This all traces back to the jujube tree outside her building—the one that had just been blown over by the demonic wind.
The tree had grown out of the flowerbed downstairs. Whether it originated from some discarded jujube pit, no one knew. In any case, it was wild, unlike the other trees that needed IV drips in spring and cotton-padded jackets with white paint in winter. This was a somewhat older neighborhood with low property fees, and the property management company was notoriously hard to track down, so they let the tree grow and grow until it became lush and sprawling.
When Yun Shui first rented this place, she hadn't paid much attention to the tree—until its thick branches pressed against the upper half of her window, leaving the bathroom window able to open only halfway.
Not only that, Yun Shui was especially worried that if it kept growing, it would scratch the window glass, and then the landlord would demand compensation.
So that very day, she added a handheld mini gardening saw to her cart, priced at over 180 yuan.
She hesitated and didn't buy it at first. Then she came across an ad for a self-defense kit for women living alone, and the protective gear package looked very tempting—unfortunately, it cost 200 yuan. She figured she might as well buy a chainsaw instead, and placed the order during the Double Eleven sale.
Back then, she opened the lower half of the window, held her breath, summoned all her courage, and barely managed to saw through that troublesome thick branch with the saw.
Yun Shui felt incredibly proud of herself. For an ordinary person with average hands-on skills, this was practically a feat. She even posted about it on her Moments to celebrate.
Her grandmother in the rural south grew persimmon trees and fig trees that needed regular maintenance. Yun Shui found the saw quite handy, bought one for her grandmother too, and then completely forgot about her own little chainsaw.
Now that she remembered it, it was like… finding a treasure!
But did that heavy square battery still have any charge?
She thought back, retrieved the chainsaw from the depths of the cabinet, opened the cardboard packaging, pressed the battery latch, attached the battery to the saw, and flipped the switch. The screeching, whirring sound roared to life!
Yun Shui wept tears of joy! Thank modern technology—once she had internet again, she would definitely write a glowing five-star review!!
Gripping the chainsaw with both hands, she held her breath and began sawing along the gap.
The door was made of a composite of wood and plastic, not particularly sturdy. The gears ground against it with a grating, teeth-aching screech. After a while, just like sawing through a tree branch, she cut through the jammed edge of the door!
She turned off the power, tested it cautiously, then gave the door a hard shove with a "bang." Fortunately, nothing came crashing down.
First step to victory!
But the wound on her palm was stinging a bit. Her thumb and forefinger were sore and weak, and her whole body felt drained.
She walked out of the bathroom in a daze.
The rest of the apartment was utter chaos. Things were scattered everywhere, cabinets were toppled over, and there was barely any room to step.
She found her hiking backpack, hesitated for a moment, then still packed the chainsaw inside.
One of the wardrobe doors had split open and lay fallen on the floor.
Yun Shui pulled clothes out from the gaping hole, hastily changing from her pajamas into a spring base layer and jacket. Worried about the temperature dropping outside, she also stuffed a very light down jacket into the bag and slipped on her sneakers.
She looked around, then spotted the cream-yellow bag in the corner. She opened it—the power bank lay quietly inside.
She let out an inexplicable sigh. She stuffed the power bank and a few bottles of mineral water into the hiking backpack. By now, it was already getting heavy.
The snack cabinet had also toppled over, lying face-down. She strained to right it. It had been less than a month since the New Year, and the snacks were nearly finished, with no time yet to restock. There were only a few small bread rolls, some biscuits, and chocolate—pitifully little. She found the medicine kit, opened it, grabbed a handful, and stuffed it into her bag.
Worried about aftershocks, she scavenged quickly, not daring to linger too long, nor having the presence of mind to check for anything she might have missed. Reaching the front door, her luck ran out—it wouldn't open either. But it was an iron door, nearly impossible to saw through.
She slapped it anxiously a few times and shouted, "Is anyone there?!"
The air was silent.
Yun Shui walked to the window. She remembered when she'd rented the place—she'd initially been reluctant because the ground floor was damp and prone to rats, but the price and location were too perfect, so she'd finally compromised.
Despite her exhaustion and despair, she was grateful for the ground floor, which left her with working limbs and breath in her lungs. Yun Shui opened the window. Below was the neighborhood's lawn. She tossed her bag out first, then threw a quilt down to cushion the landing, and gritting her teeth, climbed out.
An unexpectedly deathly stillness.
Buildings had collapsed into rubble. The sky was a dull gray tinged with an indescribable blackness, like a worn-out tablecloth.
The earthquake had likely struck around 3 a.m. Even two hours later, all signals, power, and networks had been completely cut off.
She couldn't tell whether a batch of residents had already been evacuated or if rescue workers hadn't yet arrived. The rubble with exposed steel bars was utterly silent, with no sign of human life.
The ground was a mess of dust mixed with mud from the rain, and she could barely make out where she was.
After the rain had fallen, several aftershocks followed. The air was both damp and faintly tinged with smoke and dust.
Toppled buildings and puddles outlined in black looked like the standard "disaster zone" from the news, as if she could imagine the somber headlines of newspaper front pages.
Alive. What now?
Where to go?
That churning fear and oppression spread like a rising tide.
Yun Shui zipped up her jacket. For safety, it seemed she should flee toward open ground.
In the early hours, this area remained dim and lightless.
Streetlights had been knocked flat to the ground. Yun Shui turned on the flashlight function of her communicator, terrified of accidentally stepping into cracks and gaps. Her neighborhood was older, with a not-very-high occupancy rate, yet the rate of structural damage was considerable.
The collapse of buildings had kicked up large swaths of dust, mixed with mud—choking, foul-smelling, and obstructing visibility.
Not far away came the sound of sobbing, and weary voices calling out for family and friends. In the distance, someone seemed to be digging with a shovel. Farther still, barely visible, there was the sound of an ambulance, but it was too far away—possibly a hallucination.
She regretted never learning any practical earthquake knowledge. Where should she go now? Seek help? Could bomb shelters withstand earthquakes?
A few hundred meters away stood a large loudspeaker, from which a hoarse, strained voice blared: "Everyone, please evacuate immediately. Do not linger. Head to open areas for safety." Looking closely, she saw the voice was pre-recorded, a lone speaker perched atop a broken wall.
Between the residential area and the Core Zone lay an open park—spacious enough and close by. Yun Shui lowered her head and trudged toward it.
But everything around her was in ruins, and she could barely orient herself. Navigation was useless too.
She pressed on stubbornly by memory, tired and hungry. The sky was faintly paling, and she switched off her flashlight. On the streets, only a few shadowy figures drifted by, hurrying along like ghosts.
She desperately wanted to know where everyone was headed, where they could seek help, collect supplies, and obtain temporary housing, and when communications would be restored. The communicator showed 5:25 in the morning. Gaotang Fortress was like an isolated island at this moment.
Her legs grew tired from walking, and she had no idea where she had wandered to. She cautiously found a wall that looked sturdy, leaned against it to rest for a moment, and prepared to take a bite of bread.
Suddenly, she overheard hurried passersby talking in the darkness: "I heard the energy zone exploded. All the police have rushed over there."
"The energy zone—how devastating must that be?"
"Armored vehicles are all heading that way."
Yun Shui's heart sank. She hastily swallowed a mouthful of bread with effort, packed her things away, and continued walking.
Gaotang Fortress wasn't very large. She originally lived right on the border between the Core Zone and the residential area, very close to the park. But without navigation, she had truly strayed off course, gradually ending up near the villas of the Core Zone. She was about to ask for directions when suddenly her communicator vibrated.
Had the signal been restored?!
She unlocked it at lightning speed and saw an unfamiliar app pulsing—its icon was a red "S" on a black background. She opened the interface and only then remembered that this was actually some kind of plugin for their internal contact app. It seemed the Fleet Commander had installed it on her communicator during overtime at the last auction, allowing them to locate each other. But she clearly had no signal at all, yet she had received a notification from this app.
"Jiang: [Location]"
"Jiang: [Location]"
"Device connecting…"
"Jiang: [Location]"
Logically, military signal restoration would be quick, and high-ranking officers would likely already be able to communicate freely. But she vaguely remembered that this app was bound to the Fleet Commander's wristband locator?
Was it some kind of high-tech method of the Fleet Commander's, or had she entered the range of his wristband signal?
She hesitated, then tapped on the location.
The border of the location display suddenly turned red, and a distress icon popped up. Soon, a red dot on the interface began to flash. At the same time, a dense cluster of about a dozen black dots appeared on the icon.
One of the black dots was flashing with light and was much larger than the others, shifting in response to her movement.
Just how many people had the Fleet Commander tracked?!
If the flashing red dot continuously broadcasting rescue signals and coordinates was the Fleet Commander himself, then the black dots were the subordinates or comrades he had tracked. The Fleet Commander had top-level authority on his end—once she clicked, he could obtain her location. At the same time, over a dozen other people were also in this system.
But…
Yun Shui trembled as she looked left and right. The black dot closest to the red dot was her own!
The Fleet Commander was also in the Core Zone?!
But what use was she? Alone and defenseless, what could she possibly do?
The Core Zone, once heavily guarded, was now in complete chaos. In the past, near the official residence, there would have been soldiers with solemn faces and loaded weapons everywhere. But now, perhaps they had all gone to the energy zone for rescue operations, there didn't seem to be many maintenance or rescue personnel around. Still, Yun Shui was stopped.
A man who looked like a military officer blocked her way: "What are you doing! Don't wander around at a time like this—everyone, head to the flowerbed park!"
The app in Yun Shui's communicator was still vibrating nonstop. She asked uneasily, "Excuse me, is the official residence badly damaged? My superior is still inside."
The officer looked indifferent, unwilling to reveal much: "Ordinary civilians, please evacuate on your own!"
Yun Shui took a deep breath. "I'm a civilian official from the Secretariat under the Silverstone Defense Committee in the Fortress's Core Zone. My superior just sent out a distress signal. Please send someone to search and rescue!"
The officer was skeptical. "And your work ID?"
Yun Shui: …
It was buried somewhere in the rubble back home!
She hastily showed the officer her communication software, trying to intimidate him with the Fleet Commander's rank. "My superior is Jiang Xie, Fleet Commander of the Alliance Flagship 'White Rainbow.'"
Fortunately, that name thundered through the military. Given the extreme shortage of personnel, the still-hesitant officer finally sent a soldier to escort her inside, promising that if the Fleet Commander was truly trapped, they would do their best to dispatch aid.
Yun Shui pulled on a protective suit, watching her black dot draw closer and closer to the red one on the map. As she pulled on her helmet and jogged alongside the soldier, she asked, "How badly damaged is the Core Zone?"
The soldier replied, "Last night in the Core Zone, besides the earthquake, criminals also orchestrated a bombing. The official residences' quake-proofing devices were destroyed. Casualties are still unknown."
The red and black dots nearly overlapped.
Not all of these official residences were occupied—in fact, some military officials rotated shifts and stayed in the Central District dormitories on standby. Not much rescue effort had been allocated to this area. They probably also had to station troops in the Shell District to guard against Star Pirate raids. They were stretched to the breaking point.
There was almost no one near the Fleet Commander's residence. If he hadn't sent out a location signal, who knew how long it would take for the professional excavation teams, far away, to dig their way over.
The soldier pulled out an instrument to scan the entire structure; the AI assessed it as temporarily safe.
Yun Shui and the soldier split up to search. The residence hadn't completely collapsed—windows were shattered, some walls had fallen. The spacious villa stood empty and hollow.
Yun Shui called out, "General? Are you there?"