Chapter 607: The Undercity Flew Away
Chapter 607: Chapter 607: The Undercity Flew Away
"Okay, I’m calm, I’m not panicking." Liam Sterling clutched his head with both hands. He stared blankly at the ground, his eyes filled with anxiety and worry.
Ryan Rowe’s hands were trembling too. The moment Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick pulled him into the space, he felt the entire building start to tilt. He estimated the warehouse would have collapsed just a few seconds later.
Evelyn Ford was constantly using her consciousness to check the situation outside. As soon as things stabilized, she planned to leave the space and rush back to The Undercity as fast as she could.
Ronan Kendrick kept his eyes fixed on her. He knew what Evelyn planned to do and naturally wouldn’t let her go risk her life alone.
Inside the space, everyone sat quietly at the table. No one had the heart to sort through the messy supplies on the floor. Time ticked by, and after half an hour, the outside world suddenly fell silent.
Evelyn Ford stood up and looked at everyone. "Ronan and I will go out and take a look first. Don’t worry, we’ll be at The Undercity soon."
Zoe grabbed Evelyn Ford’s hand, looking at her with teary eyes. "Auntie, don’t go out."
"Don’t worry, Auntie will be fine. Just wait for good news."
With that, Evelyn Ford pulled Ronan Kendrick out of the space.
The two of them appeared on the ruins of the collapsed warehouse. The rain was still falling, and the air was thick with dust and a heavy fog, making it impossible to see anything more than ten meters away.
Climbing down from the pile of rubble, they waded through the murky water, slowly making their way toward The Undercity.
Whenever they encountered a vehicle along the way, Evelyn Ford would casually collect it into her space.
"There’s a deep trench to the side. Let’s go left." Ronan Kendrick led the way, pulling Evelyn Ford along. His steps were heavy and steady.
Water was gushing into the trench. Evelyn glanced at it once before looking away. There were no intact buildings or flat ground left at the base. Due to the collision and tearing of tectonic plates, the ground was riddled with fissures and deep trenches.
’The earthquake triggered by the tectonic collision won’t end this easily. There will probably be more severe quakes to come.’
The two of them hurried to The Undercity as fast as they could. Along the way, they could hear cries for help coming from collapsed houses, saw dying residents begging for rescue, and spotted people floating in the water, their conditions unknown.
The Undercity was located behind the parking garage. The earthquake had dislodged it from the ground, and the massive sphere was now wedged in a deep trench. Evelyn remembered Liam Sterling saying that when The Undercity’s defensive systems were activated, it could fly like an airplane or dive like a submarine—it could ascend to the heavens or burrow into the earth.
Evelyn Ford let Liam Sterling and Ryan Rowe out of the space. The four of them stared at The Undercity, stuck in the deep trench, all at a loss for what to do.
"Rhys Chase probably isn’t inside. Let’s go to the administration building to find him first."
Liam Sterling nodded hastily. "Okay. The Undercity has been locked from the inside. Once it’s locked like that, only Mr. Chase’s fingerprint can open it from the outside."
The administration building was a bit far from The Undercity, about a thirty-minute walk. They had to pass the hospital on the way. When the four of them reached the plaza in front of the hospital, they found that it too had collapsed into ruins.
This was no time for sentimentality or grief. Evelyn motioned for the others to follow. Even though they could hear cries for help from beneath the rubble, they could only harden their hearts and leave.
Just as the four of them arrived at the administration building, they ran into Rhys Chase. A large group of people followed behind him.
"Mr. Chase, it’s so good to see you’re okay! I was worried sick." Rhys Chase was uninjured, and Liam Sterling finally let out a breath he’d been holding. He quickly explained to Rhys what had happened after the earthquake, especially the situation with The Undercity.
"Let’s get back to The Undercity first. I suspect there’ll be a second wave of tremors."
As soon as Rhys Chase said this, the faces of the administrative personnel behind him changed.
"Commander, let’s hurry to The Undercity! My arm is broken. If I don’t get it treated soon, I’m going to die from the pain," a tall, skinny man urged.
Rhys Chase ignored him and instead walked over to Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick, offering them a solemn word of thanks.
Evelyn waved her hand. "We should get back to The Undercity as soon as possible. Once the earthquake subsides, we still need to rescue the others. The hospital and the shelters have both collapsed. Too many people are buried inside."
When the earthquake struck, there were tens of thousands of people in the cornfields. Although a few deep trenches had torn open over there, the situation wasn’t as severe, so tens of thousands managed to escape.
Liam Sterling sighed. "If I’d known, I would have distributed the first-aid kits earlier."
"Alright, let’s head back to The Undercity," Rhys Chase commanded, and everyone quickly started walking back.
However, just as everyone returned to The Undercity’s location, it suddenly shot out of the deep trench like a rocket.
"Damn it! Someone activated flight mode! It’s flying away!"
The Undercity was modeled after the Earth; it was a perfect sphere. A tail-like device suddenly emerged from the bottom of the sphere, and two enormous wings extended from its sides.
Rhys Chase’s expression was grim. The sphere was already airborne, and its flight speed was faster than an airplane’s. Even if they gave chase in a jet, they might not be able to catch it.
Liam Sterling was cursing up a storm at the side. He never imagined there would be traitors inside—that they would dare to activate flight mode and abandon them before Rhys Chase had even gotten in.
"How could they do this? I’m so pissed! This is The Undercity that Mr. Chase built with his own hands! How dare they just fly off with it!"
After rising thirty meters from the ground, the sphere shot toward the sky at top speed. In less than a minute, it had vanished from sight.
Rhys Chase stared blankly at the scene. ’Fortunately, I put all the supplies in Ronan Kendrick and Evelyn Ford’s hands. I’ll remember the lesson I learned today.’
"The Undercity needs to be rebooted every month. Without me, it will automatically shut down and become useless in one month."
Only after Rhys Chase said this did Liam Sterling stop cursing.
The other administrative personnel behind them were also muttering curses. The injured, tall, skinny man couldn’t take the blow; he staggered a couple of steps and fell directly into the muddy water.
"Mr. Chase, what do we do now? The Undercity is gone. We’re finished."
Evelyn Ford squeezed Ronan Kendrick’s hand. He understood her meaning and gestured for her not to worry. He knew Rhys Chase wouldn’t tell anyone else about the space.
"Go to the main plaza and set up tents. Grab tools and rescue any survivors."
Rhys Chase’s words still carried some weight. Although the other administrators were unconvinced, none of them argued, and they all followed him.
When they reached the main plaza, Rhys Chase told everyone to search the nearby ruins for supplies. Ronan Kendrick and Liam Sterling were the first to leave, and after a while, they returned with several bundles of waterproof tarps.
Just as they propped up the tarps, the second earthquake hit. Ronan Kendrick darted to Evelyn Ford’s side, and seeing that no one was nearby, the two of them quickly entered the space.
Inside the space, no one was in the mood to work. They all just sat on their chairs, staring blankly.
"Evelyn, Ronan," Officer Graham exclaimed. The others looked up and saw the two of them, looking utterly disheveled.
"What’s it like outside?"
"Not good. The Undercity is gone."
Everyone was stunned.
"I thought The Undercity was supposed to be safe? How can it be gone too?"