Simulation Game: Crisis Management

Chapter 708: Chapter 317: Silence

On the football field north of the camp, the densely packed bodies of those who have lost their lives were laid out.

Families with missing loved ones walked through these temporary morgues, almost numbly moving their feet, identifying the faces of the bodies.

If they didn’t recognize a body, they would continue forward; when they did recognize someone, they would break down in tears.

But these were not the most heart-wrenching sights.

During the rescue days, what shocked Gu Ji the most was the western extension of the quake zone, at the outer suburbs of Lahore Metropolitan.

Among the ruins, he saw a middle-aged man in an orange jacket holding the hand of a girl, unwilling to leave.

When Gu Ji and Wang Yuexi arrived at the scene,

they discovered that the orange-clad man’s home had become a pile of rubble in the earthquake.

His elderly parents and wife had died instantly, only he and his 12-year-old daughter survived by luck, but his daughter, lying on the bed, was pinned by a massive block of concrete.

Lack of heavy machinery made the rescue too difficult.

He could only listen to the faint weakening of his daughter’s voice beneath the ruins, until she tragically passed away.

Yes, by the time Gu Ji and the others arrived at the scene.

The person was already dead.

The father could only hold his daughter’s cold hand, sitting hopelessly and numb on what was once called home.

Looking at the devastation, Wang Yuexi sighed, "Sigh, during our rescue efforts a few days ago, we could still hear cries and shouts, but now, there’s no sound at all, just silence."

"Everyone just needs to do their best."

Gu Ji patted Wang Yuexi’s shoulder comfortingly.

In truth, he thought the same, that perhaps if he could move one more brick or search one more plot, he could change someone’s fate...

On the fifth day after the quake.

Bafang finally announced the formal end of large-scale rescue operations to prepare for post-disaster reconstruction.

At the same time, Gu Ji managed to decipher the pattern of the earthquake’s tremors.

That is, although the aftershocks’ magnitudes were decreasing, they were occurring with increasing frequency, which was clearly peculiar.

[Ultimate objective: Ensure the successful completion of the Pakistan Earthquake rescue operation and strive to enhance Xia Kingdom’s International Rescue Team’s evaluation in international media!]

[Side objective: Successfully investigate the aftershock activity pattern of the earthquake zone!]

[Hidden objective activated: Discover the patterns of Earth’s internal activities.]

Gu Ji frowned slightly.

This was the first time he had seen such a strange hidden task from the system; previous checkpoints and hidden tasks in the game would reveal the core points or main conspiracies of the stage’s plot, but this time it asked him to find patterns of natural disasters?

Although he did indeed find something unusual in it.

So, he quickly borrowed a computer from Yian Qingwen and brought up the Geological Activity records from Xia’s Earthquake Bureau over the recent years.

He reviewed everything from start to finish, taking nearly an hour.

Gu Ji gradually organized three sets of data.

In the 20 years since entering the 21st century, there have been three large-scale energy activities within Earth’s interior.

First Group: Over a span of 6 years and 4 months from 2004 to 2011, there were three massive earthquakes of around magnitude 9.

They were Indonesia’s 9.1 magnitude earthquake, Chile’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake, and Japan’s 9.0 magnitude earthquake.

Among them, Indonesia’s 9.1 magnitude earthquake accelerated Earth’s rotation by 6.8 microseconds, triggering the Indian Ocean tsunami, while Japan’s 9.0 magnitude earthquake moved Honshu Island eastward by approximately 3.6 meters, speeding up Earth’s rotation by 1.6 microseconds.

Second Group: Within 6 years from 2013 to 2018, there were five deep-focus earthquakes of around magnitude 8, with depths at about 600 kilometers, located in the Earth’s upper mantle with high temperature and pressure.

Mainly included are the Sea of Okhotsk’s 8.2 magnitude, Japan’s Ogasawara Islands’ 8.1 magnitude, Peru’s and Fiji Islands’ etc.

Oddly, during the Sea of Okhotsk’s 8.2 magnitude deep earthquake, high-rise buildings as far as 7000 kilometers away in Moscow felt the tremors, while Japan’s Ogasawara Islands’ 8.1 magnitude deep earthquake caused strong tremors in Tokyo, over 1000 kilometers away.

Third Group: A series of major volcanic eruptions in 2018, at depths of 100–200 kilometers.

Including Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano, Indonesia’s Mount Merapi, Japan’s Shinmoe-dake Volcano, Kuril Islands’ Avachinsky Volcano, etc.

From super deep-focus earthquakes, to upper mantle earthquakes, and to depths of around 100 kilometers volcanic eruptions, it’s unimaginable that the epicenter depth of this Pakistan major earthquake was only 20 kilometers!

Such statistics led Gu Ji to discover a very terrifying phenomenon.

Now, the activity within Earth’s interior has significantly intensified and is extending toward the surface!

[Hidden objective: Successfully discover the patterns of Earth’s internal activities!]

[Performing checkpoint evaluation and settlement...]

Gu Ji wasn’t even surprised by completing the hidden task so quickly, as he was entirely absorbed by the shock of these conclusions.

If this is true, will natural disasters on Earth become more frequent going forward?

Somehow.

Instinctively, Gu Ji inexplicably thought of that overseas mission in Japan, when he was discussing in a hotel room with Gao Bo and Wu Kang, and Gao Bo made a joke, "Could it be that Earth is about to be destroyed?"

He had retorted at the time with "An alien attack on Earth would be more plausible."

Of course, the destruction of Earth remains impossible, but at the very least, this increasingly active geological activity must be given adequate attention.

Thinking of his experiences through these national crisis stages.

India’s floods, South Korea’s MERS, Pakistan’s major earthquake.

Perhaps the game wants him to find these seismic activity patterns to make Gu Ji become a "whistleblower," to remind the countries to take early precautions to avoid bigger and more serious economic damage and casualties.

With this in mind, watching the gray filter gradually descending before his eyes,

Gu Ji struggled to maintain his system-blocked vision and hastily shouted to Yian Qingwen, "Mr. Yian, I have an important matter to report!!"