At eight o'clock the next morning, the alarm bells for City P were officially pulled. Anyone who hadn't woken up yet, or those already at work, heard the blaring sirens ringing out across the city.
Inside a residential building. "So annoying! I just got off the night shift and finally fell asleep. What the hell is going on out there?!" A man who had just crashed into bed roared out the window. He was finally having a good dream, only to be violently woken up by the relentless wailing of the sirens.
"Waaah! Waaah!" A baby started crying. "Hubby, go check on the baby." "What is going on today? These sirens just won't stop. Is a devil showing up or is there an earthquake?" The confused man got up to check on their six-month-old child. "Who knows, but it's definitely something serious," his wife said with a face mask on, acting as if the sirens were no big deal.
At a construction site. "Don't slack off! We have to finish this batch of work today." A foreman shouted at the workers who had stopped to look around. "Brother Liu, the city suddenly setting off the alarms definitely means something bad is about to happen." "Yeah, maybe those Terracotta Warriors are back." An older worker rubbed his arms, shivering at the mere thought of the Terracotta Warriors from last time.
"If you want to get paid, you better get back to work right now. Otherwise, don't expect a single cent!" The foreman yelled furiously. Right now, the project schedule was apparently more important than anything else. Hearing that their pay would be withheld, the workers below could only sigh and bury their heads back in their work. After all, they were still owed over four months of back pay. If the boss held onto their money, they'd have to eat dirt when they went back home for the new year.
Inside a factory. The workers on the assembly line were still working non-stop, looking as if whatever was happening outside had absolutely nothing to do with them. "Don't worry, everyone. I received news that a very special Public Safety Devil Hunter has come to help City P with this operation. So if anything happens, he'll definitely carry the burden for us. You guys just focus on the work in front of you," the line supervisor said while inspecting their progress.
"Supervisor, is that reliable? Why don't we just take the day off?" a young guy who had recently joined the factory suggested. "Yeah, I'm worried these sirens have something to do with those Terracotta Warriors from before," another young worker chimed in. "If you two are scared, you can leave right now. Just don't disrupt everyone else's work," the supervisor scolded irritably. He hated these new young recruits the most. They were disobedient and constantly talked back, unlike the veteran employees who just kept their heads down and worked hard.
"I'm not going to throw my life away here just for some money." The two young men tossed their hats aside, turned around, and walked out. Meanwhile, the rest of the factory continued to work away in a busy blur.
At the school. When the higher-ups issued the evacuation order, the school was the very first place to receive the notification. "Everyone, line up in an orderly fashion." The teacher stood at the door, evacuating the students and having them line up to head outside the school gates.
"Jade, don't you know the Devil Hunters from Dragon Team 1? What are the sirens for today?" On the way out, Jade's desk mate asked from behind her. During class, he'd frequently heard Jade bragging about having an incredibly strong uncle. Lately, she had also been bragging about knowing an even stronger big brother. In the eyes of her classmates, Jade was a girl with serious backing and connections.
"The Terracotta Warriors are coming. Hurry home, pack your things, and get as far away from City P as possible," Jade said bluntly. She had overheard Arata and the others discussing the Terracotta Warriors in the living room last night, so she understood the sirens better than anyone else in the school. "The Terracotta Warriors are coming?!" Jade's desk mate panicked. "What's wrong, are you scared? Well I'm not, because I have Uncle Jackie and big brother Arata," Jade bragged triumphantly.
.... "Attention all residents of City P. An important announcement is now being issued. It will not be long before the Terracotta Warriors that previously invaded City P appear once again. This time, their numbers are estimated to be dozens, if not hundreds of times greater than the last incident. We urge all residents to gather their essential belongings and evacuate far away from City P until the devil is eliminated." "Attention all residents of City P, an important announcement is now being issued..." The blaring warnings echoed endlessly through every corner of City P. Even turning on the TV would display an emergency breaking news broadcast.
After hearing the broadcast, residents who had personally seen the Terracotta Warriors, or had friends and relatives killed by them, were filled with panic. Having lived through it, they believed the broadcast more than anyone else and were currently frantically packing their belongings to flee. However, the residents who hadn't experienced the Terracotta Army invasion still clung to a sliver of false hope. Some of them had even started endlessly complaining.
"Where are you guys going with all those bags?" A middle-aged woman asked, seeing her neighbors rushing by with luggage. Compared to them, the middle-aged woman and her family looked completely calm and unbothered. "Didn't you hear the broadcast? The Terracotta Warriors are coming. Why aren't you guys in a hurry?" The man was shocked by their reaction, even starting to wonder if they had somehow missed the blaring announcements.
"What is there to be afraid of? If a devil comes, the Public Safety Devil Hunters will handle it. Those guys aren't just getting paid to sit around and eat for free." "But the numbers are way higher this time. I'm afraid even the Public Safety Devil Hunters won't be able to handle it." "If even they can't handle it, then what's the point of us running? They'll catch up to us sooner or later anyway." "We'll just take it one step at a time. Please excuse us, we need to evacuate." With that, the man carried his luggage and hurried downstairs with his wife and daughter. The middle-aged woman just rolled her eyes at his back. They could have easily just hidden in their home to ride it out, but they insisted on moving out.
At this moment, the main roads of City P were packed tightly with cars desperately trying to flee the city. Because everyone was in such a rush, minor fender benders were inevitable. And the second a traffic accident occurred, the entire road would instantly become gridlocked. Two men were currently standing at the front of their cars, engaged in a heated argument.
"Oh my god, the Terracotta Warriors are coming and you're still obsessing over a little bit of scratched paint?! Besides, if you really want to assign blame, it's entirely your fault!" "What is that supposed to mean? Why am I the one responsible?!" "If you hadn't recklessly changed lanes, how could I have possibly scraped your car?" "Cut the crap and just give me a thousand bucks." "Hey, can you guys up front hurry it up?! If the Terracotta Warriors suddenly show up, people are going to lose their lives!" someone yelled from the traffic behind them. "What's the rush? I'm not letting him leave until he pays up."
"Fine, consider this my bad luck." Under the constant urging from the cars behind them, the man reluctantly compromised, pulling some cash out of his wallet. But right as he was about to hand the money over, he noticed the other driver's eyes had glazed over. A second ago, he was acting completely arrogant, but the next second, his gaze suddenly softened. "It's just a minor issue, let's just get out of here quickly." With that, he got back into his car. The driver who scraped him was thoroughly confused, but he didn't have the time to overthink it. Once the two cars causing the bottleneck drove off, the congested road began to flow once again.
It wasn't until the driver had traveled a fair distance down the road that Arata's control over him finally vanished. Standing off in the distance, Arata had just used the Poppy Devil's ability, specifically targeting those who were obstructing traffic. Over the course of the morning, City P had been emptied of more than half its population. But there were still quite a few residents who refused to leave, trying to avoid the Terracotta Warriors by simply hiding in their homes. For these people, Public Safety officers went door-to-door, sweeping through every floor and every shop to evict them.
Occasionally, they ran into stubborn residents who refused to leave even if it killed them. "If they want to die so badly, then stop trying to save them. A few hundred dead bodies isn't nearly enough to let the History Devil regenerate its heart," Arata shouted to an officer who was busy trying to persuade one of them. Hearing that, the officer gave up and completely ignored the holdouts.
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