Chapter 5

Scarlet had only gotten together with Marcus two months ago, but he had already repeatedly used his busy work schedule as an excuse to make Scarlet take care of his mother, Anne Jenkins, and pick up his sister, Mabel Crosby, from school.

I had tried countless times to talk sense into Scarlet, telling her that Marcus wasn't right for her. Each time, though, she accused me of being rude, insisting that Marcus only asked her to do these things because he loved her.

"Alright, then. I'll go now," Scarlet said at once without hesitation, despite the heat being unbearable that day. After hanging up, she began packing up her things and prepared to head out.

I walked right past her, no longer wanting to get involved in her business.

I scrolled through a few housing listings on my phone, searching for a place to escape the first wave of extreme heat.

Knowing Scarlet's savior complex, I didn't know what the resources in our home would look like by the end of the apocalypse. I had to be prepared ahead of time, just in case.

While browsing, a villa in the suburbs immediately caught my eye.

"This villa is a good choice! It has an underground bunker, and that will help insulate the interior from the heat outside."

"The owners are all living overseas. They don't care about this villa being reclaimed or repossessed after the apocalypse."

"This is the villa that the female lead moves into, saving her life from the scorching heat!"

The comments that appeared on the screen were flooded with praise for this villa. I immediately rented the place using Scarlet's credit card.

I had already secretly turned off the credit card notification on her phone earlier, so she'd never find out about it.

After all, Scarlet had saved up quite a bit of money after working for years.

Then I placed an online order for ten electricity generators, arranging for them to be delivered to the suburban villa the next morning.

By the time the temperatures hit 120 degrees, the city's power system would be under immense pressure, and the power supply would be limited. And as temperatures continued to rise after that, it was only a matter of time before the entire system collapsed.

Life on Earth would definitely feel like hell without air conditioning then.

I placed another order for 50 sets of thermal protective clothing and a large quantity of thermal insulation materials online, completely emptying the store's inventory altogether.

When temperatures hit 140 degrees, human skin would blister as soon as it was exposed to the sun for a while. When that time came, these thermal protective clothing items would come in handy and become highly sought after, thereby inflating prices tremendously.

Scarlet's credit card was close to maxing out by the time I was done purchasing everything. So, I used the balance to rent a warehouse in the suburbs.

I knew that I had enough space to store everything in the suburban villa, but I still needed to set up a transition point to avoid suspicion.

By the time I was done with everything, it was already late evening, and Scarlet was finally home.

Three disheveled men had followed her back.

"Vi, these three gentlemen had been cheated out of their money, and they haven't eaten anything in days. So, I invited them for dinner."

The three men seemed honest and straightforward, though they also appeared uneasy and hungry.

However, I got such a fright that I couldn't stop the chill going down my spine.

I dug my nails into my palm to hide my fear and panic, and it was all because of the comments that appeared on the screen just then.

"Ah, the female lead was so busy being a saint again that she even dared to bring home three fugitives wanted for murder."

"Yeah. She and Violet will be paying for it tonight."

"Poor Violet. I feel so sorry for her."

"My poor Violet! I had just started liking her, but now, I have to watch her suffer like this."

"I know, right? Scarlet invited them back for dinner out of the kindness of her heart, but they went ahead and forced themselves on poor Violet instead! What jerks! Get the hell out of that place!"