Atlantis City, Eighth Avenue, the middle of the street.
Amid the crowd of pedestrians, a sudden boom rang out, followed by an explosion of blinding light.
Squeezed among the onlookers, Ma Qiu felt as if a fishbone had scraped across the surface of his eyes. A sharp pain struck, and then his vision turned completely white. He could see nothing.
Though he could not see, he heard even fiercer explosions erupt in succession. It was as if several iron hammers were striking one another in front of him, the deafening noise nearly rupturing his eardrums.
Boom!
At the final blast, he felt the air around him jolt violently before pressing toward him like a wall and slamming into his body.
Ma Qiu felt as though someone had fiercely rammed their head into his chest. He lost his balance and fell backward.
Before he could hit the ground, he instinctively tugged with his left hand, trying to pull Tang Na, whose hand he had been holding, over to protect her. But the instant he pulled, he was startled. Even in his temporary blindness, cold sweat broke out all over him.
At some point, his left hand had become empty. Tang Na had vanished without a trace.
Just as Ma Qiu was overwhelmed with worry, someone grabbed his clothes from behind. He was dragged backward, then gently placed on the ground.
During that time, Ma Qiu found that his sense of time had gone awry. He could not tell whether it had been seconds, minutes, or even longer.
In any case, he lay on the ground until his vision returned. Struggling to his feet, he discovered that the scene had already fallen quiet.
Turning his head, he saw Tang Na looking at him with concern.
"Are you all right?" Ma Qiu asked.