Chapter Five: Please, Entire City, Don't Believe Me

The final resident boarded with fifty seconds left. Zero repeatedly delayed the energy threshold, and Gu Ye felt a vast mind tearing somewhere far away. [ZERO AUTHORITY OVERLOAD.] [SUSTAINABLE DURATION: SEVEN SECONDS.] Evacuation reached 60.1 percent. [TEST PASSED.] The explosion happened anyway. Gu Ye borrowed the explosion's sound. For ten seconds the blast could not become a blast or trigger panic. He delayed the shock wave striking the last bus by one second. The driver accelerated across the twelve-kilometer boundary. Behind them a blue-white pillar reached the clouds. The tower vanished from the middle outward. Glass shattered in a silent apocalypse. Ten seconds later, the roar caught the city.