Chapter 5

Wu Ming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly held the letter containing the secret that his mother had given him.

It was already 8:15 PM. Even if he found Li Xia now, it would be too late to make it back. Wu Ming was extremely anxious. In fact, half an hour ago, he had been struggling with whether to return on his own. Now, he finally decided to immediately return to the fortress he had built.

There was no time left. If he continued to delay, he would be trapped as well. The terrifying scene after the card activation was something he had no desire to experience again.

However, at this moment, Wu Ming's phone rang.

A minute later, he rushed down the stairs and ran towards the People's Square, which was 500 meters away. The call had been from Li Xia, who had been trying to reach Wu Ming all along but only managed to get through just now. In the call, Li Xia told Wu Ming that she had left the hospital and was planning to go home, but was now stuck at the People's Square.

Wu Ming didn't know the full situation. The call was cut off halfway through. He now had two choices: one was to immediately return to his safe house, close the heavy anti-theft door, lock the windows and doors, and wait for the disaster to come, ignoring the fate of others. The other choice was to go to the People's Square and find Li Xia, who was trapped there.

Time was running out. In the end, Wu Ming chose the latter. The reason might be that Li Xia was his good friend, or it might be because of the mysterious mark, or perhaps because Wu Ming couldn't guarantee he could make it back by 8:00 PM. If he had come this far and turned back now, wouldn't all his previous efforts be in vain?

With his current physical condition, Wu Ming was already on par with some athletes. Running to the People's Square took him only two minutes.

However, when he arrived at the People's Square, Wu Ming understood why Li Xia was stuck there.

The People's Square and the surrounding streets were packed with people. These people were agitated, using obstacles to block the roads and prevent any vehicles from passing. Opposite the People's Square was a government building. Some people were sitting on the ground, while others held white cloth banners. By looking at the slogans they displayed, Wu Ming knew what was happening.

In recent days, due to the 'meteorites' falling in Yucheng, many people had died. Just from what Wu Ming knew, a single fall last night had caused over eighty deaths.

People couldn't die in vain. The families and friends of the deceased naturally demanded an explanation. However, the official attitude made these families and friends even more angry. They were not allowed to enter the incident area, and the authorities were tight-lipped, refusing to disclose any information, even preventing families from retrieving the bodies. Naturally, the families, who valued the tradition of burial, were not willing to accept this. They demanded the government reveal the truth, provide compensation, and allow them to take their loved ones' bodies back for burial. Unfortunately, none of these demands were met. Tired of the lies from the official spokespersons, the people took matters into their own hands to find a solution.

That solution was a mass demonstration, which had been ongoing since 8:00 AM that morning. At this moment, thousands of people had gathered in the vast People's Square, and with the addition of onlookers, the number reached over ten thousand. The roads were completely blocked, and many riot police had formed a human wall to isolate the protesters.

Wu Ming looked at his watch; it was already 8:20 PM. At this moment, he suddenly realized how quickly time had passed. He hadn't found Li Xia yet, and even if he found her now and headed back, it would be too late.

Strangely, Wu Ming wasn't as afraid as he should have been. Since the possibility of making it back before the disaster was becoming increasingly slim, he might as well make other plans. He had considered this possibility before, which was why he had brought the armor and the Tang knife.

Communication was still poor, and most of the time, his phone couldn't make calls. He didn't know the reason, but it might be due to everyone using the communication network at the same time, or other factors. Since the card's arrival, the communication network had been unstable, and today it had completely collapsed.

Wu Ming had once suspected that it might be related to the yuan qi in the air, but that was just a guess with no evidence to support it.

For Wu Ming, the trouble this situation brought was that it was nearly impossible to find someone in such chaos without being able to make calls.

Li Xia sat in the car, looking at the failed call message on her phone and tossing it aside in frustration.

"Xiazi, don't worry. This kind of road block and protest happens every year. They'll calm down eventually. But this time, it feels different. Stones falling from the sky, it's a strange thing that hasn't happened in generations. So many people have died, and the government isn't saying anything, not even letting the families see the bodies. If I were in their shoes, I'd protest too. I called my uncle in the countryside a few days ago. He said something big is about to happen, that the King of Hell is collecting souls, and told me to go back to the countryside for safety. Easier said than done. We've worked hard to establish ourselves in Yucheng, and we can't just leave. My uncle is always talking nonsense."

The driver, a middle-aged man in his forties, said. He was Li Xia's neighbor, surnamed Guo, and made a living as a taxi driver. He was originally resting at home today, but when Li Xia couldn't get a taxi, he offered to help. On the way back, they got stuck here.

As for the sick old lady, she had already been arranged to be hospitalized.

It was 8:50 PM.

The taxi remained stationary. Guo turned on the radio, but strangely, he couldn't receive any stations, only static.

"Strange!" Guo muttered, "This radio is giving me trouble today!"

At that moment, the radio suddenly emitted a strange noise, extremely chaotic, like a hundred cats scratching glass.

The next moment, the noise abruptly stopped, and at the same time, the streetlights, shop lights, and even the car lights went out as if someone had suddenly turned off the power.

"What's going on?" Guo was stunned, looking back at Li Xia, who was also in shock. He then got out of the car and looked around. Everywhere he looked was dark.

"Power outage?"

If someone were to look down from the sky, they would see that the entire city of Yucheng was plunged into darkness. The crowd at the People's Square was also stunned, clearly not expecting a sudden power outage.

"This must be a trick by the officials. They think turning off the power will make us leave? Dream on! If they don't give us an explanation today, we won't leave. My poor brother, only twenty-five years old, just graduated and not even married, and they won't even let us see his body. What are they thinking?"

"Yeah, even if they cut the power or shoot at us, we won't leave. There are journalists on the scene; I don't believe they can cover it up!"

The brief silence caused by the sudden power outage was quickly replaced by louder voices of discontent.

Wu Ming looked at the suddenly extinguished streetlights, his expression grim. He knew this wasn't a regular power outage. This was the most intense collision between the other dimension and their space. This collision, though silent, would open many 'wormholes.' From now on, the yuan qi in the air would increase, and the opening of the wormholes would create a unique electromagnetic storm, which was the reason for the sudden power outage.

Wu Ming wasn't a scientist and couldn't explain the principle of the sudden power outage, but he knew that soon, perhaps in a few minutes or even a few seconds, the cards that had fallen would be activated. The yuan qi collector on his wrist had already started beeping, indicating that there was yuan qi in the air.

Swallowing hard, Wu Ming looked at his watch. It was 8:53 PM. Nine o'clock was just an approximate time, and the cards might have already been activated at the moment of the power outage.

As Wu Ming had guessed, about three kilometers from the People's Square, at a landing site, the yuan qi shield that had protected the card suddenly disappeared. The researchers nearby were stunned when the card suddenly exploded.

The same thing happened at all the card landing sites.

The special police officers responsible for the perimeter and security heard the loud noise inside, followed by several screams, and then silence.

"What's going on? Xiao Wang, Xiao Huang, go check it out." The squad leader, Zhang Heng, was on high alert. The sudden power outage had made this cautious special police officer feel something was wrong. This wasn't a regular power outage; a regular power outage wouldn't cause their radios to stop working.

Because they were on a special mission, the special police officers on duty were armed with real weapons. Xiao Wang and Xiao Huang opened the safety on their police assault rifles and slowly walked forward.

Before they could get close, they saw two researchers in white coats walking out.

"Dr. Xu, it's you. What happened just now?" Seeing the familiar figures, Xiao Wang relaxed and lowered his gun, about to walk over.

At that moment, the power suddenly came back on, and the lights revealed the current state of the two researchers. Xiao Wang, Xiao Huang, and the squad leader Zhang Heng all changed color instantly.

The two researchers were pale, their eyes grayish-white. Their mouths were open to an impossible degree, tearing their faces and exposing bloody wounds. Their skin hung like rags from their jaws, and blood dripped to the ground. Inside their mouths were a pair of large, sharp, black 'teeth,' like a pair of sharp pincers.

Xiao Wang was still in shock when the person he called Dr. Xu let out a terrifying scream and pounced at him with the speed of a cheetah. Xiao Wang was hit like a car crash, thrown several meters away. Before he could react, his throat was torn open by the sharp teeth, and blood spurted out.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A series of gunshots rang out, audible even from several kilometers away. Wu Ming looked in the direction of the sound, sighed inwardly, and thought, "What was coming is finally here."

At that moment, he finally saw Li Xia, who was waving at him from a taxi stuck in the crowd.

Squad leader Zhang Heng was now sitting on the ground, his assault rifle empty, the ground covered with shell casings and blood. There was a deep, bone-deep wound on his chest, blood flowing uncontrollably.

The wound was caused by the sharp teeth in Dr. Xu's mouth, which were sharper than a knife.

Zhang Heng spat out blood, unable to believe what was happening. He had watched his subordinates be killed one by one by the two monsters, and then dozens of insect-like creatures, the size of adult arms, crawled out from somewhere. These insects had six pairs of legs, a three-segmented body, and a black, armored shell, resembling a mutated shrimp. They quickly crawled into the mouths of Xiao Wang, Xiao Huang, and the other soldiers, and the already dead bodies suddenly convulsed and stood up again.

Their mouths tore open, revealing the same large, sharp teeth as Dr. Xu, dripping with disgusting mucus. They stared with dead, gray eyes and screamed as they pounced at him.

"Damn, am I dreaming?" This was Zhang Heng's last thought before he was plunged into darkness.

The same thing was happening at other card landing sites.

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