Chapter 155: The Calamity Descends

The terrifying tremors did not last long.

A moment later.

The scarred, ravaged earth came into Baimu's view—bottomless, crisscrossing fissures like wounds torn open, rolling dust clouds blurring the surroundings, everything looking savage and terrifying.

Looking out over the district, many buildings' walls and windows had been shaken into wreckage and rubble, but most of the main structures still stood firm.

Only a small portion—clearly shacks or crudely-built shanties—had been reduced entirely to ruins.

Wails and screams rose from everywhere. Baimu, however, felt immensely grateful at this moment—they had evacuated most of the civilians and captives from the buildings into open areas ahead of time.

If they had still been housed indoors, no one knew how terrible the outcome would have been.

Still, with the collapse of some buildings, quite a few outer members of the Quicksand Squad, Hound Squad members, and ordinary civilians had been buried and tragically perished.

"Rise a bit higher."

Baimu said to Chansey, whose eyes flashed blue once more, carrying him up to a height of nearly fifty meters.

The surrounding situation was immediately clear at a glance.

For a place like Huang Tie Town with few tall buildings, fifty meters was enough for him to take in the surroundings.

"As expected…"

Baimu gazed at the heavily damaged Hound Squad territory, his brow furrowing deeply.

The earthquake's source should have been the underground city of the Luo Qi Group, radiating outward, so the three major districts of the Luo Qi Group had suffered the worst, and the territories of the other two top executives had also been affected.

Even some other factions' territories had taken a hit.

But judging by this scale, it must have been man-made—a normal natural earthquake couldn't be so concentrated; at the very least it would have affected half of Huang Tie Town.

What on earth happened in the underground city?

He switched to the channel contacting Fu Luobo and Master Liu Ge, and as expected received no reply—surface and underground were clearly in a state of lost contact.

"Martial God Asura"

While he was thinking.

Baimu saw that the entire outer perimeter of the district was in chaos, countless people running about like headless flies. He immediately flew to the vehicle with the loudspeaker, trying to use the PA system to calm everyone down.

Coincidentally, the other squad leaders thought the same, and they all gathered in one place.

"What's the situation? Was this earthquake part of the plan?"

Seeing this, Baimu instinctively asked them about the earthquake.

Unexpectedly, the squad leaders at this moment also appeared somewhat flustered. After forcibly steadying themselves, they shook their heads frantically and pointed, "How could it be? We haven't yet reached the point of disregarding civilian safety to achieve our goals!"

Indeed.

After this wave of earthquake, the neighboring districts that hadn't been fully taken would certainly have heavy casualties. The Crystal Group and Stone Group hadn't yet finished clearing their districts, and were still in a standoff with the Hound Squad members and civilians inside.

And if the surface was already like this, the situation in the underground city was presumably even more horrific. Master Liu Ge and the others had endured over a decade before just taking their first step—there was no need to fight to the death for a momentary gain.

Since it wasn't Master Liu Ge's arrangement, then it was most likely inseparable from Luo Qi, who held the home advantage. Realizing he couldn't stop the Luo Qi Group's retreat, so in desperation he chose mutual destruction?

Very possible!

Baimu had a guess in his heart.

The squad leader beside him also successfully restarted the loudspeaker's content, confirming it wasn't damaged by the quake before releasing an earsplitting roar.

"Everyone stay where you are and wait for instructions! Everyone is forbidden from running about!"

Once the surrounding people quieted down, the loudspeaker changed its message again.

"All squad members, take headcount and converge on the command vehicle! Everyone else stay in place! Await further instructions! Strictly forbidden to run about or shout to create panic—violators will face punitive measures!"

"Strictly forbidden to run about or shout to create panic!"

Two minutes later.

The Quicksand Squad members previously scattered to various locations converged on the command vehicle.

"I'll lead people to scout the underground city's situation and try to restore contact with Big Brother and the others. You detach one squad to return to Quicksand Squad to request reinforcements; the rest begin rescue operations. Don't forget not just our district, but the other two as well!"

A squad leader volunteered to say.

"Good!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Baimu glanced at the situation around him and agreed as well.

The underground city incident and lost contact were certainly urgent, but the fact that they hadn't sent everyone into the underground city—instead leaving most to carry out civilian rescue—proved that Master Liu Ge's team was not merely a rabble that only knew how to shout slogans.

Leaving rashly would only cause panic and breed more unnecessary trouble. And from the squad leaders' instinctive decision to save people—

It wasn't hard to see they truly wanted to bring a clear sky to the civilians of Huang Tie Town.

"Baimu! Baimu! What do we do?"

Cheng Hong ran over covered in dust, his expression full of panic.

Baimu pressed his shoulder. "Don't panic. Is everyone alright?"

"Yes—not just the brothers, everyone who came out of Qingyi Street has gathered with us. Only two people almost fell into a crack, but someone pulled them out!"

Seeing his pillar of support, his breathing calmed considerably.

"Alright, tell the big guy to take a headcount, confirm if anyone's missing, then search the surrounding houses."

Baimu said in a calm tone: "Absolutely don't panic. Bring out your backbone—tell those panicking ones that everything will be fine, that Quicksand Squad won't abandon them. Understood?"

"U-understood!"

Cheng Hong nodded.

On the other side, Otsuka also came over. "Baimu! You're here!"

"Find a way to gather some obedient people and deal with those trying to loot the situation. If anything comes up, call me immediately." Baimu said to him in a low voice.

Otsuka was stunned for a moment—he hadn't expected that before he could even ask, the task had already been assigned.

"Understood!"

He nodded without hesitation.

After giving instructions to a few underlings, All Baimu glanced at the chaos around him, released his Bastiodon, and had it run off to restrain the captured Hound Squad members so they wouldn't cause trouble.

Fortunately, these people were more docile than expected — some wailing or shouting on the spot, some staring blankly at the shattered streets, wearing expressions of utter despair.

All Baimu actually understood their thoughts at this moment. Most Hound Squad members, though they lorded it over those beneath them, had still risen from nothing.

Now that their home had become ruins, who could remain calm?

"All of you, be quiet—!"

"Roaaar—!"

Bastiodon's furious roar drew the Hound Squad members' attention toward All Baimu.

"I think you should know that something has happened to the underground city. Your superiors are very likely already destroyed. Right now you have no one to rely on, and your only choice is to join our Quicksand Team. But because you are captives, born of crime, without merit you will inevitably sink to the very bottom."

He shouted: "But right now you have a chance to atone for your crimes! Organize your people and the civilians, and I'll return some Pokémon to you. Use these Pokémon to take part in the rescue. If you do well, in the future I'll put in a few good words for you. Do you understand?"

Almost no one responded.

Seeing this, Bastiodon directly picked up a piece of rubble from the ground and smashed it to pieces with a loud crash.

"Roaaar!

"Do you understand!?"

All Baimu roared once more.

"Understood!" "Got it!" The captives nodded frantically.