So noisy…
Shen Qi felt like a thousand puppies were surrounding her, barking and stomping their feet, the barking mixing with a deep rumble into an unbearable racket.
She rolled over and pulled up the blanket to cover her ears, but some force pulled her back flat.
Her chest felt tight, like the feeling of Nuonuo pressing a paw on her heart every morning to wake her up.
Wait, barking? Nuonuo?
Shen Qi’s eyes snapped open, meeting a pair of glowing eyes in the dark.
It was her own dog, Nuonuo.
Almost instantly, Shen Qi sensed something was wrong.
Nuonuo’s body seemed to have grown out of nowhere, and its eyes looked like a pair of enlarged light bulbs.
The rumbling in her ears grew clearer, denser, louder, and the building itself began to shake.
An earthquake!
What was happening? Why had Nuonuo gotten bigger? Why was h City, which hadn’t had an earthquake in eight hundred years, suddenly shaking?
Shen Qi had a stomach full of questions, but there was no time to dwell on them now, survival came first!
She quickly rolled off the bed, grabbed the loose fur at the back of Nuonuo’s neck, and dragged it toward the bathroom.
The only earthquake-survival knowledge in her head told her that, living on a high floor, she should shelter against the inside of a load-bearing wall, ideally in a small space like the bathroom or kitchen, away from gas lines and appliances, in a “triangle zone”, because such spaces have strong structural cohesion, especially where pipes have been reinforced, giving them better support and higher seismic resistance.
Shen Qi decisively chose the triangle zone inside the bathroom and crouched down there with Nuonuo.
Nuonuo’s already-large frame had been one of the biggest among large dog breeds even before, and now that its size had doubled, it filled the bathroom the moment it stepped in.
Shen Qi, still in motherly-protector mode, tried her best to shield her “son” within the triangle zone, only to realize the unlucky child was simply too big, there was no covering it at all.
Now that was awkward.
Nuonuo’s furry face showed a look of helpless indulgence.
Its own poop-scooper was adorably foolish.
After a private sigh, the dog flipped its body with a paw and turned things around, shielding Shen Qi within the triangle zone instead.
The roles of protector and protected instantly reversed.
Sensing Shen Qi’s inner anxiety, Nuonuo lowered its head and nuzzled her cheek, offering silent comfort.
The strongest shaking of an earthquake usually lasts only about a minute, as long as she and Nuonuo could hold on through that, they’d have a chance at survival. Otherwise, it wouldn’t matter who protected whom, if fate decided to take your life, it could happen in seconds, as any death toll from a major quake would show.
Shen Qi had never lived in an earthquake zone her whole life, and like most people from quake-free regions, she’d only “heard of earthquakes, never seen one” [1]heard of earthquakes, never seen one (zhǐ wén qí shēng, bù jiàn qí xíng, 只聞其聲不見其形) Idiom, literally “only hearing the sound, never seeing the shape”, knowing … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2964209_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2964209_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. This was her first time experiencing one firsthand, and the magnitude wasn’t small either.
The rumbling grew loud enough to give her the illusion of ringing ears, and Shen Qi even felt the building starting to sink.
Thank goodness it was sinking straight down, if the building had snapped in half and tilted, someone on a high floor like her would have been slammed straight into the ground, an impact no less than jumping off a building. There’d be no surviving that.
The current jolting, sinking motion, though it left her dizzy, ears ringing, and rear aching, at least kept her alive for the moment.
Nuonuo thoughtfully tucked its big fluffy tail underneath Shen Qi, forming a natural cushion, and much of her discomfort eased at once.
Before long, the rumbling weakened, the peak of the quake had passed. But the shaking and sinking continued, the earthquake hadn’t stopped.
In the darkness, all Shen Qi could see were Nuonuo’s glowing eyes, which suddenly reminded her of another pair of eyes that also glowed.
So many people used to envy her for having both a cat and a dog, both affectionate and well-behaved, both protective of their owner. Back then she’d proudly joke, “Nuonuo and Little Tiger and I protect each other, and cling to each other!”
Shen Qi’s heart clenched, her voice trembling: “Little Tiger… where’s Little Tiger?”
She knew no one could answer her, because from the moment she woke up to the moment she hid in the bathroom, she hadn’t seen Little Tiger at all.
In an emergency, during the strong shaking she could only grab whatever was at hand, Nuonuo, and take shelter.
But her Little Tiger, her Little Tiger was lost. She hadn’t even heard its cry, maybe it had been drowned out by the earthquake, or maybe… after the strong shaking, that mischievous, endearing little cat… was already gone.
That cruel possibility brought tears streaming down Shen Qi’s face.
“Mmn…”
A whimper sounded, not from Shen Qi, but from Nuonuo.
Shen Qi, as if grasping at a lifeline [2]grasping at a lifeline (zhuā zhù jiù mìng dào cǎo, 抓住救命稻草) Idiom, literally “clutching at a life-saving straw”, like a drowning person grabbing any straw of hope, no … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2964209_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2964209_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, cupped Nuonuo’s big head and asked, “Little Tiger’s definitely fine, right? It’s so clever, it must have already hidden itself somewhere, waiting for us to find it… right?”
Nuonuo stared at her earnestly and nodded.
【Don’t worry, It’s fine, I saw It go outside.】
Nuonuo’s voice rang out inside Shen Qi’s mind, startling her so much her eyes went wide.
“Nuonuo… you… became a spirit?!”
Nuonuo felt helpless, its own poop-scooper’s priorities were bizarre. Wasn’t Little Tiger’s safety the more important thing right now?
Still, Shen Qi knew what mattered. After that involuntary gasp of surprise, she immediately steered the conversation back to Little Tiger.
“Little Tiger went outside? When? How did it get out? What did it go out to do?”
Four rapid-fire questions.
No wonder Shen Qi was frantic, in the middle of the night, Little Tiger was just a little cat, useless at everything and unable to finish its own food. For it to run outside on its own, right into an earthquake, was truly dangerous.
Shen Qi had already imagined Little Tiger, a little good-for-nothing cat, startled by the earthquake, wanting to come home only to find home destroyed, forced to wander alone, living a pitiful life without enough to eat or a warm place to sleep.
One look at her expression and Nuonuo knew her poop-scooper’s overactive imagination had struck again, and quickly cut her off.
【One minute before the earthquake, Little Tiger and I both sensed something was wrong. It wanted to go out on its own then, but didn’t tell me why. I was busy trying to wake you up, so I didn’t ask more.】
Nuonuo paused, its tone turning resentful.
【I called out to you for a full three minutes, and you just wouldn’t wake up. In the end it was the earthquake that woke you.】
Shen Qi: “……”
“Ahem, that’s not, I mean, well, my sleep quality is just really good!”
Shen Qi pushed down her embarrassment. There were too many questions in her mind, and it all felt faintly surreal.
She wanted to ask Nuonuo about itself, about Little Tiger, about the earthquake. And also… about how she and Nuonuo could suddenly communicate mind to mind.
But Nuonuo interrupted her train of thought again.
【We’ll talk about the rest later. We need to get out of the rubble first.】
Only then did Shen Qi realize the earthquake had gradually stopped, and that the apartment building she lived in had basically become rubble.
But… get out? How?
The place was already rubble, even if they waited for rescuers, those rescuers would need to carefully survey the collapse before acting cautiously to prevent secondary injuries.
Just the two of them, two living things at best, and buried in the rubble at that, how could Nuonuo make it sound like getting out was simple?
Shen Qi didn’t argue, but she didn’t agree either, subconsciously, she still thought of Nuonuo as a dog that needed her protection.
Shen Qi tried to multitask, both thinking those useless thoughts to calm herself and mentally digging up the earthquake-survival guide she’d learned back in school.
Waiting for rescue was a must, but she couldn’t just sit and wait passively either, a reasonable self-rescue effort mattered too.
As her thoughts wandered, she completely failed to notice that Nuonuo’s eyes were growing brighter and brighter, resembling the light from some high-tech searchlight, while its claws, once round and blunt, had become razor-sharp, gleaming with a cold metallic light.
At this moment, it was three in the morning.
……
City B, the National Earthquake Disaster Emergency Rescue Joint Office.
Staff were jolted awake from their sleep and rushed in overnight for emergency duty.
“There’s been an earthquake! The entire country, even the whole world, is shaking! h City got hit with a magnitude 8.3 quake! And over in Country R… it broke ten…”
The first-in-command’s face was cold and grim. “Didn’t the monitoring center give any early warning?”
The second-in-command’s face was just as grim. “…No, this earthquake is bizarre, it’s affected the entire globe with zero warning. Before it happened, the monitoring stations didn’t detect any precursors at all, and no other countries or regions received advance notice either.”
The first-in-command said, “Regardless, time is life. There will always be places with smaller tremors, like our City B, that can spare manpower to help. Now that the main shock has passed, contact the seismological bureau immediately, earthquake relief cannot wait. Huaguo will not abandon a single citizen!”
This earthquake was unprecedented, with no warning at all, alarming top leadership in every country and terrifying people worldwide.
Some countries, with almost their entire territory in earthquake zones, were hit with quakes exceeding magnitude ten, and their usual earthquake preparedness was completely useless against it. Leadership and citizens alike suffered massive casualties in the strong shaking, and since those countries weren’t well-governed or caring toward their people to begin with, riddled with factions and tangled interests, their governments quickly collapsed, leaving the situation in shambles.
Some countries prided themselves on strength and freedom and democracy, but in truth their politics served only the interests of major capitalists. With everyone affected by the disaster, post-quake relief brought the people little real benefit, state militaries each looked only after their own turf [3]state militaries each looked only after their own turf (zì sǎo mén qián xuě, 自掃門前雪) Idiom, “each sweeps the snow from his own doorstep”, an idiom for looking out only for … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2964209_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2964209_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, the central government lost credibility, state governments grew restless and tried to seize power, a handful of heavily armed interest groups rose up to grab control, and plenty of armed ordinary citizens survived as well, in no time, the political situation descended into chaos and unrest broke out everywhere.
A single global earthquake had shattered the whitewashed peace, exposing every ugliness beneath it.
Huaguo had no time to pay attention to all that, because the country had swiftly activated its special emergency response plan, launching rescue efforts nationwide while coordinating manpower, focusing relief resources on hard-hit areas like h City. The General Staff’s Operations Department, the Armed Police Headquarters, provincial military districts, the air force, and army groups all acted jointly, rescue personnel and supplies were rushed into place, determined not to abandon a single citizen’s life.
The night would not stand in the way of the resolve to rescue.
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