ATAPOW Chapter 45
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Chapter 45: Your looks are too scary-looking
“What’s happening right now? Is it an earthquake?”
“It’s an earthquake! Run!”
“You bastard! Thinking of making a break for it without paying? Stop right there, you shoplifter!” The pig butcher said this the moment he saw a customer who was carrying his goods and haggling with him just moments ago, stagger up to their feet and directly scamper off. Shortly after he froze, he furiously grabbed the cleaver that was embedded into a pig tenderloin and chased after them.
The scene was incomparably chaotic in an instant with various groups emerging like flies. There were three groups seen here; the run-away group, the stay-put gang who were crying for their mom and dads, and the iron-grip club that grabbed onto people’s thigh while bawling.
While situated in a sea of chaos, Ji Bai peacefully sipped on the box of lemon tea in his hand with an indifferent expression on his face.
From how he saw it, these raucous and clamorous commoners were accustomed to their everyday lives. They had already lost their sense of crisis and judgment that they had developed from the early stages of the war.
Through the various indicators shown, people that had the slightest amount of experience and smarts should’ve been able to deduce something like this easily. The location where the disaster struck was actually very far from this place. And that this was just the result of a few aftershocks that had emanated from there. There was no peril at all when they were protected by the air-raid shelter-like structure of the underground market. However, compared to the people that were scattered about like a group of headless flies, Ji Bai was more worried about the locations and specifics of the incident that took place. And also whether the commoners there had already been completely evacuated or not.
After pondering over it for a moment, Ji Bai decided to go ahead and check the situation out himself.
“Wait,” just when Ji Bai had brushed past Lin’s shoulder, she suddenly opened her mouth.
“You better not bother or ask me about what I’m planning to do.” Ji Bai didn’t turn his head while decisiveness filled his calm tone.
“Who cares about you? Leave the groceries behind first. They have already been paid for.”
Lin’s words almost made Ji Bai do a somersault and fall. He was somewhat speechless as he turned around and passed the food basket to Lin.
“You’d better be more restrained and honest in your actions! Try not to aggravate the situation even further. I will definitely not forgive you if you lay your hands on the commoners!”
“What a detestful set of values this guy has,” Lin closed her eyes as she slightly raised her lips.
In just less than 5 minutes after Ji Bai left, the commoners that were fleeing around in disarray like ants finally remembered the fact that the entrance existed. Like a swarm, they rushed towards the exit pushing and squeezing against each other. Because of this, none of them were able to squeeze out.
Lin slowly heaved a sigh as she held onto the food basket. While she looked at the congested exit, she believed that she wouldn’t be able to leave in a short while. She had no choice but to wait for the time being.
“Crack, crack, crack!!” A series of loud sounds suddenly resounded in the chaotic food market. A series of limestone powder mixed with fragments had poured down from the ceilings, all the while a number of malevolent cracks appeared on the stone pillar that was used to bear the weight of the building.
Lin slightly knitted her eyebrows, she gradually felt that the situation had somewhat exceeded her expectations.
Similarly, just like Ji Bai, Lin also believed that the aftershocks of this magnitude were insufficient to collapse and destroy this food market. And that the safeguards present to ensure the safety of the lives of the commoners were enough. However, it currently seemed that the severity of the circumstances was magnitudes bigger than what she had expected.
Lin only heard a series of crisp cracking sounds before cracks rapidly appeared on the six-meter high stone pillar. Following this, the colossus object that was sufficient enough to take away dozens or more fragile human lives began to fall from the sky.
“Ahhh!! R-Run for it!”
“Move aside! Don’t block my path! You all won’t make it if you don’t run now!!”
“Scram! If you have a death wish, go ahead! Don’t drag me along with you!”
It could be said that while under life-threatening circumstances, humans, who possessed an extremely strong desire to live, would erupt with the capabilities that were normally hidden deep within their lives. They would be able to remove the genetic locks tied to themselves. As the huge shadow expanded under the fluorescent lamps, they had all noisily dispersed themselves with lightning speed.
“Crap!!” Lin’s eyes constricted. Above the trajectory where the pillar was about to crash down, there were two kneeling children. Both were currently unattended and bawling their eyes out.
‘What should I do??! There’s already not enough time for me to save them. Could I only look on helplessly as those pure and innocent lives fade away just like this?…’
Lin bit her lips, causing a few drops of scarlet blood to fall onto the ground.
“Whoosh!!” The stone pillar ferociously struck downwards. Under the massive shaking aftershock, the human beings on the scene were extremely coordinative and had all fainted away in one go.
Unexpectedly, the stone pillar didn’t smash its way into the ground. Before that happened, a massive palm steadily stabilized the stone pillar that was falling its way towards the children. As the smoke settled, it gradually revealed a sturdy silhouette that was roughly 3 meters tall.
“Huo Lei? Why are you here?” Lin heaved a sigh. She then retracted her claws that were just about to tear open the skin of her thigh and gradually made her way towards him.
“The instructor was worried that you two would fight in the middle of the road, that’s why he asked me to secretly follow both of you from behind… Now that I’m here, it seems that I arrived at the perfect moment,” Huo Lei, whose hand was single-handedly raising the stone pillar in a carefree manner, opened his mouth and replied. When he pushed it away with his hand, the massive pillar laid on its back and smashed to pieces on the empty ground.
“You arrived just at the right moment. But I’d like to ask you to withdraw for the time being.” Lin sighed in a slightly helpless manner.
“Eh? Why? I’m just in time to help you out with the rescue, am I not?” Huo Lei had a simple and honest expression on his face as he faintly wondered why.
“Your image isn’t too good. The children are crying even harder.” Lin pointed at the two pitiful small children behind Huo Lei, both of them were still grouped up together and sobbing.
“Erm… How could this be on me… you should blame my parents for giving me such a fearsome look, right?” The two small children behind him cried even harder after they saw his face when he turned around, this caused Huo Lei to feel extremely aggrieved as his heart turned stone cold.
“Leave the rescuing to me. You should go back first and wait for orders. In the future, if you don’t have any reasons, try not to come out too often. A troll walking on a human street would definitely arouse some panic… However, it seems that someone was probably up to something in the border city. Headquarters must have received some news about it by now.” Lin narrowed her eyes and looked beyond the area behind the exit.
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