Temporary Trade Fair

Time seemed to stand still.

The instant Xia Lun sensed the explosion, he instinctively lunged toward the alley beside a warehouse with its doors shut tight.

As a citizen of Whitewash City with plenty of experience surviving disasters, he knew the greatest danger right now was not the attacker but a stampede caused by the panicking crowd. His first priority was to get clear. Otherwise, he would stand out too much and attract unwanted attention.

The Herno Strait region was volatile, but compared with Whitewash City, it was positively peaceful. The locals were noticeably slower to react.

Perhaps they were too stunned, or perhaps it had all happened too suddenly. For a moment, the port fell silent as people stared toward the sound of the explosion.

Thick black smoke billowed from the ship's side windows where the blast had occurred. Then a chain of secondary explosions erupted!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Flames surged into a pillar, blasting through smoke and glass. Shards from more than a dozen decks of shattered windows reflected the towering blaze. A giant banner burst into burning strips of cloth that spiraled down, while a searing wave of fire tore through the cabins like a beast let loose and swept across the deck in an instant.

Amid bloodcurdling screams, countless charred figures staggered through the flames and hurled themselves from a deck more than a dozen stories above the sea!

Splash! Splash! Splash!

The dull splashes came one after another. Scalding steam rose from the water, and the crowd snapped out of its stupor. Screaming, people scrambled to get away from the cruise ship!

Xia Lun had reacted only about five seconds faster than everyone else, but he had already reached the alley beside the warehouse. He looked up and spotted a fire escape on its side