Mark smiled knowingly.

“He’s never gone through heat-resistant training. Of course, he thinks the heat is unbearable.”

Then, his tone shifted.

“But the priority right now is dealing with the damage he did to my refrigerated warehouse. Grandpa is coming tomorrow to inspect the results. I can’t bear the thought of you actually marrying someone like him.”

Janine’s eyes filled with emotion. Then, she turned to me, her expression turning ice-cold.

“Will, don’t think your scheme worked! So what if Grandpa likes you? I’d rather walk away from the family with nothing, even if it means being scorched to death in this heat, than abandon Mark and marry you! If you don’t explain yourself, don’t even think about walking out of here in one piece!”

She dragged me down from the rubble.

After inspecting the ruins, Mark grabbed Janine’s hand in indignation.

“Janine, the foundation is completely ruined because of whatever trick Will used. Even if we rebuild on top of it, it’ll collapse again. And if we switch locations and lay a new foundation, there’s no way we’ll make tomorrow’s inspection.”

Janine clenched her teeth and glared at me, fury sparking in her eyes. “Is there really no other way?”

Mark hesitated. “There is… one way.”

He slowly lifted his hand and pointed at me.

“If we use Will as a human foundation pillar, we can reuse the existing base.”

I stared at him in disbelief. Rage finally broke through my restraint.

“How can you make up something like that? There’s no way I’ll let you use me as a foundation pillar!”

Even Janine froze, her brows knitting tightly. “Is there truly no other solution?”

Mark let out a hypocritical sigh. “I don’t want to do this either. But it’s the only way.”

“We don’t actually have to drive him into the ground like a real piling. All we need to do is just seal his lower body in cement for half a day. That’ll give me the other half of the day to finish rebuilding the refrigerated warehouse.”

I wouldn’t last two hours in this temperature. The memory of being scorched alive under the blazing sun in my previous life came back to me. The pain, the suffocation, and the smell of burning flesh crushed the last of my psychological defenses.

My face turned deathly pale. For the first time, I lowered my pride and begged.

“Janine, I’ll give up. I won’t compete anymore. I’ll never bother you again. Just let me go. In this kind of heat… I’ll really die.”

She had never seen me beg before. For a split second, her eyes wavered. However, just as she was about to speak, Mr. O’Connor’s butler suddenly appeared and leaned close to whisper in her ear.

Janine’s expression darkened instantly. Without hesitation, she kicked me straight into the foundation pit. Her voice carried suppressed fury.

“Will, you lied to me again! You colluded with Grandpa, didn’t you? No matter how well Mark performs, the winner of the wager will always be you! If that’s the case, I’d rather see you sealed in cement and burned to death under the sun!”

After saying that, she grabbed Mark’s hand and left without looking back.

The cement slowly rose around me. I struggled desperately, but the more I fought, the deeper I sank. I screamed until my throat tore raw, but she never turned around.

...

The next day, Janine rushed eagerly to find Mr. O'Connor for the inspection of Mark’s refrigerated warehouse. However, when she didn’t see me standing beside him, she couldn’t help asking, “Grandpa, where’s Will?”

Mr. O'Connor looked puzzled. “Didn’t he voluntarily withdraw from the wager agreement? Mark has won.”

“What?”

Janine’s mind went blank.

Suddenly, two streams of blood gushed from her nose. Her entire body lost strength, and she collapsed heavily to the ground.

At that very moment, the butler stumbled into the basement, panic written all over his face.

“This is bad! The apocalyptic heatwave has arrived! Two servants stepped outside for ten minutes, and they’re dead from the heat! The entire city is about to lose power. Mark’s refrigerated warehouse is useless now!”