It wasn't until the following morning that the base lifted the alert.
People cautiously emerged from the subway entrance and found that the ever-present sandstorm had seemingly weakened somewhat. The air was thick with the pungent smell of sulfur, while the ground was terrifyingly hot.
Overnight, the surrounding landscape had become like another world. Black metal spikes stood everywhere across the surface, some barely the height of a person, others as tall as three- or four-story buildings—they were fragments splashed off the Nano-Lifeform, which had melted and then cooled into stalagmite-like shapes.
As for the original houses and towers—most had been reduced to flat ground by the rain of fire.
The road signs, watchtowers, and gun emplacements outside the subway station had not been spared either.
"The Sky Patroller protected us..." someone murmured.
The words quickly won everyone's agreement.
The Sky Patroller had not fallen.
It still stood above everyone's heads.
The punctured areas were clearly visible. With the sandstorm compressed down to ground level, people could even see the long-missed blue sky through the holes in its body.
Unobscured morning light poured through those openings, casting pillars of hope upon the dark, oppressive Jiangcheng.
"If it weren't for it, Riverside Garden Station would probably be finished..."
"Thank you for protecting us, Sky Patroller..."
"Long live the Sky Patroller!"
Cheers from those who had survived the disaster immediately rang out around the subway entrance.
Lin Qing, Honglian, and Abigail had already slipped away from the crowd and arrived at the site of the spacecraft wreckage.
The situation here was even more frightening than they had expected.
"If that thing had hit us... nothing would've survived," Honglian muttered as she stared at the enormous tower in the distance.
It was at least two hundred meters long, embedded diagonally in the ground.