บท 64: Lost: Part 1
บรรณาธิการ: EndlessFantasy Translation
Cold and damp wind blew strongly from the Pearl Ocean, carrying with it plenty of humidity as it engulfed the entire Anduin province, forming a cold wave.
Fiers City, about sixty kilometers away from Huaisha City...
Fort Whitehawk was Xilin's largest military base, and it was closest to the Pearl Ocean. Due to the amount of personnel moving in and out of the base, it became the economic lifeline of Fiers City.
It was twenty past four in the morning.
On a busy pedestrian street in the commercial district, near Honghaidai Commercial Center...
Cars darted around the streets like a series of neon bands while crowds dispersed from the KTVs, bars, and Internet cafes.
As usual, they were all yawning, either still excited or totally worn out as they waited for transportation.
A few fashionable young lads were staggering while walking out of a bar.
"No more, no more. Any more, and I'll puke!"
A youth with silver ear piercings held on to a small tree by the pedestrian walk, and his face was pale as he panted.
His two companions behind him yawned, reeking of alcohol. They both looked at him with slight disdain.
"Weren't you like all crazy earlier?"
"My one pint was two of yours! Weak! Weak!" another man jeered at the youth.
"You!" The youth with the piercings looked over and was just about to yell when…
*Boom!!*
Suddenly, a huge, deafening explosion thundered from afar.
He only felt his legs wobbling, while his ears felt like they were violently being hammered by something.
In the night sky before him, a blinding flame shot up into the air and painted the skyline red.
*Boom!!*
Another explosion followed.
The three youths were stunned and simply looked in the direction of the flames.
Even the surrounding tall complexes could not block the flame as it shot out from one of the buildings, rendering the sky crimson.
The youth with the silver piercings paused for a moment before an ominous thought came to mind.
"That's… where… Fort Whitehawk is!!"
The other two were stunned when they heard that. They did not know how to react, but they instinctively knew that something big had happened…
Over on the streets in the commercial district, cars stopped as drivers peeked out to look.
Pedestrians looked up as some of them began to take photographs with their phones, and an unknown feeling of dread slowly welled in their hearts.
Fort Whitehawk's location was not a secret in Fiers City. Almost everyone there was familiar with its rowdy soldiers.
So, quite a number of people could tell at first glance that the fire was indeed coming from Xilin's largest naval base, Fort Whitehawk.
...
*Boom…*
A sudden quake dazed Lin Sheng and pulled him back from his unusual stupor.
Before he could recover, the room before him started to rapidly unravel...
Like a melting candle, or a swirling dye at times.
Everything before his eyes became a chaotic tangle of lines, and they began to spin and spin…
As he looked at the images before him, Lin Sheng's consciousness turned blurry.
"Chenchen! Chenchen!"
A panicked voice snapped him out of his daze.
Lin Sheng opened his eyes. Outside his room, his father, Lin Zhounian was pounding on the door.
"Coming!" he yelled in reply.
He quickly got off his bed and opened the door.
Lin Zhounian stood by the door, his face grim.
"Did you hear that, the quaking earlier?"
"The quaking?" Lin Sheng responded.
"An earthquake?" His expression changed before he ran back to his room to collect his stuff and escape.
"It happened twice, but there was nothing more after that. So it's probably not an earthquake. Something big somewhere may have exploded!" Lin Zhounian shook his head to reject the possibility of an earthquake.
"An explosion?" Lin Sheng said in realization. If it had been an earthquake, it would have trembled continuously, not just once or twice.
Gu Wanqiu had also gone over with a coat.
"That scared me. Getting shocked like that while sleeping is really not good for my heart. It's still thumping hard now."
Lin Zhounian moved to the window and looked out. He could see nothing.
"As long as it's not an earthquake. Let's wait a bit. If there's nothing else, then we'll leave it till tomorrow. There will certainly be news about it. We'll know by then."
Lin Sheng nodded. His father was right. Such an explosion would definitely hit the headlines the next day, be it on screen or on print.
The Lins waited for a few more moments, and after they were sure that there was nothing more, only they finally went back to sleep.
Lin Sheng lay in bed. His heart was simply filled with curiosity.
It was his first time encountering such a thing after living for so long.
For some reason, he thought of the geography teacher who had been arrested in school…
All sorts of random thoughts flooded his mind, and he could not sleep.
He ended up rolling around in bed until morning before he heard sounds from the television.
He quickly got up and changed before he exited his room.
Just as he entered the living room, he saw that his father, Lin Zhounian was holding the remote while sitting on the sofa. He was watching the morning news.
On the screen, a pretty news anchor with short hair, who was clad in a white western suit, grimly reported the latest local news.
"Breaking news. At four o'clock in the morning on April 29th, an explosion occurred in a massive warehouse containing fireworks near Fiers City.
"Currently, there are eleven reported deaths and thirty-two injuries. The cause of the explosion is still being investigated."
"An explosion in a fireworks warehouse?" Lin Zhounian frowned. "With such quaking to the point that we can feel it here even when Fiers is like miles away, how many fireworks was that?"
Lin Sheng did not say anything.
Gu Wanqiu had changed into her work attire and walked out of the bedroom.
"Don't be bothered by it. As long as it's not over here. Let's have our breakfast and go about our business. I'll cook noodles for you two."
"No onions, please," Lin Zhounian reminded.
"Coriander please!" Lin Sheng followed.
"Right, right, hold on you two!" Gu Wanqiu smiled as she entered the kitchen to cook.
Lin Sheng sat beside his dad and watched the news.
What confused him was the fact that the news had only spoken briefly about the explosion before it showed footage of the burning sky from last night.
They then swiftly moved on to another news.
It felt too short, and it was not being taken seriously.
"There are probably more casualties, or else they would not have touched on it so lightly." Lin Zhounian held a cigarette and spun it in his hand without lighting it up.
He had never smoked at home despite being a smoker for so many years.
"We can check online later. We'll probably learn some truths there," Lin Sheng said.
"Yeah, the net is much freer anyway, and they can't censor everything." Lin Zhounian smiled. "Right, it's not our problem, anyway. That aside, how are your studies going?"
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