Chapter 1

It was June, early summer, yet the heat was already sweltering, the sun beating down and baking the earth beneath us.

There wasn't even a slight breeze in the air, and the stifling heat felt like we were all living in an oven.

"Apologize to him, Vi."

My older sister, Scarlet Dawson, yanked hard on my injured arm, causing a sharp, stabbing pain to shoot through my entire arm.

I clenched my fists and felt extremely frustrated.

"Why should I? I was riding my bike on the road when he bumped into me all of a sudden! He hit me first!" I protested.

Scarlet frowned, and her voice turned harsh. "How many times have I told you, Violet Dawson, that you must always be a good person and be kind to other people, no matter what?

"It doesn't matter who was at fault. You must apologize to this man first!"

Scarlet had always been like this since we were children.

It didn't matter whether I was right or wrong; she would always make me apologize first. She thought that this was the only way to show that we were virtuous people.

I took a deep breath, not wanting to argue with her any longer.

"I'm not going to make it in time for the exam. I'm leaving now."

I then broke free from her grasp and stood by the roadside for a long time before finally managing to flag down a cab.

I was finally going to be done with all my examinations after a final math paper that day.

When I opened the door, I saw a couple of other students inside the car who were also about to be late for their exams. I had, after all, accidentally flagged down a ride-sharing cab.

Just as I was about to hop in, Scarlet shoved me aside and helped the injured man who bumped into me earlier into the cab instead.

"Excuse me, sir, but can you send this man to the hospital after you've sent these students to school?"

The cab driver was a little hesitant. "The exams will be starting very soon, and she's going to be late if she doesn't go now. Shouldn't I be sending her along first?"

Scarlet shook her head and spoke in a kind, gentle voice once more. "It's fine. I'll just get another cab for her."

"It's too hot today. I don't think there'll be any other people on the road willing to stop and take her there," the cab driver said.

"It's fine. She's terrible at her studies anyway, so it doesn't matter whether she misses this paper or not," Scarlet replied. She smiled brightly at the driver, despite her words being harsh and unpleasant.

I bit my lower lip, suppressing the sudden tears welling in my eyes.

The cab driver felt sorry for me and tried to reason with Scarlet, but she kept refusing his attempts to help me. In the end, the other students in the car urged him to hurry up, or they would all be late.

It was just as those comments that suddenly popped up on screen said. Scarlet would rather help a stranger than care about her own younger sister.

I closed my eyes, fighting the stinging sensation in my eyes, and finally made my decision.

When I opened my eyes again, I felt nothing. I took out my phone and made a call.

A short while later, another cab appeared right before me.

I got into the cab decisively, leaving Scarlet behind in the sweltering heat.

I stepped out of the exam hall as soon as my final math paper ended. Finally, it was all over.

I didn't go home straight away. Instead, I headed to the villa where my uncle, Adrian Dawson, and his family lived.

It was around 5:00 pm, but the sun was still high in the sky, scorching the earth as if the heat would never go away. It took a toll on everyone on the streets, since they couldn't even walk two steps out of the door without breaking into a sweat almost immediately.

The relentless heat was unusual, but so far, no one else seemed to have noticed.

Everyone thought this was just a normal heatwave that would be over once a rain shower washed over the earth, and the temperature would drop once more.

However, I knew that this heatwave would last a very long time, as the temperature kept rising day by day.

In the future, the rivers would eventually dry up, the fields would turn bare, power systems would break down, and all industries would eventually cease to exist, plunging humanity into a brief period of disorder.

The heatwave would only get worse then, killing off more than 90% of the global population. The few lucky survivors would eventually move north toward the Northern Pole, building the world's only human base there to ensure everyone's survival.