Cave Refuge

After the broadcast repeated three times, it indicated that the disaster should be extremely powerful and difficult for ordinary people to handle.

However, the broadcast only warned everyone about the appearance of the natural disaster but did not inform everyone about the specific disasters that resulted, which left not only Dong Tianyu but also the majority of ordinary people in the base bewildered.

Dong Tianyu had just gotten up when he saw Madeline calling him. As soon as he answered, he heard Madeline anxiously start speaking from the other end of the phone:

"Old Thompson, we're in big trouble this time. Don't say anything, just listen to me. Hurry up and wake up Uncle and Auntie to pack things up. I've got news that our base is rapidly corroding.

The outermost walls of the base have already completely rusted and fractured, and this rusting is continuously spreading towards our central location.

The officials are not informing everyone in the base of the real situation because, according to the information from those who have already left the base, this rusting wind only damages metal objects.

For the survivors, at most, it will corrode metal buttons on clothes or some metal weapons, but it won't cause any harm to other materials.

Among the people under me, those who lived on the outer edges have already left the base and fled outside.

We're currently living on a higher floor, so I suggest you either hurry up and leave the central area with Uncle and Auntie, go to the edge of the corroded area, and directly summon your Companion Spiritual Treasure, then control it to leave quickly.

Otherwise, run to the top of the base and gather there now, then summon your Companion Spiritual Treasure on the top floor. When the base sinks due to corrosion, maybe you can escape the calamity by relying on your Companion Spiritual Treasure."

Hearing Madeline's panting voice, Dong Tianyu became curious and asked, "Which method did you choose?"

Regarding Dong Tianyu's question, Madeline didn't hide anything and said straight away, "With my current voice, can't you guess my choice?

If it were only me, maybe I would go to you and gamble together on the top floor, but with the old and the young at home, and with a safe example in front of us, I can only choose the safest way for my family's safety."

For this, Dong Tianyu didn't feel that Madeline notified him too late. In fact, Dong Tianyu understood why Madeline suggested two different escape methods.

Truth be told, although many people moved from the old base to the newly expanded area, the number of survivors living in the old base far exceeded that of the survivors living in the New City District.

Moreover, many might overlook another problem: the living conditions in the New City District were equivalent to the villas before the natural disaster.

The survivors who could still reside in the old base, although their living standards could be considered mid-level or above within the base, had conditions more reminiscent of the high-rise residential buildings that stretched dozens of floors high before the disaster struck.

Don't be fooled by the convenience of elevators usually, but once such high-rise buildings caught fire, it would become extremely difficult for those on the higher floors to come down.

Madeline lived somewhere that could only be considered middle to lower areas, while the Thompson Family resided in a region that could already be counted as having moved beyond the middle layer, squeezing into the upper layers.

So living at such a high position, if an elevator was unusable, instead of leaving downwards through the stairs, it might be better to listen to Madeline's advice and run directly to the top, summon the Companion Spiritual Treasure in advance, and when the base sinks, take the best bet.

By the time Dong Tianyu left his room and entered the living room, Father Dong and Mother Dong had already packed up. Supported by Dong Tianyu's considerable investment, both Father Dong's and Mother Dong's Companion Spiritual Treasures had successfully evolved.

Although Dong Tianyu provided a storage ring, Mrs. Thompson still chose Bearing as her Companion Spirit's evolutionary path.

After much hesitation, Father Thompson, after many discussions with Dong Tianyu, finally chose the Wave-Breaking evolutionary branch that increased the speed of the Companion Spiritual Treasure.

Of course, as mentioned earlier, both had Storage Equipment, so packing up the house was very simple.

Seeing Dong Tianyu emerge from the bedroom, Father Thompson's face showed an extremely anxious expression. However, his tone, while slightly urgent, conveyed his thoughts very clearly.

"Uncle Jefferson just called me," Dong Tianyu's father said hurriedly. "He briefly explained the reason for the alarm going off here at the base. The elevators are no longer operational.

"If we take the stairs down, by the time we might reach the lowest levels, the corrosion wind will have likely already swept through here, and we might end up sinking into the water along with the old base because we didn't leave in time.

He said the method with the highest chance of survival now is to run upstairs and, once we reach the top floor, summon our Companion Spiritual Treasures and wait for the base to sink.

As long as we firmly grasp our Companion Spiritual Treasures and take advantage of their unyielding buoyancy, our chances of survival are much higher than if we descend into the water."

While Father Dong was speaking to Dong Tianyu, Mother Dong had already put all the tables and chairs in the living room into her storage space.

Seeing the empty room, Father Dong didn't wait for Dong Tianyu's response. He made a decision right away, "Since everything that can be taken has been packed, let's go now. In this situation, sooner is better than later."

With that, Father Dong led the way out the door, followed closely by Dong Tianyu and Mother Dong.

It was only when they hit the streets that they realized many people were hurrying along. It seemed everyone had gotten the real lowdown on this natural disaster.

Actually, it made sense. The residents who could afford to live on this floor were not ordinary families. They all had extensive networks in the base, so getting advance notice of this unavoidable scoop wasn't difficult.

The Thompson family of three didn't say much upon seeing the conditions on the street. They followed the crowd directly to the staircase.

As they left, they saw some people not only refraining from leaving but actually entering the open doors of nearby houses with great excitement.

Seeing such abnormal behavior, Dong Tianyu unconsciously used his Divine Sense to observe, and once he realized why these people were behaving this way, he cursed silently in his heart, "They're really risking their lives for money."

The excited survivors entering the homes with big open doors were actually looters taking advantage of the chaos.

Dong Tianyu didn't know if these people were aware of the current crisis in the base.

If they didn't know, normally they wouldn't dare to break into other people's homes so brazenly.

Yet if they were aware of the crisis, instead of choosing to flee, they wanted to use this opportunity to pillage resources.

Seeing their actions, Dong Tianyu didn't know whether they had special lifesaving methods, which allowed them to profit big in this crisis.

Or perhaps they had no lifesaving methods at all, just a fearlessness born from ignorance, thinking since they only had a misbegotten life to lose, they might as well take a chance.

If the gamble paid off, they'd strike it rich; if it failed, they'd vanish without a trace. Either way, they felt they had nothing to lose.

The Thompsons went along with the crowd to the staircase. Upon arriving, Dong Tianyu saw the crowd divide into three distinct groups.

Some were determinedly running upstairs, others, looking frantic, were running downwards, and the remaining people stood at the stairwell, unsure which direction to take.

Truth be told, for many things there isn't an absolute right or wrong, just like this split. Running up or down was both viable.

Running upwards needs no explanation, betting on the never-sinking characteristic of the Companion Spiritual Treasure when the base eventually sinks.

While running downwards, as long as one is fast enough to leave the base before the New City District sinks, one could escape safely.