"Adam, the people are down there."
"Mm, I'll handle it."
In the capital of the Suroma Empire, before a collapsed high-rise building.
Adam raised both hands, and under his manipulation, an invisible gravitational field lifted large amounts of broken walls and ruins into the air.
The many survivors underneath saw the light of day again, immediately bursting into tears of joy. Those who still had strength hurriedly ran out, while those without were quickly carried out by rescue personnel.
After everyone was saved, Adam withdrew his power, and the hundreds of heavy building fragments in the air immediately crashed to the ground.
"Thank you for saving us!"
"Thank God!"
The rescued people surrounded Adam, expressing their gratitude. A little girl even looked at Adam with admiration and said, "Big brother, are you an angel?"
Adam smiled, reaching out to wipe the dust from the little girl's face. "I'm not an angel, you are. Go get something to eat now."
The rescue team took the rescued people to the supply station. They had been trapped under the collapsed building for several days and needed to replenish their energy as soon as possible.
Adam watched the group leave, then withdrew his gaze. "Let's go, to the next location."
Amanda looked at him with concern. "Adam, you don't have much Mind Power left, do you?"
"Mm, I can perform at most one more rescue like this." Adam sighed. "I really envy Shadow. If only I were like him, able to store Mind Power transmitted by others."
"...That guy really has a lot of strange and varied abilities. I truly don't know how he obtained them."
"If his abilities weren't so diversified, he probably couldn't have become number one in the world, haha."
"Adam, what do you think the disaster situation is like over in Beixing? I heard a Senator mention yesterday that even after being weakened, the earthquake over there still caused massive destruction."
"Of course. A magnitude ten earthquake, even weakened to one-tenth of its power, is still terrifyingly destructive. However, a major country like Beixing will definitely pull through. It's the small countries that deserve sympathy; they should all be finished this time."
Amanda nodded. After this set of Doomsday Rules, it would be good if even ten member states of the Human Consortium remained.
"However, everything has two sides. This might actually be an opportunity of sorts," Adam said optimistically.
"An opportunity?"
"Yes, an opportunity that could truly allow the people left in the world to integrate and connect."
...
Republic of Fahe.
During the magnitude nine earthquake, this country experienced a change in its higher-ups.
The turmoil resulted in many preparations made for the magnitude ten earthquake going unused, ultimately causing a chain reaction: as one of the powerful nations, its response performance during the magnitude ten earthquake was worse than most small countries.
Without official organization, people almost all fought independently by neighborhood. This might work well against small groups of enemies, but against a natural disaster, it was no different from suicide.
Natural disasters don't care how strong your will is, nor how deep your bonds with family and neighbors are.
A natural disaster has only one enemy: organizational strength.
With strong organizational strength, you can avoid losing too badly in the fight against it.
With poor organizational strength, you will suffer a crushing defeat.
Because there was no timely official organization, no collective disaster avoidance, over niy percent of Fahe's population perished in this earthquake disaster.
The remaining population of just over a million was also huddled in one or two major cities that had become wastelands, barely clinging to life.
Among them, several hundred thousand were in the capital. However, without electricity, without water sources, and with insufficient food, if these hundreds of thousands were not organized promptly, their numbers would only continue to decrease under subsequent secondary disasters.
Yet, at this moment, at the ruins of the Fahe National Collection Museum, a large number of people were prostrating themselves on the ground.
At the end of the crowd was a centuries-old throne belonging to Fahe's first king.
On this national cultural artifact, a person was currently sitting, enjoying the worship of the prostrating crowd below.
"This country... is mine."
The person sitting on the throne wore a dark, twisted smile on his face.
...
On the new homeland of Sakura Prayer Country, which was originally the territory of Andai State, people looked in the direction of their old homeland, their faces filled with confusion and sorrow.
News had arrived that their homeland island had been torn apart and sunk in the earthquake. Everything and everyone on the island had sunk to the bottom of the sea, becoming an irretrievable past.
This left the surviving Sakura Prayer people feeling utterly lost. Many who didn't die in the earthquake instead committed suicide by throwing themselves into the sea after the disaster due to their inner turmoil.
The remaining people, though in pain, also held a sense of gratitude towards the decision-makers. If they hadn't decisively chosen a nationwide transfer at the very beginning when the Doomsday Rules were announced, then what would have disappeared now wouldn't just be the island, but the entire existence of Sakura Prayer Country.
As long as many Sakura Prayer people were still alive, the country was not yet destroyed and could be reborn anew through effort.
It was just that some Sakura Prayer people's original ambitions were completely shattered by this earthquake.
When Yamata no Orochi received the news that Mu Tiancheng, the instructor of the Chosen Team, had committed seppuku, she wasn't particularly surprised.
She knew that in Mu Tiancheng's eyes, the Doomsday Rules were not a disaster, but an opportunity. An opportunity that, if grasped properly, could allow Sakura Prayer to surpass Beixing and Suroma to become the world's number one powerful nation.
But after this disaster, having lost their homeland and over eighty percent of their population, Sakura Prayer had completely lost any possibility of reaching the top. Mu Tiancheng's self-inflicted end in despair was an inevitable choice after his ambitions were shattered.
As for what would happen to Sakura Prayer next, whether the Chosen Team would disband after losing Mu Tiancheng, or how the Divine Child would arrange for them, she didn't know and didn't care.
Just like when she previously handed the fragment to Guan Tong, the only meaning of that action to her was not wanting the latter to go on a killing spree on the island. But deep down, she knew that was just her excuse.
In reality, she didn't really care much about those people's lives, not even her own. She knew Guan Tong had seen this at the time, which is why he called her a nihilist.
But isn't life itself just a void?
As Yamata no Orochi was thinking, someone came to relay a message, saying the Divine Child was summoning her.
...
Shi Jingyi felt a twinge of pain between her eyebrows and slowly opened her eyes.
In her field of vision, Guan Tong's young face gradually came into focus from a blur.
"Finally awake," she saw Guan Tong let out a long sigh and say.
Shi Jingyi frowned as she spoke. "How long was I unconscious?"
As she spoke, she tried to sit up, but found her body extremely weak, with almost no strength. She could only barely raise her head to lean against the headboard.
"Over three days," Guan Tong said, handing her a cup of water. "I gave you over twenty different medicinal items bought from the Market. Finally, something worked."
Shi Jingyi drank a few sips of water and smiled slightly. "That many? Must have cost quite a few Ascension Coins."
"If it could wake you up, I'd spend them even if it meant going bankrupt," Guan Tong said. "After all, you got injured helping me."
Hearing this, Shi Jingyi's eyes sharpened. "Do you know who the attacker was?"
"Yeah, it was a criminal organization I offended before. The leader is likely a high-ranking official. Those who came to attack personally were all dealt with by me. I won't let the leader off either; I'll definitely take her down soon."
Although Guan Tong said this without a hateful, teeth-gritting expression, Shi Jingyi could still sense the determination in his calm tone.
She knew that although Guan Tong was young, his personality was quite stubborn and his courage was great. She had seen this from their first encounter at the industrial park.
"How are you feeling now?" Guan Tong asked.
Shi Jingyi closed her eyes slightly, as if inspecting herself through some method.
"Inside your head?"
Hearing this, Guan Tong became tense.
The head was the most precise part of the human body; any problem, no matter how small, was a big problem.
"Don't worry, it's nothing major. It might just take some time to recuperate."
"That's good..."
"Speaking of which, where am I?"
Shi Jingyi looked around the room. This very plain room didn't look anything like a hospital ward or similar place.
"This is my shelter," Guan Tong said. "Because I was afraid someone might try something underhanded, I didn't send you to a hospital or similar place."
Shi Jingyi smiled. "That's probably unnecessary."
"Better safe than sorry," Guan Tong said. "But now that you're awake, where you go is definitely up to you."
Shi Jingyi thought for a moment and asked, "After the earthquake, how is the situation in Yong'an?"
"Not good."
As the capital, Yong'an's location wasn't particularly close to the seismic source, but being a low-altitude city, it still suffered from massive flooding caused by the tsunami.
"Yong'an was flooded. However, I heard the shelters there were built to the highest specifications, and the drainage channels are relatively advanced, so a large number of people survived. It didn't completely collapse like other cities hit by the floods."
"Also, I heard on the radio not long ago that Yong'an's official functional departments are temporarily being relocated to Pinglu City for now. Places like the academy will also move there."
"Pinglu," Shi Jingyi said with a smile. "I know it. It's a high-altitude city in the west. It's quite famous precisely because it has high altitude but is named 'Pinglu' (Flat Land)."
"Yes. This city was relatively lucky, suffering almost no damage, so the functional departments are temporarily moving there. After the floods recede, they might move back one day," Guan Tong said.
"Oh right, the academy."
Shi Jingyi remembered and felt a headache coming on.
"In my current condition, I'm afraid it won't be convenient for me to teach for a while. It will take at least three to four months to recover properly. During this period, the courses..."
Guan Tong looked at the troubled expression on Shi Jingyi's face and suggested, "How about I act as your teaching assistant during this time and take over your classes?"
A long time ago, Shi Jingyi had mentioned over the phone that she wanted to invite Guan Tong to be her course teaching assistant, but Guan Tong hadn't agreed back then.
But now, Guan Tong felt somewhat guilty towards Shi Jingyi. Plus, his "home" had also been destroyed by the earthquake, leaving him temporarily with nowhere to go. So, helping her teach for a few months was fine.
Hearing this, Shi Jingyi looked at him in surprise. "You'll take over my classes?"
"Do you think I'm not capable enough?"
"That's not it. Your understanding of Mind Power Flow is already quite deep; teaching newcomers wouldn't be a problem. However, don't you dislike this kind of thing? There's no need to force yourself to do it."
Guan Tong shook his head. "It's not really forcing. It's more like something I could do or not do. Also, although I cooperated with the authorities this time to deal with the Doomsday Rules, I never revealed my identity. So, the authorities still don't know that 'Shadow's' real identity is Guan Tong. It shouldn't be a big issue."
Shi Jingyi thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, then help me for a few months. I'll contact the dean first later, and then recommend you to him in a few days. That way, if he finds out that both you and I were attacked, he won't connect the two of us when I recommend you right after waking up."
"Okay, that's settled then."
"Mm. Guan Tong, I have one more question for you now."
"What?"
Shi Jingyi turned her head to look at the flowing seawater outside the window.
"Is this shelter of yours built on the sea?"
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