Did the world end today?

Chapter 414 Mobilization
At 4:17 a.m., 30 minutes after the extraordinary response team submitted its report, the Ministry of Emergency Management officially issued the order.

The order requires all areas potentially affected by probabilistic clouds to enter a state of emergency at the city level, and declares a Level I emergency response for natural disasters nationwide.

The order was transmitted instantly through the global communication network, and from that moment on, the gears of the entire national machine began to mesh in full.

With a deafening roar, immense power permeated every corner of this unprecedentedly massive machine.

The first thing to move is the most crucial transport network, which supports the body like blood vessels.

Inside the National Railway Dispatch Center, a massive railway operation map is being dynamically redrawn with the assistance of AI.

Countless passenger trains were intelligently guided to alternate lines or stations to avoid traffic, and "green channels" were opened up instantly.

A series of special trains, rarely seen in normal times and painted with "China Emergency," pulled fully loaded flatbed carriages out of the seven major central disaster relief material reserve warehouses across the country and headed towards the warning areas.

On the platform, the on-site commander held a walkie-talkie to observe the train's departure, while next to him, a huge container was loaded with a series of modular components.

From field hospitals to high-power generator modular units.

From standard shelter materials to emergency cooking equipment.

On this platform, they are not simply transporting "emergency relief supplies".

To be precise, what they are moving is a "small city".

In the instant the disaster struck, the equipment carried by these dozen or so trains could instantly restore a small town that had been razed to the ground to its basic functions.
-
And this is just the tip of the iceberg in this round of emergency airlifts.

When the on-site commander looked at the operational status map of the dispatch center again, he could clearly see that tens of thousands of freight trains were traveling along the vast railway system.

Like blood carrying nutrients, they rush towards the areas where disaster is most likely to occur.

Contingency plans were made before anything even happened.

Meanwhile, at railway stations across the country, the first batch of military transport convoys, which had also been urgently mobilized, had already arrived.

They will assume responsibility for the transfer from the rail network to the road network, and will be responsible for moving goods piled up at the train station to designated temporary storage locations.
-
Among the 46 potential disaster areas and 3 potential severely affected areas in China, not every surrounding city has the capacity and space to accommodate and store supplies.

Therefore, a large number of construction machines have also entered the site behind them.

Site preparation, paving, and roof construction.
The site should be ready when the first batch of supplies arrives.

The worker operating the four-legged tracked excavator was sweating profusely, with his mobile phone propped up on the control panel.

That was originally his go-to tool for watching short videos to kill time when doing repetitive tasks, but now, he can't even be bothered to glance at it.

Only the sounds coming from his phone reminded him how urgent this mission was.

"Attention all residents, we have received an urgent notification from the Ministry of Emergency Management that a high-intensity 'gravity anomaly' disaster may occur in our city in five hours and forty-five minutes."

Please remain calm and immediately use your mobile navigation app to check the official evacuation routes and proceed to the designated emergency shelters.

Repeat, "Please maintain order and follow instructions..."

Evacuate?

The man picked up the walkie-talkie beside him and shouted angrily:
"Get the hell out of here, car number 2!"

"Make room for me to work! Don't block my way!"

Evacuate?

Get out of here my ass!
He stepped on the gas, and the excavator slowly moved forward. After vehicle number 2 withdrew, it finally occupied the most suitable working area.

The bucket tumbled up and down, the shovel teeth striking the rocks and sending sparks flying, which startled him.

He wasn't worried about the excavator, which had exhausted itself, breaking down—in this kind of project, even if the excavator was ruined, someone would compensate him with a new one.

His only worry was that if he affected the other vehicles, he wouldn't be the only one getting scolded.

After calming himself down a bit, the man slowed down his movements.

Five hours and forty minutes is plenty of time; there's no need to rush.
His wheels rolled over the already leveled work surface, while the workers responsible for pouring followed closely behind, pouring quick-drying cement directly into the already arranged wire cages.

The worker operating the pump casually picked up a cigarette and dropped it at the bottom of the room. In the instant he looked up, he saw a large number of drones gathering above his head.

"Fuck."

He was momentarily stunned.

He had only ever seen so many drones before, during drone light shows.

But that thing used a small drone, while the one flying overhead was clearly a large, heavy-duty drone.

Among them were many multi-rotor drones that he found incredibly large, even larger than real helicopters.

Most of the drones were not carrying any load; he knew they were just there to "scout out" the location.

Or to be more precise, they came to draw diagrams and create networks.

After these preparations are completed, the drones will operate with astonishing efficiency.

Without human intervention or guidance, they will tirelessly travel back and forth between the hive and nectar, just like a swarm of bees, bringing back all the necessary substances and nutrients.

However, all of this is contingent on the fact that the necessary landing sites for the drones must be prepared as soon as possible.

The quick-drying cement had already begun to solidify, and he operated the machine to continue moving forward.

Looking up over his shoulder, the drone swarm that had completed its mapping was returning to base.

The signal was transmitted to the ground via invisible radio waves. At the ground terminal, the operator responsible for programming and networking pressed the last Enter key, and the previously somewhat chaotic swarm of drones in the sky instantly became orderly.

"Completed simultaneously, ready to initiate the transportation mission at any time!"

The operator reported loudly, and immediately the commander's voice came from behind him.

"Execute immediately."

"We expect to be able to open one area of ​​the venue within 20 minutes, and we will immediately organize the delivery of supplies after it opens."

"clear."

The operator inputs a command, and the drone swarm regains altitude and heads towards the distant cargo transfer station.

As these drones traverse the clouds, massive transport planes roar past higher in the sky.

The voice of the controller in the control tower was crystal clear in the pilot's headset.

"Kunpeng 807, this is Chutian Tower. You have entered the fifth leg and the ILS signal has been acquired. Runway 07, the touchdown zone is slippery. Be aware of crosswinds. Wind direction 280, 3 m/s."

The captain held the control stick steadily, his gaze quickly switching between the instrument panel and the blurry ground reference points outside the window.

His voice, delivered calmly through the built-in microphone, replied:
"Tower, Kunpeng 807 received. ILS established, runway 07. Requesting a check that the runway is free of obstructions and confirmation that the guide vehicle is in position."

"The runway has been cleared and the guidance vehicle is on standby at the designated location. The surface wind is 280 m/s with gusts of 6 m/s."

"Received. Preparing for grounding."

As soon as he finished speaking, the captain gently pressed down on the control stick.

The heavy transport plane was diving downwards at a huge angle of attack, as if it would hit the ground and crash at any moment.

But at the last moment before landing, as the control stick was pulled up, the aircraft rose up gracefully and landed in a beautiful and pleasing manner.

"Tower, Kunpeng 807 has landed safely. Requesting clearance to detach from the runway and proceed to unloading area 3."

"Kunpeng 807, detachment approved. Follow the yellow guide vehicle along the K3 taxiway. Ground crew are in position. Unloading window 12 minutes, thank you for your hard work."

"Received, following the lead vehicle, thank you for your support."

12 minutes.

Taxiing takes at least 6 minutes, which means that the unloading time for this plane is less than 5 minutes.

But enough is enough.

This airport has long been in full mobilization mode, with a large number of unmanned machines already in place, and even 5 minutes is considered with a 30% redundancy.

The airport lights were flashing, and the captain was momentarily disoriented.

His gaze went beyond the open space at the edge of the airport and extended further into the brightly lit industrial area.

Intuitively, this is a perfectly normal phenomenon.

But in reality, the scene before him was extremely abnormal. He knew that the factory area had long been converted into a darkened area, and under normal circumstances, the only light on inside was the streetlights used for patrolling the factory area.

so.
Are the factories here also included in the mobilization effort?
The plane had come to a complete stop, and the captain thoughtfully looked away.

But he didn't notice that the lights in the distant factory began to go out the moment the hatch opened.

Darkness gradually engulfed the entire factory area, and the workers who had completed the emergency repairs and sealing tasks were evacuating.

The buses were already ready at the main gate.

The technician, his hands stained with oil and wearing glasses, stood at the car door counting people one by one. Although there was already an ID card check-in device, he seemed to feel that he still had to count them again by himself to be at ease.

"hurry up!"

The technician loudly urged the workers at the back of the line who were still leisurely watching the performance.

"You think this is a picnic? You're still smoking?!"

"Although we're not in the core area, we're still at risk of being affected!"

"The evacuation deadline is approaching. Don't let a few of you affect everyone else!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the workers threw away their cigarettes and quickened their pace.

But you couldn't see much panic on their faces.

"What's there to be afraid of?"

Someone spoke up:
"If the sky falls, the country will hold it up. Do you think we'll just die here?"

These words left the technician speechless with anger. He had his rebuttal on the tip of his tongue, but ultimately swallowed it back.

Only after everyone was on the bus and it had started moving towards the highway did he earnestly begin to speak:
"This is no joke."

“High-dimensional disasters are different from ordinary natural disasters; they are more difficult to predict and more harmful.”

"The cloud that landed in our city was only a level 3 disaster probability cloud, but its intensity was already comparable to a category 12 typhoon."

"So those who should be evacuated should be evacuated; we must not take any chances."

"These days, no property, no house, no car is worth anything; the most valuable thing is your own life!"

"If I die, you won't be able to enjoy any good days in the future!"

"I know, I know."

Everyone answered one after another.

Their gaze fell on the highway, where a dense convoy of vehicles was moving forward at a steady pace.

All these vehicles that "escaped the city" ultimately had the same goal.

Satellite city to the north.

Although the area has not yet completely escaped the influence of the probability cloud, the probability of being directly impacted by a disaster has been reduced to below 5%.

In addition, its proximity makes it an ideal temporary evacuation and resettlement point.

The lights kept flashing, and in the distance, the sky gradually brightened.

"It's 6 o'clock."

Five minutes have passed since the "lower limit" of the predicted time of the disaster.

From this moment on, the probability of a probability cloud outbreak increases by 1% every minute that passes.

So close.

The crowd, who had been laughing and joking, finally quieted down. When the bus stopped at the designated parking area in the satellite city and everyone followed the flow of people to the temporary resettlement point, the topic of discussion finally changed from "when can we go back" to "I hope nothing serious will happen."

Above them, police drones hovered back and forth, guiding the crowd, while loudspeakers continuously broadcast messages to maintain order.

Higher up, on a giant advertising screen, live footage was being broadcast from Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, on the other side of the world.

In stark contrast, on the streets of Buenos Aires, no one seemed worried about the impending disaster.

They were still strolling around, chatting, and dancing.

The restaurant was packed with people, and young people were speeding by in convertibles on the main road.

A hot-looking female reporter introduced the city's situation and the preparations the authorities were making in preparation for the impending disaster.

She seemed quite confident in the official response.

However, for Chinese viewers who have just completed an epic evacuation, removing more than 40 people from the city in two hours, the Argentine government's preparations seem somewhat frivolous.

"Aren't these people afraid of dying?"

"No way, or do they think nothing serious will happen?"

"I don't know, maybe that's just how foreigners are."

"Not necessarily. Maybe it wasn't a big deal at all. Maybe we were just overreacting?"

"That's true. But paid leave is pretty good too. It feels a bit like the old days of taking shelter from typhoons."

“In the past, when we were sheltering from a typhoon, we weren’t evacuated all of us. I still think it would have been better if we had just stayed at home.”

"Such a troublesome undertaking would not only be a waste of time and money, but also..."

"look up!"

Before the words were even finished, a sudden change occurred on the screen.

Behind the female reporter, a strange sphere that distorted light suddenly appeared.

next second.

"boom!"

The sphere suddenly exploded!

The video cuts out and then switches to a wider aerial view.

From the camera's perspective, Buenos Aires appears like a black hole, with more than half of the city already swallowed up.

evaporation.

Everything within a radius of more than 10 kilometers was instantly reduced to ashes.

What followed was an explosion caused by the extremely high pressure difference.

"It's over."

A cacophony of voices arose from the crowd.

The next second, a blast of air swept across the screen.

The image disappeared again, and when it reappeared, it had switched to the perspective of a high-altitude satellite.

Within the building complex, which resembles a set of building blocks, a huge void has appeared.

Everyone was stunned by the scene, but at that very moment, the air raid siren suddenly sounded.

"Woo——"

The piercing sound pierced everyone's eardrums.

A command was transmitted to everyone's ears through the loudspeaker of the drone in the air.

"Probability Cloud crashed!"

"A gravitational anomaly disaster has occurred!"

"Everyone stay where you are! Don't panic!"

"It's safe here!!"

(End of this chapter)