Jing Shu was pondering how to broach the subject when Mr. Jing began to vividly illustrate the situation. anwhile, Jing Shu patted her head; whenever Mr. Jing finished speaking, she would nod and add a "Right!" Then he would cobble together a reasonably complete picture. Afterwards, Jing Shu supplented his account with a few more details, ntioning symptoms like a splitting headache upon hearing a thunderclap, a ringing in her ears that made her unable to hear, and palpitations.
"Dad, Mom, I’m afraid I’m going deaf," Jing Shu said pitifully, covering her head.
"You child, don’t talk nonsense. Dad will find a Doctor for you right away," Mr. Jing replied.
Just as the family was gathered around Jing Shu, trying to find a Doctor, the outside suddenly beca as bright as day. The brightness was like that of a super spotlight, and the Jing family could see the sudden illumination outside their window, even from inside the house.
"What’s happening outside?"
"Has the sunlight returned?"
The family all excitedly looked outside, but Jing Shu sighed quietly and covered her ears with her hands. Yes, this was one of the apocalyptic disasters known as ’thunder light.’ Based on my extensive experience, this brightness indicates that there must be an epicenter nearby about to experience a violent earthquake, probably around the Banana District.
The epicenter had to be an earthquake of at least magnitude six. By the ti it reached my area, it could weaken to a 4-5 magnitude earthquake.
Before the apocalypse, humans classified earthquakes into boundary earthquakes, inland earthquakes, volcanic earthquakes, and collapse earthquakes. They also categorized them by distance, calling those with an epicenter less than 100 kiloters away local earthquakes, and those 100-1,000 kiloters distant near earthquakes.
However, the earthquakes of this year had overturned the world’s understanding of them, for they fit none of the aforentioned categories. You could say they were local earthquakes, since the affected areas were generally small, but typically within 100 kiloters there would only be one or two epicenters.
In simpler terms, past earthquakes had only one source, affecting areas within a hundred or even several hundred kiloters.
This ti, the characteristic of the earthquake was the large number of epicenters, but each epicenter affected only a very small area, just a few kiloters across, more akin to a tornado ford within the earth.
Scientists from her previous life had analyzed such occurrences in detail, but most explanations were insufficient. However, one taphor was particularly vivid:
"You can imagine the earth, from the deep interior to the shallow surface, being traversed by countless tornadoes in motion. So tornadoes reaching the surface cause earthquakes, with the strength increasing the closer they are to the surface, up to magnitude ten. The farther the tornadoes are from the surface, the weaker the earthquake—usually between magnitudes three and four."
And this year, the range of the earthquakes was incredibly widespread, with tens of millions of tornadoes continuously moving within the earth’s crust all over the world.
Thus, beneath my feet are such whirlwinds, I realized. When they blow up to the surface, they cause major earthquakes of magnitude seven or eight, and when they don’t, they result in minor earthquakes of magnitude three or four. Moreover, no one knows where an earthquake might occur, or where a safe zone might be.
As Jing Shu covered her ears, the daylight brightness lasted a full four seconds. The entire Jing family was excited and ran outside, and at that mont—
BOOM! BOOM! A huge rumbling sound ca, shaking the villa’s floors. Even with her ears covered, Jing Shu found the noise deafening.
"Ouch, my ears!"
"Why can’t I hear anything?"
"Hello, hello, hello, I can’t hear anything!"
The family was caught off guard by the thunderous sound and all experienced temporary deafness. Jing Shu didn’t remind them. This would give them a proper scare and make them more aware of the seriousness of the situation, she thought.
"Mom and Dad, hurry and hide in the bathroom! Lan Zhi, you help Jing Shu! Let’s take cover. Sothing big might be happening outside! Hello, hello, can you hear ?"
Mr. Jing supported the elderly couple, and Mrs. Jing was pulling on him, still tugging. But at that mont, the entire villa began to shake violently—the vases on the tables, the light fixtures from the ceiling, the tables, and chairs were all shaking intensely. The family stumbled, all crashing to the ground together.
It must be said that Jing Shu had foresight. After returning from her elder aunt’s house, and to prepare for the hundreds of earthquakes expected in the coming year, Jing Shu had replaced many fragile and easily toppled items in the house. For instance, she quietly overhauled the garlic in the living room and the fruit shelves in the upstairs flower room.
So items were hung up, not only looking more aesthetically pleasing but also preventing them from falling and breaking during an earthquake, as they could swing freely. Others were secured with traceless nails and brackets.
The kitchen cabinets and other items had also been reinforced thanks to Jing Shu’s ingenuity to ensure they wouldn’t break easily. Otherwise, after a few earthquakes, these household items would likely be damaged. But these were not long-term solutions. She still needed to discuss with Mr. Jing how to rig up so small chanisms to use during earthquakes to prevent furniture from moving around and small items from flying about.
According to Mr. Jing, wood was the most earthquake-resistant material. Structurally, it also had good load-bearing qualities, so this task was left to Mr. Jing.
"’The epicenter probably had a magnitude 7 earthquake, and here it feels like a 5. There’s no need to run," Jing Shu estimated roughly. As long as the epicenter isn’t above an 8, there’s no need to run. The adage, ’In a big quake, you can’t escape; in a small one, you need not run,’ actually makes quite a bit of sense. It was just like in my previous life. When earthquakes first began, people would run at the slightest tremor, sotis over a dozen tis a day. Eventually, everyone got used to it. When an earthquake struck, the first thing to do was grab onto sothing and wait for it to end. If you were lucky, you’d continue to party; if not, it was ga over.
After a brief bout of ear-ringing, the family began to feel much better.
Mrs. Jing shouted, "It’s an earthquake, an earthquake! Jing An, what should we do? Should we go out to an open area to take shelter?"
"This spot is pretty flat. Unless building 25 collapses and hits us, but the developer said it’s resistant to up to a magnitude 8 earthquake. Let’s go to the bathroom first, hide in the bathroom, quick! I’ll think of sothing!" Mr. Jing ushered the elderly couple in first.
Grandma Jing pointed at the door and said, "Zijin is still in the small house! Quickly bring her over."
Jing Shu couldn’t pretend to be sick anymore. She hurriedly said, "You go, I’ll get Zijin."
Jing Shu scrambled to her feet, with the fat chicken clucking anxiously and following her closely. That’s when Grandma Jing rembered. "The chickens in the coop, the cow, oh, my Dostic Poultry!" Grandma Jing was on the verge of tears.
"Mom, you go to the bathroom first. I’ll go check on the chicken coop; I’m just afraid the cow might experience Niu Jingzhe."
Jing Shu and Mr. Jing went out, steadying themselves on things, and found Zijin crouched in the small house. Zijin was calm. Only after seeing Jing Shu did she say, "The hand warr Grandma just gave broke. Such a pity."
"...Hurry and follow to take shelter."
Mr. Jing found the chickens and ducks fluttering around in the coop, and the cow as well. Fortunately, the Dostic Poultry was unhard. Of course, they were unhard—with Jing Shu working behind the scenes, nothing was likely to happen to them.
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