Chapter 175: Look Quick, the Ground Has Cracked
"Ow-oo, ow-oo!"
Meng Ci and Shen Que had just finished packing the tent when Eggplant started crying out in anxiety again.
"Damn it!"
Meng Ci looked around. Everyone was busy with their own tasks; no one seemed interested in their belongings or vehicle.
The only explanation was that Eggplant had cried out because another earthquake was happening.
"What's going on?" Meng Ci leaned toward Shen Que and asked in a low voice.
Weren't we supposed to have just the one tremor?
Shen Que shook his head.
He quickly threw the tent and other items onto the off-road vehicle and continued to untangle the bedsheet and ropes.
"Earthquake, it's another earthquake!"
The ground shook once more. Having learned from the previous experience, everyone crouched down protecting their heads.
However, this tremor wasn't as strong, so people still had the leisure to chat.
"Province M has never had an earthquake before. How come we've had multiple tremors now?"
"Province M has also never been this hot before. Having an earthquake is no big deal."
"That's right. It's the end of the world; nothing should surprise us anymore."
...
Perhaps because the tremor was minor, or perhaps because everyone had been through too much already, things calmed down quickly, and people even felt like talking.
Meng Ci and Shen Que leaned against the off-road vehicle, their bodies barely hidden from view.
With no regard for their image, they sat on the scorching ground, which was hot enough to roast their backsides, casually fanning themselves with a piece of cardboard.
Crack!
"Look quick!"
"The ground…"
"Get out of the way."
Meng Ci and Shen Que were still unaware of what was happening. Because the tremor was minor, they stood up upon hearing the warnings.
They saw that the once-smooth ground had cracked open slightly during the tremor.
In the blink of an eye, the crack widened, and some people who hadn't managed to move away fell in, without even a chance to call for help.
"Husband, husband…" A woman lay on the ground, her hand reaching into the crack.
"Old Zhao!"
...
Many called out names and titles. It seemed many had fallen into the crack this time.
"Daddy, Daddy!"
A little girl, regardless of her safety, crawled to the edge of the crack and shouted into it.
However, the crack was bottomless, and no response came from within.
"Xiao Ya, don't worry. We'll find the authorities to help rescue him for you later."
"Yes, or we can wait until the earthquake ends, and the men will help you."
Some nearby residents, who knew the girl, tried to comfort her as she cried sadly.
But the little girl couldn't hear them anymore. Her mother had passed away during the extreme cold, and now her father, who had always protected her, was gone too. To her, life had lost its meaning.
In front of everyone's shocked gasps, the little girl, without a second thought, jumped into the crack.
"How foolish of this little girl."
"In times like these, just surviving is hard enough."
Still, someone hurriedly grabbed a rope and threw it in, hoping to save her.
However, an eight-meter-long rope wasn't enough to reach the bottom.
Moments later, the ground trembled slightly again.
The meter-wide crack closed bit by bit during the tremor, eventually disappearing, leaving only a small centimeters-long gap on the surface.
If not for that remaining gap, everyone would have thought what just happened was merely an illusion.
Some people began digging with their bare hands, crying and shouting.
In just five minutes since the crack appeared, chaos ensued.
Some cried, some comforted, and others pulled people away.
Meng Ci and Shen Que exchanged a glance, their expressions heavy.
After tidying up the items, Meng Ci and Shen Que drove away unimpeded while these people were immersed in grief.
As the park became increasingly distant in the rearview mirror, Meng Ci leaned back tiredly against the seat.
Before he transmigrated into this book, Meng Ci had only seen the horrors of earthquakes on TV and his phone. This was the first time he had directly faced one.
Especially when the ground suddenly cracked open, only to silently close again, swallowing people whole, leaving no trace of them behind.
Fortunately, they had been relatively far from that crack just now.
"Shen Que, you said that Province M wasn't supposed to be a place prone to earthquakes, yet the tremors were so strong."
"What about other places?"
Meng Ci suddenly thought of the fact that Provinces S and Q were frequent earthquake zones.
Shen Que shook his head.
Now that the communication systems had collapsed and roads to various places were damaged, the frequency of communication between cities had naturally decreased.
Thus, Shen Que from his previous life had no knowledge of the situation in other cities.
Meng Ci sighed, then felt annoyed in his heart. If only he had remembered the earthquake earlier, maybe they could have found a way to warn Provinces S and Q about it.
Knowing what Meng Ci was thinking, Shen Que reached out and patted his head.
"Enough, don't think about it. We've already done more than enough."
If it weren't for Shen Que's letter and the medical equipment Meng Ci had placed in the hospital, there would have been even more deaths.
Meng Ci nodded. He was only sad for a moment, as natural disasters were beyond the control of ordinary people.
Thus, Meng Ci quickly perked up.
Meanwhile, in Provinces S and Q, due to the sudden earthquake, not only did dilapidated buildings collapse, but even the newly built refugee houses had crumbled.
Seeing that there was no one around, Meng Ci took out half a watermelon from his spatial storage and ate it with a spoon.
Of course, he didn't forget to feed Shen Que as well.
Shen Que and Meng Ci were not in a hurry to return to West Mountain Wilderness. Instead, they planned to drive around and explore.
Considering it a camping trip to relax their minds.
Thus, Shen Que drove the car eastward.
Before the apocalypse, there had been an amusement park to the east. After all this time, it had likely deteriorated and collapsed.
Moreover, that area had nothing, making it a suitable place for a quiet camping trip for two.
The car drove for over an hour before reaching the destination.
Many of the devices in the amusement park had been dismantled, with useful parts taken away, leaving behind only a pile of wreckage.
Shen Que drove the car directly into the amusement park and finally stopped in front of the haunted house.
The characters for "haunted house" were written in such a way that, despite everything, they were still quite conspicuous.
With the surrounding area in ruins, an ordinary person might find it terrifying, but Meng Ci and Shen Que were not ordinary people.
The reason they chose this place was that the haunted house was still standing, and they could drive the car inside to block the entrance, making it a suitable place to stay.
Now that it was the apocalypse, there wouldn't be anything scary inside the haunted house.
However, Meng Ci and Shen Que decided to check it out first to see if the place was suitable.
But as soon as they reached the door, a foul odor hit them!
"Gah!"
Meng Ci grabbed Shen Que's arm and bent over, gagging.
Of course, he was just dry heaving and didn't actually vomit anything up.
Shen Que's expression was also difficult to describe as he quickly led Meng Ci to the SUV.
Shen Que then took a bottle of mineral water from the car and had Meng Ci rinse his mouth.
Eggplant, who had been marking his territory nearby, ran to Meng Ci and rubbed against him for comfort.