Jiang Ye sat in his study, watching the holographic projection, which was from a mechanical soldier.
He didn't need to command; the command authority rested with the commander of the "Nest." The soldiers would follow their officers' orders and quickly complete the rescue. If Jiang Ye interfered, it would just cause trouble and was completely unnecessary. As the saying goes, a general outside the capital need not obey the emperor's commands.
The mechanical soldiers were boarding rescue shuttles and detaching from the "Nest," rapidly descending towards the street below.
A lateral earthquake was in progress.
The entire ground was visibly undulating, especially the tall office buildings, which swayed frighteningly. Puffs of thick smoke were rising from various locations in the city, possibly from ruptured gas pipelines causing localized fires.
The shuttle hovered a few meters above the street.
Jiang Ye clearly heard the rumbling of the earthquake, a thunderous roar like a thousand cannons firing.
The shuttle doors opened, and the mechanical soldiers began rappelling down. As soon as they touched the ground, many mechanical soldiers swayed, barely able to stand. People in the vicinity were lying on the ground, clutching their luggage. Cracks appeared on the asphalt road, one after another. Screams echoed in the distance. Trees by the roadside snapped and fell, crushing bystanders instantly. Some terrified cats and dogs began to dart through the streets. Fearing their children might be bitten, parents rushed forward and beat the animals to death. Bloodstains began to appear on the street, a mixture of human and animal blood, mingling with water gushing from burst fire hydrants.
A theater-like building by the roadside began to collapse. Wall plaster and concrete slabs fell off one after another. Glass shattered with a grating sound, breaking into countless fragments before crashing down together. The sidewalks along the road completely disintegrated, their tactile paving edges buckling with a clatter. Other residential buildings also started to shake, emitting loud noises. Through the windows, one could see ceilings and chandeliers falling inside with crackling sounds, and electrical sparks flying. In some places, flames erupted, sending black smoke billowing into the sky, likely from ignited appliances or batteries.
The mechanical soldiers began escorting people from the street onto the shuttles, along with their belongings.
The data of these individuals had already been loaded into the mechanical soldiers' memory banks. A glance at their faces was enough to identify those who needed to be moved. With each person sent onto the shuttle, their relevant data was uploaded to the military database.
After watching for a while, Jiang Ye made a gesture in the air and switched to the perspective of another rescue shuttle.
This shuttle appeared to be near a chemical plant. Some improperly stored chemicals that hadn't been transported or destroyed had detonated, with flames soaring into the sky, creating a horrific scene. Bloody, charred corpses lay scattered on the ground. Mechanical soldiers were using water cannons to blast a path into the industrial park for rescue operations. In the distance, an unknown building collapsed with a deafening roar.
Some people on the road were injured by explosions, bleeding profusely. Some children were trapped beneath toppled streetlights, motionless, their condition unknown. These children, having lived too comfortably, lacked basic common sense. They didn't even realize that seemingly sturdy streetlights could fall. When the earthquake struck, they saw cracks on the ground and climbed onto the streetlights, trying to get away from the ground.
The area was in utter chaos. People crowded the streets shoulder to shoulder, as if a stampede had occurred, with continuous cries and wails.
The mechanical soldiers were busy distributing medical kits, but the kits were also being looted. Jiang Ye heard the mechanical soldier captain calling for reinforcements over the communication channel.
After the main tremor subsided, the remaining shuttles in the "Nest" were dispatched en masse, like a swarm of bees flying from a hive, heading to all parts of the city.
Areas with more casualties and severe damage required priority rescue. However, people on all streets looked up at the shuttles, clutching their belongings and rushing towards the areas with more shuttles, all eager to board and leave. Some elderly people were pushed down and trampled, their heads bleeding, writhing in pain. The mechanical soldiers blew whistles and shouted, using tasers to shock people climbing onto the shuttles, but those behind continued to push forward desperately. The mechanical soldiers had to raise the shuttle altitudes so people couldn't climb up with their bare hands. Yet, some people stacked their luggage, and others dug out folding ladders from the debris.
Aftershocks soon followed, with a force almost equal to the initial tremor. Cracks spread across the ground like a spiderweb, and some people fell into the fissures, breaking their bones. More fires ignited, sending up plumes of black smoke.
Jiang Ye's eyelids twitched violently. He suspected some people were deliberately starting fires to gain priority rescue, as burnt furniture and houses were things they couldn't take with them anyway.
He was shocked by the chaos of the scene. What happened to the promised low crime rate and high quality of life on Har'er Star?
But then he understood. This was a matter of life and death. Perhaps those who boarded the shuttles first would survive, and those who boarded later would perish. It was a question of whether to survive by being despicable and shameful or to die with courtesy and deference. Those who survived could later restore their dignified demeanor and noble character to wash away their current disgrace.
"Humans really can't withstand a test," Cen Yemeng's voice sounded.
Jiang Ye was startled. He turned to look at her. She had entered the room at some point, holding a plate of cherry tomatoes. She had apparently come to bring food to her working husband but happened to witness the chaos in the holographic projection.
Jiang Ye took the fruit plate. "You can't say that. We think we are noble, but at a critical juncture, we might resort to any means."
"We've been through it before. When the Mil people descended upon Jiedian Star, you risked your life to save me. At that time, I felt that having our child was the right decision, and you were the man I could entrust my life to," Cen Yemeng smiled. "In critical moments, you were also very noble, willing to risk your life to save your girlfriend, unlike many men who abandon their wives and children when danger strikes."
"But do you remember?" Jiang Ye said. "I stole a police car then and forced the innocent female police officer who was maintaining order out of it."
Cen Yemeng suddenly froze, blinked, and seemed unsure of what to say.
"My nobility was only towards you. I considered you family at that time. But towards others, I was despicable, shameless, and ruthless."
"My thought at the time was that if the people on Jiedian Star died, it had nothing to do with me. As long as I could get my wife out, that was enough. Of course, that was just a dark thought at the time. Later, when I learned that so many people had died on Jiedian Star, I also felt very sad." Jiang Ye looked back at the holographic projection. "Look at these people fighting for their place. Many of them are doing it for their families. I am no different from them. None of us are noble. Normally, we are polite and gentlemanly, but at critical moments, our beastly nature is revealed."
Cen Yemeng said nothing. She reached out and stroked Jiang Ye's hair, then left the study.
Jiang Ye watched the holographic projection for a while longer, then took out his phone and sent a message to Che Zhen, ordering another "Nest" to be immediately dispatched to Har'er Star to evacuate the population in advance.
The earthquake forecast for Har'er Star now seemed unreliable. Such a massive earthquake occurring one to two weeks after the forecast, killing so many people, meant they had to plan ahead.