Chapter 122 - 119: Inside is Hell
In Susan’s living room, everyone had begun to pray again, while Jenny was alone in the kitchen, making a phone call.
"Yes, good! What? Really? That’s wonderful! Mm-hmm, okay, okay, I’ll be careful!"
After hanging up, Jenny couldn’t help but pump her fist in excitement.
"YES!"
’Mentor is coming!’
’But I have to get Aunt out of here first!’
Jenny returned to the living room and genuinely joined the group in their prayers. She had never been so devout and earnest, not even in church.
At that moment, she had already forced herself to recall her Mentor’s Magic Power back into her arm.
’I have to save the rest of the Magic Power for a critical moment. That last drain, whether it was from some kind of prophetic vision or it actually blocked something... losing thirty percent in one go was heartbreaking. Besides, everyone else looks fine anyway.’
That evening, after her last bite of dinner, Jenny sat distractedly at the table, her eyes constantly drifting toward the window.
Unfortunately, ever since suppressing the Magic Power, she couldn’t see anything anymore. But the constant, faint heat in her arm reminded her that she was just an ostrich with its head buried in the sand.
Outside the quarantine cordon, Norton hadn’t taken a single break, even skipping the afternoon nap he had taken for years.
He had only been here a day, but the pressure was already enough to crush him.
He even felt that the situation inside the cordon was the most troublesome anomaly in the world right now, surpassing even the "Rafflesia Incident" in Siberia.
As a precaution and to counter any potential elemental weaknesses, the areas outside the cordon were equipped with dry-ice fire extinguishers and liquid nitrogen storage tanks. Freezers were, of course, also essential.
Although the Bevo District had been evacuated, all of its lights remained on at night.
A single glance revealed a sea of lights, making it seem as if everything was business as usual.
Those damned reporters, taking advantage of the urban environment, were not only finding blind spots to set up their cameras but were also constantly pestering him for interviews. Norton could only have the CDC personnel deal with them.
Two team members entered the large military tent, carrying two bags of late-night snacks.
"Sir, you should eat something. You’ve barely touched any food today."
One of them set the food on the table while the other handed Norton a hot coffee.
"You two get some rest. I doubt we’ll see a breakthrough anytime soon."
No sooner had Norton spoken than ripples formed in the coffee in his hand. Immediately after, the three of them struggled to keep their balance.
The ground was shaking!
The containers, bottles, and jars inside the tent began to clatter.
The tremor lasted for about five seconds before it stopped.
"An earthquake?"
one of his subordinates asked before following Norton out of the tent.
The people outside weren’t in a panic, but they were undeniably startled.
"Get me reports on tremors in other parts of Saint Louis immediately. Have the relevant departments find me that epicenter."
"Yes, sir!"
It wasn’t long before the results reached Norton’s hands. As he had feared, the epicenter was in the Bevo District, with the tremors weakening the farther out they got from Saint Louis.
About an hour and forty minutes after the first tremor, Norton, who had been dozing off in his tent, was jolted awake by another one.
He rushed out of the tent. Everyone was holding their posts, but looks of panic were unavoidable.
After taking a few deep, ragged breaths, Norton ordered a drone to be sent in.
As expected, it found nothing. He figured sending people in to investigate wouldn’t fare any better.
...
The next morning, Jenny walked downstairs, dark circles under her eyes.
The earthquake last night had left her deeply unsettled, but she had no idea that she was slowly becoming famous among Aunt Susan’s circle of church friends.
Jenny’s repeated attempts to persuade Susan and the others to leave town for a change of scenery the day before were now being interpreted in a new light after last night’s earthquake.
It seemed Susan’s "Saintess" of a niece had sensed the impending earthquake the moment she arrived in Saint Louis, hence her repeated warnings.
When her aunt excitedly told Jenny this over breakfast, a chill ran down her spine.
’This is not good!’
"Aunt! You have to tell them not to spread this around! Or else... or else there will be retribution for me!"
After the previous night’s events, Susan’s attitude toward her niece had changed.
’What kind of retribution? Punishment from the Lord, or something else?’
Out of a desire to protect her, Aunt Susan still gave her church friends from the day before a heads-up: they could talk about the warning, but they were not to mention Jenny’s name.
"Jenny, can you tell your aunt what you think is really going on inside the quarantined Bevo District? Is it truly just a disease?"
Susan asked her "Saintess" niece in a half-joking tone.
Jenny, feeling rather exasperated, shot back a joke of her own.
"Inside... is Hell!"
RUMBLE...
Just then, another faint tremor arrived, startling them both.
...
「At noon.」 Qin Xiaoxia had arrived in Saint Louis, along with Su Su and Doudou.
Mumu had really wanted to come along, but it wasn’t convenient for it to travel by plane.
They hadn’t notified Jenny yet, instead taking a car to the area near the Bevo District.
The moment Qin Xiaoxia arrived, the sensory information constantly being transmitted from the environment filled him with a sense of foreboding.
Su Su was so scared she pressed herself tightly against him.
Doudou’s reaction was even more pathetic; it clung to the hem of Qin Xiaoxia’s shirt and refused to budge.
"Big Bro, don’t get any closer..."
"I know!"
"But Mentor, you haven’t stopped walking..."
Qin Xiaoxia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Their antics diluted much of his own fear. ’After all,’ he thought, ’it was these two who insisted on tagging along.’
"The water, the wind, and the earth are all telling me to get closer and observe. And I, too, want to find out what this is."
That was right. Doudou didn’t know what this was either, only that it was extremely dangerous.
Suddenly, a faint tremor rippled through the ground. As one, Qin Xiaoxia and Su Su looked toward the Bevo District, their pupils contracting.
WHOOM—
The two of them erupted with Magic Power, shielding Doudou between them.
The other pedestrians around them merely felt a sudden gust of wind blow outward from the trio, their attention focused mainly on the earthquake.
But in the sky, a dark red shockwave, visible to the naked eye, rushed toward them in an instant.
’Huh? Nothing happened?’
A few seconds passed. Baffled, the three of them looked at themselves and then at the surrounding pedestrians.
Apart from a slight drain on their Magic Power, everything seemed normal.
"The Annihilation Tide?"
Doudou’s weak voice piped up, full of uncertainty.
"If the Power of the World isn’t weakening, then something that can affect the Power of the World must be entering! Whatever it is, it’s about to collide! Big Bro, let’s scram!"
Doudou stuttered, tugging on Qin Xiaoxia’s pant leg and trying to drag him back.
Qin Xiaoxia cursed internally, ’Holy shit.’
’This involves the Power of the World. How am I supposed to handle something like that?’
He was about to turn and run, but he stopped himself before he could even move.
’It’s dangerous, yes, but why is the environmental feedback I’m getting mixed with an indescribable rhythm, almost like... joy?’
’Whose world is this? Humanity’s? No, the world belongs to itself!’
"Su Su, go find Jenny. I’ll contact you in a bit."
"Okay!"
Still shaken, Su Su didn’t ask any questions. She just pulled out her phone and ran.
"The Annihilation Tide... what is it going to collide with?"
"Who cares! Let’s just go!"
Doudou tugged on Qin Xiaoxia’s pant leg, swaying back and forth, but couldn’t make him budge.
Then Qin Xiaoxia lifted it up to face him, giving Doudou a sharp look to calm it down.
"How would I know...? I heard once that in the early days, Magson ran into a World Fragment, and tons of monsters came out! We’re totally going to die!"
"And what happened to the fragment afterward?"
Doudou tilted its head, thought for a moment, and then replied that it hadn’t heard that part of the story, making Qin Xiaoxia want to scream in frustration.
’Who only listens to half a rumor like that?’ he thought, exasperated with Doudou.
He squinted at the sky over the Bevo District. The feedback from the environment was so intense it was beginning to overwhelm his own judgment, rooting him to the spot.
"Will monsters definitely appear later?"
"Big Bro, can’t you feel it...? Fire... The essence of fire is... rejoicing..."
Doudou pointed to the grill on a food truck by the roadside. Its flames were dancing very "cheerfully."