Chapter 106: Escape from the Catastrophe

**Chapter 106: Escape from the Cataclysm**

Wu Yue and Shen Que had been staying inside the shuttle for two days, but strangely, the number of meteorite firebrands hadn’t just failed to decrease—it had actually increased.

Wu Yue got up and looked outside. Visibility was dropping fast. She frowned. “What’s going on? A Class-A disaster shouldn’t last this long.”

Shen Que entered the shuttle’s control room. “This disaster isn’t as simple as we thought.

In the first two days after a disaster strikes, it ravages the area relentlessly. Then, over the next three or four days, it usually begins to stabilize.

Normally by the fifth day, flight paths are restored, and rescue teams move in to begin search and recovery.

But now, there’s no sign of any rescue teams—and the disaster shows no signs of abating at all.”

The intense burning of the meteorite firebrands filled the air with smoke. Suddenly, the shuttle’s alarm sounded:

“External sulfide concentration: 60%. Oxygen density dangerously low. Carbon dioxide density excessively high. Exceeding human tolerance limits.”

“Warning! Warning! Detected a sharp rise in unknown toxic gases in the external atmosphere. These unknown toxins exhibit extreme corrosive properties.

The shuttle is analyzing their elemental composition. Do not exit under any circumstances.”

Judging by the severity of the alert, Wu Yue knew things had taken a turn for the worse.

**Red Alert! Red Alert!**

Updating current disaster classification. The Alliance has upgraded the disaster level to S-class (Under an S-class disaster, the land will be scorched into lifeless ruin for thousands of miles).

Disaster reclassified as: Meteorite Firebrands · Elemental Erosion.

For the safety of the majority of Alliance citizens, the Alliance has ordered the termination of all rescue operations in this region.

A containment perimeter has been established beyond the disaster zone. Crystalline-core warheads will be deployed in this area in ten minutes to prevent any risk of unknown elemental leakage.”

Wu Yue and Shen Que exchanged a horrified glance. “The Alliance is going to bomb this place.”

Their communicators exploded with urgent alerts—messages flooded in through both team channels and private lines.

“Wu Chong: Cap! Cap! Cap! Yue! Yue! Yue! Respond if you can hear this!!”

“Wu Chong: I’ve departed from the Wu Clan, but I’m still far from the disaster zone!!”

“Jian Suiyu: Send us your exact coordinates. I’ll mount a rescue immediately.”

“Richard: I’m heading your way.”

“Jie Chen: En route.”

“Fu Yanqi: Just extracted myself from a dungeon. En route.”

Shen Que said, “To protect the remaining regions, the Alliance always enforces a zero-tolerance policy.

Now that the disaster has escalated suddenly and airspace remains closed, our only chance to escape is to take manual control of the shuttle and evade the raining firebrands.”

Wu Yue overrode the shuttle’s autonomous navigation system.

“Warning! Warning! Manual flight is strongly advised against under current conditions!”

Wu Yue didn't bat an eye, slamming the red absolute control button.

"The skimmer has now entered manual control mode."

She yanked up the controller and pulled up the nearest exit route map.

Red crosses continuously appeared on the route map, showing zones that the Alliance had already blocked off with firewalls, prohibiting passage for skimmers within the cataclysm zone.

The firewalls were being rapidly constructed to contain the elemental surge, forming at an alarming speed.

Unfortunately, Wu Yue and Shen Que's skimmer had the longest haul to reach the firewall's breach point.

The skimmer streaked through the sky like lightning.

Countless falling meteor fragments rained down thick as hail, forcing Wu Yue to constantly juke the skimmer—sharply ascending, diving, even rolling sideways.

Even someone as formidable as Shen Que felt his stomach lurch under the intense centrifugal force and ever-changing flight angles.

But as the pilot, Wu Yue couldn't afford to think about any of it—even with her heart hammering like it would burst from her throat.

Her focus was split three ways: one tracking the angles of incoming disaster strikes and plotting escape vectors,

one managing the intricate manual controls of the skimmer, coding evasive patterns in real-time,

and the last monitoring the shifting positions of the Alliance's firewalls, constantly recalculating the fastest straight-line escape path.

Or perhaps flying had become pure reflex.

For Shen Que, these were the longest, most gut-churning ten minutes of his life.

He watched as the safe radius for escape within the cataclysm zone shrank by the second under the Alliance's firewalls.

Watched as the venomous purple-black miasma behind them seemed alive, relentlessly chasing their skimmer,

threatening to consume them whole at any moment.

And wherever this unknown toxin passed, it reduced everything to ash.

The terror of watching all life vanish into a lifeless void shook him to his core.

Overhead, the falling disaster embers grew denser, eventually too dense to see through.

The final countdown loomed closer—

5 minutes. 4 minutes. 3. 2...

"Warning! Warning!

Final bombing countdown initiated: 59, 58..."

Under the strain of high-intensity flight and nonstop mental exertion, Shen Que saw tears of blood welling in Wu Yue's eyes.

The crimson tears streamed down her cheeks, leaving red trails.

At the same time,

Shen Que spotted a spiking metric in one corner of the control interface.

"Real-time update: Current operator's psi-rating: Class A."

"Real-time update: Current operator's psychic rating at S-level."

"Real-time update: Current operator's psychic rating at S+-level."

.....

"Real-time update: Current operator's psychic rating at SS+-level."

Shen Que whipped his head around in surprise to look at Wu Yue.

Suddenly, he saw a smile curl at the corners of Wu Yue’s lips.

That smile—

arrogant, wild, and full of life.

Wu Yue cut him a sideways look. "Captain, we survived!"

The shuttle blazed like lightning, shedding its shielding just before the firewall sealed shut.

It abruptly tilted upright and threaded the needle through the firewall’s narrowing gap.

A chorus of shocked voices rang out:

"What the hell just happened?!"

"It's... it's Blaze's shuttle!"

"How is that even possible?! In such an intense firestorm! They hand-flew the shuttle out of the impact zone?!"

"Holy shit—that's Blaze for you! What kind of operator could pull something like that off?"

"There isn't another team in the Alliance that could do that."

After what felt like forever,

Shen Que nodded. "Yeah… we survived."

Now clear of the impact zone, the shuttle seamlessly merged back into the designated shuttle corridor.

Manual control disengaged as the shuttle’s autopilot reengaged.

"Captain."

Shen Que jolted back to awareness. "Hmm?"

Wu Yue quietly climbed into the treatment pod. Before closing her eyes one final time, she breathed her last words:

"The rest… is up to you."

Shen Que stared at the now-closed treatment pod for a long while.

Inside the silent shuttle,

he breathed, "Yeah."