Chapter 148: Trouble in Amber City
If they were lucky, their home would be covered by the base. Judging from what he knew, it was actually likely, which was why he wasn’t too anxious.
When Naia warned him, even when he had doubts (partially because he didn’t want it to be true), he still prepared himself as much as possible.
He even ordered a few things and just sent them to various addresses, just to stock them up, claiming they were advanced year-end gifts. This naturally included his family.
Then his father, who had been a veteran, received some warning from old colleagues, pretty much confirming it. However, this happened just a few days ago, so their preparation was still limited.
Anyway, since he was prepared, Luke and his family had a high-tech radio that could travel several hundred kilometres away. The capital was just within this scope.
One of the first things he did after the Fall was to contact his father’s side and confirm that their region and the family were indeed alright after the impact. That was good enough for him to focus on the task at hand.
Luke led the rescue operations within the city. There were few radios going around, but his own team was very efficient. And since they had also confirmed the apocalypse a few days ago, Luke and his team had enough supplies to feed themselves for weeks.
This meant they could focus on helping others, which could mean the world for various families.
And there were a lot of families that needed help.
Amber City might’ve been minimally affected, but ’minimal’ was relative. Hundreds of people still lost their lives, and tens of thousands or more were gravely injured.
Before the Fall, this was a major disaster that would be news all over the world. Now, in the grand scheme of things, some would classify it as a low-priority incident.
Luke took over the various rescue operations, also gathering several departments that were not usually under his scope. This was his own initiative, and many were doing their own thing in Amber City.
For example, the leader of the fire department was busy rescuing people from fallen high-rise buildings and had left before Luke managed to organize a team, while several others—some of whom were in key positions—ran away to go to their families.
Even the Mayor was still hiding in his office and just giving orders for them to handle things.
They were a city, so there were naturally more organizations that could mobilize. However, the priority of their military was the government center and the main infrastructures.
This meant the rest of the population couldn’t depend on their reinforcement. Everyone was too busy with their own areas, so Amber City was on its own.
It would be fine if the Mayor took the lead, but last time Luke heard about the man, he was hiding away. There were rumors that he was even planning to leave.
That man had long been changed by his position, his rich wife, and his new family and had grown vain.
Where would he go? Surely, he knew that many places were worse off.
Most people were too far away. Even if they survived the barrage of natural disasters, there might not necessarily be a place for them.
In his mind, there should be more bases. The population should not be so concentrated. If Kael and Naia were to hear him, they would strongly agree.
There were so few bases back then because, well, everyone else died so they could fit in that small number of territories.
No one was prepared for the disasters, and the aliens were overwhelming. They couldn’t recover fast enough.
The country was so big and the people so many. It simply wasn’t practical to concentrate everyone in one or two places. While this would also distribute resources, as long as everyone strived for growth, the overall strength of humanity would definitely be higher than what it was in the previous life.
Now that the natural disasters were happening relatively more gradually— even if they were still very harsh and deadly—there was no reason to be helpless about it. However, the mayor didn’t seem like he was dependable. He’d likely flee to somewhere else if he had the chance.
In the book, a lot of officers had suffered greatly, but Luke thought that he was still fine for now. He wouldn’t be life-sacrificing, but since he still had the ability, he decided to help a bit more. People, at least for now, were still good and decent. At least most were.
They drove forward to help out a few cars that had gotten stuck. The road was broken and created a small hill, and these people forced their cars to go over it. Not every car could go up a steep incline, and some slid back, worsening the traffic.
Luke and his team went to a car that had been flipped to its bottom. They saw people were stuck there, so they naturally went to help.
If the car was more malleable, the people inside would’ve been completely crushed. Now, they probably just had a few broken bones. Fortunately, no one broke their necks.
Luke looked at Johnny to take out the necessary tools for the rescue.
Unexpectedly, the old man at the back glared at him. "DAMNIT! What took you so long?! My back is probably broken right now!! Do you want to get sued?!" yelling as he spat at whatever was in front of him.
"Yeah! We were here for more than an hour! Is this where our taxes go!?"
"Shameful! Shameful!
"..."
Luke and the others’ expressions darkened.
People were still good and decent; people were still good and decent. They chanted.
Fortunately, over the next few hours, such anomalies were rare. Their bodies were tired, but they could not rest, knowing a few minutes of rest could mean someone died when they could’ve been rescued.
They rescued people who fell into sinkholes and those trapped in the older buildings that gave way.
Fortunately, these buildings were only a handful, but most casualties occurred here.
They asked the military branch for some assistance. How many of them would be needed to guard centers? The infrastructure like water and electricity plants were important, but they could afford skeletal forces. There couldn’t be too many things to damage them right now.
The most important was rescuing people before they died, right?
By the end of the day, the confirmed deaths had doubled to around 500 in their city. It was a tragic number, but people could only go on, hoping not to add to it.
At least there was progress, right?
What Luke and the others did not expect was that they’d receive a radio call, one about news that made their blood turn cold.
"The mayor! The mayor, along with many officials, has left the city!"