Chapter 281: Destruction

Translator: Myuu  Editor: Myuu

In just ten minutes, the unexpected catastrophe had turned the world upside down. Yan Liqiang, Gu Zexuan, and Zhao Huipeng witnessed the entire calamity with their very own eyes!

By the time the meteors vanished completely from the sky, the world was left with the aftermath of the disaster. Raging flames were everywhere, consuming everything in their path. In the distance, Jinling City had almost become a ruin among the fires. As far as the eyes could see, not even one completely intact building was in sight.

The flames in Jinling City dyed the distant sky crimson. The paddy fields that stretched into the distance were still being rapidly consumed by the raging flames and rolling smoke.

The water around the hill in the field quickly receded and once again returned to the Qinhuai River. However, not even one pleasure boat could be seen on the river. Only pieces of wood and wreckage from the pleasure boats remained. There were also countless corpses drifting along the river’s surface. The river that was once filled with rouge was instantly turned into an abattoir swarming with disaster victims.

The bustling red-light area was reduced into ashes in just the blink of an eye and the strategically-located ancient city was turned into a sea of flames. For the past few minutes, the number of victims of the sudden calamity was unknown.

Tears unknowingly cascaded down Yan Liqiang, Gu Zexuan, and Zhao Huipeng’s faces as they watched everything that unfolded before their eyes.

The three of them were rather fortunate. If they were still on the pleasure boat just now, they would probably be no different than those broken planks drifting along the Qinhuai River by now even if they managed to somehow survive this. If the three of them were in one of the buildings just now, they would be buried under the collapsed building. When the first fireball fell, the three of them had just disembarked. They were able to respond in time and acted swiftly by bolting up the hill in this field when the waters of the Qinhuai River violently swept away everything, thus escaping the calamity by a fluke.

“Why is this happening? Why is this happening..?” Gu Zexuan muttered to himself as tears rolled down his cheeks. He was staring blankly at everything before him. He survived, yet the scene before him almost shook him to his core…

Zhao Huipeng’s face was pale and he was biting his lip hard as his entire body trembled.

This wasn’t real, this wasn’t real… Everything before his eyes wasn’t real. This had happened in the Heavenly Realm and the Heavenly Realm only existed because of him. It was a parallel dimension to the real world. The catastrophe that unfolded before his eyes was merely an event from the future. All of this hadn’t occurred in reality, it hadn’t…

Yan Liqiang was the first to come back to his senses. He secretly kept reminding himself in his mind that the disaster before him hadn’t happened yet. This was merely a vision of the future in the Heavenly Realm. Everything before his eyes was only a VR game. It didn’t happen yet and no one had died yet. There was no need to panic. He must keep living in the real world and this parallel realm…

With such thoughts running through his mind and the continuous self reminder, Yan Liqiang’s eyes gradually showed resolve. He cast a glance at Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng who hadn’t recovered from the shock. Clenching his teeth, he grabbed them by their shoulders and gave them a few hard shakes. Both their gazes slowly shifted to his face. “Zexuan, Huipeng, at least we made it out alive…”

“Right, at least we are still alive… We’re still alive…” Gu Zexuan slowly refocused his gaze as he slowly clenched his fist.

“Leader, what should we do now…?” Zhao Huipeng looked at Yan Liqiang with hopeful eyes. At a time like this, only Yan Liqiang’s unwavering gaze could give him strength.

Yan Liqiang pointed to the remnants of the pleasure boats and the banks of the Qinhuai River which were left in complete shambles by the powerful waves. “We’ll leave this place first and go down there to see if there are any other survivors. Then we will return and regroup with the rest from the Four Seas Escort Agency at the depot and figure out our next course of action from there…”

“Right, Leader! We’ll follow you!”

Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng exchanged glances with each other, then nodded heavily.

……

Yan Liqiang led both of them down the hill again from the peak. Although it was still late at night, the starlight and moonlight from the sky, as well as the raging flames in the distance were enough to allow Yan Liqiang to get a clear view of his surroundings.

The night wind blew. Apart from the smoky smell, there were also faintly audible anguished wails and cries.

Just below the hill where the three of them had taken shelter, there was a pleasure boat that had snapped into two. When the wave receded, half of the remaining pleasure boat was still stuck askew in the mud. The crops in the surroundings were in a complete mess and damaged beyond recognition.

The pleasure boat was like a half-broken drawer, wide open and divided into two tiers. From the outside, one could see the things scattered around inside — the exquisite furniture and calligraphy paintings looked like globs of paste now. The three of them searched around the messy cabin. It only took them a short search to discover a person.

It was a woman who was drenched from head to toe. From her attire, it would seem like she was one of the maids on the pleasure boat. She was buried under a damaged wooden screen and some debris. Yan Liqiang moved them away, only to discover a large wound on her forehead. Part of her skull had sunken in and she had stopped breathing. There was no pulse on her neck either. Her wide-open eyes showed the frozen look of terror on her pale face.

Yan Liqiang sighed inwardly and reached out to shut the maid’s eyes.

“Leader, look at this thing here…!” Gu Zexuan cried out nearby.

Yan Liqiang quickly clambered over the pile of junk in the cabin and went over to him. “What is it?!”

“This…” Gu Zexuan pointed to a scattered box in the cabin. The box wasn’t that big. It was only a square foot, but it was extremely gorgeous. Through the gap between the box and its lid, one could even see the overflowing silver inside it…

Yan Liqiang thought for a moment before he picked up the box and opened it. He divided the silver in the box into three and shared it equally with Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng.

Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng hesitated for a moment, wondering if they should accept it.

“After this incident, chaos will definitely ensue. By then, we will find ourselves in difficult situations if we have no money. Someone will claim this ownerless wealth even if we don’t. There’s nothing wrong with this silver — it will definitely come in handy if we take it with us. Even if it’s not of any use to us, we can still use it to help others…” Yan Liqiang said solemnly while stashing away his share. Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng exchanged glances before they stashed away the two remaining shares for themselves.

“Apart from the silver, look for edible food that can be easily taken with you. It would be best if you can find some tools to make a cloth pouch that can be tied around your waist, the type that won’t restrict your movements and is easy to conceal from others…”

“Leader, what will that cloth pouch be for?” Gu Zexuan asked in confusion.

“To store any edible food we can find. Any amount of food might just be able to save your life at the most critical moment…”

This was the knowledge that Yan Liqiang had learned from television shows in his previous life. In the aftermath of a disaster, a food shortage was the first problem that all survivors would encounter. Although Yan Liqiang wasn’t certain of the magnitude of this catastrophe and the death toll, one thing was certain — the Great Han Empire would descend into great chaos after tonight…

The fallen meteorite which caused the powerful earthquake crashed in the direction of the Imperial Capital, which was several hundred li away from their current location. Judging by the commotion coming from the Imperial Capital’s direction earlier on, perhaps not even a hydrogen bomb explosion could pack such a punch. A bone-chilling conclusion couldn’t help but to creep into Yan Liqiang’s mind — perhaps… there weren’t many survivors in the capital city of the Great Han Empire…

……

The three of them exited the smashed pleasure boat. The cropland beneath them was still submerged in water. It was muddy everywhere, but the three of them couldn’t be bothered by that. They waddled out from the muddy field and made their way to the ruins by the river that the earthquake had left.

Sure enough, the three of them could hear a faint cry for help among the ruins as soon as they arrived…

Upon hearing the cry for help, all the three of them started searching every nook and cranny around the ruins under Yan Liqiang’s lead. Twenty minutes later, the three of them managed to rescue the first survivor from the ruins…

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