Chapter 3: The State of Ergency Lifted
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Xia Ping’an’s nap turned into a deep sleep. Even though the shelter couldn’t provide any comfortable beddings, he still slept soundly. All of them stayed a whole night in the shelter. They stayed there for more than 14 hours.
Throughout the night, everyone in the shelter waited anxiously. The sa ssage repeated itself over and over on the electronic display of the shelter.
[The situation outside is under control. The creatures responsible for the dinsional invasion are gradually being eliminated. Please wait patiently.]
The next morning, at 7 a.m., a different ssage was finally displayed on the screen.
[Order is being restored in Xianghe City. The state of ergency is lifted.]
Green lights lit up on the safety door of the shelter as the door opened. Everyone dragged their feet and left the place. They could finally heave sighs of relief.
[The dinsional invasion this ti was Level F . The invaders were demonic rats and giant peanut worms. There were a total of 137 demonic rats and five giant peanut worms. The National Order Council has killed 133 demonic rats and five giant peanut worms. Four demonic rats have escaped via the river. We have sent out a team to chase after the invaders. The public is welco to provide any information regarding the escaped invaders.]
[The state of ergency in Xianghe City is lifted. The water and electric supply are restored, and other public services are gradually being restored too. So regions are still sealed off, and aftermath anti-epidemic and sanitary disinfecting treatnts are being carried out. Thank you for your cooperation.]
[Regarding the casualties and injuries sustained during this dinsional invasion, it is still being calculated. Please await the details in the follow-up press release.]
[National Order Council of the Great Fla Republic]
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The instant he left the shelter, Xia Ping’an’s smartphone vibrated once again. He took out his phone and saw this ssage sent through the dinsional invasion security app.
Then, just as Xia Ping’an finished reading the ssage and stepped out of the security passageway onto the street, his phone received another ssage. It was from his boss.
[Yesterday, demonic rats broke into our shop. The company has received a notice from the managent that it will be sealed off for today and tomorrow for disinfection and epidemic prevention operations. Work will resu on Sunday. Everyone, get so good rest. If there are any matters, please contact the managent.]
When he finished reading the notification, Xia Ping’an’s phone rang again. It was a call from Xia Ning.
“Elder Brother, are you alright?” Xia Ning asked worriedly.
“I am fine. Don’t worry. How about you?”
A sigh of relief could be heard from the other end of the line. “I am fine. Yesterday, once we received the notification, the school imdiately arranged for everyone to enter the shelter.”
“That’s good. I will be resting at ho today. I will whip up sothing nice at ho. You can co back ho for dinner.”
“Alright. You’re the best!” Xia Ning said gleefully over the phone. She seed completely unaffected by the dinsional invasion this ti around.
After the call ended, Xia Ping’an put his phone away and took a long breath.
There were certainly casualties and injuries during yesterday’s dinsional invasion. However, that was life. Most of the ti, one had no ti to mourn over others and could not foresee when accidents would happen.
Every country hoped to minimize the effects of the dinsional invasion on cities and regions. Hence, all the announcents were made calmly. They did not hide anything nor exaggerate the pain and loss.
Each dinsional invasion was reported on the news as though it was an avalanche or traffic accident.
As for deaths, people were dying in hospitals every day. A small-scale dinsional invasion would have fewer deaths than the daily deaths in the city hospitals. In the Great Fla Republic, the number of people who died in traffic accidents was far greater than those who died during a dinsional invasion.
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Many people who walked out of the shelters returned to their cars in a daze. If the cars that were parked on the roads did not leave in a matter of minutes, the owners would be fined a hefty amount.
Traffic police and tow trucks gradually appeared on the streets. They began to coordinate the traffic and clear off the obstacles on the roads. The traffic in the city slowly returned to normal.
If people weren’t paying attention, they would usually not discover that there were so changes in their surroundings. The injured and dead were taken to the hospital or removed by other people. The corpses of the demonic rats had been cleared off. Not a strand of hair was left behind.
Only in so special places were police lines drawn up to cordon off the area. Shattered glass still littered the floor, and there were holes in the ground that had yet to be fixed.
Occasionally, officials wearing anti-pandemic attire, and their vehicles could be spotted on the road. The municipal office had already patched up the damage in the street. Damages to vehicles would be covered by insurance companies. Ambulances and fire engines were passing by with their sirens on full blast. Everyone would quietly make way for them.
Many of the people who had hidden in the shelter for a night yesterday would most likely need to continue working today once they ca out.
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It was not that the people had grown numb to this. Instead, they needed to get used to such a lifestyle...to dinsional invasions.
Xia Ping’an got on a tram on 11th Street. After waiting on the tram for a while, the driver returned, and the tram began to move once again.
...
More than 20 minutes later, the tram on 11th Street arrived at an old area on the south side of Xianghe City. The tram stopped at a shabby bus stop, and Xia Ping’an got off. Before he headed ho, he bought noodles, soy sauce, and so other ingredients for dinner in a small market at the side of the road.
Xia Ping’an and Xia Ning were living in an old neighborhood. The environnt was nothing fancy, but it was quite convenient. The neighborhood was lively, and the rent was not too expensive.
The more important thing was that there was a police station right at the entrance of the neighborhood. Police patrolled the area frequently, so the place was secure. After their parents passed away, Xia Ping’an settled here with Xia Ning.
Xia Ping’an’s parents were immigrants. In the past, when they first migrated to the Great Fla Republic in the Northern Light Continent from Huaxia, they paid the down paynt and bought a house. However, after they died in an accident, the bank took the house.
The Social Welfare Departnt of the Great Fla Republic had once arranged for Xia Ping’an and Xia Ning to be adopted by other families. However, both of them rejected to be adopted since they did not want to be separated.
After their parents passed away, Xia Ping’an dropped out of school and went to work in a car shop. For the past few years, they struggled to make ends et. The apartnt Xia Ping’an rented was only a 60-square-ter unit with an attic. Before this, the attic had so leaking problems. After pestering the landlord a few tis, the landlord finally got soone to fix it. However, it needed so touch-ups every two years.
Xia Ping’an supported Xia Ning in studying art. However, studying art was costly.
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Xia Ping’an’s wage was their only source of inco.
Thankfully, the welfare of the Great Fla Republic citizens was decent. It cost almost nothing for Xia Ning to go through middle school and high school. They were covered by health insurance too whenever they went to see a doctor. As citizens who were born in the Great Fla Republic, Xia Ping’an and Xia Ning were entitled to receive monthly child benefits from the day they were born until they were 18 years old. When Xia Ning enrolled in college, she also received an education allowance.
...
Xia Ping’an greeted the security guard stationed at the lobby of the apartnt and headed up using the stairs. The paint on the railing of the stairs was peeling off. Xia Ping’an carried his groceries and climbed to the seventh floor. He pulled out his key, opened the door, and entered.
The 60-square-ter unit ca with so old appliances from the landlord. The unit consisted of a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. Xia Ning had the main bedroom while Xia Ping’an stayed in the small attic. The siblings kept their tiny ho clean and orderly.
The living room was decorated with many colorful paper cranes made by Xia Ning. On the wall hung many animal portraits and landscape images painted by her too. These decorations made the house cozy.
Xia Ping’an was starving. His last al was almost 20 hours ago. The first thing he did upon returning ho was to enter the kitchen and cook himself a bowl of noodles.
After eating, Xia Ping’an felt that he had finally regained his vigor.
From the window of the living room, he could see the picturesque mountain range. The peaks of the mountains were covered in snow. Xia Ping’an would never get bored of looking at this seemingly normal view for others. He even felt sowhat surreal.
This surreality could only be appreaciated by Xia Ping’an.
Xia Ping’an ate his normal bowl of noodles while enjoying the spectacular mountain view. The al beca especially scrumptious.
The mountain range outside was the Thousand Dragons Mountains of the Great Fla Republic. The reason it was called as such was it was ford from many smaller mountain ranges. The Thousand Dragons Mountains spanned more than 4,800 kiloters and ran through most of the Northern Light Continent. The best ski resort in the Great Fla Republic was located within the Thousand Dragons Mountains.
For Xia Ping’an, these Thousand Dragons Mountains had another na: the Rocky Mountains.
In 1421 A.D., the fleet of the Divine Continent led by Eunuch Ma discovered this new continent and nad it the Light Continent. For hundreds of years, each ti the Divine Continent encountered natural or man-made disasters, had turbulent political situations, or when dynasties changed, a large number of Huaxia citizens would migrate over to this continent to seek a new life and thrive.
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The earliest group of people who arrived on this continent was the gold miners. The legend of striking the jackpot by finding gold in the Light Continent had influenced countless people.
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There were nurous cases of people who ca over to the continent, dreaming of mining gold.
After hundreds of years of vicissitudes, the Great Fla Republic currently had territory spanning 2.278 million square kiloters of land, almost covering the entire Northern Light Continent. It was a powerful nation with a population of 680 million people. The Great Fla Republic was also one of the five permanent mbers of the United Nations Security Council.
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The Divine Continent was still the Divine Continent. Huaxia was still Huaxia. However, the world beyond Huaxia had already changed drastically.
In the past, Eunuch Ma encountered a deep abyss where the river cut through the land and he suspected that the sun rose from there. He nad the canyon in the Light Continent the ‘Glorious Canyon’. [1] That place was actually the Grand Canyon.
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To this day, the Glorious Canyon still had the carvings left behind when Eunuch Ma first discovered it.
While gazing at the Rocky Mountains, Xia Ping’an finished eating his noodles. As he was washing the dishes in the kitchen, the doorbell rang.
Ding dong!
“It was too early for the landlord to co and collect the rent,” Xia Ping’an muttered and wiped his hands in the kitchen. He walked towards the door. He didn’t peep through the hole. Instead, his vision directly passed through the door, and he had a look outside.
Xia Ping’an’s heart quivered the mont he saw the person outside the door.
Standing behind the door was the man who wore sunglasses and a black leather windbreaker. He seed very cool.
When Xia Ping’an saw this man, he recalled the man’s image when he hunted and killed the demonic rat and the peanut worm. This man was a summoner under the National Order Council.
The man removed his sunglasses, revealing his chiseled facial features. He was in his 30s and had deep, dark eyes. Across the thick door, his gaze calmly t Xia Ping’an’s.
Author’s note: [1] Paraphrased from the Pale Ink, written by Arican patent attorney, Henriette rtz.
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