After Yin Lin repeatedly refused the hospital stay, she reached a new agreement with the Elder Physician: she must come in for a checkup every day.
Maybe the Time Stone isn’t in her body at all, but was stolen instead?
There’s a stone. Seriously? Isn’t it just a Time Stone? Maybe she was played. Yin Lin came here for the exam to confirm whether it’s actually in her body or not.
So far, it doesn’t seem to be there.
But magic is unpredictable. Even if it didn’t show up on the scan, that doesn’t mean the stone isn’t inside her.
In any case, she should stay skeptical.
After the examination, Xia Shiyao was the first to rush in, fussing over her.
Seeing the Elder Physician’s stiff face and grim expression, Xia Shiyao grew tense as well.
Especially since Yin Lin clearly seemed burdened by something, combined with the Elder Physician’s hesitant demeanor, it made Xia Shiyao extremely uneasy.
She asked the Elder Physician, but he said nothing was wrong with a sour face.
She asked Yin Lin, but she also claimed nothing was wrong with a heavy heart.
Nothing wrong? Something big is wrong!
What happened? Was the injury too severe? Are there aftereffects?
Xia Shiyao came up with a plan and pulled Yin Lin aside to chat privately.
Reasoning with her, appealing to her emotions.
She talked about Pangu Creates the World, about Jesus’ Passion, about Surtr Destroys Asgard.
Xia Shiyao was so knowledgeable that Yin Lin couldn’t get a word in, just nodding along, going “mm-hmm, mm-hmm, right, right.”
She talked about Zeus and Olympus, about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, about Six-Eared Macaque and Maitreya Buddha.
After half an hour of talking, Xia Shiyao finally asked:
“So what exactly did the hospital find today?”
Xia Shiyao sighed and changed the subject.
Yin Lin snapped back:
“Nothing. Just a routine checkup. I’m perfectly healthy.”
An hour later, Xia Shiyaao asked Yin Lin again:
“Is something wrong with your body? Is your life in danger?”
Yin Lin snapped back again:
“No danger, very healthy, just some superficial wounds.”
Seriously, sister, you’re impossible to crack. An hour of talking and still couldn’t break down that Heart Wall?
When Xia Shiyao was about to start another round, Yin Lin had enough and ran off.
Honestly, this was Yin Lin’s most patient moment ever. She usually only gives people time to say a hundred words, but this time she gave Xia Shiyao the time to say ninety thousand words.
She went home to sleep it off.
This time she was prepared. She wedged a strand of hair in the crack of her front door. If the hair fell out, it meant someone had opened her door.
She looked carefully. The hair was still there. This time should be safe.
The next morning, Song Wuli, who was eating breakfast at home and watching the news, finally learned about the changes in the Eastern Alliance.
The Acting Person-in-Charge and Huang Yi were placed under suspension investigation because of their decision to abandon rescuing citizens.
At the time, the Barber Man was nearby, flattening everything within hundreds or even thousands of meters with a single punch. For the safety of more people, the Acting Person-in-Charge ordered an evacuation, temporarily abandoning rescue efforts and疏散ing citizens within a 10-kilometer radius.
So now they’ve been suspended.
Because the citizens didn’t receive timely rescue, more than half of them have died.
Maybe the decision was correct. Maybe it saved countless lives, because those ordinary citizens caught in the battle and buried under the rubble—more than half of them had already died.
But they were still suspended.
The morning news captured the rescue site. Firefighters dug quite a few people out of the rubble—a dozen corpses, only two still breathing, and one of those died on the way to the hospital.
Some family members ignored the barriers and helped the firefighters dig through the ruins. When they carried out their loved ones’ shriveled, broken bodies, those scenes of separation between the living and the dead stung even harder for the citizens watching the news.
Seeing the Eastern Alliance’s Acting Person-in-Charge suspended and under investigation, many people felt a sense of satisfaction.
Seeing this, Song Wuli just sighed and said nothing.
He took his greasy dishes to the kitchen to wash them, when suddenly he heard the TV in the living room broadcast:
“Silver Future…”
Huh? What? Why does that sound so familiar?
Song Wuli, his hands still wet, hurried out and saw people in silver trench coats on the screen.
Wearing big trench coats in this heat. Seems a bit off.
There were over twenty of them, using Life Detection to find people under the rubble, then using machines to slowly lift the big stones while moving the small ones by hand.
They were carrying out civilian rescue operations in an orderly manner.
Looking at their uniforms, there was a trapezoidal embroidered pattern.
These Trench Coat Strangers are people from Silver Future? Not from the Star Summoning Society?
Looking closer, one of them had a height and build similar to Huang Yijun, but his face couldn’t be made out clearly.
Looking even closer, the crane operator was wearing a uniform of a different color, very burly, face unclear, but somehow he felt a bit like Cao.
Damn, this is embarrassing.
Song Wuli blushed, turned off the TV, and went to the kitchen to wash dishes.
After finishing, he couldn’t resist turning the TV back on. He covered his face with his fingers, leaving a gap between them to keep watching the news.
The Television Station didn’t interview these people. They must have been given some order.
Another familiar person appeared on the screen: Liang Tai.
Song Wuli quickly grabbed his Mobile Phone and entered Liang Tai’s Live Broadcast Room.
Sure enough, he was conducting the interview in place of the Television Station.
“Hey family, we’re back on site. Let’s go interview these mysterious people.”
“I’m sure some of you brothers already know who they are. They’ve been making quite a splash lately.”
Huh? Making a splash? How come I haven’t heard much about them?
Song Wuli tidied himself up, getting ready for work, while continuing to watch the live broadcast.
“Hello, mind if we ask a few questions?” Liang Tai pointed his camera at the Trench Coat Strangers who were moving rocks over there.
One of them pointed toward the crane, gesturing to go over there and stop getting in the way here.
Liang Tai was sensible enough to go over there, approaching the person who looked like Huang Yijun.
Because his uniform was a bit different, he seemed like someone in charge.
But they were busy over there too, gesturing and shooing Liang Tai off to another area.
After being passed around a few times, Liang Tai finally found someone willing to be interviewed—a young-looking man.
The two started a Q&A.
Suddenly, the room went dark. The lights went out. The TV went out too.
No way? A Power Outage?
He checked the electricity bill. Nothing owed. Song Wuli checked the breaker box. Nothing tripped.
His phone kept buzzing with messages—from the Work Group Chat and from the group with Jin and the three sisters.
They all mentioned the same words: Power outage.
This was unusual. Major cities had basically solved their energy problems long ago, and hadn’t had power outages for years.
It was said that nuclear plants couldn’t just be shut down casually, whether fission or fusion—unlike a phone where you press a button to turn it off or on.
The losses from shutting down a reactor seemed enormous.
The Human Alliance often educated people about their technology, in order to boost the confidence of the remaining humans.
It was indeed effective. Nuclear Fusion was a technological mountain that humanity had conquered, giving people plenty of confidence.
So most people knew that Nuclear Fusion wasn’t convenient to start and stop at will, and the losses would be massive.
Unless absolutely necessary, they wouldn’t go that far.
Therefore, when people scrolled through their phones and saw the Eastern Alliance’s official announcement about Energy Facility Maintenance, many citizens didn’t quite believe it.
Even more so, when even the hospital and official government buildings lost power, it made citizens even more anxious.
Back to Liang Tai’s Live Broadcast Room—the interview was still ongoing, but plenty of Bullet Screen messages were already scrolling by, telling everyone to rush out and stock up on supplies. But the Supermarket had already been ransacked.
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