Lin Yi glanced around and saw that everyone was busy with something. Only then did he finally relax.
In his previous life, he had risen into Blue Star's upper echelons through his combat strength. Most of his time had been spent cultivating and resisting the Abyssal Beasts, but he had still gained some management experience.
In truth, when he had suggested that everyone work on these things, he hadn't really expected them to use them to deal with the Abyssal Wolves. He simply didn't want them sitting idle and having their emotions collapse while he was "learning" the Source Energy Guidance Technique, leading to some kind of accident.
The current situation called for having idle tasks, but no idle people. Keeping everyone busy left them no time to let their imaginations run wild.
Lin Yi picked up the Spirit Shine Crystal containing the cultivation technique and walked toward an out-of-the-way corner of the Banquet Hall where he wouldn't disturb anyone else. At the same time, he swept his peripheral vision across the hall.
His mother and aunt were comforting the frightened Zhou Mengmeng. His father and eldest uncle were dismantling the decorative frames beside the stage. Chen Yu was leaning against the window, tying a shield together while monitoring the street through a gap in the curtains.
However, he had barely taken a few steps.
Buzz—! Buzz—! Buzz—!
Ding—! Ding—! Ding—!
Almost everyone's phones rang at the same time with the sound of incoming text messages.
"Ah!"
"What's going on?!"
"Did we get a message?"
Everyone was startled at first, then hurriedly checked their phones.
Lin Yi's heart stirred.
"It's here... As expected, the authorities must have used the window when the base stations hadn't completely collapsed to send out a nationwide emergency message!"
Although he knew roughly what it would say, Lin Yi still quickly walked over to his parents and took back the phone he had left with them because he had been wearing armor.
As soon as he opened it, he saw three unread messages.
Lin Yi opened them swiftly.
[National Emergency Alert][Highest Crisis Level] Attention, all citizens!
A sudden nationwide biosafety disaster has occurred (code name: Abyssal Tide)!
The following emergency instructions are hereby issued for the entire affected region:
Hold your position and await rescue! Reinforce doors and windows. Do not go outside without reason. Remain where you are and wait for rescue!
Store water and food! Immediately collect and store drinking water and food!
Ignore rumors! Trust only this official alert channel! Further instructions will be broadcast through the designated radio frequency (FM **.*** MHz)! Prioritize protecting radio receivers and portable power-generation equipment!
Important supplement: The official website has published the Abyss Tide Survival Guide (www.*****.***.cn). As subsequent communications may be interrupted, all citizens are advised to download and store it immediately.
Crisis Response Center
July 24, 2027
The three messages contained the same information.
"Radio frequency... the guide on the official website..." Class monitor Zhou Yuxuan murmured, his finger already tapping on the link instinctively.
His action was like pressing a start button. Everyone began checking the link, wanting to see what this so-called survival guide actually covered.
Perhaps because the site was being flooded with visitors, it was somewhat sluggish. It took a while before it finished loading.
"It's open, it's open!"
Chen Yu let out a low cry.
A plain blue-and-white Crisis Response Center website appeared on the phone screen. Everything else had been removed, leaving only a solitary message with the title: Abyss Tide Emergency Survival Guide.
Everyone hurriedly tapped download.
The document appeared to contain quite a lot. After a while, Ye Qingyu was the first to finish downloading it.
"When conditions permit, please print or copy the key contents of this guide onto a paper medium..."
Ye Qingyu read aloud softly. "That's the first thing it says?"
"Smart!"
Zhou Jianjun slapped his thigh. "You won't be able to read it once your phone runs out of power. Having it written on paper could save your life!"
Lin Ruiheng simply stood up and began searching through the drawers at the service desk. "Find paper and pens! Quickly!"
By then, Abyss Tide Emergency Survival Guide had finished downloading onto Lin Yi's phone as well. He opened the document, and a long table of contents spread across the screen:
Chapter One: Emergency Evacuation Precautions
Chapter Two: Precautions for Storing Food and Drinking Water
Chapter Three: Making Simple Weapons (Bows/Short Hammers/Short Spears/Molotov Cocktails, etc.)
Chapter Five: A Crash Course in Soilless Indoor Cultivation
Chapter Seven: Emergency Wound Treatment and Folk Antibacterial Methods (Wild Herbs/Honey/Alcohol, etc.)
Chapter Nine: Making a Homemade Rainwater Filter
Chapter Eleven: Making a Radio Using Primitive Methods
Chapter Sixteen: Simple Protection Against Radioactive Dust (Plastic Sheeting + Tape Method)
Appendix Three: Illustrated Guide to Processing Edible Parts of Rat Meat
"It even teaches you how to eat rats. This is way too thorough..." Li Jie grinned as he scrolled down. His finger suddenly stopped. "Wait! Look at the date at the end. Is it wrong?"
Everyone hurriedly dragged the document to the end. There, they saw a line of small text: Revision date: November 7, 1967.
"Could it be that it isn't wrong..." Chen Yu stretched his mouth into a grimace. "That explains why there's even a section on protection against nuclear radiation. Could they have just changed the title of a handbook prepared for a nuclear war back then and put it to use?"
"The date does match up." Zhou Yuxuan shook his head helplessly. "No wonder it was so fast... It was already prepared."
"Don't overthink it. It works, and that's what matters!" By then, Lin Ruiheng had found the paper and pens the hotel used for recording guest opinions. Zhou Jianjun had somehow produced another stack of menus and slapped them directly onto the table.
"Hurry up. The men keep working on weapons and shields. That guide just reminded me—we can also think of a way to make some short hammers! The women should start by copying the key chapters marked in red. Wait... Xiaoyi, go learn that crystal first. We can manage without one more pair of hands for these tasks."
Lin Yi nodded. Even if Zhou Jianjun hadn't mentioned it, he would have volunteered himself. After all, the Abyssal Wolves would return before long. Learning source energy came first.
Still, it was even better when someone else brought it up.
As paper and pens passed through the crowd, everyone in the Banquet Hall continued bustling about.
Zhao Xiaowen opened a new lipstick and used the stick to draw a diagram of a water-purification device on the back of a menu. His aunt put on her glasses and carefully copied down the key points on stitching wounds. Even Zhou Mengmeng volunteered for half a pencil, lying on the floor and sketching a mushroom identification chart.
Zhou Jianjun, meanwhile, taught several young people how to wrap tablecloths around the edges of chairs to make simple shields.
The crack of chair legs breaking, the scraping of pen tips across paper, and the muted discussions all echoed through the Banquet Hall. These slightly noisy sounds temporarily shut out the panic.
However, Lin Yi knew that this was only an illusion. The panic hadn't disappeared. It had merely been replaced for the moment by the pressure eased by receiving official information and by the will to survive.
But he didn't pay it much attention. As long as he successfully entered the threshold of source energy later, everyone here would be absolutely safe.
Thus, Lin Yi directly found a corner by the wall and sat down cross-legged.
From this spot, he could observe the entire hall without being completely separated from everyone's sight.
The moment Lin Yi raised the crystal, he felt the entire Banquet Hall fall silent. Almost everyone's gaze turned toward him at once.
He deliberately took a deep breath and pinched both ends of the crystal between his thumb and index finger.
"Xiaoyi..." His mother, Zhou Jinghua, spoke, then abruptly stopped.
"Crack..."
The sound of the crystal shattering between his fingers was very soft, but in the quiet Banquet Hall, it was exceptionally clear.
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