Cave Refuge

Zachary noticed the change in his mother's expression and immediately explained to Mrs. Thompson what an electromagnetic pulse was and the kind of harm it could cause.

In fact, an electromagnetic pulse, as a natural disaster, can indeed cause enormous destruction when powerful, yet it basically poses no direct harm to the human body when considered minor.

Putting it plainly, an electromagnetic pulse is essentially an attack targeting precision instruments.

To give a simple example, let's compare gasoline vehicles with electric vehicles.

For a purely mechanically operated gasoline vehicle, even when directly hit by an electromagnetic pulse, at most, something like the radio in the control panel might be destroyed or even explode, but there would be no significant damage to the overall condition of the vehicle.

However, if an electric vehicle is struck by an electromagnetic pulse, then that vehicle is pretty much scrapped, and the reason is simple—the main targets of an electromagnetic pulse are electronic devices.

The more sophisticated the electronic equipment, the greater the destruction it suffers when encountering an electromagnetic pulse.

If an electric vehicle is hit by an electromagnetic pulse, unless one has made thorough preparations in advance, the vehicle is inevitably wrecked.

The more advanced the instruments are, the more likely it is for the whole system to collapse due to an issue with just one part.

That's why real off-road vehicles are generally mechanically simple gasoline vehicles, not the more comfortable electric vehicles.

This is because mechanically operated gasoline vehicles are robust and durable, whereas intricately structured electric vehicles can frequently become immobilized (damaged and unable to be driven) outdoors even with minor issues.

After hearing Zachary's explanation, Mrs. Thompson didn't pay much attention to it; after all, even before the natural disaster, she wasn't very fond of scrolling through videos. The most she would use her phone for was to make or receive calls, or to pass the time by sharing photos on social media.

Right now, being able to integrate into group activities, even if her phone was temporarily unusable, it really didn't make much difference to her.

Having learned what had happened, Mrs. Thompson naturally wandered off to join her friends and share news and gossip.

Because of several relocations, Mr. Thompson's friends in the old city of Pengcheng were mostly out of contact now.

Even for those few who weren't, Mr. Thompson usually only sporadically called them, so being unable to use electronic devices for a short period didn't really affect him much either.

Moreover, because it was not particularly convenient to carry, and he did not use it often, Mr. Thompson typically kept the communicator in his Storage space and would only take it out when necessary.

As for not being able to receive calls from others with the communicator in the Storage space, this was not particularly important to Mr. Thompson. After all, he didn't often communicate with many acquaintances, so he wasn't concerned about whether anyone had an urgent need to contact him.

Having confirmed that it didn't have much effect on himself, Mr. Thompson walked straight to the now deserted poker table.

Looking at the poker table, which was devoid of people but littered with scattered playing cards, Mr. Thompson skillfully began tidying up; perhaps seeing Mr. Thompson calmly sit down at the poker table, the crowd that had dispersed started to gather again around the table.

Seeing his parents smoothly integrating into their surroundings, Zachary didn't linger and observed others entering through the staircase.

Once everyone had come out, Zachary headed straight into the staircase, seemingly preparing to explore upstairs alone.

Zachary, who had already gone into the staircase, didn't notice that although Mrs. Thompson was gossiping with others, her gaze kept wandering over to Zachary every now and then.

The situation near Mr. Thompson was similar to that near Mrs. Thompson; perhaps due to the sudden advent of the electromagnetic pulse, the environment around the poker table grew somewhat quieter.

Therefore, both Mr. and Mrs. Thompson noticed Zachary re-entering the staircase, and even though they didn't know what he was going to do upstairs, they could only pray in their hearts for Zachary's actions to proceed smoothly and safely.

As Dong Tianyu approached the first-floor doorway of the staircase, he first carefully cracked open the door. Then, the light from outside, like dazzling lasers, instantly shot into the stairwell.

The blinding light touched the ground, and whereas it should have been invisible, it now spread around like a tide.

Realizing this, Dong Tianyu decisively closed the door immediately. With the closing of the stairwell's door, the light, which had been spreading like water, continued to creep outward, albeit slowly.

However, those spreading rays on the ground began to dim and eventually disappeared entirely, just like the last time after losing their source of light, continuing to expand but darkening due to a lack of continuous support.

Although the light that had intruded into the stairwell was now gone, Dong Tianyu furrowed his brows. As a cultivator at the Golden Core Stage, his memory was naturally strong.

Not to mention that he had reached a level of impeccable recall, even an ordinary person would remember clearly—they had not been gone from the staircase for long.

The light that shone into the stairwell when they initially closed the door, and the light just now when he cracked open the door to test — anyone with a bit of judgment could tell that the light outside was now more dazzling than when they went downstairs.

If looking directly at the outside light before could cause gradual vision loss, then now, directly looking could possibly result in immediate blindness.

Although the situation had become more dangerous than before they arrived, Dong Tianyu wasn't overly concerned.

First and foremost, because he possessed Divine Sense, even if the outside light affected his vision, closing his eyes wouldn't significantly impact Dong Tianyu.

After all, using Divine Sense to observe surroundings, although he could only see two shades of white, was already sufficient for Dong Tianyu.

But since he was getting ready to go outside, even if he was certain that the outdoor light would not affect him much, he would still take the necessary protective measures before opening the door.

After all, life was precious, and it was best to take precautions ahead of time.

Since he decided to rely mainly on his Divine Sense for his next actions, Dong Tianyu took a wide strap from his Storage Space, folded it several times, tied it around his head, and physically blinded himself by binding his eyes shut.

Although it was unlikely he would encounter any danger outside, Dong Tianyu still enveloped himself in a Spiritual Power Shield before preparing to open the door.

If it weren't for the fact that Spiritual Power Shields could not be used in layers, Dong Tianyu would certainly have put on hundreds of layers of Armor before opening the door to the stairwell.

When Dong Tianyu opened the door to the stairwell, the light from outside poured in like a breached dam, swiftly flooding the underground space.

If Dong Tianyu were able to see this phenomenon with his own eyes, he might have felt some astonishment.

However, Dong Tianyu, who was observing the outside situation with his Divine Sense, saw the space fill with a whiter shade of light as he opened the door.

Compared to the bizarre scene visible to the naked eye, the Divine Sense perceived the original, slightly gray light being overtaken by a much whiter light.

With more of the whiter light pouring in, the environment within the stairwell quickly began to change.

Dong Tianyu originally wanted to study the sudden appearance of light outside, but he remembered that his parents were just downstairs.

If he chose to stay in the stairwell to test his theories and ended up damaging the stairs leading to the lower level,

then his parents, currently underground, would have to take the subterranean drainage channel to another area and use another building's stairwell to return to the surface.