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墨書 Inktalez
Zhang Qiu picked up the fallen Satellite Phone and replied to Bai Jingwei, "Just now, Bam experienced a strong earthquake."
"Are you all okay? How is the situation in Bam? Do you need to come back immediately?"
"We're fine. The situation in Bam is still unclear, but I can't go back."
"The support team will arrive soon. If there's an emergency, contact me immediately."
"Okay."
After hanging up, the Servant took the phone. Inside the room, unaware of the situation outside, Prince Banan stood among a group of bodyguards with a furrowed brow. The White-Bearded Man had already left the room.
"Follow me out!"
Prince Banan commanded as he stepped forward. The White-Bearded Man and the bodyguards followed closely behind, with the Servant having already gone ahead to open the door. Zhang Qiu and Lucia exchanged glances and quickly followed.
After the earthquake, the corridor remained calm; the walls were intact, and the chandeliers held firmly in place. If it weren't for the shattered decorative vase on the floor, it would be hard to tell that anything had happened here.
Prince Banan walked down the corridor, and people coming out of rooms greeted Your Highness before instinctively falling to the back of the line. By the time Your Highness exited the palace, a long line had formed behind him.
Outside the palace, soldiers stood at high alert, their guns loaded and aimed at the street leading to the palace. Tanks and armored vehicles had started their engines, ready for movement at any moment. A khaki Jeep drove in from a distance, slowing down just before it reached the steps, leaving a long black mark from its rubber tires on the ground.
A Major wearing a red beret jumped out of the vehicle and saluted Prince Banan. "Report Your Highness, an earthquake occurred in the capital area five minutes ago. The palace's defenses were not affected. Please give Your Highness instructions."
Prince Banan shielded his eyes from the sunlight and gazed at the dense formation of guards nearby, nodding in satisfaction. "Order all guard units to strengthen their vigilance and remain alert; we must be cautious during times like this."
"Yes!"
The Major stood at attention and saluted again before swiftly jumping back into the vehicle. The Jeep sped away. At that moment, the White-Bearded Man hurried out of the palace and approached Prince Banan. "Your Highness, we have identified the source of the earthquake."
"Where is it?"
"In Kowell, initial estimates suggest that this earthquake exceeds magnitude eight, with strong tremors felt in several major cities."
A hint of tension flashed across Prince Banan's face as he hurriedly asked, "What is the situation there?"
"Not good," the White-Bearded Man shook his head. "The local garrison reports that the earthquake has caused extensive damage to buildings, roads have collapsed, and the few remaining wells have experienced blowouts. The residents have been forced to take to the streets for refuge. According to meteorological reports, Kowell will soon face heavy rain, which will undoubtedly be another severe blow."
"Fortunately, we evacuated most of the crowd earlier," Prince Banan sighed and added, "Kowell is located at the border between our forces and the enemy's; we must proceed with utmost caution!"
"The soldiers on the front lines are working hard to repair the shelters and prevent an enemy attack."
"Good," Prince Banan nodded thoughtfully and asked, "What about the situation in the south near the epicenter? Do you have any information?"
The White-Bearded Man nodded, sighed again, and slowly replied, "The earthquake has also caused severe damage in Southeast. However, due to its larger population and land area, they did not evacuate residents outside of the combat zone, so the situation is quite grim. Reports from the garrison indicate that many Southeast residents are stranded on the streets without effective rescue."
"These are all citizens of Santania..."
Prince Banan sighed as he looked up at the sky; a mass of dark clouds was drifting in from afar, obscuring the sun.
After patrolling around the palace, Prince Banan returned inside. The centuries-old structure had become a solid fortress thanks to modern technology. He took command at the center of the fortress while officials and communicators moved back and forth as reports of losses from the earthquake continued to arrive.
Prince Banan went to the conference room to handle state affairs while Zhang Qiu and Lucia returned to their rooms. In light of the current situation, there was little they could do to help, but at least they were safe within the palace.
After a night without incident, they woke up at ten o'clock. There were no aftershocks as expected, and Zhang Qiu had slept very soundly. Lucia lay beside him with her eyes tightly closed, long eyelashes casting shadows over her eyelids. Zhang Qiu's gaze shifted from Lucia to the ceiling as he stared blankly at it.
He vaguely remembered experiencing a major earthquake during middle school while attending a chemistry class. Suddenly, a rumbling sound approached from afar; before he could react, the classroom began to shake. The Chemistry Teacher calmly stood at the podium and shouted, "Don't be afraid."
Zhang Qiu peeked out from under his desk; most classmates had found positions under their desks for safety. He fixated on a protruding load-bearing wall and a creaking fan, feeling as if they might suddenly collapse onto him. Just as he anticipated disaster, the shaking stopped. The Chemistry Teacher picked up chalk and resumed teaching while an announcement came through the loudspeaker: "All students are to evacuate in an orderly manner under their teachers' guidance."
Chemistry Teacher dropped the chalk, opened the door, and watched as the students filed out one by one. Zhang Qiu squeezed through the crowd and glanced back, while Chemistry Teacher stood at the classroom door as if nothing was happening. At the corner of the stairs, the head teacher, staff members, and teachers coming out of the office were already waiting there, while the students split into several groups and rushed downstairs. At that moment, a voice erupted from the crowd: "Damn it, what’s with lining up when we’re about to die?"
Immediately after, a tall and thin boy came flying down the stairs, colliding with two female classmates. As he passed by Zhang Qiu, Zhang Qiu grabbed his arm. The tall boy turned around and shouted, "What the hell are you doing!"
Just as he finished speaking, another arm was grabbed by someone else. Zhang Qiu looked up to see a classmate from his own class; while they held onto the tall boy, the head teacher had already come down from the upper floor. The head teacher organized the students' evacuation while taking away the tall boy. The girls who had been knocked down were helped up by others and came over to thank them. This was how Zhang Qiu first met Yang Yu, who later became a very close brother.
Lost in thought about that memory, Zhang Qiu smiled lightly. Suddenly, the door was pushed open, and Zhang Qiu froze; Servant would not normally come in to disturb him. He stood up to look, and a line of soldiers marched into the room.
"What are you doing!"
Zhang Qiu shouted, eyeing the newcomers warily. Six fully armed soldiers entered in formation, their faces covered with masks, AK-47 assault rifles slung across their chests.
Lucia was startled awake by Zhang Qiu's shout; rubbing her eyes, she sat up and asked, "What time is it... ah!" Lucia screamed upon seeing six soldiers inexplicably appear in the room, wrapping her arms around herself tightly in her pajamas and shouting, "Who are you!"
One soldier stepped forward. Zhang Qiu quickly reached under his pillow where he had hidden a pistol confiscated from the National Defense Force. Just as he was about to raise his gun, the advancing soldier pointed his weapon directly at Zhang Qiu, saying with a smile, "Don't move."
Zhang Qiu halted his action, his hand still resting on the gun as he stared unblinkingly at the soldier before him.
After a tense minute of standoff, the soldier ripped off his mask to reveal an Asian face. As he did so, the other five soldiers followed suit and removed their masks—each one was also Asian. Suddenly realizing something, Zhang Qiu asked immediately, "Instant noodles?"
"Tea egg." Upon exchanging code words, the leading soldier stood straight with his legs together and announced loudly, "Former Army Special Forces Sergeant Azure Hawk, reporting with White Wolf Special Assault Team."
With a proud smile on his face, Azure Hawk took a step forward and said, "Sorry for the intrusion; we received intel about one male and one female but didn’t expect you two to be sleeping together. We chose this method to meet you partly out of habit and partly to keep our presence discreet."
Zhang Qiu nodded and considering that Lucia was still in her pajamas said, "Could you wait outside for a moment? We need to change before we talk."
"Of course."
Without hesitation, Azure Hawk turned around decisively and led his team out.
"Let's get up," Zhang Qiu said.
Lucia nodded, and the two began to change their clothes. After getting dressed, for the sake of confidentiality, Zhang Qiu called the six back into the room, as he had many questions to ask. However, before Zhang Qiu could pose any inquiries, Azure Hawk spoke up first.
"Professor Bai instructed us to ensure your safety along with this lady's. Of course, you can assign us some tasks."
Zhang Qiu noticed that Azure Hawk emphasized the word "some," but that was not the main point; he had more pressing questions to ask.
"Where did you get those outfits?"
"We took them from the soldiers of the Captive."
Azure Hawk spoke without any expression, but Zhang Qiu was taken aback. "You guys captured the Guards outside the palace?"
"We knocked out a few stationed soldiers far from the palace and took their clothes before rushing over," Azure Hawk glanced at his watch. "At this point, those soldiers have already woken up, but it doesn't matter; they didn't even see our faces. I understand that this country is at war, so by default, they will assume it was done by the enemy."
Hearing this from Azure Hawk, Zhang Qiu felt reassured. Special forces are known for their boldness and skill; Zhang Qiu had no doubt they would directly capture the palace Guards. If the palace Guards were captured, it would undoubtedly cause significant trouble. As it stands now, these brawny warriors seemed quite sharp-minded.
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