A heatwave swept across the surface of the Earth right after the end of boot camp. Temperatures rose to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, and all electronic items stopped functioning. Even our water source had all dried up.

I was lucky that I never liked the taste of water in college, and I always had five boxes of bottled water standing by in my hostel room. If I rationed my water, I could sustain myself until help arrived, but our instructor suddenly requested everyone to hand in their water to be managed by one person.

"We're a group, and it's only by working together that we will be able to sustain ourselves until help arrives! Whoever doesn't hand in their bottled water will be considered the common enemy!"

I had no choice but to hand in all the water I had.

However, the instructor was not fair with his water rationing. He would give the women one bottle a day, while I only had one bottle cap's worth of water.

"You're a man, aren't you? It doesn't matter if you have less water. Do you really want to fight the fairer sex for a little water? The ladies should be pampered like princesses. Can't a man like you bear some responsibility to take care of them?"

I wanted to argue with him, but my girlfriend, who was also my childhood sweetheart, helped the instructor tie me up and flung me under the sun to be burned to death.

When I opened my eyes next, I had returned to the day before the heatwave.

This time, I moved all of my water into a cave and watched gleefully as that lecherous instructor got thrown under the sun by his pampered female trainees to be burned.

"Don't you know how to greet your instructor when you see him? Village idiots like you have no manners, do you? Do you think you can throw that attitude around just because training is over? Get down to the floor, right now!"

I froze at the man yelling at me. When I looked up, I realized it was our boot camp instructor, Howard Enders, with my childhood sweetheart, Yvette Lambert, standing next to him. At a glance, they looked more like a couple than I did with Yvette.

While still in a daze, I looked at the time. This was the day before the world was hit with a high temperature. Had I returned to the past?

Hate started brewing within me. If Howard had not suddenly requested all of us to hand over our water source in my past lifetime and backed out on his promise, and if Yvette had not chosen to defend Howard and agreed to tie me up on the field, I would never have burned to death under the scorching sun.

"Are you deaf? Are you trying to defy your instructor's orders?" Yvette berated me as she acted like she was the instructor.

That was when several women walked by and waved at Howard.

"Hey, Mr. Enders! You're looking pretty sharp today!"

"Be careful, ladies, you might end up falling in love with me," Howard said, trying to be smooth, but failing tremendously.

"Why aren't you punishing them? They didn't greet you either!" I questioned him.

"Are you comparing yourself with them? Don't you know that we should be taking care of the fairer sex?"

"Mr. Enders is right. He's an example of how a man should be, unlike you, who's nothing but a sissy." Yvette looked at me with disdain.

I was so tempted to beat them up, but I was rational enough to obey Howard's orders. "I apologize, Mr. Enders, for not greeting you before."

"Hmph! You should learn how to be a man from me, or any woman you're with would end up running off with another man!" Howard seemed happy with his lecture, and he threw me a taunting glance before leaving while holding Yvette's hand.

"What are you looking at? Unhappy with something?" Howard asked with a raised eyebrow.

Yvette said with slight embarrassment, "My relationship with Mr. Enders isn't what you think, Nathan."

"There's nothing between us, of course. We just have a normal student-teacher relationship. Stop letting your imagination run wild, Nathan, but I won't blame you for it. After all, any man who sees me would be threatened."

After that, Howard left while chuckling.

Once they were gone, I quickly called my family to warn them about the upcoming rising temperature and to get ready for it, and I sorted out my finances at the same time.

The summertime boot camp, which was held in college, had ended by then, and most of the students had gone home.

As my hometown was quite a distance, I decided to stay back at college until the semester started. Howard had stayed behind as well, as the college needed someone to manage students who were staying back.

Howard was just a random outsider the college hired for the camp, and he turned out to be my nightmare.

Even though Howard was not a professional instructor, he was tall and muscular. Going head-to-head with him would only end up with both parties wounded, and this might affect my survival rate during the apocalypse.

The most important thing to do right now was to use the last of my time to hoard enough water and provisions to get through the heat apocalypse. The only problem I had was finding a hiding place for them. If I headed back to my hometown now, I might die on the way.

I thought about this for a while and suddenly had an idea.

Our college was surrounded by mountains and was quite remote. The last time my classmates and I headed up to the mountains to train, I found a cave by accident when I got engrossed with the scenery and got separated from the rest.

The cave was cool and spacious, and even had a little pool with spring water flowing into it from a crevice. This was the perfect hiding spot.

After deciding on the hiding spot, I quickly began my plan to hoard provisions. I started by visiting the supermarket nearest to the college and bought most of the bottled water they had in stock. After that, I bought ten boxes each of instant ramen and canned food, as well as several large packs of snacks and chips.

I also purchased large quantities of medical supplies for common illnesses like heat stroke and fever from the drugstore. I had to forgo items such as ice cream due to a lack of proper equipment.

When the store owners questioned my purchase, I told them that there was an upcoming college activity and I had to buy enough for all the students. After that, I borrowed a van from one of the owners to move my purchases to the mountain.

Before I left, I hinted to the owner about the upcoming heatwave. “My parents work in the meteorological bureau, and they warned me about a major heatwave striking in several days. I'm not sure how long it's going to last, but I'd advise you to watch over your provisions and prevent others from robbing you."

He might think I was crazy if I told him the temperature would rise about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. There was no other choice but to save myself first, and that was the best I could do to warn him.

I arrived at the cave soon, and the moment I stepped inside, I could feel the chill in the air and hear the sound of flowing water. I spent half the day sorting out my purchases in the cave, and by the time I was done, it was night.

Initially, I wanted to spend the night inside the cave, but I had nowhere to sleep and no clean clothes to change into. The cave was filled with hard rocks that were not suited for sleeping on. Moreover, I still had five huge boxes of bottled water back in the hostel. What if they found my water and managed to get through the heatwave? The thought of this was worse than getting killed.

There was no other choice but to return the van to the store owner and make a trip back to college. Before I left the store, I thought of something and bought another huge box of items from the store owner.

It was getting dark, and just as I was about to sneak away with my things, Howard suddenly appeared in front of my hostel. "Do you have any idea what time it is? Why are you back so late?" He questioned sullenly.

"We're all adults, and it's not even nine yet. Why are you being such a control freak?" I replied unhappily.

"You're a smart mouth, aren't you? Can't you see I'm just worried for your safety? Besides, you might be sneaking out to do something illegal. I've seen lots of village hicks like you. One look at a glamorous city, and you get seduced like a simpleton," Howard said while looking at me condescendingly.

Even though I was angry, I held back my temper. "You're mistaken, Mr. Enders. I went out to myself to buy a box of bottled water because I'm not used to the water in college." With that, I showed him the box of bottled water in my hand.

"You're pretty dainty for a man, aren't you? What a standard sissy. You probably have problems with an erection too. I'll give you a chance to reinstate your manliness. I'll invite some ladies over for a get-together later. As the only male student present, you should show them what you're made of."

I frowned at the suggestion. "Actually, I'm a little tired. Why don't we do this another day?"

"Another day?! Stop dilly-dallying! All the ladies are waiting for you. Don't you have any team spirit? You never learn, do you?"

Team spirit? The mention of this only enraged me.

Where was his team spirit when I was forced to hand in all of my bottled water in my past lifetime, and ended up so thirsty that my throat cracked, and eventually left burning alive under the sun? However, I had tolerated him this far, and another one or two hours more would not make a difference. I would just have to find a chance to sneak off later.

"Fine. I'll be there." The only thing left to do was to give in to his demand.

Besides Howard, seven other women were not back yet. Even though Howard and Yvette were the ones who left me under the sun to die in the field, none of the other women felt sorry for me, and they watched me dehydrate and die.

Sometimes, one could be an accomplice by being silent, and there was no reason for me to warn them about what was to come.

"Is this the servant you got for us, good-looking? Is one enough for all of us to order around?" One of the women said unhappily.

"What servant?" I questioned moodily.

I was out having supper at this time in my past lifetime. Naturally, I had no idea what Howard was up to.

"Didn't I tell you before? Ladies need to be pampered. If you want to win their hearts, you need to treat them like princesses! I'm teaching you how to get the girl. What are you waiting for? Hurry up and serve these princesses!" Howard yelled at me.

Every woman around us instantly voiced out their agreement.

"Mr. Enders is such a charmer! It's no wonder the ladies love you so much."

"You're what we call a real man! Unlike someone selfish who thinks he's so great!"

"Some men are fakers. They pretend to push women away, yet lust after them secretly, but not Mr. Enders."

I did nothing since I arrived, but every woman rolled their eyes at me, especially my girlfriend, Yvette, who looked at me like I was a failure.

"We live in modern times now, and there are no longer any princesses. We're all equal!" I said while trying my best to hold back my anger.

"Look at yourself. Didn't I say women would find you repulsive? It's a wonder that you managed to find yourself a girlfriend. I bet she still refuses to let you touch her," Howard said gleefully.

All the women around laughed immediately, and Yvette turned red from embarrassment. She turned her face away, refusing to look at me. Their horrible words hurt my ears. "You're an instructor. How can you allow them to speak that way?"

"Come on. Are you mad over a couple of words? You're a man. The woman is always right, and you're wrong. Apologize to the princesses right now!" Howard rolled his eyes, placing the blame on me instead.

I tried hard to suppress my anger. I had to remember not to ruin my plan at this critical moment.

"Fine. If you refuse to apologize, consider using actions to demonstrate your remorse. How about massaging every princess' feet?" Howard said while raising an eyebrow. His suggestion won the cheers of the women.

"That sounds like a great idea! I've had an exhausting day, and I need someone to pamper me."

"But he's Yvette's boyfriend. How can he massage other women when he has a girlfriend?"

"It's fine. We're all Yvette's besties. If he can't treat us well, how could he treat Yvette well?"

All the women started shouting, acting as if they could not wait to tear me apart.

"No! No way!" I threw an upset glance at Yvette, hoping she could help me out of this. Even though she caused my death in my past lifetime, we had grown up together, after all, and we had been together since graduating from high school.

Even if her feelings for me were not deep, there was no way she could tolerate others treating me this way, but Yvette's next words made my heart sink. "Mr. Enders is right, Nathan. You're just a self-absorbed faker who pushes women away when you're really lusting after them."