Natural Disasters Strikes: I stockpiled like crazy! - Chapter 136

Chapter 136: Hailing Troubles (1)
The trouble in the public hospital came to a halt when troop trucks carrying

Soldiers wearing mask over their scarves and sterile gloves over their mittens came carrying extra cot beds to the hospital and assisted the overwhelmed nurses on treating the patients.

With the soldiers present, the peace was temporarily restored.

But it wouldn’t be for long as the number of fever patients continued to rise.

….

A minute after that twisting feeling settled in her stomach, Nanzhi stumbled, her knees bending instinctively as a faint tremor rippled beneath her feet.

It was so subtle that the others, including Baoyin seemed oblivious, their focus fixed on the snowy road.

She straightened, her heart racing.

An earthquake? She thought, gripping Baoyin’s sleeves tighter.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Baoyin asked, her voice muffled under her scarf.

“Let’s hurry up,” Nanzhi muttered, glancing at the ground uneasily.

The tremor was gone as quickly as it came, but the sense of unease lingered in her chest.

Before she could say more, the sky darkened suddenly, a heavy gray swallowing the faint light.

The snowfall, already harsh, transformed into something far more sinister.

Nanzhi felt the fabric of the umbrella bounced. Something solid hit it.

That thing rolled and fell onto the snow.

Nanzhi’s eyes narrowed at the hailstone.

With a sharp crack, more hails began to fall, sharp and hard, like small stones raining down the sky. The hails hit the umbrella, the fabric shaking violently under the attack.

“Hailstones! It’s hails!” Yu Baoyin was shocked.

The two of them quickly run to the nearest building which was a hundred meters away.

The only current structure around them is walls, there is not even a parked vehicle or a small waiting shed around.

In the midst, a hailstone nearly truck Nanzhi’s hand. She avoided it on time but Yu Baoyin unfortunately couldn’t avoid the hailstone hitting her shoulder.

She winced.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes! It’s nothing Sister Nan!”

Nanzhi pulled her close and gave her the umbrella before opening another one for her.

Around them, people panicked, running for cover. Some used coats and bags to protect their heads, while others just held their arms up.

The hail grew heavier, falling faster and harder. The stones hit the snow grounds with sharp cracks, bouncing wildly and breaking apart upon impact.

Nanzhi could see some unlucky people getting hit, stumbling and crying in pain. A man fell nearby, blood trickling from his head as others dragging him away.

Another fist sized hail was about to hit him, Nanzhi’s eyes flashed and the hailstone considerably slowed down before it him.

The man was surprised but didn’t questioned his luck.

[Mental Power: 159]

As Nanzhi escaped with Baoyin, she used her mental power to help the people around .

She dared not completely stopped the hails but only slowed down their speed or divert its direction, less it draws attention.

She timed each move to appear as though the winds from the hailstorm itself had caused the strange shifts in the hails.

To the untrained eye, it was nothing more than a series of lucky coincidences.

But Nanzhi couldn’t still go against nature. She could only control 9 to 10 hails at the most. at the same time.

[Mental Power: 128]

The umbrellas ripped apart under the weight of the hails. The two tossed them aside, and used their coats and arms to shield their heads.

The hails stung every time like sharp slaps against their skin, even through their thick coats.

Nanzhi prioritize covering both of their heads with mental power. Her eyes calm minimizing its mental power consumption.

Soldiers shouted orders but their voices drown out by the noises of the hailstorm.

Amidst the chaos, came deep rumbles of the truck engines.

Nanzhi turned and saw its headlight cutting through the hail storm.

Soldiers on the truck waved and shouted, calling survivors to climb aboard.

“This way! Get in!” a soldier yelled.

Nanzhi grabbed Baoyin’s arms, and they sprinted towards the truck, ducking their heads.

They scrambled into the back, collapsing among the group of bundle-up researchers.

Nanzhi turned her head and saw survivors still not out of danger. She sent her mental power protecting them.

[Mental Power: 70]

[Mental Power: 52]

Nanzhi sat silently, trying to catch her breath. Her eyes swept on the people inside the truck and ultimately stopping on a familiar figure—Professor Zhang Heng.

Her mind flashed back to the flood, the snake-infested waters of the East Pearl University.

But his assistant, Xiao Hei was not with him.

Amidst the sounds of hail battering the truck loud in her ears, there was a conspicuous beeping, tearing away her attention on the animal geneticist.

A holographic screen popped in front of her. It was about the mission about escorting survivors.

[Special Mission: Escort Survivors to the Military Base]

[Time Limit: 3 days, 8 hours]

[Side Mission Rewards: 50 EXP per survivor]

Why would it appear without her mind summoning?

On the corner of her eyes, the borders of the screens turned red and it quickly painted the whole screen.

The letters glitching, shuffling like cards and rearranging themselves in a creepy manner, it stopped after five seconds forming a new mission.

[Special Mission: Save Survivors during winter]

[Time Limit: 3 days, 8 hours]

[Side Mission Rewards: 20 EXP per survivor]

‘System, what the heck is that? Are you being hacked?’

Often her computer storing the financial data of their client company experience the same thing which made her thought it crashed or malfunctioned.

Doubt filled her eyes.

[No. The system is just exercising flexibility.]

Flexibility my foot?

That scene is straight from a tech horror movie.

[You’ve saved 54 survivors and earned 1, 080 EXP]

Nanzhi’s expression turned 180 degree as she eyed the more than a thousand EXP: Oh! Flexibility is good policy!

System: “…”

Nanzhi consumed the rest of her mental power to help while she absorbs spars inside her curled fists.

She used her mental power until her head throbbed painfully. Within the short period, she gained 760 EXP more.

The trucks drove to the direction of a bunker like building next to the commissary where there was a sturdy hangar structure affront.

From the distance, she can already see outlines of people there.

When they finally arrived, the soldiers directed everyone under the hangar.

The soldiers protected the researchers including Professor Zhang Heng. They escorted them inside the bunker.

Nanzhi stood off the side, watching the scene fall silently. That twisting feeling in her guts still remained.