Krafft's Anomaly Notes

Chapter 301 Earthquake
Just after noon, the professor and Brother Wadding hurriedly embarked on their return journey.

People outside the monastery who were busy with farm work were still working tirelessly. Maybe at some point, their bodies did feel slightly dizzy, but they were covered up by symptoms of mild heatstroke.

In any case, the ditch must be repaired as soon as possible. Without rainfall replenishment, the moisture on the surface and underground is gradually decreasing.

The land beneath which they worked was fertile and noisy, densely populated with loose holes where moisture-loving organisms were active. They had just awakened from the rainy season some time ago and were stimulated by changes in moisture and became active.

This kind of activity has not yet opened up the mud crust of the soil, only brought up a few mud bubbles or turned over the moss leaves. But given time, no one can guess what kind of things will be hatched on the familiar land yesterday.

It seems that nothing has changed, the same road, the same scenery, and the increasingly unbearable sunshine.

No, something did change.

As they passed the knee-high grass, a group of black shadows, disturbed by the vibration, jumped out, exposing themselves in the middle of the unobstructed road, flowing from one side of the road to the other like sewage that broke a bank.

The horse, which had no time to rein in, stepped directly into the black shadows, with a sharp squeaking sound and dirty red substance emerging from under its hooves.

It was a huge swarm of rats. Craft had never seen so many rats. These nocturnal animals are driven from their nests and go out at the least suitable time, forming a nervous undercurrent that overflows across the ground.

The death of similar species has no impact on their behavior, or it could be said that the tiny brain capacity has been fully occupied and cannot accommodate extra things, so they just try to escape under the whip of danger premonition.

As if it were a very ominous prelude, a strange atmosphere was exuding all around, becoming more intense as the distance from the city shortened.

Flocks of birds hovered in the sky, insects flapped their wings, and the creature's instinct to avoid harm made it restless and perform various abnormal behaviors. They flew like swarms, and instinctively turned back to avoid the gullies formed by the collapse of tunnels.

It seemed as if something was rising from it, splitting the wilderness into fragmented pieces.

The human reaction is obviously much slower.

When they arrived in the city sweating profusely, they found that the order here had not changed much.

The peripheral market is still running spontaneously, with stalls and sheds selling agricultural products and various handmade products standing next to each other, occupying favorable positions on both sides of the road, and various people picking and choosing among them.

The stall owners were busy tidying up the shelves, sorting out scattered goods, and putting the crooked and loose shed pillars back in place, not forgetting to sell the goods that had just been dusted off to potential customers passing by.

The impact here was obviously much greater than that of the monastery, but it was also limited. The situation at that time could only be seen from a few fallen pieces of broken tiles.

Before large-scale panic occurred, the abnormal phenomenon that only lasted for a few seconds was over, and there were no casualties.

But life goes on, and the crowd is gradually returning to its original trajectory. Even the few individuals who think too much are uneasily brought into this abnormal normality due to the inertia of the group.

The tension that turns into the dark flows through inadvertent actions, people flow faster than usual, and a small conflict may turn into a quarrel and end hastily.

Several carriages passed by, carrying daily necessities and heading out of the city, seemingly preparing to stay in a suburban manor.

Although they don't understand the situation, it seems that there are quite a few people who don't want to stand under the dangerous wall and can go out and wait and see for a while.

The further you move into the city, the more obvious the signs of this undercurrent become. The damage to low-rise residential buildings on the outskirts of the city was generally less severe, but the damage was magnified on the multi-story buildings with a long history.

The slight dislocation caused by the vibration is reflected on the cracked exterior wall. The suspicious cracks pry open the thick powder shell, and the branches and leaves spread out like a climbing plant. The thick powder shell is eroded, revealing the old masonry wall.

Perhaps it was these signs that made people realize that those giant stone objects were not forever. Sooner or later, they would be integrated into the ruins under their feet and become part of the ruins, and they were the same.

A corner of the street collapsed and sunk, and water gurgled out from the gaps between the sunken stone bricks, forming a spring-like water pool. Onlookers were discussing the possibility of underground water, and were considering converting it into a small fountain if it could be stable and sustainable.

The professor followed Brother Vardin towards the tall spire building that could be seen from anywhere, joining the flow of people coming spontaneously from all over the city. A large number of residents gathered in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral to seek comfort and answers from their hearts.

The church's clergy and guards were drowned in the crowd, shouting loudly in an attempt to maintain order, but it was rarely effective in an environment that was noisier than the market. Due to their status, it was impossible to actually take action.
The two people who dismounted and entered the church square struggled to separate the gap and arrived near the church, only to find that the main entrance had already been closed. The winged helmeted guardian knight also joined the team to control the crowd, barely ensuring that there would be no casualties from trampling on each other. It was already theirs. Extreme, no time to care about other things.

The scene was chaotic, and the crowd that had basically maintained a normal appearance seemed to have aroused some emotions in the crowding and physical conflicts, and bad tendencies were gradually fermenting.

Wading spent a lot of effort to find an acquaintance of his colleagues, and learned that when the incident happened, they had received temporary orders to block all entrances and went out to appease the believers. Now they were also blocked outside. Before further news was sent, No one knows where to get in.

This was a foresighted decision. Although the interior space of the church was large, it was not large enough to accommodate a crowd of this size.

The incident happened suddenly, and perhaps the church was also discussing an explanation, as well as other powers in the city. So far, no one with enough weight has come forward to give an explanation.

Since there is no explanation, the explanation will grow automatically. They have heard various discussions among the crowd, and it has even reached the point of "Heavenly Father wants to punish the corrupt behavior in the city, and the earthquake is a warning."

The nearby priest didn't have time to scold the continuous fallacies. He scanned the crowd and asked the guards to catch a few, but there was no way to catch them.

At the edge of the field of vision, something fell from a high place, and the sound of heavy impact, shattering and screams sounded simultaneously.

The black crowd exploded from the landing point, escaping and squeezing in all directions for unknown reasons. Accompanied by unexplained wails and shouts of "devil", the atmosphere was completely tense to the critical point, and a large number of people followed. Running blindly, desperately trying to squeeze a way out of the traffic jam.

"Stop, stop!"

"In the name of Heavenly Father, stop right there!"

The colleague who was still talking to Wading just turned around and tried to contain the crowd that was spreading here, but was swept away in the blink of an eye.

Realizing the danger, the two men almost wanted to draw their swords, but reason held them back from reaching for the hilt of the sword. Instead, they used the scabbard to block the oncoming believers. When necessary, they had to use a heavy hand and use a counterweight. Opening the palm that he grabbed unconsciously, he faced the crowd and moved against the wall towards the place where the chaos broke out.

After rushing out of the siege in a more embarrassing state than when he came out of the sewer, Kraft stepped on a raised object and almost sprained his foot.

Looking down, he saw half of a dark and ferocious face, with curved fangs protruding from his lips, and a soft, beard-like lower jaw stained with fresh, viscous red liquid.

The unprepared fright made him jump away immediately, and his brain was idle, wondering if something had leaked from the nearby island in the middle of the river.

After calming down for a while, you can find that this scary thing has no characteristics of any living thing except the moss on the surface. The exquisite carvings create the hideous feeling very well, and coupled with the natural smears of time, it becomes even more terrifying.

But it was just a stone statue, and the rest of it shattered and scattered, tripping more people during the stampede.

Kraft looked up and saw that something was obviously missing from an eaves corner directly above. The empty fracture explained the origin of this thing.

The church gargoyle, or gargoyle. It had been cracked for a long time, but became loose due to vibration, and finally broke and fell off.

Originally, at most one or two unlucky people would be hit, but in the end, they encountered the most or most unlucky circumstances, resulting in the worst possible situation.

In the open space of the square where the crowds had receded, there were victims who were not sure whether they were alive or dead. The nearest one must have been hit directly. He was wailing loudly with his arms folded, and he was still quite energetic. A few of the others who stumbled and were trampled did not say a word. The situation was not optimistic.

Although it was only a minor earthquake, the first victims had already appeared - half a day after the earthquake.

Kraft lamented and greeted the few people still standing on the field who could get up on their own: "Do you need help? There is a doctor here!"

He had a hunch that the trouble here might be the smallest one next. The vacation is over before it even begins.

Good news, the well-known writer Yi Zidian recently won the resurrection competition, and "Method of Steel and Fire" has been officially republished!