That flash of lightning wasn't as blinding as the one before, but the scary part was how close it struck. It felt like it landed right in front of their eyes.
Without a second thought, Jing Shu shouted, "Dad, reverse! Floor it, as fast as you can!"
Jing An didn't even ask what was going on. He figured there must be something dangerous ahead. He'd been about to drive forward, but when his daughter yelled, he slammed the gear into reverse and stepped hard on the gas. The RV shot backward, picking up speed past 40 kilometers per hour.
The deafening rumble that followed proved Jing Shu's instincts were right.
The RV was too big, the road too narrow. Turning around would've taken at least half a minute, which was way too long in a crisis like this. That's why she'd told her dad to back straight out. Luckily, this stretch of road hadn't collapsed and there weren't any curves.
Then the ground started shaking violently.
"Dad, stop the car, pull the handbrake!" Jing Shu let out a sharp breath. Thank god they'd gotten away from the epicenter. If they hadn't, the RV might've been swallowed whole, or flipped over from the sheer force of it.
In her last life, her family had been late getting to the back mountain. By then it was overcrowded, so they were sent to Xuanwu Lake Park instead. That place had smelled like sewers and garbage, survival conditions were miserable. Just thinking about it made her want to gag. Back then, she'd been jealous of the families placed at the back mountain, since it was closer to home.
Now the entire RV jolted violently. Jing Shu quickly activated the memory-metal stabilizers she'd bought from Qian Duoduo.
Metallic thuds echoed as the giant RV sprouted support struts from its sides. Each one extended outward with rows of auxiliary wheels, tilted at 45 degrees in midair. It was an impressive sight, though no one was around to see it.
As the quake rattled on, the RV rocked left and right, threatening to tip. Each time it leaned too far, the support struts scraped against the pavement, the wheels screeching as they caught the weight, then springing back thanks to the memory metal's elasticity.
They weren't strong enough to hold up a vehicle weighing more than ten tons, but they could absorb impact, ease the pressure, and give some insurance. The RV already came with an anti-roll system, but with this kind of nonstop shaking, that alone wouldn't have been enough. It felt like riding a pirate ship ride at an amusement park, slamming left one moment, right the next.
The design had been inspired by training wheels on a kid's bike, keeping it upright no matter how unsteady the balance.
Inside, Su Lanzhi screamed, dishes clattered, and bags fell from overhead compartments. Luckily, Jing Shu had prepared for this, so the losses weren't heavy.
"Grandma, lie flat on the bed and hold the handle! Mom, forget the food, just lie down so you don't hurt yourself!"
"Alright, alright, I'm down… shame about the sesame soybean meat paste your grandma just made."
Jing Shu scanned the RV for damage.
Thankfully, the German MAN RV's kitchen came with shatterproof cabinets and sterilizers, so their limited stock of dishes was intact. Every plate and bowl counted now, and she hoped she'd still be eating out of them ten years down the line.
All the appliances had been locked into fitted slots, and the tables and chairs were built-in, so most of their belongings survived even when tossed around. Jing Shu had done everything she could to prepare ahead of time.
The only thing that worried her was the fish pond upstairs. It had been converted from the RV's old sink using materials Chu Zhuohua had found. She didn't know if it could withstand such a quake. Water might spill everywhere, or the pond might crack and ruin their chances of raising fish.
Then there were the chickens and ducks. If they got shaken onto her bed and shat all over it from fright, she'd lose her mind. Just the thought gave her a headache. Jing Shu gripped a handle with one hand and steadied her dad with the other, calm and practiced like she'd done this a hundred times before.
The quake lasted a full minute, followed by a string of aftershocks. Everyone's hearts were pounding. It felt like they'd brushed past death once again. The worst part was not knowing. You never knew if the next tremor would be the one that killed you.
For most people, it was torture, like ants on a hot pan. But not for Jing Shu. She'd already lived through countless quakes in her past life, so her calmness now felt almost chilling.
"Shu'er, I didn't even think just now. Thank god you told me to back up. If I'd panicked and floored it forward, we would've slammed straight into the back mountain, right where the community was gathering. Not only would we have killed a bunch of people, we probably would've flipped too." Jing An wiped the sweat from his forehead. That flash of lightning had been so close he'd acted on pure instinct, but his daughter's quick warning had saved them.
"Dad, next time you see lightning that close, don't think, just get as far away as possible."
"Lightning's connected to quakes?"
Jing Shu rubbed her nose. "I heard it is."
The back mountain had quaked too. It was only magnitude five, but even that sent the newly gathered crowd into chaos. People panicked and bolted in all directions. No one listened to the blaring loudspeakers. Worse, a giant crack split open the ground, and countless people fell straight into it.
Then, just as suddenly, the earth closed back up.
The back mountain had become something terrifying, something that swallowed people whole.
"My mom fell in! Mom!"
"Run, kid! There's no saving her. Stay with the group or you won't survive. At least the government will feed you."
"I want my mom!"
"From now on, you'll live with Auntie Li." Auntie Li dragged the child away by force.
"No, the kid should stay with me, I'm their neighbor!"
"Why you? The kid gets to choose."
The government had a new policy. Any family who took in an orphan would get rations for the child every day, a monthly subsidy, and, most importantly, the orphan could choose their guardian freely.
Li Yuetian filed the paperwork right away, then led people to relocate again, this time to Xuanwu Lake Park.
The crowd was massive, shoulder to shoulder. They would've scattered if not for the smell of millet porridge wafting from military trucks, guiding them forward with the promise of food.
"Listen up, everyone! Find your assigned manager, line up according to their number, and move in order. Once we reach the shelter, every person gets one free bowl of hot millet porridge. If you don't line up, you don't eat!"
That announcement finally calmed the chaos. By the time the first group arrived at Xuanwu Lake Park, the people at the back had only just started moving.