After daybreak, some residents on the Bright Moon Lake side of Jiangya County left their houses and began talking with their neighbors about the tremendous boom they had heard the night before.
"What happened last night? What could have made such a loud noise?"
"Wasn't it thunder? I thought it was thunder!"
"Thunder, my ass! The weather was perfectly fine last night. Why would there be thunder?"
"If it wasn't thunder, what else could it have been?"
As they were discussing it, they saw someone carrying his household's Calamity-Guarding Object toward the Demon-Suppressing Bureau in the center of Jiangya County.
One person might not have meant much, but in those few moments, they saw four or five people hurrying past like that.
Puzzled, someone stopped an acquaintance and asked, "What's going on? Where are you taking your Calamity-Guarding Objects?"
The man he had stopped looked frantic. Shaking off his hand, he said, "Where else? To get them repaired! If we get there late, who knows if we'll even get them fixed today!"
Then he added one more thing.
"What are you waiting for? Go home and check whether yours are still intact!"
Watching him hurry away, someone laughed. "Nothing happened at my house last night. How could our Calamity-Guarding Object be broken..."
As he spoke, he saw someone head home.
Before long, that person came back out in a panic, carrying his household's Calamity-Guarding Object.
Now everyone grew anxious and rushed home.
Soon, just like the person before them, they emerged carrying their own Calamity-Guarding Objects.
"How could this happen?"
Everyone had the same question, but no one knew the answer.
They jogged along, but the closer they came to the town center, the slower they moved.
Not because they were in any less of a hurry, but because the