Early that morning, the television station dropped a bombshell on the morning news:
"Residents, in response to the call for disaster prevention, our city will conduct a disaster evacuation drill this week. Some subway lines and roads within the city will be temporarily closed. The affected routes are listed below. We ask for your understanding regarding any inconvenience..."
The bustle of everyday life rose around him.
Car horns blared incessantly on the road outside. Sitting in a breakfast shop, Yan Xingbang slurped down his steaming rice porridge in a couple of gulps, then glanced up at the news playing on the wall-mounted television before leaving.
"We don't get typhoons, earthquakes, or floods here. What's the point of a disaster drill? No wonder traffic's jammed today." Walking out of the little shop with a cup of soy milk, Yan Xingbang shook his head at the long stream of cars outside, then turned toward the company where he worked.
But he had only just stepped through the company's doors.
He discovered that his boss was already there, addressing everyone.
Holy shit!
Startled, Yan Xingbang immediately ducked low and slipped back to his workstation.
"I received notice last night that our company is to set aside all work today and participate in the disaster evacuation drill organized by the city. Get yourselves ready in a little while, then come with me..."
A disaster evacuation drill again?
When Yan Xingbang first heard that he would not have to work, he was delighted, but that changed when he heard they had to participate in a drill.
This was obviously going to be even more exhausting!
But there was no helping it. Their company did a lot of business with the public sector. Now that they had been summoned, they had to obediently go along unless they no longer wanted to stay in business.
Close to noon, the company's employees arrived at one of the drill sites, only to discover a sea of people already gathered there-at least a hundred thousand or more.
Only then did Yan Xingbang vaguely sense that something seemed a little off...
Weren't there far too many people here?
And this was only one of the drill sites.
How many people across the city were participating in this drill?
Scenes similar to Yan Xingbang's kept unfolding in major cities throughout the country.
In just three days, every first-tier city in the country held a massive evacuation drill, training a large number of experienced evacuation teams and compiling extensive experience in large-scale evacuations, which was then distributed to small and medium-sized cities for study and drills.
For a time, organizing evacuation drills became every public servant's
number-one task.
The international community was utterly baffled by this string of inexplicable actions.
If it was meant to guard against war, it did not look like it.
If it was meant to prevent disasters, it did not look like that either.
In the end, they could only provisionally classify this massive operation as a vanity project.
Meanwhile, inside the shelter.
The senior leaders of "2012" were no longer at a loss.
The sun was simply growing too violent to allow them to wait any longer.
The abnormalities in the solar storms were the final straw that broke the camel's back.
Although they had yet to discover any nuclear mutations, they now fully believed Zhang Tianyuan's prophecy of the apocalypse.
They had to begin responding more actively to the coming apocalypse.
Fortunately, they had been preparing for this all along.
It was not too late to start putting their strength into it now.
"President Zhang, which group do you intend to rescue first, the people in Antarctica or those aboard the space station?"
Inside the shelter, Zhang Tianyuan discussed the rescue plan for Legend World with the senior leaders.
The rescue targets were naturally the Antarctic research stations and the space station.
Over the past few days, the Mutual Aid Society had recruited several experts in Antarctic research and aerospace.
Zhang Tianyuan had been discussing the rescue plan with them all along.
After weighing things for quite some time, Zhang Tianyuan finally said, "Let's proceed on both fronts at once this time. I'll first send the aerospace team back to the Imperial Capital in No. 2 Spacetime. Once they're ready there, they'll head north across the border to the space launch base to look for technical documents on the International Space Station."
Although the International Space Station had been built through the cooperation of many countries, there were actually only two places capable of sending astronauts up to it.
One was their northern neighbor's space launch site, which sent people up by rocket. The other was the Kennedy Space Center, which supplied the space station with astronauts by space shuttle.
Though it might not have been called that in Legend World...
Zhang Tianyuan reined in his wandering thoughts and began explaining the Antarctic plan:
"As for Antarctica, I'll go along myself. We'll use the Spacetime Tunnel to travel directly to a fixed point in the waters off South America, then sail a few hundred kilometers farther south to reach the research station."
"I expect our compatriots in Antarctica will be rescued first. I'll also find an opportunity to visit the other countries' research stations. If any senior leaders are sheltering there, I can take the opportunity to
talk to them about cooperation."
Compared with the astronauts in the sky, the Antarctic rescue was clearly the main task at present.
"That works too. Given the constraints of objective reality, we can't rush the astronauts' rescue. We can focus our attention on Antarctica in the meantime." The senior leaders of "2012" nodded.
The elderly man with the crew cut, who knew Zhang Tianyuan best, said, "We haven't been idle since you returned, President Zhang. Considering that helicopters would be more convenient for the Antarctic rescue,
we've already been negotiating with foreign countries to urgently import more heavy helicopters suitable for use in Antarctica. They should arrive in a few more days."
Helicopters acquired this way certainly would not be new, but under the circumstances, secondhand ones were fine. As long as they worked.
Someone beside him added, "We've also prepared three research vessels here at home that can navigate Antarctic waters. Escort warships, supply ships, and supplies are ready too."
"When the time comes, President Zhang, you can split two detachments off from the fleet to rescue our compatriots at the other two research stations."
"That was thoughtful of you." Zhang Tianyuan smiled and thanked them. Although they had barely discussed Antarctica over the past few days, the senior leaders of "2012" clearly still attached great importance to it.
"It's only right. Helping one another is the very purpose of our Mutual Aid Society, isn't it?" The elderly man with the crew cut laughed, slapped his thigh, and said with feeling, "Ever since that sun up there started acting up, I've gained a deeper understanding of that purpose."
Previously, aside from the deeper consideration of preparing for an apocalyptic migration, their assistance to No. 2 Spacetime had been based more on simple national sentiment and considerations of interest.
By providing just a little aid, they could gain the friendship of a brother nation in a parallel spacetime. It was a deal that felt good and offered excellent value.
But after the solar eruption, the senior leaders of "2012" abruptly came to their senses.
The tables had turned.
They had gone from being purely the giving side to the side that needed help.
The Mutual Aid Society's principle of different spacetimes helping one another had become the most fitting portrait of their present circumstances.
Both Zhang Tianyuan and No. 2 Spacetime were parties they had to unite with. Only by relying on them would their own spacetime have a chance of escaping the apocalyptic catastrophe.
What drove them to act now was the looming crisis of their own survival!