It wasn’t until Annan and Ingrid reached the innermost alley that they finally reached a quiet enough place.
Annan smiled and waved to Justice at the barbeque store across the street, signaling that they could see him. Then, the voice from Gray Professor was played.
It was a lengthy instruction.
“You guys come back as soon as possible. Don’t delay it for too long, and pay attention to safety.
“I have received news that the previous Storm Daughter of the Austere-Winter Dukedom has completed her self-sacrifice today, but the next Daughter of the Storm is Grand Duke Ivan’s aunty. She is not young and needs to use rituals and potions to adjust for some time before she can take over. The specific ritual time the Austere-Winter Dukedom decided is 12 days later.
“Without the suppression of Storm Tower in the past two weeks, various forms of weather disturbances may occur all over the world. For example, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc. The seafloor tunnel of the deep submerged layer may collapse, and there’s also the possibility of an earthquake in the metropolitan area, causing the ground to collapse or crack. The sky dome and subway lanes may collapse.
“You’d better come back quickly, or you may encounter something bad, such as the collapse of the sky dome or the railway. After returning to the Gray Tower, it will be safer.”
I see.
Annan came to a sudden realization.
This critical point of the plot turns out to be here.
He had figured it out.
Annan didn’t think about the possibility of earthquakes at first. Even if there was, most of the news would be intercepted by the underground city… So it was normal that there was no earthquake record in the above-ground world.
The underground was not immune to earthquakes.
In other words, because the depth of the underground city was not too deep, even shallow earthquakes would occur below them.
The smooth establishment of the underground city was probably because of the Storm Tower.
If the earthquake could not be suppressed, cities and tunnels would not be able to be successfully built underground.
Most likely, a small earthquake could collapse any newly built section, not to mention the fragile seafloor tunnel.
It turned out that they had tacitly agreed that there would be no earthquakes in the underground world.
It was the first time that Annan was aware of the necessity of the wizard tower.
As for the other wizard towers, Annan was not clear about their purpose for the time being.
However, Storm Tower could directly suppress natural disasters. This was of great significance to the five major countries.
In the upcoming 12 days, other countries had already started organizing evacuations.
Annan glanced at Ingrid.
In that case, are you dying soon?
Of course, Annan didn’t have the nerve to say that out loud.
At first, Annan thought that Ingrid died from the lava pouring into the “Black Gold Field”. That was why “Professor Wolf” launched revenge on Austere-Winter Dukedom. However, when “Frederick” said that he did not know the reason why Cinder Barren was formed, Justice was not surprised and would explain it to him in a friendly manner.
If Ingrid had died at Black Gold Field, but “Frederick” had forgotten about it — Justice would probably not explain it at all but would beat Frederick up instead.
At the same time, Justice could relate Ingrid’s death to the incident of “Black Gold Field” becoming “Cinder Barren”.
This showed that Ingrid should not have died in the lava-pouring incident.
Now that Annan thought about it. Ingrid, a young girl, had no reason to go to the gold mine of the exploration layer.
Rationally speaking, to avoid casualties caused by the earthquake, the Wise should choose to close all the cities and gather refugees. Perhaps the Wise would ask the residents to leave the underground world and wait on the ground for 12 days.
However, they did not.
After all, there were only 12 days. In the short 12 days, there might not be any natural disasters like a tsunami, volcanic eruptions, or earthquakes. If the residents evacuated for 12 days and then move back in, the cost in between was too high.
Not to mention the cost of food and lodging, lost wages, and property lost during the chaotic evacuation. With all of them gathered together, the underground city, which originally had a serious lack of legal control, was even more difficult to manage.
Every city had different laws, and people naturally had different habits. It was usually fine, but if the citizens were evacuated into a centralized place, conflicts would inevitably occur.
So in the end, not only did the Wise not issue an evacuation order, the information was covered up.
Since Annan didn’t know about this matter, the final loss may indeed be small.
Only “Speckled Bone Forest” was changed to “Bone Eater Forest”. There should have been only 1 earthquake in those 12 days.
That was the earthquake that killed Ingrid.
That would be at this place and this moment.
That being the case…
Then the real ident.i.ty of Gray Professor is probably——
Annan and Ingrid exchanged glances.
Before Annan could say anything, he suddenly felt a violent shaking under his feet.
His pupils contracted instantly.
In Annan’s gaze, the “Speckled Bone Forest” in the distance began to disintegrate from top to bottom.
It was like countless tall columns piled up with c.o.ke cans, collapsing section by section; it was like a large-scale domino.
Like black and yellow mountains and seas were frozen in the air. They roared like landslides and tsunamis before collapsing.
It was an incomparably spectacular scene.
Ingrid stared in a daze.
Annan turned around.
He happened to see that the building beside her swayed and fell toward her.
At that moment, the world before Annan’s eyes suddenly became dim and slow.
Looking over from the barbecue store across the street, Justice’s eyes showed a gradually frightened expression.
He reached out to the two of them—
“Careful!”
Annan shouted and hugged Ingrid.
He took her and ran into the narrow alley. Both of their skins were scratched by the stone wall… But even so, they only ran from the innermost point to a position close to the exit.
Annan watched the increasingly slow, dim yellow world become gradually abstract, like an oil painting.
Annan felt the heat up his spine.
His strong intuition told him that danger was approaching.
So…
Without thinking, he pushed Ingrid down on top of him.
Annan himself opened his arms, propped on the walls on both sides, like a solid umbrella.
Under Justice’s horrified gaze, the figure of “Frederick” was submerged by tall buildings that were leaning and falling slowly.
It was different from the”history”.
Ingrid, who was supposed to be buried at the end of the alley, survived under the dome supported by “Frederick”.
Like all residents of underground cities…
On the verge of death, Annan did not lose this memory and woke up from the nightmare.
The world before his eyes became dim and dry.
Then, the world gradually became darker.
The world seemed to be paused.
Only Annan’s mind was running wildly—
At the same time, he felt the rusty smell of being hit by boulders on his back, the blood spilling from his throat, and the smell of “Wyrmrest Reagent” coming toward his face along the strong wind.
Ah.
Annan reacted.
It was his choice.
To hold on… or to shield this unfortunate fate for Ingrid?
Or dodge to the side, dodging the axe thrown by Justice?
Was it the original “future” Frederick’s prophetic dream?
Or was it the “past” during childhood, which the obsessions of childhood recalled by Frederick before his death?
“Did you have a dream… or did you wake up from a dream?”
Gray Professor’s voice sounded clearly in Annan’s ears.
Which side is reality?
Where is the dreamland?