Uh-Oh

The rain fell heavier and heavier. Thunder rumbled across the sky. On his way home, Ji Jue found that the water was knee-deep in several places. It wasn't that he couldn't have stayed at Mother Lu's. Lu Feng could have easily taken the couch. The real problem was that Lu Feng snored so loudly that even thunder through the walls couldn't drown it out; Ji Jue had no idea how everyone else put up with it. Besides, weather like this always left him anxious. The old house had seen better decades. Water leaks and electrical shorts were routine occurrences; if left unattended, two days of soaking might very well bring the whole thing crashing down. Now that he had finally made a bit of money, he would have to hire someone to repair it soon. After returning home and inspecting both the second floor and the basement to make sure there was no water seepage or leaks, Ji Jue finally let out a sigh of relief. Sticking to his schedule, he wrestled with the pocket watch for two solid hours and spent some time practicing his Dissociation Art on the scrap parts he had brought back. At last, he let out a yawn, getting ready for bed. Only then did he suddenly feel a vibration on his wrist—Cousin, who hadn't made a peep in ages! A prompt abruptly popped up, flashing before Ji Jue's eyes. —[Warning: Spatial Stability Anomaly detected. Drifting Chrono Ruin located. Distance: 979 km. Connect?] A Chrono Ruin? And it was drifting? A headache instantly flared in Ji Jue's temples. How had something like that suddenly spawned? Times were far from peaceful, and life in the wilderness was notoriously harsh. Earthquakes, mountain torrents, and violent storms struck at a moment's notice, not to mention swarms of vermin beasts. Whenever a Calamity-class monster appeared, it could swallow an entire armed convoy in the blink of an eye. As a result, aside from a dozen-odd major metropolises like Yacheng, cities outside were scarce throughout the entire Federation. There were only small towns and settlements built within narrow, stable zones, and due to their acute scarcity of resources, they had no choice but to rely on nearby major cities for supplies and support. Under the relentless onslaught of varied disasters, every great city had accounted for all potential crises and prepared defenses from the very beginning of its construction. Even if not utterly impregnable or solid as Mount Tai, they were at least situated within stable zones validated by the passage of time. Nine hundred kilometers was already within the general perimeter of Yacheng. At that range, it was practically spawning right in their faces. With a Chrono Ruin dropped right on their doorstep, even amidst his astonishment, Ji Jue could easily imagine the Security Bureau throwing a collective fit right about now. Tong Shan had probably already been dragged out of bed for emergency overtime. This was an outright crisis! If Border Realms were large, intact fragments sheared away from the material world, then a Chrono Ruin was an uncanny phenomenon formed when countless tiny fragments converged and fused with runaway Sovereign Virtue quintessence. They might arise from the entanglement and clash of Sovereign Virtue's power, or from the brutal ravages and trauma of warfare, or from the residue left behind by tectonic shifts and devastating natural disasters... or perhaps from the interference and influence of the Nine Vices lurking beneath the Vortex. The interior of a Chrono Ruin differed vastly from the material realm; its internal rules and ecology were completely warped, and even the flow of time was rarely uniform. They were like malignant tumors spawned by mutation. The moment one appeared, it had to be dismantled from within as quickly as possible. Otherwise, as the Chrono Ruin matured, expanded, and spiraled out of control, heaven only knew what demonic horrors might be birthed once it ruptured. The Security Bureau was in for a massive headache now. Still, at least it wasn't in Beishan District, so he didn't have to worry about the fire reaching his own front door. With a hint of detached amusement, Ji Jue whistled, getting ready to take a shower and read in bed for a bit, when he suddenly realized something felt off. —[Warning: Spatial Stability Anomaly detected. Drifting Chrono Ruin located. Distance: 900 km. Connect?] Wait, wasn't that number... Ji Jue squinted, instinctively leaning forward to look closer, but no matter how close he leaned, the window dominating his vision remained the exact same size. Only the numbers on it changed again: [Distance: 850 km] Then: [Distance: 700 km] His face twitched. Wait a second... Things were going south fast! *** Late at night, rain poured in torrents, accompanied by rolling peals of thunder. "Mom... Mom..." Through her grogginess, Mother Lu felt someone shaking her arm. Drifting up from the haze of sleep, she opened her eyes to see Lao Yao clutching his pillow. "I can't sleep." Mother Lu propped herself up and reached out to rub his cheek. "What is it? Did you have a nightmare? Is your sister grinding her teeth again?" "It felt like... like something just passed by," the boy stammered, tears shimmering in his eyes. "Something really big... It was huge, and so scary..." "Don't be scared, don't be scared. Mom's here." Mother Lu gently lifted the child onto the sleeping mat and drew him into her arms. Stripped of all her usual gruffness and temper, she softly stroked his hair. "Sleep now, go to sleep. Mom will protect you." "Mm." The boy nestled into her embrace, adjusting his position to press against her tightly. "I love Mom the most. I want to stay with Mom forever." A smile touched Mother Lu's lips. She glanced at the clock by the bed. Listening to the steadying breath of the child in her arms, she drifted back into a deep slumber before long. Outside the window, the storm raged on with heavy rain and crackling thunder. *** Under that very same downpour, Wen Wen was jolted awake from her dream by her phone. Within seconds of picking up, all traces of sleep evaporated. She sat straight up in bed. "A drifting Chrono Ruin? What the hell?!" Raking a hand through her tousled hair, she cried out in shock, "Tong Shan, are you serious?" "Yes, entirely." The voice on the other end remained steady, despite the dire emergency. "Fifteen minutes ago, we received an alert from Quancheng. A breach occurred in their containment, and an entire fully formed Chrono Ruin broke free from the catacombs, drifting toward Yacheng. "It has already entered the airspace of Beishan District..." Wen Wen ground her teeth in fury. "With all the money poured into that operation and all the personnel transferred over, you still managed to let such a massive lump slip through? What in the world is your First Department doing?!" A Chrono Ruin originating from the Quancheng Catacombs already carried a high enough threat rating, and now it had drifted straight into an urban center? God only knew how much devastation it could cause! Even stationary Chrono Ruins had to be locked down from both inside and out and resolved with utmost urgency. Anyone who accidentally strayed into their perimeter had a chance of being dragged inside, and once trapped within, survival was practically impossible—a near-guaranteed death sentence. Due to their pronounced Sovereign Virtue traits and affinities, Celestial Chosen were drawn into them far more easily. In fact, some Celestial Chosen specifically hunted for Chrono Ruins and took on external contracts to seek blessings or advancement. Experienced Chrono Ruin hunters handled such operations as smoothly as running a dungeon raid. But the point was, who went into a Chrono Ruin without thorough preparation, intelligence, and emergency contingencies? Who ever had a dungeon dropped directly onto their face?! Over the phone, Tong Shan spoke slowly. "The Third Department is already preparing the ritual to link with the Eternal Gate, hoping to seal it before it loses control. However, according to our observations, it has already begun to activate. I need the Beishan branch to be prepared. If the Chrono Ruin breaches containment, you must be ready to clean up the fallout immediately." Wen Wen had already gotten out of bed, letting out an exhausted sigh. "Could this get any worse?" "..." A brief silence came from the other end of the line, making Wen Wen freeze. "No way..." For once, a rare note of anxiety crept into Tong Shan's perpetually impassive voice. "Tong Hua is missing..." "What the hell?!" Wen Wen's voice spiked as her eyes went wide. "Over half an hour ago, she drove out into the storm to comfort a friend going through a breakup." Tong Shan sighed. "Before I called you, my family found her car by the roadside. It was completely empty. The phone screen was still lit, but the emergency call was never placed..." Crack! A fissure instantly spiderwebbed across her phone screen as Wen Wen exploded in rage. "Why didn't you say so earlier?!" "Would saying it change anything?" Tong Shan's tone reverted to calm—or rather, a chilling detachment. "Just because she is my sister, should I deploy Mountain Light at all costs, taking the risk of incinerating everything within a radius of dozens of kilometers just to blast the Chrono Ruin open?" Wen Wen was struck speechless. Covering her face with a hand, she let out a helpless sigh. She remembered the first time she had met Tong Hua. That girl, who loved wandering off on whims, had been chased all over the ruins by a parasitic shadow beast straight out of an urban legend. A casual paranormal adventure had actually turned up a real ghost. It was the first time Wen Wen had ever seen someone unluckier than Ji Jue... Wait! Her movements froze. She went completely rigid. After a long pause, she spoke with hesitant slowness: "If I recall correctly... creations bearing the aura of the Vortex and calamity attract one another, don't they?" "Correct. The most common method of redirecting a drifting Chrono Ruin is to use corrupted polymers and secret rituals to lure it off its trajectory," Tong Shan answered, puzzled by her line of questioning. "That is precisely the backup plan the Third Department is preparing to execute." "..." In that single breath, all the tension drained out of Wen Wen's rigid body. She exhaled a long breath. Her previously frantic pace stabilized into complete calm, devoid of any panic. After all, if that theory held true, then across the entirety of Yacheng, the Celestial Chosen who acted as the biggest unlucky magnet for a Chrono Ruin... was probably just one person. She dialed that unlucky bastard's number three times from her landline, and finding that none went through, her mind finally settled. "Alright, no need to worry." Caught between despair and relief after such an emotional roller coaster, Wen Wen gave a wry laugh. "Take your time." It had only been a few months, yet she had already grown accustomed to it. Whenever anything involved Ji Jue, even the most mundane matters would spiral out of control. Yet, the moment she heard that Ji Jue was among the unlucky victims, an inexplicable sense of security washed over her instead... With him around, no matter how bad things got, they couldn't get that bad. Surely it couldn't be more dangerous than sitting inside Lawrence's gullet or diving straight into the muddy brawl of the White Stag, right? *** Darkness, dizziness, swaying, falling, weightlessness. Ji Jue felt as if he had plunged into a bottomless pit, tumbling and crashing about like a sack of rags before finally slamming onto the ground. Overcome by unprecedented vertigo and nausea, he coughed violently and struggled to pry his eyes open. All he could see was a dim, flickering light, while the air carried the familiar scent of disinfectant... and the thick, coppery stench of blood. In a daze, he scrambled to his feet, looking around in utter bewilderment. *Holy shit, it's one thing for that damn Chrono Ruin to jump right into my face, but where the hell did it drop me?* *Is this even inside the country anymore?!* Then, an indifferent voice drifted over from the doorway. "Not bad. You've got the best aptitude of all the newcomers this round."