Like a magnitude-1 quake, a magnitude-2 quake also falls into the "microquake" category, and since it happened late at night, ordinary people sleeping through it hardly sensed anything.
But starting with the next one, the magnitude-3 quake, people began to feel the earthquakes, and each one would feel stronger than the last.
After the Human Consortium eting ended, so of the eting content—after stripping out the bickering and sniping—was made public online.
Because the Human Consortium advocated transparent cooperation and information sharing from the very beginning, most of the discussion content was released to the public, except for a few classified intelligence items. Doing so was also ant to help the public understand the reasoning behind certain policies, so they would be more willing to cooperate with official actions.
When the public learned that Fahe had failed its data-collection mission because cultists obstructed them, many people found it unbelievable.
The people of Fahe were even more outraged, taking to the streets to demand that the governnt violently root out the cultists. Unlike previous protests, this ti it concerned everyone’s life and death, so the situation escalated fiercely.
From the online reports, massive marches of hundreds of thousands broke out across several major Fahe cities. Besides protesting the governnt, the marchers spontaneously shared tips about cultists and carried out informal arrests.
Strangely, although black uniforms and a new “Bible” called the Fire Thief Revelation—bearing the Doomsday Rules—were found in many cultists’ hos, those arrested all claid ignorance. They insisted they did not know what was happening and swore they were innocent.
The enraged marchers refused to believe them. After arrests, so suspects were handed over to official agencies, while others were beaten to death by furious crowds. If there was a common trait among nations entering the Doomsday Rules era, it was that violent sparks hidden in everyone’s heart had been ignited.
The Fahe governnt tried to suppress the chaos, but with little effect; in barely a day or two the whole country descended into turmoil.
“This is only going to get worse…”
Guan Tong skimd related posts on the Ascendant Ho forum and worried that Fahe’s future didn’t look good.
Tomorrow was scheduled for the magnitude-3 earthquake test, and with the protests still ongoing, data collection would likely fail again…
Aside from Fahe’s situation being online gossip fodder for netizens worldwide, Beixing publicly posted that its governnt was looking for whoever had disposed of a Geomantic Pillar.
The statent said officials would not impose any restrictions and only hoped to cooperate with the person or organization to jointly resolve the disaster caused by this rule. Generous rewards would be offered to anyone willing to help, the post promised.
After that announcent went up, people were curious which local expert would step forward, but with no clues the discussion soon died down.
Guan Tong knew the governnt would be sincere on this matter. If, after tomorrow’s magnitude-3 test, he confird that his Mind Power alone could not use the Wordless Book to offset higher-level earthquake damage, he would contact the authorities and cooperate.
...
Fahe, Liluos City.
This largest city in Fahe had beco utter chaos because of the hundreds of thousands of protesters.
By the early hours, many people still filled the streets.
They walked the avenues without any precise demands, simply venting the frustration in their hearts.
Even though the Fahe governnt had formally announced during the day that it would crack down on cults like the Fire Thief worshippers, people’s anger remained unabated.
Pierre was one of the marchers. He was a twenty-five-year-old who had graduated from a top university, a talented youth with a brilliant future at a world-class company, until the Doomsday Rules brought by the Fire Thief shattered his life.
His family and friends had been killed or injured under previous rules. Work lost its aning. Now he drank himself through each day, living one day at a ti.
When Pierre saw the news yesterday about cultists obstructing the rules’ data collection, his fury exploded.
Everything he had was destroyed by the Doomsday Rules; he hated the rules and the Fire Thief above all. The thought that so people would treat the Fire Thief like a god was unbearable to him.
So he imdiately joined—and even organized—community protests. He personally led a group who, following tips from citizens, searched a household and found cult uniforms and the Fire Thief Revelation.
The household mber insisted he knew nothing; he claid to be completely unaware how the uniforms and books ca to be.
Pierre naturally did not believe him and punched the man to the ground. His violence sparked more violence: many people kicked and beat the man to death, then burned the uniforms and the books to ash.
Pierre felt a vicious satisfaction. He tightened his fists and scanned the crowd with hawk-like eyes, intent on finding more cultists and destroying the bodies of those who worshipped the Fire Thief.
Suddenly, while Pierre was walking, a voice echoed in his head.
“A miracle has descended, go to the central square to guard it.”
Pierre froze at the voice in his mind. It was a gentle male voice with a kind of compulsion that cald his agitated mood instantly.
He did not know whose voice it was. After coming to his senses and understanding the aning of the words, he felt odd.
A god? What god?
“A miracle has descended, go to the central square to guard it.”
When the voice spoke again, Pierre’s previously confused gaze beca clear and resolute in an instant, as if his doubts had been swept away.
Only one thought remained in his head: go guard the miracle.
He stopped, turned, and sprinted toward the central square. Astonishingly, he was not the only one. So people nearby who had been following him started running too, as if they had heard a similar instruction.
Not everyone did. So watched in bewildernt as they suddenly dashed away.
People are prone to herd behavior; when many turn and run, the confused crowd follows. In monts, hundreds or thousands of marchers were on the move, and Pierre led them, his gaze unwavering, straight for the central square.
At 00:14, the magnitude-3 earthquake struck.
By 00:14:30, Fahe officials had already pinpointed the epicenter, right in Liluos City’s central square.
Learning from the last ti, Fahe dispatched not only data collectors but also an elite ard troop and an elite Ascendant squad—one hundred people in all.
With a hundred escorts, there should be no need to worry about any cultist interference.
But one minute later, when the one-hundred-strong convoy reached the central square, they were stunned to find hundreds of people surrounding the Geomantic Pillar, refusing to let anyone approach.
At first they assud this was a spontaneous civilian cordon, waiting for officials. But when they approached and identified themselves as the official team, those people still would not step aside.
“Stand down at once!” the ard commander barked. “We’re here to collect disaster data! What are you doing?”
From among the more than a hundred people guarding the Geomantic Pillar, a young but resolute voice rang out.
“The sacred relic of God must not be desecrated!”
Those words sparked chaos among the outer crowd.
“What?!”
“Damn it! They’re cultists!”
“Wait, weren’t those people part of the anti-cult march?!”
“Wasn’t that Pierre who just spoke? Isn’t he one of the community protest organizers?”
Everyone was stunned. Pierre and the people around him had been anti-cult protesters—indeed organizers. Why were they now acting like cultists?
The ard commander was in a bind. He imdiately reported up the chain and asked how to handle it.
His superior’s voice was cold: “Two consecutive data-collection failures will humiliate Fahe in the Human Consortium. Clear the obstructing personnel imdiately!”
“But—” the commander hesitated, “the blockers are civilians, not wearing cult uniforms! And the crowd is so large that shooting could cause collateral casualties...”
“We don’t have ti! Act now!”
“...Understood!”
The commander ordered the soldiers: “Remove anyone obstructing data collection!”
The soldiers exchanged looks. One gritted his teeth, raised his rifle, and pulled the trigger. Two shots rang out, and a blocker dropped instantly with facial wounds—dead.
That imdiately ignited pandemonium. Screams filled the square. Gunfire broke out, and the central square erupted into a crimson, bloody chaos...
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