Shrill alarms echoed through the underground laboratory. John, who had been slumped in his office chair, felt the entire mountain tremble slightly.
Dust and debris showered from the laboratory ceiling, and the aluminum panels overhead began to rattle.
"An... earthquake?" That was John's first thought at the strange phenomenon. Japan lay on tectonic plates and experienced more than 1,500 earthquakes a year, with sudden quakes occurring practically every other day.
Since arriving at this underground laboratory, John had experienced similar earthquake alarms several times.
But those had all been minor quakes, with only faint tremors inside the laboratory. None had caused anything remotely like this commotion.
As the shaking around him intensified, John immediately sensed something was wrong. He sprang from his chair and fled his office in a panic.
But when he reached the laboratory outside, he was stunned!
The researchers in protective suits were also scrambling for their lives, and someone had smashed a large hole through the thick Plexiglas beside the magma pool below!
Staring at the shattered glass, John shuddered. He hurriedly grabbed a fleeing researcher and asked, "What happened? Has Mount Fuji become active?"
"D-Director! The man you brought smashed the glass and jumped into the magma pool... then Mount Fuji became active... Run! There's no time! If the magma erupts, the entire laboratory will be submerged!" The researcher spoke rapidly. At this critical moment, everyone was desperately fleeing for their lives; answering him at all was already an exceptional show of responsibility.
"It was him!"
"He set off Mount Fuji?!"
"My God!" Hearing the news, John felt as though lightning had struck him. Chen Jue's demonic figure flashed through his mind.
He glanced once more at the bubbling magma below, but before he could turn around, a surge of magma erupted upward and instantly