Su Bai crouched down at this moment so she was at eye level with Xiao Xi and spoke in a soothing tone. “Be good, Xiao Xi. Trust me. We’ll see your mommy very soon.”
Not long after Jiang Yuelan and Yu Xiaoyan left, a broadcast sounded across every floor.
“Parents of Xiao Xi, if you can hear this broadcast, please come quickly to…”
The broadcast repeated for several rounds, clearly stating the important information such as time and location.
Of course there was also a contact number—Su Bai’s phone number.
“Alright, Xiao Xi. Your mommy will come looking for you before long.”
Xiao Xi obediently nodded.
“Thank you, big sister. Big sister is a good person. When Mommy comes back, she’ll definitely treat you to a big hamburger.”
“No need, no need. Next time you have to listen to Mommy and not run around randomly, okay?”
Xiao Xi nodded. At that moment Su Bai’s phone rang.
It was an unfamiliar number. It should be Xiao Xi’s mother.
Su Bai had just picked up the phone and answered with a single word. “Hello…”
Crackling crackling.
The phone suddenly erupted with a powerful electromagnetic interference noise.
The sound nearly made Su Bai drop her phone.
What was going on?
Then Su Bai looked at her phone and discovered that the call had been completely cut off. The signal bars had all gone dark.
In modern society it was almost impossible for the signal to drop completely all of a sudden.
Unless…!?
What happened next immediately confirmed Su Bai’s conjecture.
There came a hum, a low drone similar to a large loudspeaker that suddenly erupted throughout the entire space.
This sound was not coming from any single place. It was everywhere, in every corner.
It was like infrasound produced by spatial resonance.
Xiao Xi was so frightened by the sudden noise that she immediately covered her ears.
Su Bai’s head also ached from the sound.
But she could no longer worry about that, because she already knew what was about to happen.
“Xiao Xi, we can’t stay here. We have to go. Now.”
Su Bai turned and directly pulled up Xiao Xi, who was still half-crouching with her ears covered. She abandoned all the luggage and items they were carrying and only took her phone.
“Trust me! We have to leave!” Su Bai roared with intense urgency, because she knew time was tight and there was absolutely no room for even half a moment of hesitation.
Xiao Xi glanced at Su Bai and also nodded. She knew the person in front of her was not a bad person. The situation had changed, so she could only trust her.
Su Bai directly carried Xiao Xi on her back and charged toward the escalator.
That humming sound showed no sign of stopping. Instead it grew stronger and stronger, to the point that it could already produce a powerful tearing sensation.
Carrying Xiao Xi, Su Bai took two steps as one and raced downward at top speed.
Rumble rumble. A sound like walls being smashed open exploded.
Although it was completely different from the earlier humming, after the noise occurred the entire building began to shake violently.
“Damn it, damn it. Why now of all times…”
Su Bai understood better than anyone what this thing actually was.
The source of all disasters.
A rift.
Su Bai had never expected such a catastrophe to appear at this moment. From the sound of it, the location where the rift had appeared seemed to be right above their heads, inside the building itself!
Clang, boom.
The sounds of various building materials colliding rang out. Heavy objects falling from the upper floor smashed through the ceiling of the floor below.
Many people did not react as quickly as Su Bai. Many of them had not even understood what was happening before they were struck by the flying concrete and steel rebar.
Those who did react also panicked and had no idea how to escape.
They ran around like headless flies and then met the same fate as the first group of people.
People’s shouts and cries continued without end. Su Bai could not bear to imagine what those people were going through.
Rifts had not erupted in downtown areas for a very long time. As the Association handled more and more rifts, the number of rifts around the world had grown fewer and fewer.
Society had even nearly forgotten this greatest catastrophe. Under such complacency, they had been suddenly attacked with no emergency early-warning measures or methods whatsoever.
Su Bai could feel Xiao Xi on her back almost curling into a ball from fear. Her whole body was trembling, and tears would not stop flowing. She kept calling out, “Mommy, where are you?”
Her heart sank almost to the bottom.
Su Bai knew very clearly that she could no longer take care of the others, including Xiao Xi’s mother. She did not have the ability to do so either.
She was still carrying a fragile little girl on her back. Saving even one was enough. She absolutely had to protect her.
Because Xiao Xi had given her her trust, she must not go back on her word.
Thud. Su Bai dodged to the left, avoiding a heavy chunk of rubble that came crashing down.
She stepped on a table and lightly leaped over the obstacle.
Although Su Bai no longer had magic, her body’s instincts and adrenaline were still enough to let her play “obstacle-course” parkour in this place.
The bracelet on her wrist lit up at this moment. Magic was guided out by Su Bai.
Near a rift there was no need to worry too much about the amount of magic power.
The key was the output power of the magic. This bracelet had been modified, and both its absorption and release power were very low—so low that it could not properly maintain a magical girl’s transformation.
But for Su Bai right now, it was enough.
Thus she released an ultra-miniature protective spell to shield Xiao Xi and some of her own vital areas.
The sounds of cracking, crashing, and colliding from the ceiling above began to weaken.
Su Bai’s brow furrowed. It seemed the expansion stage of the rift had already stopped.
This should have been good news. The scale of this rift was very small, probably only around D-rank.
Moreover, the shaking of the building was gradually settling down. The structure of the entire building seemed quite sturdy. At least for now there was not the slightest sign of collapse.
But the bad news was that they had not escaped the building. When Su Bai, who had been running downstairs the whole way, saw the scene in front of her, she felt her hands and feet turn ice-cold.
All the rubble and bricks had fallen onto the first floor, completely packing the vast first-floor space full.
The building that originally had several exits was now completely blocked by the reinforced concrete.
Not good!
Su Bai immediately realized the danger. There was no path here.
The first floor had been divided by these heavy objects into one independent small space after another.
If she wanted to find an exit, she would probably have to return to the second floor herself and then try her luck one by one along other routes that could lead to the first floor.
But there was already no time left!!!
Su Bai was so anxious that her head was covered in sweat. She knew one thing very clearly—the direct damage caused by this rift was only the beginning.
What was about to happen next was the truly terrifying part.
“Gurgle… hum-dong… click… sizzle…”
A thick, extremely oppressive low sound rose from the ceiling.
At first it was very faint, then it grew stronger and stronger, gathering together like a group of monsters roaring.
The sounds of collision and squeezing, along with indescribable sticky mutterings, exploded directly.
Then she felt those eerie things pouring frantically into the lower floors through the holes that had just been smashed open.
It was over. Su Bai’s face turned ashen, and her hairs stood on end.
Those were “Demonic Beasts”!!
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