A massive flow of mud and rocks surged in from every direction. It looked like it was about to swallow the entire area, but that was only an illusion. The real danger wasn't the mudslide. That part was just a trick of the eyes.
Jing Shu relied on her night vision and saw everything clearly. The New World Tower was being cut away like a fresh piece of land, lifting, drifting, then floating off.
The whole tower felt like a lonely island pushed out into the sea. It drifted away with a speed that didn't make sense, and the scenery around it shifted until everything looked strange and unfamiliar.
Even with ten years of apocalypse under her belt, Jing Shu didn't fully understand what she was seeing. She only knew this had to be the "plate shift" phenomenon that started in the second year of the end times. The plates were either random or controlled by something unknown. They could be a mountain or a patch of land. Either way, they scrambled the map so badly that what used to be here wasn't here anymore.
Unfortunately, the ground under Jing Shu's feet happened to be one of those plates, and it had started moving.
Jun Jia pulled out her phone and cursed, "Someone reported a massive mudslide heading our way and said it might flood the New World Tower. We were preparing to push a notification to evacuate, but the signal in this remote place got blocked. We sent every emergency alert we could, and that's when I knew something was wrong. Then the cracks started spreading. Every exit road broke off one piece at a time."
Jing Shu pulled out her phone. No signal. She asked, "After the signal got blocked, did you send anyone out to ask for help?"
"Come on, let's check if Wang Miao managed to get anyone out." Jun Jia kicked the off-road vehicle in frustration, then led several people to the other side. She shouted, "Wang Miao, how is it? Did anyone escape?"
Wang Miao, who handled administration and logistics, looked miserable. "There wasn't enough time to evacuate. Only three convoys made it out. One vehicle got swallowed by the mudslide before we could even try to save it. As for the remaining two, I don't know if they managed to outrun it."
Jin Baba stared in shock, his car's headlights sweeping across the surroundings. Only then did he realize they weren't in the suburbs anymore. It felt like they were drifting on a ship. The mud and debris kept pushing the skyscraper along. It was unreal, completely dreamlike.
The tower was basically a tiny ship, and an enormous river of mud carried it away.
"All signals are blocked. We tried using the signal transmitter earlier, but it didn't work at all." Wang Miao sounded completely defeated. They couldn't even call for help.
Everyone went blank for a moment. When they planned this event, they'd accounted for every possible risk, even sudden disasters, but none of them imagined something like this. The entire tower getting cut loose and floating in a sea of mud, what kind of nightmare was this?
"Not even movies dare go this far." Jin Baba muttered after a long while.
Jun Jia patted Wang Miao's shoulder. "We've got so many important people missing. The higher-ups won't ignore this. Just hang on, we'll get rescued. If only we had a helicopter. Seriously."
If they had one, at least they'd have a way to pinpoint their location and get emergency help fast.
Wang Miao sighed again. "The biggest problem is we can't locate ourselves. I've no idea where we're drifting. There's not a single landmark left. And the people who escaped don't know which direction we're floating toward. Searching for us under these conditions is almost impossible."
The wind whistled sharply around them, proof of how fast they were moving. Jun Jia frowned. "We've gotta be going dozens of miles an hour. Let's just pray it stops soon."
The constant change in direction only made rescuing them harder.
Li Yuetian rushed over with a team of armed personnel, breathing heavily. "I've sealed off the tower. No one's getting out. Our people are stationed at every section. I also checked the perimeter, no immediate threats. I'll have people set up a boundary so no one falls if parts of the building collapse. Let's get together and draft a plan before we announce anything."
Lan Shao quietly let out a breath. Good, at least it wasn't a robbery. Even though the whole building got dragged who-knows-where, Jin Baba was here along with so many elites. The higher-ups would definitely organize a massive rescue effort. For now, all they had to do was…
"Sit tight and wait for rescue. Keep everyone calm. Don't let anything happen before help arrives. No injuries, no internal fights." Jun Jia spoke firmly. She held the highest administrative authority here. She was part of Wu City's leadership, after all.
"Yes!"
"Got it!"
Jun Jia continued, "Wang Miao, gather the list of all attendees for the elite auction, tally everyone present, and discuss food and lodging with the logistics supervisor. Figure out which supplies we still have and what we're missing. Report the shortage and we'll find a way."
Jing Shu frowned the entire time. Something felt off. Too familiar. Too similar.
This was probably not as simple as waiting for rescue. Plate shifts completely scrambled all known geography. It happened in America, and it happened in the mountains. For all she knew, they weren't even within Wu City anymore.
Wang Miao pulled up his phone and said, "We've got a thousand attendees for the elite auction, three hundred service and security staff, over a hundred administrative and logistics personnel, and six hundred armed personnel, totaling two thousand people. But the original developer, Boss Lü, brought more than two hundred people who've been living upstairs."
He added, "We planned for a two-hour auction, so we didn't prepare much food or water. What we have now might last these two thousand people for a day or two at most. Everything stored in the parking lot got separated when the plate split. Boss Lü probably has some food, but water is a serious problem. If we're stuck in this tower for more than seven days…"
In other words, the supply depot in the parking lot didn't come with them. Only the bare tower drifted away.
"Boss, Accountant Liu!"
A driver rushed over, excited. "That scared me to death. While we were transferring supplies, the ground over there cracked open. Thank god our truck was already inside or we'd never have made it."
Xiao Liu's eyes lit up. She nodded quickly, pulled the driver aside, and asked him a few more questions.
Which meant Jing Shu's shipment of Red Nematode Patty carts was still here.