As a Doctor specializing in oripathy, Anto, though experienced, mostly needed to follow the team, provide emergency medical care to teammates during combat, and rescue the injured after battle. Most of the ugliness and darkness would be handled by the armed personnel in her group.
That's why she didn't immediately grasp the meaning behind Kanna's action, but with Folinic's reminder, she naturally understood the implications.
"But isn't Tatyana also here? She's from the militia; these citizens will still listen to her, right?" Looking at Tatyana resting on the ground nearby, Anto still wanted to argue.
Folinic didn't speak, but instead stared at Anto's face. After a long while, Anto sighed.
"Alright, I understand. If a conflict truly arises, under the pressure of public opinion, Tatyana's chances of siding with us are very low. Even if she does side with us, as a militiaman, it would be futile."
"It's good that you understand. With Kanna absent, you and I are the temporary commanders here. Remember, every decision we make affects not only us but also so many children in the team. Sometimes, we cannot be soft-hearted."
Folinic looked towards the distant passage. At this moment, due to the Calamity, the voltage inside the passage was unstable, so the lights flickered, looking very oppressive.
"Boom!" Just then, a huge tremor suddenly came from the mobile fortress.
"What's going on?" Anto, who nearly fell, helped Surtur, who had accidentally fallen from the car, and asked Tatyana, who was nearby.
At this moment, Tatyana also looked bewildered and panicked, as this was the first time she had encountered such a terrifying situation. The massive explosion, accompanied by the sound of tearing metal, clearly reached their ears through the passage. This sound made everyone genuinely feel the oppressive sensation of the end of the world arriving.
"This sound indicates that an area has been breached by the Calamity. We just don't know the extent of the impact. According to the standard construction specifications for Calamity safety passages, even if one area is accidentally destroyed by a Calamity, it shouldn't affect the safety of surrounding areas. So, if the damaged area doesn't continue to expand, we should be temporarily safe."
Folinic recalled the documents of Kaltsit she had once handled, extracted the most similar content, and then quietly explained it to the Operators.
At this moment, Kanna was already standing at the very top of Wolumonde's commercial district, looking towards the east.
Although the sky was still dark, she could clearly see that to the east of Wolumonde, under the influence of the Calamity, the dormant Originium veins underground were activated, rapidly expanding towards Wolumonde at a visible speed.
Soon, the eastern area was pierced and torn by massive Originium crystals, revealing shattered farmlands.
Wolumonde's controller also understood the situation and frantically steered the giant mobile city away, though it failed to save the eastern area. Still, it prevented the Calamity from spreading underground to the entire city.
This must be why Wolumonde would face a food crisis, Kanna sighed inwardly, having witnessed the entire process.
Kanna was powerless in this situation. After all, her ability was thunder. When encountering such highly active Originium crystals, the only result would be more violent chain explosions, and the outcome might not be limited to just destroying one district.
One must remember that Wolumonde was currently submerged under about half a meter of Originium rain from the sky. If one spot exploded, the chain reaction could potentially tear the entire Wolumonde apart, burying everyone within the city.
When she jumped down from the sky and returned to the inn, she found Nian standing at the entrance with a worried expression.
"How was it?"
"Not good. The Catastrophe probably activated the underground mineral veins to the east. Now, the entire eastern area has become a grand canyon made entirely of exposed Originium. The eastern part of the city has also been significantly affected. The eastern district is severely damaged, and most critically, I found that the damaged area in the east should be Wolumonde's farmland, which has been messed up by a large number of Originium clusters..."
"Hiss~ You mean Wolumonde is likely to face a food crisis!" Nian rubbed her brow. She understood the situations that could arise from a Catastrophe, and food was the most troublesome. Once food became scarce and no aid arrived, it would mean instant destruction for a populous commercial city, especially a town like Wolumonde, which had almost all its military forces withdrawn.
"After the Catastrophe, let's contact the office and report the situation here to see if they can come up with a solution." Kanna checked her personal terminal. Under the Catastrophe, remote communication was completely down; only short-range communication was still usable. For now, they could only wait for the Catastrophe to pass so Yuki could quickly repair the base station, at least to get Wolumonde's current information out.
"I never expected my first mission to be so exciting. This is an interesting experience." Nian took out a pen and paper from her bag and wrote down her inspiration.
Kanna stood on her tiptoes and peered over. "Are you preparing for a new movie?"
"Of course! Since coming to Rhodes Island, I've gathered a lot of inspiration. Combining these ideas, I believe my next movie will definitely be a great and spectacular work."
When the production of a new movie was mentioned, Nian immediately became energetic, holding the pen and paper and explaining to Kanna where each recorded inspiration came from.
After another ten minutes or so, the Originium particles falling from the sky became fewer and fewer. Both of them noticed that the concentration of Originium in the air also began to gradually decrease, so they walked to the window.
Outside, many places were engulfed in flames, and many houses and streets were torn apart by explosions.
The reason, well, the instability of active Originium was a given. Even if Kanna didn't act, these unstable things would still suddenly explode. However, such explosions themselves were not large, so the impact was relatively small. Even if a chain reaction occurred, it would at most cause damage to one block. For the entire Wolumonde, although the losses were heavy, as long as the power zone and mobile sections were not affected, the city could still move, and then at least most of the residents would have hope of survival.
Seeing the Catastrophe begin to subside, Kanna brought the recorder from the doorway into the room to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings if someone saw it.
Just at this moment, the convoy below also fell into crisis.
The squad members held their weapons, vigilantly looking around, while Wolumonde residents surrounded them.
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