Source of Calamity: Second Stage!

After everyone added each other as friends and created a group chat, they dispersed on the spot before the police arrived.

Once he was out of sight, Luo Jun took out another phone, "Long Zhan & Xuan Ying," and checked the message history. Sure enough, he found a message from Zhuge Lan.

It started with a smiley face emoji, then came the question "Are you there?"

Luo Jun smiled and shook his head, just about to consider whether to reply, when suddenly a group invitation link came from the other end.

"I attended the Night's Gathering and joined a large group chat. You should join too; everyone will share information..."

Luo Jun was slightly taken aback, then replied with a fist-and-palm emoji, "Thank you, Sister Lan, for always thinking of me when there's good news!"

"Sister Lan? Do you think I'm older than you? I'm still a college student!"

"But didn't your parents say we're in a relationship where the woman is older than the man?"

"Don't even try!"

After putting away his phone and removing his mask, Luo Jun returned to the mall.

Police have lifted the cordon, and the mall has resumed operations, but nearby residents are still wary and hesitant to approach. As for the flattened plaza not far away, the fire department has arrived and begun cooling the Melt Pit.

Luo Jun casually entered a coffee shop and casually scrolled through his phone, appearing relaxed, but actually waiting for messages in the group chat.

This place is close to the city center, so no matter where the Polluter appears, he can only travel halfway through the city, a dozen kilometers or so. At full speed, he can reach the scene in just a couple of minutes.

Besides the original nine people, they continued to invite others into the group, and soon the group had nineteen members. Excluding Luo Jun's two accounts, this meant he had invited seventeen companions.

However, as previously analyzed, it is indeed difficult to find a dozen or so Polluter hiding in a city of tens of millions of people. Even with the joint efforts of eighteen people, there has been no concrete news.

With nothing else to do, everyone started chatting in the group.

After all, they were all from the Main World. Those who dared to participate in this kind of mission and had survived until now were mostly experts with some skills and reputation. There was bound to be some mutual flattery, and they would take this opportunity to inquire about some gossip and strange stories, and also share some information they had obtained about the Polluter... Of course, what everyone was most interested in was Night, the group leader.

However, in order to maintain an air of mystery, Luo Jun's main account remained silent, while his alternate account was quite active.

"Esteemed Senior and experts, my name is Lin Feng. I am an unknown rogue Rogue Cultivator. This is a rare opportunity, and I hope to learn a great deal from everyone..."

"Why weren't you this polite when you spoke to me alone?" Zhuge Lan led the way in expressing her dissatisfaction in the group chat.

"How can that be the same? Sister Lan is so young and beautiful, calling her 'Senior' would be making her sound old."

"Ling Xin, someone said you're Senior! <evil laugh>"

Time slipped away amidst everyone's casual conversation, and soon it was past noon, but no one shared any information about the Polluter's location in the group chat.

Did everyone fail to search diligently? It's possible, since most people, except for Luo Jun, didn't have many points to spare and couldn't use the detection function as soon as it cooled down. As for Luo Jun himself, although he used his ability twice, the range he could detect was limited, and he didn't find Polluter.

Having not found any trace of the enemy, Luo Jun had a guess... Perhaps the Polluter, like himself, had organized a gathering... The remaining sixteen people were not completely scattered; it was very likely that multiple people were in the same location, or even all sixteen people were staying together!

This makes finding them even more difficult, but once they are found, they can be caught in one fell swoop.

However, Luo Jun wasn't in a hurry. There was still plenty of time. If he eliminated all the enemies too early, the mission might end prematurely, which would also affect his rewards.

Currently, the points earned from killing the Polluter are far less than the rewards from the Source of Calamity, so he is more eager to eliminate the Source of Calamity than to kill people.

Finally, the time came, and everyone received the task notification.

"The Source of Calamity the Second Stage of the disaster will appear in five minutes, at which time everyone will be able to detect Source of Calamity location at any time without any conditions."

"The Second Stage, the Source of Calamity, has a total value of 4,500 points. The final kill reward is 1,500 points, and the remaining 3,000 points will be distributed based on contributions made in the fight against the Source of Calamity."

"Successfully defeated the Source of Calamity. All survivors will be rewarded with 200 points."

"The number of ordinary people killed by the Source of Calamity will be distributed equally among all survivors, with corresponding points deducted."

The Second Stage of the Source of Calamity is 50% more valuable than the first phase, and it should also be more difficult. It's just unknown whether it can attract any Polluter.

Meanwhile, the group chat became lively as everyone discussed the possible Source of Calamity and speculated on its possible location.

"Thank God, I hope it happens in the suburbs this time too, I don't have many points left to deduct!"

"Unlikely..." Chen Fei poured cold water on the idea, "The first time was probably just a mission to help us get used to things; this time it probably won't be so friendly..."

"No way..." Several people in the group cried out in despair, probably because they didn't have many points and were worried about being eliminated.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

At this moment, Ye, as the group leader, finally spoke up.

Wow, the group admin is active!

"I never thought the night could speak!"

"Such arrogance! The strong have the confidence to back it up!"

"Oh dear, Brother Ye, you're my idol! It's such a pity I missed the gathering before, I really regret it..." This was posted by Luo Jun's alternate account.

Amidst the lively chatter and endless bickering, time ticked by. Finally, with ten seconds remaining, the group fell silent; everyone awaited the final moment...

Finally, as the Countdown Reset, a dazzling red dot appeared in everyone's field of vision!

The source of the Second Stage of the Source of Calamity has appeared!

At the same time, everyone's points were neatly deducted by twelve!

So fast?

There are still forty people left on both sides, which means that four or five hundred people died the moment the monster appeared!

Without a doubt, this time it appeared in a densely populated downtown area! Luo Jun glanced at the map; the target was Xianghe Avenue, five kilometers away. It was a main thoroughfare in the city, lined with Office Building. That was where Luo Jun had gone to work when he arrived yesterday!

Could this instantaneous casualty count mean that an entire Office Building was destroyed?

Seeing that his score had dropped a little more, Luo Jun didn't waste any more time and sprinted towards his destination!

Traffic on Xianghe Avenue was paralyzed, with dozens of vehicles involved in a chain collision, and pedestrians screaming and fleeing everywhere.

The direction they fled towards revealed a massive crater nearly 100 meters in diameter. This crater appeared suddenly, one half of it cutting off the entire road and instantly swallowing dozens of cars and hundreds of pedestrians. The other half struck the foundation of a tall Office Building, causing it to tilt severely, its Office Building to tear and deform, and many workers inside the Office Building perished as a result...

"Aaaaaah! Help!"

On one floor of Office Building, due to the twisting of the building structure, the floor was tilted at an angle of more than 60 degrees. The smooth floor was impossible to stand on. The sudden disaster caused tables, chairs, printers, and other items to slide down and smash the floor-to-ceiling windows. Employees were either crushed to death by the furniture or rolled out of the windows. Only a few lucky ones with quick hands and eyes managed to grab onto things like doorway pillars to barely keep their bodies in place.

At this moment, two people are hanging face to face on a rickety office door.

One was a middle-aged leader in his mid-thirties with a beer belly, and the other was a young girl with short hair and shiny nails.

Coincidentally, they were "Clerical Xiao Wang's" colleagues: the mean-spirited Manager Liu and Jia Jia, who had once spoken up for Luo Jun.

The two of them were gripping the door to Manager Liu's office. Just moments before, Jia Jia had taken some documents to the manager for his signature, but as soon as she turned the doorknob, the door opened by itself. It turned out that Manager Liu was also about to leave. The two stared at each other in astonishment for a moment, when suddenly there was a loud bang, the building began to shake violently, and then tilted severely within seconds!

Seeing the surrounding tables, chairs, computers, and other items rolling down, and their colleagues falling and getting injured, the two men almost instinctively grabbed the doorknobs, one on each side, and hung on either side of the door.

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Now, neither of them dares to let go. Their feet are desperately pounding on the severely tilted tile floor, but they can only provide a little friction. The only thing that truly supports their bodies is that small doorknob!

"Manager... what happened...?" Jia Jia was already crying, "I'm so scared..."

"You're asking me? Who should I ask...?" Manager Liu trembled all over. "What's wrong with this world? Yesterday there were a bunch of Violence incidents, and today there was a terrorist attack on the shopping mall... I never thought we'd also have an earthquake..."

As they spoke, the building shook again, and the two felt their bodies sink a little further. The angle of inclination of the ground beneath their feet increased further, almost perpendicular to the ground. Through the broken windows in the distance, they could already see the huge crater in the ground.

"Ah, Sister Juan fell out too, and so did A Chen..." Jia Jia screamed in despair as she looked at the apocalyptic scene outside the building.

"We can still be saved!" Manager Liu looked up and saw that above the door was the office wall. Although it was just a glass partition, it was supported by stainless steel pillars. As long as they could climb up there, they could stabilize their bodies!

"Jia Jia, don't move yet. Wait for me to climb up, then I can pull you up."

After saying that, Manager Liu used his arms to lift himself up and began to climb!

However, as he moved, the office door swayed back and forth, making a cracking sound under the strain, especially the glass at the hinge, which had already developed cracks that were slowly widening.

"Manager, stop climbing! The door is about to give way!" Jia Jia hurriedly reminded him. Manager Liu was also too scared to move. The office door shook a few times before finally stabilizing again.

Just then, a huge roar suddenly came from below, and the entire building shook. The two people were so frightened that they closed their eyes and trembled uncontrollably.

After the roaring subsided, Jia Jia slowly opened her eyes. Looking up, she saw that the glass door, which had just stabilized, was shattering further from the vibrations. The cracks on it had widened considerably, and it looked like it was about to give way to the weight of the two of them!

"Manager, what exactly is going on..." Jia Jia's voice trembled uncontrollably, but she noticed that Manager Liu was looking down with a horrified expression. Confused, Jia Jia followed his gaze and her eyes widened, her mouth slowly opening in astonishment.

Just outside the broken bed below, a giant eye is staring into the Office Building!

Those large eyes almost filled the entire window, and the surrounding eyelids had a scaly texture. The pupils were larger than a water tank, and the brown vertical pupils had a reptilian style. They were moving from side to side, as if surveying the scene inside the Office Building.

"Aaaaaah!"

This scene drove Jia Jia to the brink of madness, and she couldn't help but scream. This soprano scream, emanating from the depths of her soul, startled the owner of the enormous eyeball, who moved away from the window, allowing Jia Jia to see its entire head.

This is a huge dinosaur-shaped monster, its entire body is bluish-purple, its massive head is covered with spikes and scales, and its gaping maw is big enough to swallow a car whole!

"Manager! There's a monster! Help me!"

The terrified girl instinctively reached out for help from the nearest person, but what she was met with was a dirty shoe sole!

Thump!

Manager Liu kicked Jia Jia in the face, causing the girl's head to tilt backward and one hand to slip off the doorknob. However, she still clung tightly to the doorknob with her remaining hand, demonstrating her strong will to survive.

"Manager... what's wrong...?"

Before Jia Jia could finish speaking, Manager Liu kicked her again, this time in the shoulder!

"I'm sorry, Jia Jia, this door can't hold two people anymore, so please get off!"

Cheers!

With a sharp crack, Jia Jia's shoulder was dislocated by the kick, and she could no longer exert any strength, falling downwards.

At that moment, the dinosaur's head outside the window had already opened its blood-red maw, seemingly ready to catch the delicious meal falling from the sky.

Just as Jia Jia was about to fall into the dragon's mouth, a dark shadow suddenly shot out, and the dragon's head exploded with a bang. The shockwave and blood sprayed everywhere, even pushing Jia Jia, who was falling, upwards for a moment!

But it was only for a moment. After a brief moment of suspended air, covered in dragon blood, she continued to fall, screaming desperately as she plummeted out of the window. Suddenly, she felt herself being embraced by a pair of strong arms. Then, the wind rushed past her ears, and the scenery before her eyes spun rapidly. After a dizzying moment, the surrounding scene finally froze...

Jia Jia was still in a daze. It took her a second to look at the person who caught her.

He had a full beard and several scars on his face...

"Brother Wang...?" Jia Jia called out the name of her former colleague who had disappeared after beating up the manager yesterday...

Luo Jun paused for a moment, then touched his face. "I forgot to wear my mask..." He then put Jia Jia down. "Run! Run as far as you can!"

"Run?" Jia Jia was taken aback. "Wasn't that monster already...?"

Before she could finish speaking, another roar came. Jia Jia turned her head and saw a huge Nine-Headed Serpent coiled at the bottom of the sloping stairs. One of its necks was headless, and blood was splattered everywhere as it twisted... You could even vaguely see the broken spine.

The Nine-Headed Serpent, its head blown off, was clearly enraged, but seemed to lack intelligence, failing to recognize the source of the damage. Instead, it vented its fury on the Office Building in front of it, violently plunging one of its heads into the building, then pulling it out after a few thrusts, a terrified human being still in its mouth...

Jia Jia knew that voice all too well; she heard him scolding others almost every day...

"Serves you right! You got what you deserved!"

(End of this chapter)