Blurb：
In the scorching heat apocalypse, I died betrayed by my wife Tanya, who stole my last heat-resistant suit for her lover Alex. As a ghost, I watch her cling to Alex, believing I withheld my Super Power out of jealousy. Little does she know—I secretly transferred my heat-blocking ability to save her. Now, I haunt their survival, a transparent specter of sacrifice and revenge. Can Tanya ever realize the truth before the extreme heat claims her too?
Content：
The extreme heat apocalypse descended, and my wife, Tanya, ripped the last heat-resistant suit off me to save her mistress, Alex.
I grabbed her wrist, begging her to stop.
She shoved me to the ground, her voice sharp with accusation.
You have that damn Super Power to block the heat! Why do you even need the suit? You’re just jealous of Alex and want him dead!
What she didn’t know was that to protect her, I’d already transferred my Super Power to her.
In the end, I was roasted by the scorching sun into a charred corpse.
…
The moment I hit the pavement, agony seared through my skin like I was being cooked alive.
I struggled to lift my head, trying to call out to Tanya, but all I saw was her back, running towards Alex without hesitation.
So urgent. So utterly decisive.
If she had just looked back, just once, she would have seen my skin already blistering and blackening, the stench of burning flesh thick in the air.
But she didn’t.
Alex was probably the only thing in her world right then.
The relentless heat radiating from the asphalt finally overwhelmed me, and I plunged into darkness.
When my eyes opened again, it was Tanya’s anxious face I saw.
My mind swam. Had she come back to save me?
A surge of irrepressible joy rose within me. I opened my mouth to speak, but Tanya walked straight through my body, rushing towards something behind me.
I stared dumbly at my own transparent hands. That’s when I understood. I was dead.
Tanya’s voice, thick with tears, came from behind me.
“Alex! Thank God I got the suit to you! You almost died!”
I turned my stiff, ghostly neck. Tanya clung to Alex as if he were her lifeline, her usually composed face etched with frantic worry. Alex leaned weakly against her.
In that moment, I heard my heart shatter. The last fragile thread of hope I held for Tanya vanished completely.
Tanya had chosen Alex. Again. I meant nothing to her. Absolutely nothing.
Alex put on a show of weakness, leaning heavily into Tanya’s embrace.
“Tanya, my suit malfunctioned. You saved my life today. I’d be dead without you.”
Tanya gazed at him, her face full of tender concern.
“You idiot. Did you think I’d let anything happen to you? You’re the person I care about most in this whole damn world.”
Hearing this felt like needles piercing my heart, spreading a dense, sharp pain.
Alex was the person she cared about most. Then what was I?
What was her husband to her? An inconvenience? A joke?
Alex looked deeply moved, gripping her hand tightly.
“Tanya, you are my greatest luck.”
Then his brow furrowed slightly.
“I remember… each person only gets one suit. This one was Zach’s, right? You gave me his suit… won’t he be in trouble?”
A bitter laugh escaped my spectral lips. Hearing my name from Alex’s mouth was the height of irony. He was the first one to mention me after my death.
Tanya’s expression hardened instantly, her voice dripping with scorn.
“He has that Super Power! He doesn’t feel the heat! He can’t die, so what does he need a suit for! It’s a waste!”
“I told him to give it to you, and he refused! He must want you dead! No sense of the bigger picture, even now! Just selfish!”
Hearing her accusations, a profound bitterness filled me. Alex hadn’t been nearly as bad off as he’d claimed, he could have easily made it back safely.
But the moment Tanya heard Alex was in trouble, all reason fled. All she could think about was him. She even convinced herself I was withholding the suit out of petty jealousy.
But to protect her, I had already given her my Super Power.
Without the heat-resistant suit, facing the extreme heat… I was going to die.
Since the Scorch hit, the whole planet felt like it was on fire. Survival became a brutal challenge.
Nearly two-thirds of humanity died on the first day. The death toll kept climbing.
Global scientists scrambled and developed heat-resistant suits for survivors, finally slowing the the rate of deaths.
I was one of the rare few who awakened a Super Power – the ability to block heat.
That power let me venture out safely, scavenging food so Tanya and our daughter, Daisy, could survive this hellscape.
A month into the Scorch, the temperature didn’t drop. It soared higher. Even inside our fortified shelter, the heat was suffocating.
Seeing Tanya suffer day after day broke my heart. So, I secretly transferred my Super Power to her.
She was my wife. It was my duty, my choice, to make her life better. She didn’t need to know. So, I never told her.
I never imagined that act of love would cost me my life.
Because of my Super Power, I’d managed to stockpile far more supplies than most.
I thought I was lucky. Surviving the Scorch, getting a power, keeping my wife and daughter safe.
I never expected Alex, Tanya’s mistress, to show up at our door, begging us to take him in.
Alex was just an ordinary man. In this Scorch, barely scraping by in the extreme heat.
By the time he reached our safe room, he was emaciated from hunger, a pitiful sight.
I knew how precious supplies were. Another mouth meant less food for Daisy.
Daisy was only seven, right in her growing years. She couldn’t afford shortages. I refused Alex outright.
But Alex wouldn’t give up. He grabbed Tanya’s hands, pouring out his misery.
Tanya didn’t hesitate. She agreed immediately.
I tried to reason with her, but the moment I spoke, she fixed me with that accusing stare.
“All of we humanity needs to stand together now! Helping Alex is helping humanity survive! Where’s your sense of the bigger picture?”
She stood there, morally superior, lecturing me. I had no choice but to relent.
Of course, once Alex moved in, he became lazy, claiming he couldn’t handle the high temperatures and couldn’t possibly search for supplies.
Tanya backed him up.
“That’s what your Super Power is for, isn’t it? You go out. Alex and I are just ordinary people.”
My lips moved, words of truth bubbling up countless times. But I choked them back, terrified she’d be in danger if she went out unprepared. So, every day, I’d put on the heat-resistant suit and head out, risking my neck to find food.
I kept telling myself: Alex, Tanya, me – we’re all survivors. We should help each other. Tanya was just helping an old friend.
Only now, lying dead on the pavement, did I understand. Alex had always been in Tanya’s heart.
All those past thoughts of mine were nothing but self-deception.
Alex looked much better now, a faint smile playing on his lips.
“Tanya, I feel so much better. Let’s go home.”
Tanya helped him up instantly, her eyes soft with tenderness.
“I saved one of the nutrient drinks. I’ll give it to you when we get back. Build your strength.”
They walked away together, side by side, looking like a long-married couple.
And I was left standing there, a ghost, forced to watch them go.
My body lay nearby, roasted by the sun into a brittle, blackened husk.
Even after saving Alex, Tanya hadn’t remembered I existed.
Eight years of marriage, all the love and sacrifice since the apocalypse began, hadn’t earned me a single shred of her concern.
Even in death, I was forced to watch her and Alex act like lovers, oblivious to anyone else.
What a spectacular failure my life turned out to be.
Tanya brought Alex home. As she opened the door, Daisy tugged cautiously at her sleeve.
“Mommy? Where’s Daddy?”
The deep unease on Daisy’s face sent a wave of bitterness through my spectral heart..
Tanya wasn’t a good mother.
I’d raised Daisy myself since she was a baby. I couldn’t imagine her life without me. My only hope now rested with Tanya, she was Daisy’s only living relative.
But Tanya’s focus was entirely on Alex. She brushed Daisy off impatiently.
“How should I know? Your father nearly killed Alex. Probably too ashamed to come home.”
Daisy was young, but in her eyes, I was a hero. She couldn’t stand anyone speaking ill of me.
“Mommy, Daddy wouldn’t do that!”
Daisy protested fiercely.
Seeing my daughter defend me like that warmed my cold, dead heart for the first time since dying. But it was quickly drowned by overwhelming regret. I’d never see my little girl grow up.
Tanya just rolled her eyes, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Oh, so it’s Daddy and Daisy against Mommy, is it? Daddy’s the saint, and Mommy’s the villain.”
Alex stepped in, playing the peacemaker with fake magnanimity.
“Tanya, don’t ruin Daisy’s image of her father. She’s young. She loves whoever is kind to her. She doesn’t understand right from wrong yet. She’ll learn.”
I glared at Alex. If I weren’t a soul, I’d have lunged at him and beaten him senseless.
I didn’t care how he slandered me to Tanya. My heart died for her the moment she abandoned me. Her opinion meant nothing.
But Daisy was my daughter. No father could tolerate being slandered in front of his child.
Daisy snapped. She charged at Alex like an angry kitten.
“Stop lying about my Daddy! You’re the bad one!”
Alex stumbled backward, caught off guard, falling dramatically into Tanya’s arms.
Tanya exploded with fury. She swung her arm and slapped Daisy hard across the face.
“Just like your father! Look what Zach has taught you! Why did I ever have a daughter like you?”
“Get out of the way! Can’t you see Alex is hurt? Stop blocking the path!”
Daisy’s pale cheek bloomed red, the imprint of fingers stark against her skin. Her small body crashed to the floor, scraping her palms raw.
My heart felt like it was being wrung out. I rushed forward, desperate to scoop her up and comfort her. But I was dead. My hands passed uselessly through her tiny form.
Daisy’s face crumpled. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Mommy’s bad! I want Daddy! Daddy’s not like you say!”
Tanya just delivered her sentence coldly. “Go to your room and think about what you did. No dinner until you apologize.” Then she hurried Alex towards the bedroom, not sparing Daisy another glance.
Daisy kept crying out for me, each sob shredding what was left of my soul.
If I were still here, Daisy would never suffer like this.
How could Tanya be so cruel? Daisy was her own daughter! She hit her for Alex!
I couldn’t bear to think what would happen to my Daisy once Alex became the man of this house.
Now I bitterly regretted ever softening and allowing Alex to move in.
Even Tanya… the woman I’d loved so deeply… I questioned my own judgment. What had I ever seen in her?
Daisy wiped her tears, her expression hardening with resolve.
“I’m going to find Daddy. I want to be with Daddy.”
Panic surged through me. Daisy hadn’t left the shelter since the Scorch began.
She was only seven. In this food-scarce hellscape, a little girl alone was incredibly vulnerable. The slightest misstep, and she could be snatched by someone driven mad by hunger..
I couldn’t let her go out alone!
I screamed useless warnings in her ear, begging her to stay safe inside. She couldn’t hear me.
Daisy carefully took down Tanya’s discarded heat-resistant suit, struggling into it. She slipped out the door.
Helpless, I followed, praying silently she wouldn’t encounter anyone else.
I watched Daisy trudge under the brutal sun, her little legs struggling with each step. Sweat poured down her face, but she didn’t stop, calling out “Daddy!” over and over.
Each call was a fresh blow to my heart. I wanted so desperately to tell her, I’m right here, sweetheart.
Perhaps drawn by some deep connection, my gaze fell upon my own corpse.
But it had been exposed too long. It was charcoal now, crumbling at a touch.
My heart ached with pity. Seeing her father like that… it was too cruel for a seven-year-old girl.
But I had no choice. Daisy had reached the body.
Daisy stared at the charred remains, her face unnervingly blank.
I thought maybe she didn’t recognize it. A sliver of relief flickered.
Then Daisy reached down and picked up a small pendant lying nearby.
Inside was the only family photo we had – taken after Daisy was born, only because I’d begged Tanya for weeks. The only one.
Daisy was a clever girl. Seeing the pendant, knowing I hadn’t come home… she understood.
From the moment she left the shelter, Daisy had seemed fueled by an endless well of courage and determination. I knew it was the desperate hope of finding me that kept her going.
Now, her small hand clenched the pendant. Her eyes were empty.
I could feel the wave of confusion and terror washing over her.
She must have been thinking: Daddy went out for supplies, just like always. Why didn’t he come back this time?
Daisy reached out cautiously, trying to touch my hand.
But her fingers brushed the brittle remains, and they instantly crumbled into a pile of ash on the ground.
Daisy’s eyes welled up, but she didn’t make a sound. She fastened the pendant around her own neck.
Then, carefully, she scooped up every bit of ash into her small hands. She stood up, swaying slightly, and began the shaky walk back to the shelter.
I’d never seen Daisy so silent.
I drifted closer, wanting to pat her head like I used to, to comfort her. My hand passed through her small frame.
My Daisy… Daddy’s gone. You have to grow up now. Survive in this world. That’s all I want for you.
When Daisy returned, Tanya had already noticed her heat-resistant suit was missing. She was furious, screaming about Daisy being ungrateful and ill-mannered.
The venomous words made my spirit sink.
Those were words you’d use for an enemy.
Yet Tanya hurled them at her own daughter. How much did she despise Daisy?
Or… how much did she despise me?
The moment Daisy stepped inside, Tanya jabbed a finger at her forehead, yelling.
“You’ve got some nerve! Stealing my heat-resistant suit!”
“First Zach hoards his suit, refusing Alex, and now you steal mine! Did you two plan this together?”
“Get your father back here right now! Hiding won’t help! Always skulking around, dragging you down with him! Today, I’m settling accounts with both of you!”
Daisy held out her hands, filled with the black ash. Her face remained utterly expressionless.
“Mommy. Daddy’s already back.”
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