Chapter 396 264: Hold It Steady!

Almost at the same time Selena's footsteps rang out, Luo Sen's voice followed:

"Change of orders! Notify Hundred Rivers to engage the shell-like shock absorption system at maximum level!"

"A-Already notified!"

"Report! The seismic waves are strengthening abnormally! They might break through Level 10!"

"Message from the Hundred Rivers Seismological Bureau! The shell-like shock absorption system has been set to maximum! Grid wardens are organizing an emergency citizen evacuation!"

"Seismic wave instability is increasing, with a suspected tendency to spread. An earthquake warning has been issued to the cities bordering Xue Cang Province!"

The overlapping reports in the office were more nerve-wracking than the most frantic alarm.

In the ancient village ruins, a red earthquake warning automatically popped up on the trio's phones—whenever an earthquake occurred, this message was automatically pushed to all phones with a Hundred Rivers IP address.

"Red… It's just like that one a few months ago! This is a major one!"

The moment she saw the alert, Shen Chuqing's eyes filled with terror.

She had been in class at school when the last one hit.

Even though earthquake drills and emergency exercises were ingrained in the Hundred Rivers People from a young age, all that preparation felt useless in the face of a cataclysmic quake.

The scene was still seared into her memory.

Faced with a disaster of an unprecedented scale, even the calmest people—including the teachers—panicked. The evacuation was nothing like the orderly drills.

Just as some of the students and teachers reached the shelters, the quake hit the surface. The ground itself shattered in an instant, a tsunami of rubble swallowing the people and Pet Beasts left outside.

Shen Chuqing was one of those swallowed by the quake.

She had been lucky, though. A few pieces of rubble had formed a small tetrahedral pocket around her, saving her from being crushed.

Despite suffering serious internal and external injuries, her Constitution as a Tier Four Beast Tamer allowed her to hold on until rescue arrived.

Her classmates who hadn't made it to cover in time weren't so lucky...

And now, that lingering nightmare was about to become reality once more.

Almost instinctively, Shen Chuqing grabbed Su Zhi's arm.

"Run… We have to run! Or we're all going to die!"

"Stay calm," Luo Sen's voice said from Su Zhi's phone.

It was hard to believe that even in a situation this dire, his voice remained frighteningly calm, almost mechanical.

Hearing that voice, both Shen Chuqing and Su Zhi calmed down a little.

"The shell-like shock absorption system around Celestial Paradise has been activated at maximum. It will reduce the quake's intensity and delay its arrival. You have five minutes to prepare.

"The epicenter is Fuguang Lake. It's too close to you, and you don't have enough time to get to the city shelters. Evacuate to the nearby North Slope Plain of the Luojin Mountain Range. The farther you get from the epicenter, the better."

"Vice Alliance Leader Gou, their safety is in your hands!"

Gou Yu immediately nodded. "Don't worry!"

Shen Chuqing instinctively started to jog after him, but Su Zhi held her back.

"Five minutes… We have time."

After a quick calculation, Su Zhi looked to Shan Bao. "Shan Bao, I'm counting on you!"

"CHIRP CHIRP!" Shan Bao nodded emphatically.

"Wait..." Gou Yu raised an eyebrow. "You want Shan Bao to move us with Flash Gold Teleportation?"

"The Luojin Mountain Range is rich in metal, which provides a natural medium for Flash Gold Teleportation. Shan Bao's Flash Gold Teleportation is Tier Two, so it can carry one person at a time, no problem. A single teleport can cover a maximum of two hundred meters. Getting to the North Slope Plain from here will require about seventy-two consecutive uses. At a rate of one cast per second, that's more than enough time."

Shen Chuqing exclaimed in astonishment, "Are you insane? Flash Gold Teleportation is an incredibly energy-intensive Skill. Even ten consecutive casts would be a stretch! A Flash Gold Sparrow's endurance can't possibly last for that many!"

"It's fine. Not a problem," Su Zhi said succinctly, giving Shan Bao a look.

"CHIRP!" Shan Bao nodded and hopped over to Shen Chuqing.

A Golden Light flashed, and the girl and the bird vanished on the spot.

A little over a minute later, an identical Golden Light flashed on the North Slope Plain of the Luojin Mountain Range.

The Golden Light faded. Shen Chuqing looked around, her gaze finally landing on the Shimmering Free-Range Chicken in front of her, her face a mask of bewilderment.

"You… you really cast that Skill over seventy times in a row?"

"CHIRP!" Shan Bao gave a thumbs-up with its foot and vanished in a flash of Golden Light.

「Two minutes later, back at the village ruins.」

Seeing Shan Bao reappear, completely unfazed, Gou Yu rubbed his eyes in disbelief. 'It... it actually did it?'

'What other people treat as a Decisive Skill has become a spammable, no-cost dodge for this thing?'

'Does this Shimmering Free-Range Chicken have a nuclear reactor in it or something!?'

"Save the shock for after the earthquake!"

"Hey, don't push me! Just make sure you rendezvous with us as soon as you can!"

"Got it, see ya!"

Su Zhi eagerly had Shan Bao teleport Vice Alliance Leader Gou away, then let out a breath.

The line went silent for a moment before Luo Sen's voice came through again. "They're gone now. What did you want to tell me in private?"

Su Zhi nodded. "Yu Bao needs to go to Fuguang Lake."

Luo Sen's voice was calm. "Reason."

"The epicenter is the reason. Fuguang Lake is a geological nexus. A giant Golden Sand Flower at the bottom of the lake is lodged in the junction of the tectonic plates, maintaining the geological stability of the Celestial Paradise region. If the seismic waves dislodge the Golden Sand Flower from that fissure, it won't just increase the intensity of this quake—it will instantly turn the entire Celestial Paradise area into the most seismically active place in all of Hundred Rivers. That would lead to frequent earthquakes in the future, causing far more harm than any single event!"