Chapter 183: Polar Day, Cellar 4

Evelyn Ford quickly retreated back into the cellar. Her mind wouldn’t quiet down, and she sat staring blankly from her chair.

"Don’t overthink it. This will all pass." Seeing her spirits starting to sink again, Ronan Kendrick walked over and gently patted her shoulder.

"I just feel that humanity is so insignificant. In the face of nature, we’re too small to even fight back."

Evelyn Ford wasn’t actually dispirited. She was just pondering a question: ’Will this seemingly endless disaster ever truly end?’

’Life in the cellar is like being locked in a narrow iron box. It seems solid and secure, but it’s actually incredibly fragile.’

At mealtime, Evelyn Ford did something unusual and took out a bottle of liquor, first pouring Ronan Kendrick a full glass.

"Here, let’s get completely drunk today. When we wake up, maybe everything will be fine, and the world will have come back to life."

Evelyn Ford clinked her glass against his. Ronan Kendrick frowned, looking at her. "Don’t drink too much."

"I can hold my liquor, but I’m not the best drunk. If I start going wild later, you can just knock me out."

With one glass down, she felt all her worries melt away. Evelyn Ford began to let loose, rambling on and on to Ronan Kendrick about her life. In the middle of it all, she suddenly began to sing, waving her arms and legs around.

"Ronan Kendrick, drink up! It’s better once you’re drunk. You won’t have to think about anything."

Ronan Kendrick looked at the liquor in his glass, took a single sip, and his face immediately flushed red.

"It tastes bad."

"Who drinks liquor for the taste? It’s just a medicine to numb the mind. At least for the moment you’re drunk, you can feel at ease."

Evelyn Ford slumped sideways in her chair, quietly watching Ronan Kendrick.

"Ronan Kendrick, congratulations."

"Congratulations for what?"

"For surviving. I was so worried you were going to die."

Ronan Kendrick gave a weary smile. "Why would you be worried about that?"

"When you came to the base, I was afraid you’d be captured."

"Don’t worry. No one can capture me. I’ll be fine." Ronan Kendrick poured her a glass of water. Evelyn Ford took a sip and glared at him, her cheeks puffed out.

"This is water! Do you think I’m drunk? Let me tell you, I’m perfectly sober."

As she spoke, she staggered to her feet, only to immediately trip over thin air.

Luckily, Ronan Kendrick’s quick reflexes allowed him to catch her, otherwise Evelyn Ford would have kissed the ground.

"I really wish the polar day would be over when I wake up."

With that, Evelyn Ford’s head drooped, and she was fast asleep.

Ronan Kendrick gently squeezed her cheek, then carried her to the bed.

"Sleep now. Get a good night’s rest. Everything will be okay."

Evelyn Ford had lost track of how long they’d been in the cellar. One by one, the dates on the calendar were crossed off, until eventually, she stopped counting the days altogether.

Her few potted plants had been brought into the cellar as well. After the polar day began, the camellias withered and never bloomed again.

The alcohol could only offer a temporary numbness, not a permanent one. When she woke up, the polar day hadn’t ended, and the extreme heat hadn’t subsided.

A fir tree suddenly burst into flames, and the resulting fire burned for four days and four nights. Evelyn Ford decided to check on the situation outside. She put on her heat-resistant suit, but with the temperature climbing to 58°C, she could only stay out for twenty minutes at most. Any longer, and she would have trouble breathing, her skin itching and burning.

The safe zone remained eerily silent, showing no signs of life. Evelyn Ford wandered outside for a little over ten minutes. All the trees and dry grass in the area had been completely incinerated. She looked at a few trees up ahead. They were nothing but charcoal, but embers still sparked on their husks.

Thankfully, Ronan Kendrick had dug the cellar in the middle of the pumpkin patch, where there were no trees or thick grass.

Evelyn Ford had the surreal feeling she was on the surface of the Moon. The ground was pockmarked and riddled with deep, cracked fissures, and a pungent odor permeated the air.

After one look around, she returned to the cellar.

Even though she had only been outside for half an hour and had worn the heat-resistant suit, her skin was already starting to turn red.

"I’ll do the checking from now on," Ronan Kendrick said, applying ice to her arm. His expression grew serious as he looked at her reddened skin.

"I was just curious. It’s so quiet it feels like we’re the only two people left in the world. That fire a few days ago burned up all the plants in the safe zone."

Evelyn Ford washed her face. "I didn’t hear the whistle, so Quincy and the others should be fine."

Evelyn Ford took out a mirror for a look. ’It’s strange,’ she thought, ’but ever since I drank Ronan Kendrick’s blood, my appearance hasn’t changed at all.’

’There’s a difference between nineteen and twenty-three, but I still look nineteen, except for that time I put on a little weight and got some baby fat on my cheeks.’

’And then there’s Ronan Kendrick. He looks exactly the same now as he did when I found him on Broken Cloud Mountain. Not a single change.’

’Back in Silver River, someone asked his age, and he said he was twenty. I didn’t doubt him then.’

But now, a bold thought suddenly struck Evelyn Ford. ’When Ronan Kendrick said he was twenty, did he mean he *was* twenty, or that he was *stuck* at twenty?’

’If Ronan Kendrick’s blood can preserve youth, then what about Wendy? When she drank my blood, she only got a bit stronger. Everything else about her was normal.’

Although she had her suspicions, Evelyn Ford didn’t let them show. ’To me, Ronan Kendrick is someone I can trust completely, someone who would never hurt me. That’s all that matters.’

’Nothing else is important.’

Putting the mirror down, Evelyn Ford went to check on the bean sprouts she had growing in a bucket. It had been six or seven days, so they should be ready to harvest.

She lifted the lid of the bucket. Seeing the pale, tender bean sprouts inside, Evelyn Ford was suddenly hit with a craving for hot pot.

"How about we have hot pot later?"

"Okay."

Hot pot required a bit of ceremony. Evelyn Ford took various side dishes out of her storage space, and Ronan Kendrick washed them and set them on the table. Despite the scorching heat outside, the cellar was pleasantly cool—perfect for hot pot.

Mina and Lola, who had been listless for a while, had also perked up. Even though they couldn’t go outside to play, they were very well-behaved and never tried to sneak out.

Evelyn Ford took out two bottles of cola and let them chill in some ice water. Then, she got out the projector, found a comedy movie, and played it on the wall.

Evelyn Ford sat on a straw mat and sighed contentedly. "It’s so much more comfortable in the cellar."

However, the hot pot had its consequences. Two hours later, Evelyn Ford’s stomach started to churn.

She threw on her heat-resistant suit, dashed out of the cellar, and made a run for the burnt-out woods nearby.

’Eating something piping hot and following it with something ice-cold... of course my stomach would protest.’ Clutching her abdomen, Evelyn Ford made it back to the cellar entrance. Just as she was about to go inside, another wave of pain hit.

"Oh, for the love of... this is killing me." Evelyn Ford had no choice but to turn back and head for the woods again.

After several frantic trips back and forth, she was completely drained.

Back in the cellar, Evelyn Ford collapsed, looking like she’d lost the will to live. "I am never, ever eating hot pot again. If I do, I’m a total moron."

Ronan Kendrick was speechless.

"You know, you don’t have to run outside for that."

They had set up a partitioned-off area in the cellar for washing. Ronan Kendrick had suggested she could just use some cat litter in there, but Evelyn Ford couldn’t bring herself to do it. She’d rather risk dying from the heat than do her business inside.

Evelyn Ford gave Ronan Kendrick a mournful look. "I can’t. I still have some dignity, you know."

Ronan Kendrick looked at her flushed face and sighed inwardly.

’As long as you’re alive, you have to eat, drink, and go to the bathroom,’ he thought. ’Embarrassing moments are unavoidable.’