Meanwhile, Jay was multitasking as he communicated with Kay and Qew to rescue the injured while telekinetically holding the entire mall in place, stabilizing it. Alongside, he made use of║Soul Sense║to scan every corner of the building and lock onto every soul trapped inside.
Through that, he identified those in the most critical danger and sent Kay and Qew after them.
'Kay, southwest corner, first floor. A father is pinned under a fallen concrete slab, bleeding heavily from a crushed leg. His son is still clinging to him. Use a Vitality Essence Fruit or he won't last long enough to reach a hospital.'
'Qew, third floor, east emergency exit. An old man's throat was crushed when the crowd trampled him in their escape... Clear his airway, or he'll choke to death in under two minutes.'
The siblings didn't hesitate, following their brother's orders despite passing by many others who were gravely injured, and seemed not much longer to live.
They blindly trusted their elder brother's judgement, and followed his instructions. Both their figures blurred, moving at speeds that left faint afterimages in their wake.
Although neither had reached Level 1, their stats already rivaled those of Tier-5 individuals. By right, with 50% of Jay's looted stats allocated for them, they should have been on par with fresh Tier-6s.
But Jay's growth rate was so fast that they had to take things slower, adjusting to the stats before using the looted stats that come through their Major ORIGIN SIGILS.
So far, they hadn't even adapted to 40% of what they had received, yet they already stood as equals to those at Tier-5.
That alone made them wonder how much stronger Jay had truly become. And the fact that he was holding up half a collapsing mall by himself just affirmed that their brother had grown beyond their comprehension.
Kay slid across shattered tiles and hurled the slab aside, revealing the father pale from blood loss with his son refusing to let go of him.
Kay pressed the glowing sap of the Vitality Essence Fruit into the man's mouth. Color slowly returned to his cheeks. The father gasped, then clutched his child tightly, tears running down both their faces.
"Thank you," he whispered amidst amazement and relief that his son was safe, even if his own leg was beyond saving.
Qew, meanwhile, forced twisted steel frames apart until she found the old man. His breaths rattled like broken glass, each one weaker than the last.
She quickly pressed the Vitality Essence Fruit sap to his lips and tilted his head back. He coughed violently at first, but the spasms gradually eased until he was breathing normally again. Then he looked at her with teary eyes.
"I thought… I would be buried here. May God bless you, young lady," he whispered, his voice trembling between gratitude and disbelief.
Not far below, on the Lower Ground floor, Dante stood beside Jay. He chewed down on a few Vitality and Stamina Essence Fruits to recover from his earlier strain.
With his breath steadying, he turned to Jay, "I'm better now. I'll join your siblings in the rescue. Where should I go?"
Jay gave a short nod. "Fifth floor, near the toy store on the south side. A little girl is trapped there. Both her parents were crushed under the rubble. Go."
With a sudden burst of wind, Dante vanished from Jay's side and reached the fifth floor within seconds.
There, he found her; a girl no older than six, sobbing quietly as she clutched a broken teddy bear. Dust streaked her cheeks where silent tears had carved lines. Her small body shook with fear.
Dante swept aside the heavy debris as if it were nothing more than cardboard and crouched before her, extending his hands gently.
"Did… did Mama and Papa send you?" she whispered in a fearful tone.
Dante's throat tightened. He couldn't tell her the truth, not here, not now. So he forced a soft, reassuring smile. "Yes. They did."
The girl threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his shoulder.
She wasn't the only one. Many had lost family members and friends in the collapse. As the rubble settled, some civilians dared to step into the ruined parts of the mall, searching for their loved ones. A few brave ones even helped pull survivors free.
But the ones who made the greatest difference were Kay, Qew, and Dante. Every few seconds, one of them emerged from the rubble carrying another survivor.
To the eyes of the onlookers, their actions seemed human, but not superhuman feats. That was Jay's doing. He made sure their actions appear normal and bent their perceptions so no one questioned what they saw.
At the same time, MJ silently altered all CCTV footage and deleted recordings from mobile phones before they ever saved.
The rescues continued, wave after wave of survivors being pulled out. Yet the official rescue teams still hadn't arrived. The earthquake had thrown the city into chaos, and heavy traffic jams made it nearly impossible for help to reach them quickly.
But oddly, those who arrived even before the official rescue teams were the news reporters. Dozens of them swarmed outside the mall, cameras already rolling, their voices sharp with urgency as they broadcasted the unfolding disaster.
"This is breaking news," one reporter announced breathlessly. "The earthquake has caused a partial collapse of the AMC Mall. Current estimates place the death toll at over 300, making this one of the deadliest mall disasters in the country's history."
Another reporter cut in, her tone grim yet oddly relieved. "Even with such a devastating number, experts say the toll is surprisingly low. A collapse during peak weekend hours, with thousands inside, should have claimed well over a thousand lives. Miraculously, those on the Lower Ground Floor managed to escape in large numbers. Many are calling them unbelievably lucky."
The cameras panned across sobbing families and dazed survivors streaming out of the cleared exit. "We're also seeing ordinary citizens risk their lives, heading back into the wreckage to rescue others. While professionals have yet to reach the site due to blocked roads, people here are not waiting for help. They're taking matters into their own hands," another reporter narrated.
Yet for all their urgency, none of the reporters dared to step inside the crumbled half of the mall themselves. None, except one.
A young man in casual streetwear had his phone strapped to a chest mount as he livestreamed. His voice was energetic, almost theatrical, while he dragged debris aside with one hand and steadied survivors with the other.
"You're watching history, folks! Lives are being saved as we speak! Don't forget to share the stream and hit follow. We're going viral tonight!"
While others watched him with disgust or disbelief, his viewer count surged by the thousands.
None of this escaped Jay's notice. His lips twitched faintly as he remembered who it was.
'Oh, that same guy? Got to say, he has some guts. Maybe he can be of use.'
≿━━━━━━༺❀༻━━━━━━≾
Author Note:
The first chapter of my Manhwa adaptation for EARTH's ALPHA PRIME is now publicly released on WEBTOON!! You can simply search the book title and find it.
It would mean a lot if you could subscribe, leave a like, and maybe drop a comment with your thoughts in Webtoon. Every bit of support helps increase its reach!
≿━━━━━━༺❀༻━━━━━━≾
Due to ongoing piracy concerns, the final 22 chapters of Volume 3 (Ch.351 to 372) are not posted publicly. They are exclusively available through:
📘 Amazon Kindle – Volume 3 eBook & PATRE0N
👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DRQNP1ZS
📅 Chapter Release Schedule
A total of 4 chapters every week, with 2 chapters / week for each book:
Earth's Alpha Prime – Volume 4
🗓️ Wednesday & Saturday
ALTER REALITY: Online – 1st Side Story of EARTH's ALPHA PRIME
🗓️ Monday & Friday
📖 Go check this new book out if you haven't already!
≿━━━━━━༺❀༻━━━━━━≾
Exclusive artwork for every free chapter is now available on my PATRE0N page! You can find the link in my Discord server.
╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
Discord Link for 'Earth's Alpha Prime' :
https://discord.gg/EmqX6fh9cV
╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯