air at all, but rather clouds of searing hot sand that were ready to pounce on your face at any moment and suffocate you.

As if someone had given the order, the outdoor units of the last few households in the city that, for various reasons, hadn't turned on their air conditioners started rumbling one after another. People without air conditioners simply couldn't hold on any longer. They flocked to bars, 24 - hour convenience stores, companies... anywhere there was a bit of cool air.

Thirty minutes later, with a soft click, several night - vision lights in the 38 - floor apartment suddenly went out. The house was plunged into absolute darkness - and the faint "buzzing" sound that had always lingered in the bedroom had quietly stopped at some point.

The central air - conditioner stopped blowing air.

Not long after the cool air stopped, Emma tossed restlessly in her sleep. Without the 26 - degree - Celsius cool air, a layer of sticky sweat soon formed on her body. This layer of sweat was like an airtight cover, and she was soon awakened by the heat.

Hmm... the remote control seems to be on the bedside table...

This thought flashed through her drowsy mind. Just as she was about to reach out to touch it, she suddenly felt something was wrong. Emma was jolted awake, immediately stopped her hand, and remained motionless. After a while, she quietly squinted her eyes and looked upward.

A snow-white face was suspended right above her face, and two black - hole - like eyes were staring straight at her in the dark.

Here it comes again! - Here it comes again -!

A scream erupted in Emma's mind, but her throat was so dry that no sound could come out. Her heartbeat became faster and louder. The white face tilted slightly as if to listen, and then suddenly rushed towards Emma.

Two weeks ago, she woke up thirsty in the middle of the night. As soon as she sat up, she bumped right into this face. At that time, Emma let out a scream in horror and scrambled to turn on the light. Only then did she realize that it was Buck -

Buck was sitting beside her at some point, his face expressionless in the dark. She didn't know how long he had been staring at her like that - just like tonight.

At that time, Buck said that he had often slept - walked since he was a child.

If Emma hadn't been suspicious, perhaps she would really have believed it. At this moment, she forced herself to endure the fear, pretended to be half - asleep, reached out and rubbed her eyes, and asked in a trembling voice, "Buck, are you sleep - walking again?"

Buck's face silently split into a smile in the dark, and his enunciation was extremely clear. "Yes, my old problem has flared up again. Did I scare you?"

"A - a little..." Emma almost fled out of bed and stood at the door. This illusion of being able to escape at any time made her calm down a bit. Only then did she feel the sweltering temperature in the room again.

"Why is it so hot? Did you turn off the air conditioner?"

Buck didn't answer. He just stretched out his hand and pulled. The thick curtains quickly retreated to both sides, revealing a floor - to - ceiling window. Usually, through this window, Emma could see the brilliant night view of half of the city. But tonight, the city had lost its ever - burning lights, and even the stars had been tactfully hidden. There was only pitch - black darkness.

In the house with the doors and windows closed, the sweltering heat was suffocating.

"The power load is too high. It seems that there's a city - wide power outage," Buck's voice still carried a smile, revealing a sense of complacency. As he spoke, he slowly stood up, walked around the foot of the bed, and walked step by step towards the door.

Suddenly, alarm bells rang loudly in Emma's mind. Before he could get close, she suddenly turned around and ran towards the living room. Her arrangement and management of this apartment over the past three months finally paid off a little: in the pitch - black darkness, she still managed to rush into the entrance of the living room. Before she could catch her breath, she slapped down the elevator button.

The expected red light didn't come on - such an expensive apartment didn't even have a backup power system?

"The backup power only supplies the corridor lights. They don't care about the elevators - especially the private elevator," came the voice that she had heard for half a year from behind. Buck was still so gentle, but when he pronounced the words, Emma heard a sloshing sound. It was as if... Buck couldn't control the saliva secretion in his mouth...

In the dark, the blurred silhouette representing Buck paced towards her and finally stopped in the middle of the living room.

Emma only felt a dizzy spell in her head. Her sixth sense was right - a wave of regret welled up in her heart. "What... what do you want to do?"

"You're quite perceptive," Buck s*ck*d in a mouthful of saliva. "You should have felt it for a long time. But you should still learn to listen to your intuition more... Otherwise, you wouldn't have come back here with me. These past few days, you've probably had a lot of mental struggles... Thank you so much for your trust in me."

Emma didn't notice it herself, but her hands, tightly clenched into fists, were constantly trembling.

"Emma, on such a hot day, do you sweat a lot?" Buck suddenly asked an irrelevant question with concern.

Emma was stunned and subconsciously touched her arm. She had only sweated a little - but - why was he asking this at this time?

Buck nodded in satisfaction in the dark. "Emma, you're amazing! It's not in vain that I've cultivated you for half a year..."

What on earth was he talking about - she couldn't understand a word!

Emma opened her mouth to say something, only to find that her teeth were chattering violently. The thought that had been lingering in the depths of her heart for several days made her ask a question that she had thought she would never say. "You... do you want to eat me?"

The dark figure let out a satisfied praise. "What a sharp intuition."

Emma was angered by his attitude - fear, indignation, and confusion were all mixed together. She didn't seem so at a loss anymore, and the following words gushed out like a tide. "Stop joking. Who on earth are you? Why did you target me? Let me tell you, don't mess around. All my friends know that I live with you..."

She deliberately raised her voice, secretly hoping that someone could hear, while quietly groping towards the open - style kitchen on one side of the living room.

Buck sighed. "After all, you've been with me for six months. I'll let you die understanding." After saying that, he raised his hand and gently snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, with a "boom", one of the glass walls in the living room suddenly shattered into thousands of pieces. Accompanied by the faint screams from far away outside, a wave of heat that Emma had never experienced before, wrapped in glass shards, swept into the apartment. The last bit of coolness left by the central air - conditioner just now was instantly devoured and disappeared.

H - how could it be so hot? It was as if someone had put the whole city on a fire to roast!

Before Emma could react, Buck's gentle voice rang out again. "From tonight on, this world is no longer the Earth you're familiar with. In this new world, according to your measurement method, it's now... oh, 56 degrees Celsius."

Emma was stunned. 56 degrees Celsius was enough to cause an ordinary person to suffer from severe heatstroke and die from dehydration several times over. As soon as this thought came to her mind, she quickly touched the back of her neck. Unexpectedly, Emma didn't sweat much anymore.

"Look! I've only raised you for a few months, and you've already evolved two abilities: 'high-temperature adaptation' and 'keen intuition'... Truly worthy of being the high-potential seed I took a fancy to at first sight 1.

"If the new world hadn't come so early, I really wanted to raise you for a few more years before eating you..." There was quite a bit of regret in Buck's tone. He audibly gulped, drawing in a mouthful of saliva, and walked towards Emma. "Emma, I haven't eaten a high-potential good kid for a long time."

After the glass wall broke, a little faint light spilled into the living room. By this little bit of light, Emma could see Buck's face at this moment.

The once - handsome features of a male model, like those of Buck, had been gradually squeezed out of sight by his increasingly wide - open mouth. The clear saliva, no longer restrained, kept flowing down from the corners of his mouth - and at this time, Emma had been forced back into the corner of the kitchen.

"I - I still don't understand! What on earth are you? Why do you want to eat me? And what about evolution, abilities - didn't you say you'd let me die understanding? Tell me!"

Even if she could delay for just one more minute, it was one more glimmer of hope! Taking advantage of the time to shout, Emma quietly reached her hand towards the knife rack on the counter behind her.

The big mouth paused, shrank a little, and revealed some of Buck's original features again. "Alas... why are you so stupid? Of course I'm human. Buck is my name - but I'm different from you backward species. I'm from another 'new world'. Humans who survive in the new world will all evolve different abilities... The ability I possess is something you can't even imagine."

Buck wiped his wet chin. "I advise you to put down the knife. My eyesight is very good. Just let me eat you obediently. I promise it won't hurt -"

"Go to hell!" Before he could finish speaking, Emma, full of fear and anger, rushed forward with a sharp knife in her hand.

The silvery - white boning knife was extremely fast, drawing a bright line in the dark. Just as the tip of the knife was about to pierce Buck's chest, he just took a slight step to the side, and Emma missed. She stumbled, stepped on a piece of glass, and could no longer maintain her balance, falling heavily to the ground.

A mouth that had split to both cheeks didn't give her a chance to stand up at all. It rushed towards Emma like the wind - in a panic, she only had time to roll over and throw the boning knife in her hand hard. Buck dodged unexpectedly, but still got a shallow cut from the knife.

With a clang, the knife landed in the distance.

Buck, furious with shame, pinned Emma to the ground. His black eyes, staring at her, almost shrank to the size of a pinhead. "A steak should act like a steak!"

In the faint light, Emma watched despairingly as the black shadow pounced towards her throat.